In the summer 2015, I had a great privilege to be a resident composer at the New Music on the Point festival. Staring at the peaceful lake Dunmore one night with the artistic director Amy Williams, she suggested: why don’t you do a lake piece next time? Well, the next time happened in the summer 2018, and the Lake piece emerged. Participation, collective composition and community music-making are musical aspects that have permeated my recent work. It was exciting to know that there would be 30-60 potential musicians available to be engaged. I sent a task questionnaire to the potential participants some time before the festival, asking them to write poetry, share some personal life experiences, learn their favorite love song, bring a small gift and such. Building on the texts, a series of blindfolded workshops materialized, exploring meditation, listening, improvisation and guided barefoot voyaging around the festival grounds. Feeling and activating the grass, trees and structures with hands (and piezo mikes amplifying the touch) highlighted the strong connection between tactile and aural experiences. A few participants would become instructors, guiding the blindfolded musicians around the grounds and to the lake (!!!), all while typing stories on their laptops. Each keystroke was programmed to create a synthesized sound. On the presentation night, the workshop participants became the guides, and the audience became the participants of a a collective performance—a guided sonic trust walk. The collective sonic exploration without sight connected the participants with each other and the surrounding environment in the most intimate ways. Thank you New Music on the Point! What fun!

View the Lake workshop video documentation here.