sounds of Whitehall ferry terminal 11/18/09

I perform with so many different accompanying sounds-some I work with, with gusto, others I try to tune out, sometimes in vain. Yesterday I was at Whitehall SI ferry terminal-a great enveloping hall. Music flows effortlessly as I don't have to work hard against competing sound. I try to be sensitive to the constant announcements and not sing over. I even think the announcer is sensitive to waiting until I’m not singing to make his speech (but I'm probably dreaming). Before each ferry departure large sliding doors open wide, then slowly close which make people arriving late run, and they sure can run jingling everything in percussive rhythm. The station pipes in bird's song, which I’m not really sure why, and after a while the chirping seems very out of place. Pigeons that live and fly around the space land with a comical skid on the smooth floor, of course kids try to catch them. Adults ignore them, accepting their presence as a matter of fact. There's a hierarchy of sorts with the commuter
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sounds of the countryside

Tractor cutting the field in my right ear (careful not to find any sleeping does), chainsaw in the woods cutting up trees downed from last winter's ice storm in my left ear (careful not to cut any fingers), dump truck unloading 3 loads of stone to rebuild wall and parking area washed away after the intense storms of summer (like 5" all at once more than once), cicadas are competing and people think the city is noisy....

Trying to create amidst these sounds.

Interesting to say the least.