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| primal, phantasmagoric, swirling, ethereal, ambient, textural, otherworldly, hyper dimensional, tonal collage, mystical, ghostly, pure. I play and sing with crystal singing bowls as a musical instrument. Set up in thirds, I use a chord rhythmically or as a drone and sing folk melodies with them. I’ve written my own melodies and also use some from different parts of the planet. I’m back in Portland, Maine doing concerts, weddings, and sound therapy as a singer and crystal singing bowls player. I grew up in the Maine woods. I was always very imaginative and creative. I was very shy and didn’t speak much. I began singing when I was a child because it was naturally accessible to me. Eventually, I began to speak more and nowadays, I can be outspoken. Singing helped me to do that. Later, I found myself in classical voice lessons. I started singing opera by ear and would give a cappella performances in Portland. When I sang, I saw that it mad people happy and that made me feel fulfilled. After awhile, I became restless of singing in restaurants and wanted to see another part of the country. I went to San Francisco where I studied music at SFSU and learned how to read music. Although my degree was in classical voice, I was intrigued by folk melodies from around the world and decided to experiment with them and with the art of improvisation. I started an experimental sound project called ‘Swoondoll’ using looped vocals, clocks, and radio clips. This allowed me to further explore improvisation and electronic music. I also studied for a semester with master Kulintang player, Danongan Kalanduyan, from the Southern Filipines. I found that playing rhythmic pieces on the bowls was very much like Kulintang. I was, am still am, especially interested in the music of Southern Spain and Middle East so I took Flamenco and Belly dance so that I could feel the rhythms in my body. I’ve always been fascinated by sound that makes people feel and that lead me to obtaining eight crystal singing bowls and singing folk melodies and rhythms with them. The bowls have a very pure sound and vibrate your whole body. |
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