Vocal Production Notes
to the KyPoetry recording of the poem, Identity, written by Kylyra
IdentityIs there an answer? Am I single Perfected in my unique aloneness? Do I end at the boundaries of my flesh A tiny thing of carbon and water weave, Inconsequential In the glacial grind of time? If that is the lay of the land I am blind I stretch out like the mist; Sitting in my parlour I lap the water in the bay, I climb the mountain sides, I float to the stars. There are no differences; There are no distinctions. See that chair in the corner? That's me. |
I used six vocal tracks on this piece. The main track uses my standard room reverb and is centre panned. The title is spoken without background, allowing the word 'Identity' to stand out as a singularity, foreshadowing the questions arising in the poem. I created two side voices for this poem, one to the left and one to the right, to represent voices in the speaker's head. These two side voices have lines that are not included in the poem. While the main voice asks: Is there an answer? The left voice questions 'Who am I' while the right questions 'What am I'. I did this to reinforce the multiple levels of this question; that the speaker was not just asking who but what she was. The side voices are also heard speaking unique lines during: Sitting in my parlour On this line, the left voice states 'the body sits' while the right states 'the mind is free'. This was done to underscore the idea that while the speaker's body is one place, her mind has the ability to leap beyond her physical form. The side voices take up an echo of the main voice on the lines: I lap the water in the bay, I climb the mountain sides, I float to the stars. to emphasise the congruency of the speaker. She is committed to the path of enlightenment, and every part of her, including the voices in her head, support this choice. On the stanza: There are no differences; There are no distinctions the words 'no differences' are repeated on the punch track (see notes below). In contrast, I ran the words 'no distinctions' in the next line on the left-right side vocals; offering an audio juxtaposition to the poem's meaning. I did this in deference to listeners who remain unenlightened and who still see a difference between themselves and the world around them. For these listeners, the speaker would appear as a separate identity from the other things she lists (the water, the mountains, the stars, the chair) even though she does not see herself that way. A punch track was used to emphasise words and lines. |
