"THE ANIMALS DON'T TELL STORIES THAT ARE WRITTEN DOWN IN BOOKS, THEIR TALES ARE LONG AND DETAILED, AND SECURED WITH IN THEIR SKIN"

Shape Note song written in Rome, NY. As performed with participating audiences of mostly amateur singers new to Shape Note music on the Subliminal History of New York State: Route of Progress tour. Shown is Eyebeam NYC, Rome, Palmyra and Woodside Campground (Dunkirk) along our NY route. 2007

About the singing portion of the tour; Myself and Shape Note music composer Jesse Pearlman Karlsberg embarked on a 2 month journey along the Erie Canal, stopping in 6 different locations. In each town collaborating with historians, locals and people who work with land, to gather all sorts of information, write songs, hold video and singing workshops. Each stop culminated with a participatory singing and story event plus a multi channel video screening of the 13th screen. Upon arriving in each town, I conducted local interviews and gather content from variant sources, while Jesse held Shape note singing workshops. Shape Note music is a traditional American community singing style popular in Upstate NY and New England in the 1800’s. Poems I wrote were immediately passed to Jesse to set into 4 vocal parts. Songs were then taught and sung at the final performances.

A book of the 53 songs written by Jesse and Carrie on tour with locative stories and participations can be found on the Subliminal State website.

subliminalstate.org/site/subliminal-history-of-new-york-state/route-of-progress-tunebook/