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For extensive writings, photos and sounds from this project visit www.musicfromtheice.blogspot.com Cheryl E. Leonard was awarded a 2008/2009 Antarctic Artists and Writers Program Grants from the National Science Foundation. In the austral summer of 2008/2009 she journeyed to Palmer Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula to create musical compositions using natural sounds and materials. While onsite in Antarctica, Cheryl played amplified natural materials (ice, stone, water, moss, feathers, shells and bones) as musical instruments. She recorded compositional elements and improvisations created with these sounds, made field recordings of the region's wildlife and natural soundscapes, and gathered a few Antarctic natural objects to bring back to the U.S. and use as instruments in live performances. Photos of Cheryl's Antarctic instruments are posted on her blog. Leonard is now busy crafting a set of musical works that combine sounds from natural object instruments with the recordings she made in Antarctica. Each piece has a unique theme which is embodied in its musical structures, instrumentation and the process of creating the work. Compositions explore sea ice, glaciers, the Antarctic circumpolar current, wind and storm patterns, geological and paleontological histories, human exploration and exploitation, adaptations of life to environmental extremes, and changing terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Themes focus on topics under current scientific investigation in the region and highlight connections between the Antarctic Peninsula and global climate change. Completed musical
compositions are being performed in a series of live concerts, in
the U.S. and abroad, from 2009 through 2011. Recordings of the compositions
will be released in late 2010. CHATTERMARKS,
a CD of Cheryl's best Antarctic field recordings, is now available. Cheryl's next performance of Antarctic compositions will be Saturday July 31st, 2010 at The Lab, in San Francisco. Order
Cheryl's Antarctic sounds CD
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Michael
Bartalos - sculptural book arts |
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