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The Macphail Music Program is thrilled to release YOUNG DRONES –A Collection Of Noises as our “Heart Of A Tiger” fundraiser to help purchase cardiac equipment for the new Centre Grey Hospital in Markdale. If you would like to donate please visit the link below and under “Fund” select the “Macphail Music Program, Heart Of A Tiger Campaign” option: www.cghsfoundation.com/donation-form/
This project is also meant to coincide with International Drone Day, May 29. As far as we can gather, we are the FIRST group of elementary school-aged artists and musicians ON PLANET EARTH to submit work for this worldwide celebration. For a program that fosters a creative, fearless, open-minded, outside-the-box outlook on life and music this was VERY exciting news indeed and another “first” to add to our collection!
What is a drone? This is the question that launched this project. Often, the first responses were “a remote-controlled helicopter thingy”. Being from a rural area, some students were able to identify a drone as a male bee. These suggestions led to the musical sense of the word—a long, continuous, (endless?) sound. Online classes participated in rich conversations about what different sorts of drone there are (instrumental, mechanical, natural) and provided countless examples of each (bagpipe, old fridge, waterfall). Bigger philosophical questions were asked—do we exist in a constant drone of sound/s? Is silence, or freedom from noise, possible? Virtual debates ensued—how is a drone different than other musical concepts like ostinato or pedal point? High school/university music stuff here!
Grade 4 to 8 students, in an attempt to make this project as creative and fun as possible, were then tasked with capturing, recreating or recording drones to submit. Josh Richardson and the good people at Mudtown Records agreed to compile and curate these sounds. This local record label has supported recording projects by the Macphail Music Program over the years and I’m sure they were a bit surprised and even overwhelmed when over 100 Macphail artists/engineers submitted work for this community-spirited project!
Many thanks to Darlene Lamberti at Centre-Grey Health Services. She has been nothing but encouraging over the last few years and we are so pumped (get it, heart fundraiser) to offer our work for the second year in a row to help the overall health and well-being of our community. Endless thanks to Josh Richardson for faithfully putting our Macphail musical magic out into the world.
Please give generously if you are able. We would like to eclipse the amount from our Covid 19 fundraiser of last year!
– Charles Glasspool
Thank you to Charles and the students of the Macphail Music program for involving me with this unique and exciting release. It is fascinating to hear these young drones, the different textures, timbres, and tones emanating from the wild. One can sense the exploration in these sounds and an attention to the environment, taking a lesson from Pauline Oliveros’ concept of ‘deep listening.’ It is a pleasure and a privilege to help produce this very special collection of drone noises.
– Josh Richardson
Album art by Sadie Phillips
