_ Last week I finished writing a short piece for another project presented by DoTank in Brooklyn - an event that will be a part of the Make Music Winter festival on December 21st. The event, Bell by Bell,  is a parade - a roving hand bell choir moving through the East Village - and it engages the neighborhood not only by creating music on the street, but by inviting people to participate as well. You can read more about it here. Writing the piece was an interesting challenge because I was constrained to exactly 5 notes within one octave - so it was an opportunity to consider and utilize the human aspects of the ensemble such as what the reaction time will be like with dozens of people following commands from conductor wielding a flag, how sound might bounce around amongst the Brownstones, if people’s arms are going become tired and thus some notes lose intensity in their ringing, the manufacturing irregularities of the bells, etc. I won’t be in New York for the event, but you should go have a listen or participate if you live nearby...besides myself there is also a piece on the program by SO Percussion’s Eric Beach.

In news of the Mycological sort, a farmer at the market was selling the largest oyster mushrooms I’ve ever seen. Usually at their biggest one finds them to be silver-dollar sized, but as you can from the picture this one is around ten inches wide! Being the Mycological paradise that the NW is, it’s not unusual to see a small farm or farmer occasionally selling mushrooms beyond their normal fare that they found on their property, but this exceptional. Also exceptional is that with the way the season has worked out there are still Chanterelles popping up in the woods...not cold enough yet to deter them from growing at the lower altitudes and lots of rain but only at favorable times.

Listening list 12/4
Jefferson Friedman - SQ
Christopher Roberts - Last Cicada Singing
Wu Tang Clan - 36 chambers of Wu
Allen Ginsberg - first blues
Ravel - String Quartet
Shabazz Palaces -Black Up
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam

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