Volume 26 Issue 1 - September 2020

In With the New
Creative (E)mergings
in these days of isolation
WENDALYN BARTLEY
In these days of limited performances, for this month’s column I
decided to take up a suggestion made by my ever-inventive editor at
The WholeNote, and write a story related to some aspect of my own
creative work during this time.
On New Year’s Day of 2020, I had awoken with the inspiration to
start a video-audio blog, something that is very new for me. Titled
Earth Soundings, my original vision was that for each blog entry I
would select a particular natural environment in which to take photos
and videos, andf then create the soundtrack in response to the images
and my experiences in each specific environment. My overall intention
in creating these short nature-based videos was to invite people
to take a brief pause in their day to remember and attune to their
connection with the Earth, the elements and all beings. A short time
of reflection or meditation. At the heart of the project: my desire to
contribute in one way toward the restoration of our relationship with
nature, for I believe that one of the root causes behind our climate
crisis is due to our cultural disconnect from nature.
The guideline I set for myself for these blog posts was to take the
photo and video footage on specific days of celebration, connected to
either cultural holidays or days on the Earth calendar related to the
passing of seasons or phases of the moon. For the music I would select
various members of the wider community to collaborate with me.
Initially, I released these videos on my Facebook page Earth Soundings
(facebook.com/wendalynvoice), again on days significant in the
calendar. The videos are also available on my website
soundingherwisdom.ca/earth-soundings.
Enter COVID-19
A key point to the story I’m telling here is to reflect a micro-view of
what has happened in the larger story of the creative performing arts
since isolation, lockdown and distancing have become a fact of life.
How do we adapt when we don’t have the same freedom of movement
and when live collaborations are not as easy as before? For the first
two videos, I proceeded as envisioned, but by the time I was ready to
create the next two, COVID-19 had arrived. I was now going to have to
find a different approach to creating the soundtracks.
I had begun taking footage for my first video right away on
January 1, often considered a turning-point day in people’s lives,
with resolutions for change and new behaviour. I chose Grenadier
Pond in High Park at sunset as my location and began work creating
a sequence with the videos and photos, returning a few days later
for some extra shots I wanted to
include. Shortly after completing a draft
sequence, I visited writer and singer
Michelle Tocher who was eager to do
some vocal improvisations with me
using her new shruti box. We had such
a great time together that I was inspired
at that moment to invite her to collaborate
with me for the soundtrack. The
sounds we had made together ideally
captured the feeling of the images. We
planned a recording session together
and recorded one of her original songs
along with some free improvisations, which
I edited to the image sequence. I posted the
video on February 4 to celebrate the season
of Imbolc, the cross-quarter day in the Celtic calendar to mark the
The writer, sounding to a tree on the Toronto Island
midway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.
Inspired by my experience with Michelle, I invited another friend
with whom I’ve collaborated vocally for many years, Deborah Brodey,
to be my collaborating partner for the second video. I returned to
High Park to take the footage on the day of the full moon known as
the Snow Moon, February 8, and this time headed to one of the forest
areas where I focused on trees and fallen logs in the snow – their
shapes and shadows in the bright sunlight, as well as some
close-ups of tree bark. For the recording
session with Deborah, I created
five different drones that
we improvised to,
while watching some
of the raw video
footage. I then edited
these vocal improvisations
to create a musical
sequence to which I
edited the images. It was
posted on March 8 to
celebrate International
Women’s Day.
A few days later on March 11, COVID-19 was declared a world
pandemic, and everything changed.
By that time I’d got to Woodstock!
On that day, I happened to be in Woodstock, Ontario,
the town I grew up in, living part-time in my family
home. I decided to stay put rather than return to the
city. When it came to the Earth Soundings blog, my
major question was how to approach the soundtrack.
Collaborating as I had been doing was no longer
possible, especially since singing with others was
portrayed as one of the riskier activities. I turned
instead, to resources I had on hand: the old out-oftune
piano in my family home, the same piano I
learned on as a child and teenager. I improvised a
series of chords on this new partner, rekindling a
connection with my younger self. I then processed those recordings
through a drone-making tool in my computer, disguising to some
MARGARET IRVING
thewholenote.com September 2020 | 29