January 15th

A notecard.

A prompt. 

How much of a nudge does a performer need in order to launch a musical idea? What is too little information or too much? In an effort to play with this idea, William Roper composed Pigs, Pigs, Oh! Those Tasty Pigs, a deck of cards with symbols from everyday life that act as improvisational prompts. In this video, Southland Ensemble interprets these cards by recording their sounds and actions in an otherwise empty space. The final result is a surprise to everyone—the correlations and coincidences that arise feel like magic. This month’s art print postcard, Iowan Idyll, is also by Bill, a skilled multi-disciplinary artist. The performance and postcard combine to give a more complete perspective of his artistic point of view.