Artist Book Editions
2005-1 Artist Book - Island
Edition of 23
Music CD - Open Edition
Total Time: 54 min.
4-1/2" x 10-1/2" Closed - 10 laser print drawings with hand cut cover
Edition of 23 - Music CD - Jewell case with photos - Three original compositions
Total Time 54 min.
Click on the images for an enlarged view of the work and more information.
Copies are in private collections
Color Photographs - Thomas Parker Williams
Black & White Pinhole Photograph - Mary Agnes Williams
Smith Island, MD sits twelve miles from shore in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. Two converted fishing boats ferry visitors and residents between the mainland and three tiny island towns. For generations, the close-knit families on the island have made their living from the Bay, and, although there are worrisome changes (the village of Tylerton now has only 59 year-round residents), Smith Island is still an active waterman community. So the hard work on the Chesapeake continues, and with it, the sounds of boats, buoys, and fog horns make music with the ducks and the birds and the wind and the water - the natural sounds of the Bay and marshlands.
Music
Waterway Island Sounds, Piano,
Synthesizer, Alto Saxophone
The soundtrack underlying the musical elements throughout
Waterway is a continuous recording on a busy Monday morning as
birds and working fishing boats start the day on Tyler Creek,
the main water channel in Tylerton.
An undulating synthesizer pattern and a minimal
piano statement combine with the island sounds and support
the alto saxophone solos.
Birds Island Sounds, Bamboo Flute (recorded simultaneously)
This piece was recorded at dawn on a Sunday morning in May in a remote area overlooking Tylerton's marshland. I started to play bamboo flute along with the bird calls. The first part of the piece is the natural interplay of the flute and birds. As the piece progresses I added some electronic processing, but no electronic sounds, to these calls to set up a rhythmic structure as the birds take over.
Winds Island Sounds, Piano, Synthesizer, Harmonica, Alto Saxophone, Flute, Soprano Recorder.
In this work a rolling piano figure interacts with natural wind sounds to form a wind-like background supporting solo excursions. When these sounds were recorded the winds blew steadily for two days and nights.
Audio - 
Island by Thomas Parker Williams is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.thomasparkerwilliams.com.
