According to this New York Times article, the Sonic Divide might be good for my brain.  That’s good news!

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/which-type-of-exercise-is-best-for-the-brain/?mwrsm=Email&_r=0

This has been an amazing week.  I had a very productive meeting with Dave Philp’s Music and Entertainment class at William Paterson University.  They are helping me with the PR and Marketing of Sonic Divide.  What a bright and enthusiastic group of young people.  I just love being a part of the WP music department.

Then, I received an incredible piece in my inbox from Taylor Ho Bynum.  I will do a feature on his music in a few weeks, but his Cross Breath is stunning.  So simple, yet so complex, and in every way perfect for Sonic Divide.

Then just today I spent the afternoon with Jerome Kitzke.  Here is a sample of his piece:

Again, I will go into much more depth about his work in subsequent blogs.  But wow oh wow is that an amazing piece that includes a lovely dance element and a spacial realization.  And he did the entire score by hand!  Amazing!

I’m not the first person to combine outdoor athletics with experimental music.  There have been several others, including a few of the composers involved with Sonic Divide.

So, I’d like to introduce you to the amazing Nat Evans.    In 2014 Nat hiked the Pacific Crest Trail (over 2,700 miles) and along the way wrote music and made hundreds of field recordings.  He sent many of those recordings to other composers who created music in response to Nat’s epic hike, all of which was coordinated in real time.  Nat calls this project the Tortoise and it’s incredibly inspiring.  Check out his website and please consider purchasing some of his lovely music.

Two days ago I had the pleasure of working one on one with Karl Sterling.  Karl is an old friend and an amazing guy.  He is also one of the sponsors of this project with Sterling Fitness.  He first built his career as a professional drummer and then in the middle of his life moved over into the fitness field.  He is incredibly knowledgeable in a variety of areas including fitness, nutrition, and barefoot training.  What do bare feet have to do with riding a mountain bike or playing percussion instruments?  Everything, actually.  It’s amazing how divorced we are from our bodies and our feet in this culture.  Like most of you I was raised in shoes and my feet are very tender and very underdeveloped.  That’s sad because we actually have more nerve endings on the bottom of our feet than almost anywhere else on our body.  Our feet are as important as our hands.  Can you imagine going through your whole life wearing mittens?  That’s essentially what we’ve done with our shoes.

At any rate, I’ve had some issues with my IT band on my right leg over the years. I’m working with an incredible physical therapist named Heidi Quackenboss who is helping me deal with this, but I’m also working with Karl.  Karl showed me some very simple but effective exercises that fire up my toes and help develop the “short foot” (click on his name above and check out his site for more info).  Amazingly, this also straightens out my leg and makes my IT band work more smoothly.

Thanks, Karl!!

My William Paterson University colleague and friend Peter Jarvis has also contributed a wonderful piece to Sonic Divide:

This is a purely percussion piece that gives me the opportunity to really rock out!  The ceremony aspect of it will be wonderful when I reach a major milestone, like a 1,000 miles or the crossing into a new state.  I might also use it at the borders to begin and finish the journey.  Let’s see what the Sonic Divide spirits say!