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Transit Duchess

From: Marjorie Van Halteren
Length: 00:02:10

Inner thoughts riding bus late at night in New York Read the full description.

Default-piece-image-2 This is audio from a collection of poems written by Marjorie Van Halteren and produced with Lou Giansante and the NY IPS in the 1980's. Some have been broadcast separately - for prx the entire collection has been made available in short pieces as standalone poems. The early efforts of New York IPS has been written about on Transom in the rubrique "Beginnings."

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Piece Description

This is audio from a collection of poems written by Marjorie Van Halteren and produced with Lou Giansante and the NY IPS in the 1980's. Some have been broadcast separately - for prx the entire collection has been made available in short pieces as standalone poems. The early efforts of New York IPS has been written about on Transom in the rubrique "Beginnings."

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Review of Transit Duchess

As if my ears caught a glimpse of the place and people. The piece demonstrates how a simple sound story can paint a smooth and rich picture.

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Review of Transit Duchess

Van Halteran attempts to create a realistic portrait of riding the subway on a Saturday night. She allows the listener to visually recreate her own private experience through her vivid details. The background ambient noise adds to the feeling of an nterior monologue in the midst of the public sphere. She whispers to enhance the feeling that she is taking you along for the ride. It also allows her to position herself as an equal participant in the subway’s activity and not just as some omniscient narrator. By describing the various images and sounds, she delivers a sort of Rauschenberg-like collage. Rauschenberg always insisted your art had to be at least as interesting as what you see on the street and Van Halteran takes on this challenge by making her art capture street life as intimately as possible.

Broadcast History

early 1980's on WBAI in New York as part of The New York IPS Radio Hour

Timing and Cues

00:00 sound fades up
00:05 Voice
02:00 Voice out
02:05 bus sound out