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