For Waterloo Festival 2020, Rita Says and The Jerico Orchestra were planning a wonderful rendition of La Monte Young's Composition 1960 #7 in collaboration with Disability Lambeth. Since we're now going online, we thought of transforming this into a digital feast!
Interested in singing? Want to make a vocal contribution to a new choral work being premiered at this year's special online edition of Waterloo Festival?
Orchestra director Rita Says (of Rita Says and The Jerico Orchestra) is presenting a radical choral reinterpretation of La Monte Young's Composition 1960 #7. This piece, a continuous drone using just two notes (F# and B) will be made from multiple voice recordings submitted by members of the general public.
We want you (and your friends) to be part of this!
No previous singing experience is required. Simply record your vocal contribution using a mobile phone or an iPad.
If you have access to more professional recording equipment: great, but it doesn't matter if you don't. Passion and commitment are far more important than audio quality! Don't worry if any background sound is included, simply record yourself singing either an F# or a B in any octave. Try and fill up approximately 3 minutes of time - you don't have to sing all the way through the recording but simply do what feels right for you! To learn what an F# sounds like, click here. For the note B, click here.
When you have the sound recording done, send us the file via e-mail to festival@stjohnswaterloo.org and ritasays2@gmail.com. Please include your name and contact details. If the file you're sending is too big to include in an e-mail, use a file-transfer service (such as We Transfer). In case you are having any difficulties with technology, let that not stop you from joining us - drop us a message at the e-mail addresses mentioned above. We will be more than happy to help!
Submissions window: Tuesday 19th May to Friday 29th May (5pm)
Premiere of piece: Tuesday 16th June
To get an idea of how the piece works when put together, watch the video above. It's from a performance of Composition 1960 #7 by Rita Says and The Jerico Orchestra at Limehouse Town Hall.
We look forward to receiving your contribution!
You can follow this as well at vimeo.com/ritasays
