Shimmer

Suzanne Teng & Gilbert Levy

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Shimmer

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Atmospheric live recordings from The TANK – a cavernous seven-story former water tank with a stunning reverberation of up to 40 seconds – featuring low flutes, bamboo flutes, ocarina, Mayan flute and Native American flute along with hand pan drums, Turkish lute and metal found objects.

On a hot, late August evening, we experienced The TANK for the

Atmospheric live recordings from The TANK – a cavernous seven-story former water tank with a stunning reverberation of up to 40 seconds – featuring low flutes, bamboo flutes, ocarina, Mayan flute and Native American flute along with hand pan drums, Turkish lute and metal found objects.

On a hot, late August evening, we experienced The TANK for the first time. A cavernous seven-story water tank that has never been used to store water, The TANK is a center for sonic arts in the dry Northwestern end of Colorado, where musicians can feel they’ve traveled through space with their music.

We immediately fell in love with the sonic experience. The heat of the early evening put us in a mild trance and our first recordings are very slow and still. As the evening cooled off, we explored blending our instruments with their notes reverberating for up to 40 seconds. The recordings from the middle of the evening feel adventurous and playful.

  1. Hanging Lake - Suzanne Teng, alto flute/Gilbert Levy, Hang drum Our opening track, “Hanging Lake” features the Hang drum and alto flute, one of our favorite combinations of instruments. On our way traveling from our home in Santa Fe, New Mexico to Rangely, Colorado, the home of The TANK, we stopped to hike to the top of a mountain to see the glorious Hanging Lake. It was worth the effort of climbing, during a very warm afternoon, the rocky terrain of what was equivalent to 80 stories! Stunningly gorgeous with its many hues of green, powerful waterfalls and rock formations, it is a truly inspiration place. We wanted to remember this magical lake through our music.

  2. Shimmer - Suzanne Teng, bamboo flute “Shimmer,” the title track, is an emotional bamboo flute journey that reflects the sensations I felt from the shimmer of sound while playing upwards to the top of The Tank.

  3. And the Crickets Sing - Suzanne Teng, bass flute “And the Crickets Sing” - Near the end of our evening at The TANK, with the door open and the cool breeze gracing us, the crickets came to sing with my bass flute. What a treat it was.

  4. Mother and Child - Suzanne Teng, Mayan flute (4Wind Flutes) “Mother and Child” - Years ago, a wonderful flute maker, Brad Young, gifted me with this stunning wooden two-chambered flute that is modeled after an ancient clay Mayan flute. With the lower and higher chambers playing both together and to one another, I heard a dialogue between a mother and her child.

  5. Harmonic Dance - Suzanne Teng, bass flute “Harmonic Dance” is the last thing that I played in The TANK. I felt free to really let loose and when I found myself exploring different harmonics on my bass flute, I had such a good time just following the flow. This is one my of my favorite tracks on the album.

  6. Catch Me if You Can - Suzanne Teng, alto flute/Gilbert Levy, RAV hand pan “Catch Me If You Can” feels like its title…he on his RAV hand pan and me on my alto flute, Gilbert and I are chasing each other around with our musical phrases. It’s a fun and playful track that makes us smile.

  7. Golden Temple - Suzanne Teng, dizi (Chinese bamboo flute) Playing my dizi, a Chinese bamboo flute, I am transported to a landscape with a “Golden Temple” in the distance.

  8. Farewell Miranda - Suzanne Teng, bamboo flute You may wonder who Miranda is…”Farewell to Miranda,” played on a bamboo flute, is named after…well…it’s a secret! ; )

  9. Calling the Raven - Suzanne Teng, ocarina/Gilbert Levy, saz (Turkish long necked lute) “Calling the Raven” - The simplicity of how I played the ocarina in this piece is different from how I find I usually play it. The simple melody on the low chamber followed by the response of the higher chamber felt like a call to a special animal spirit. We have a lot ravens who visit us on our property and we always enjoy their dances, their bathing in our fountain and their majestic black bodies soaring overhead. Gilbert adds his magic on the saz, a Turkish long necked stringed instrument.

  10. Sounding the Bell - Suzanne Teng, bass flute/Gilbert Levy, various metal found objects "Sounding the Bell” - The creative folks at The Tank have collected a wonderful assortment of metal objects that they have lovingly placed on the floor near the center of The TANK. I’m sure that they have some magical moments creating sounds with them. They invited us to explore with them and that we did. Their ring is longer than any other ring we experienced. When I was studying with Thich Nhat Hanh, I learned we don’t strike a bell, we sound the bell. I always appreciated the gentleness of those words.

  11. The Crossing - Suzanne Teng, bass Native American style flute (Woodsounds Flutes) “The Crossing” features a beautiful bass Native American style flute made by Brent Haines of Woodsounds flutes. The deepness of that flute in the space invited the image of an ancient people crossing over their sacred lands.

  12. Una -Suzanne Teng, bass flute “Una” is actually the first piece we recorded that day, but felt right as a closing piece. From the first notes that came from my bass flute, I was relishing in the the long tones and reverberation that floated through that dark, vast space.

ALL MUSIC COMPOSED BY SUZANNE TENG Hanging Lake, Catch Me If You Can, Calling the Raven, and Sounding the Bell composed by SUZANNE TENG & GILBERT LEVY

Published by Weishiu Music (ASCAP) Produced by Suzanne Teng & Gilbert Levy Engineered by Michael Van Wagoner at The TANK, Rangely, CO Mixed by Gilbert Levy & Suzanne Teng at Dragonfly Studios, Santa Fe, NM Mastered by Gilbert Levy, Dragonfly Studios, Santa Fe, NM

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    Hanging Lake

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    Shimmer

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    And the Crickets Sing

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    Mother and Child

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    Farewell Miranda

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    Calling the Raven

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    The Crossing

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    Una

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