15:27 / January 17, 2017 / Skate / Rideau Canal Skateway / Ottawa is home to the largest skateway in the world (7.8 kilometres long) / The 202km Rideau Canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States and remains in use today for boating and skating / You hear skating along the canal, ending in a quiet area where skaters practice their skills / I like the sound of metal on ice and the excitement of skaters voices, some of whom are new to Canada and are experiencing skating on frozen water for the first time / The photo is of a panel by the National Capital Commission about the skate way / People in the background are waiting in line to eat ‘beaver tail’ pastries //
About the Artist:
Claude Schryer is a Canadian electroacoustic soundscape composer born in Ottawa in 1959, lived mostly in Montreal and moved back to Ottawa in 1999 with his family in order to work at the Canada Council for the Arts / After an 18 year absence from composition, he started simplesoundscapes: exploring mindfulness through listening(www.simplesoundscapes.ca), a weekly 10 minute soundscape podcast in December 2016 //
His approach to simplesoundscapes:
• simple = uncomplicated but not necessarily un-complex
• soundscape = electroacoustic soundscape composition in the tradition of the World Soundscape Project
• mindfulness = awareness and presence in the tradition of Zen Buddhism
Two underlying questions inform his work:
• what draws a listener into an audio experience?
• what kinds of audio experiences nourish the spirit?
His artistic process is to:
• identify a compelling and engaging soundscape, one that has resonance and that might be interesting to listen to again and again
• like a photographer, figure out how to capture the event: the recording angle, the time of day, the area of focus
• record the soundscape as a performance and present it ‘as is’ for consideration by the listener
Schryer was raised in and around the City of North Bay (Ontario) where he was active as a pianist, clarinetist, composer, hunter and fisherman / He studied and explored composition, interdisciplinary arts and new music at Wilfrid Laurier University (Ontario), The Banff Centre for the Arts (Alberta) and at McGill University (Québec), after which he was active as an artistic director, producer and sound editor in the 1980’s and 1990’s (see http://www.electrocd.com/en/bio/schryer_cl/). He is married to filmmaker and artist Sabrina Mathews. They have two children: Riel and Clara.
With thanks and appreciation to those whose voices and images that have been recorded for this project.
