Catalysts, Teaching and Balance

Delivering stories requires balance.

With the imaginary in one hand and the actual in the other, we walk a tightrope.

To help us in our feat, we often seek teachers. They are people with whom our rope criss-crosses. They deliver lessons that we hope will act as catalysts in the alchemy of skills required for our next bit of rope.

One of the things I’ve learned during the alchemy that’s occurred as I’ve walked my rope, is how useful a repeated musical or sound motif can be to writing and performance. If you’ve listened to my previous sound work you’ll have heard that I frequently use looped phrases to create a repetitive underscore. This provides a firm and predictable, repeated and repeating, actual with which I balance the imagined.

While working on our ropes, so high in the air, simple musical repetition can provide security for the writer and performer. The repetition of a simple riff or rhythm can steady us as we walk. Story incidents and characters are born from this timing and, as we lean further into what might be, a steady, predictable pulse can keep us connected to the actual.

This piece of writing was inspired by my audio work ‘Catalyst’, a piece about someone who catalysed a lot, written in 2021.

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