Please close

Susan Alcorn (deceased) · Post by **Susan Alcorn (deceased)** » 13 Apr 2013 10:32 am

Please close

Richard Damron · Post by **Richard Damron** » 13 Apr 2013 5:17 pm

Wonderful!

Would you explain how you achieved your - for lack of a better term - "effects"? An inquisitive mind would love to know.

Richard

Susan Alcorn (deceased) · Post by **Susan Alcorn (deceased)** » 13 Apr 2013 6:20 pm

Richard, I'm not completely sure what you mean, but I think it might be the long extended chords in the "Breath In Breath Out" section. What I do there is basically a bar shiver, and I move the bar quickly back and forth laterally across the strings to lightly touch upon the open strings to get them to ring softly . I try to do this all in a way that brings out the overtones - that's where you will hear a high note start to ring as if coming out of nowhere. Within that, I activate a pedal to change the pitch of the lowest two strings (11,12)and also use a knee lever to raise string 9.

Is that what you're asking about? Thanks for taking the time to listen.

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 13 Apr 2013 8:10 pm

Gorgeous. Music can be so much more interesting than what is written on the page.

John Alexander · Post by **John Alexander** » 14 Apr 2013 12:11 am

I like it too.

Richard Damron · Post by **Richard Damron** » 14 Apr 2013 7:51 am

Aha! You're sneaky, Ms. Susan. At one point I had thought that you were using a bare finger to lightly stroke the strings but then thought it to be impractical. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed your performance.

Might I say that you're a breath (no pun intended) of fresh air in a medium of sameness? I do.

Richard

Steve Alcott · Post by **Steve Alcott** » 14 Apr 2013 9:07 am

I liked all of that very much.

Bob Blair · Post by **Bob Blair** » 14 Apr 2013 9:58 am

I loved it - thanks Susan.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 16 Apr 2013 7:07 am

Susan, thank you for posting this wonderful piece.

Brandin · Post by **Brandin** » 16 Apr 2013 8:04 am

Susan, that's really nice!

GB

Tucker Jackson · Post by **Tucker Jackson** » 16 Apr 2013 12:35 pm

Would you explain how you achieved your - for lack of a better term - "effects"? An inquisitive mind would love to know.

Very cool work, Susan. I enjoyed it.

I use the "ambient bar shiver" technique occasionally to good effect. But much later in the track, how did you get the barely-audible sound of a telephone ringing in the background? Was it somebody's job to call you at the precise moment or do you have special skills you would like to share?

Susan Alcorn (deceased) · Post by **Susan Alcorn (deceased)** » 16 Apr 2013 4:47 pm

Tucker, a telephone ringing? Maybe it's my great aunt calling from the dead (is that why they call them ghost tones?). She had this uncanny ability to know who was calling whenever the phone rang, and she would say, "I wonder whatever happened to so-and-so", some boy she had gone to high school with fifty or sixty years earlier, and all of the sudden the phone would ring and it would be him. My family used to say she was a witch.

Daniel Morris · Post by **Daniel Morris** » 16 Apr 2013 6:50 pm

Dang, Susan, you just keep getting better!
Seriously.
Superb music; glad you continue to share it.

Steve Pawlak · Post by **Steve Pawlak** » 16 Apr 2013 7:34 pm

I guess I'm not high brow enough, but I just don't get most of it
And nothing about horses drinking beer?

Tucker Jackson · Post by **Tucker Jackson** » 17 Apr 2013 12:55 pm

Susan Alcorn wrote:Tucker, a telephone ringing?

So sorry, Susan, it's my mistake. The phone crops up in one of your other pieces (Adios Nonino) which is a live performance. Some wonderful audience member apparently decided to "collaborate." I shouldn't be too harsh because I've seen you perform twice and that could have been my phone.

I apologize for bringing up a tiny detail that wasn't even in this performance -- and wasn't within your control in the other. The important detail is that I enjoyed the piece.

Soundcloud tried to warn me my ancient browswer didn't support their new features but did I listen? No. So... I listened to "Chaconne/Por Una Cabeza/Breathe In Breath Out" and then it atutomatically rolled into the next two tracks posted on the page... but my screen didn't refresh, so I thought I was hearing different movements of the first piece. D'oh!
$:\$

Susan Alcorn (deceased) · Post by **Susan Alcorn (deceased)** » 17 Apr 2013 1:03 pm

Tucker, I'm glad that it wasn't my great aunt coming through the overtones.

Also . . .

And nothing about horses drinking beer?

Steve, would you like a song about horses drinking beer?

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 17 Apr 2013 7:28 pm

Susan, Breath In Breath Out really brings to mind the sound of an accordion's bellows. I don't know how you do it, but it's great.

Susan Alcorn (deceased) · Post by **Susan Alcorn (deceased)** » 17 Apr 2013 9:57 pm

Thanks Mike, I'm glad you liked it. As for the accordion bellows, there's a cognisance that both instruments breathe. They're both living beings.

Walter Stettner · Post by **Walter Stettner** » 17 Apr 2013 11:18 pm

Hi Susan,

Thanks for sharing, that is wonderful. I had the pleasure of having a front row seat last year in St. Louis to enjoy your portion of the show. Besides hearing your sound creations (and that is by no means meant in a derogatory way!) it was so interesting to see your hands action and bar movement to create all those overtones and side notes. Your skills are amazing!

Kind Regards, Walter

Susan Alcorn (deceased) · Post by **Susan Alcorn (deceased)** » 19 Apr 2013 3:15 pm

Richard, Earnest, John, Steve, Mike, Bob, Brandin, Steve (let me know about the horses), Tucker, and Walter (I'm glad you were there in St. Louis and listening), thanks for your comments, and thanks for listening.

- Susan