Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument
Artist in Residence Application

Glacial Winds Lullaby

Composition and Performance: Katalin La Favre

This lullaby was written as part of a larger piece called Persephone’s Garden, which is a sound nap experience. A sound nap is an experience where the listener is invited to lie down in order to achieve an extremely tranquil state while listening to gentle calming music. During Persephone’s Garden, Katalin La Favre takes the listener on a journey through the seasons.

This excerpt explores the winter season transitioning into spring.
Here are the lyrics:

Glacial winds, they sing lullabies
Rocking, swaying, searching, praying for a dust of gold

Drops of pale blue begin to fall
Dancing, floating, shining, painting all over the clouds

Persephone, awake from your dream
Resting, sleeping, hibernating from the world

Speaking in Silence

Movement II. Sinking Whispers

Composition and Performance: Katalin La Favre
with sound clips by Kavya and Kabir La Favre
Mixed by Max Porter

When I was 3 years old, I was still not speaking.  To be accurate, I could repeat dialogues and words, but was not really capable of conversing.  Everyone in the family was worried.  At dinner I once stood on my chair and recited a long passage from one of Jacques Cousteau’s documentaries- with which I was apparently obsessed- in his French accent.  This piece explores these early memories and stories family have recounted about me learning to speak through Jacques Cousteau’s magical world of whales and other sea creatures.    


The second movement, Sinking Whispers, represents my first real attempts at communication, which was through a ‘translator,’ my older brother, to whom I would whisper and he would interpret for the family. You will hear in the recording my niece and nephew, Kabir and Kavya La Favre (ages 1 and 4), playing the marimba on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Persephone’s Garden Excerpts

Composition, Performance, and Videos by Katalin La Favre

Here are two more excerpts from the Persephone’s Garden Sound Nap.

Color Moods

Composition, Performance, and Video by Katalin La Favre

In this 40-minute sound nap called Color Moods, the music paints the ears of the listeners with the purple notes of the Celtic harp, blue strokes of the vibraphone, and orange beats of drums

Whales

Composition, Performance, and Clay instruments by Katalin La Favre

During my studies in classical percussion, I always longed to be more a part of the creative process - interpretation alone didn't satisfy my creative craving. I ventured years ago into the territory of composition, but I have long desired to create my own instruments, in the effort to have a hand in the construction of a total sound world. As a percussionist, I have always loved searching for new sounds and unique instruments, so being capable of making my own was a natural outgrowth of this. Three years ago, I started taking a ceramic class at the Fairmount Center for the Arts, creating clay percussion instruments. Whales, is on of the first compositions I created with the ceramic instruments I have made.

Visit my blog to see some of the instruments used in this composition.