The Society for Spontaneous Singing

Weekly Prompts for Improvisational Recordings, with Community Feedback

  • Home
  • About
  • Guidelines
  • FAQ
  • Notes

Prompt 16: Sing the five senses.

May 14, 2015 Jascha Hoffman Prompts

Sweet singers! This week it’s time for another visual prompt. Here it is:

This is a digital montage called “Sense and Sensibility” by the brilliant visual artist W. David Powell. It is cut-and-pasted from medical and scientific texts of the past.

We hope this subtle artwork inspires you to sing!

Option A: Sing it clockwise. For a gentler experience, try simply reading the image like a score, and staying as faithful as you can to it. Starting on the upper righthand box (the one with the tongue in it, representing taste), spend one minute singing inspired by what you see there. Then move around the image, spending one minute on each of the other three boxes (which, moving clockwise, represent hearing, smell and sight). Finally, for the last minute, sing the image of hands in the center (which represents touch). Congratulations: you have just sung all five senses in five minutes. Not bad for Option A.

Option B: Five layers. For a deeper stretch, use this prompt as an opportunity to practice your skills with looping or overdubs. Improvise a piece with five layers, one for each of the five senses, as they are represented in the five regions of the image. Each layer could be a loop (if you are using an app like Loopy) or its own through-improvised line (if you are using something like GarageBand). You could sing each layer in many ways: by responding to what you see in each section of the image; by taking some time to “listen” to the relevant sense before singing its part; by trying to resonate your voice in the tongue, ears, nose, eyes or skin; etc.

When you are finished, see if any of your senses feel different. They might!

To Contribute

The steps are as follows:

  • Step 0: Sign up for a free SoundCloud account here. Join the SSS group.
  • Step 1: Record yourself singing for two minutes.
  • Step 2: Upload to SoundCloud and post the track to the SSS group.
  • Step 3: Listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow singers. (Play nice!)

Deadline: Your tracks should be uploaded by midnight wherever you are on Monday, May 18, 2015.

Length: The length of your finished work can be as long or short as you’d like

Description: It would be awesome to include a short description of where and when you sang your piece—and how it felt.

Title/Tag: When uploading to SoundCloud, put “[sss-senses]” in the title of your track. Also include the term “sss-senses” as a tag. This will help us find it.

Group: Once the track is uploaded, click on the “Add to group” button below the waveform and make sure to select the Society for Spontaneous Singing group. (This option will only appear if you have already joined the group! So do that now.)

Linking: You are welcome to include this info in your description:

This track is a reply to “SSS Prompt 16: Sing the five senses.” More on the Society for Spontaneous Singing at http://singthis.org . You can join the SSS at https://soundcloud.com/groups/society-for-spontaneous-singing

Thank you, sweet singers!

Yours,
Jascha & Amado

  • « Prompt 15: Sing a song for Working
  • Prompt 17: Sing in Triple Metre »

Sign Up for Weekly Prompt

* = required field

powered by MailChimp!

Follow Us!

Follow Us on SoundcloudFollow Us on FacebookFollow Us on Twitter

Recent Posts

  • Prompt 80: Sing from a common sentence.
  • Prompt 79: Endings. And Beginnings.
  • Prompt 78: Sing these hands.

Archives

  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
Proudly powered by WordPress