- Playing
- Sawlady
- From
- Noah Reibel
This excerpt is taken from a documentary about subway musicians in NYC. It's never been aired- to the best of my knowledge. Natalia has played her instrument all over the world- professionally and on the street.
Her intrument is perfectly pitched for the acoustics underground. The sound of the vibrating steel wafts through the large, cavernous spaces reverberating off the tiles. She usually brings along a portable casette deck and a pre-recorded, spare piano accompanies her on most of her repetoire.
Natalia radiates joy when she busks- she really gets into it- drawing her bow across the blade with a theatrical flourish. She generally draws a crowd who get as much of a kick from watching her as listening.
No narrator for most of this one. Enjoy.
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Piece Description
This excerpt is taken from a documentary about subway musicians in NYC. It's never been aired- to the best of my knowledge. Natalia has played her instrument all over the world- professionally and on the street. Her intrument is perfectly pitched for the acoustics underground. The sound of the vibrating steel wafts through the large, cavernous spaces reverberating off the tiles. She usually brings along a portable casette deck and a pre-recorded, spare piano accompanies her on most of her repetoire. Natalia radiates joy when she busks- she really gets into it- drawing her bow across the blade with a theatrical flourish. She generally draws a crowd who get as much of a kick from watching her as listening. No narrator for most of this one. Enjoy.
4 Comments
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Review of SawladyGreat sounds! Different vibe than the Dunkley piece in the Playing for Change series -- this one is all about the music, the mystery behind playing an object most people don't think of as musical. Where the Dunkley piece has a news-y element to it, this does not, but works well as a straight arts and culture piece. Smooth production with a choppy ending. |
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Review of SawladyTight and thoughtful production give this piece all of the elements of really great radio. It tells a story, it gives the listener information and finally, we actually HEAR it all come together. I like radio that uses ambient sound as part of the actual story, rather then just as a generic background. I love when she describes how she creates the different pitches at the exact moment we hear them. Its interesting how much a regular carpenter saw sounds like a theremin. |
Broadcast History
Never been aired.
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Erik Nycklemoe
Posted on August 27, 2004 at 01:12 PM | Permalink
Review of Sawlady
This is a single voice narrative of one woman’s love of playing an unusual instrument and her delight of playing it in the subway. The music itself was really haunting and kind of ironic. Well known songs we all remember played on a shrilly hand saw. I loved hearing the musician talk about her love of the music, instrument and the setting. But, beyond that, there wasn’t much substance to this piece. The piece was originally produced to be part of a documentary on subway musicians. It would work well within that construct. As a stand-alone piece it needs more context, set up and framing. The piece ends abruptly, which surprised me. I thought my CD player had malfunctioned. I would encourage the producer to end the piece with some saw music to fade out with.