[nagdu] Interesting Christmas CD: "We Woof You A Merry Christmas!"

[Lora and Myrtle]

that is alot of creativity there. I like it. :)

On Sat, Dec 13, 2008 at 4:14 PM, Laurie Mehta <lauriemehta at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Christmas carols go to the dogs - Santa Cruz Sentinel
>
> article posted at:
> http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_11225110
>
> Saturday, December 13, 2008
>
> SANTA CRUZ, CA |
> Christmas carols go to the dogs
> Joel Isaacson - Sentinel Correspondent
> Posted: 12/13/2008 01:35:41 AM PST
>
> Veronica Elsea helps dogs sing.
>
> In fact, she's the brains behind the new CD, "We Woof You a Merry
> Christmas," a collection of 16 Christmas carols sung by dogs. And they're
> not just any
> dogs, but the best of their kind: professionally trained, working guide
> dogs.
>
> Elsea, the owner of Laurel Creek Music Design and a Santa Cruz resident, is
> a composer and classical musician who has been blind since birth. She's
> worked
> with 12 guide dogs since training with Cherokee, her first one, in 1974.
>
> Elsea, 55 and originally from Southern California, played viola with the
> Santa Cruz Symphony in the '90s. Maya, a Labrador retriever whose personal
> taste
> ran to loud rock music, would guide Elsea onto the stage and lie at her
> feet through each performance. At home, Maya became the performer while
> Elsea recorded
> the dog's vocalizations. She's recorded all her dogs since then, right up
> to her most recent one, Hugh.
>
> "These recordings are my memories," Elsea said. "Sighted people would take
> photographs."
>
> When an injury ended her career as a performer, Elsea transformed herself
> into a recording artist. Her first challenge was vision-based studio
> equipment
> with its screens, dials and digital readout. Her husband, Peter, helped by
> writing software that gives her audible feedback, which allows her to
> control
> the recording and mixing process and to compose quickly.
>
> Compose is what Elsea does. The new
> Advertisement
>
>  frame
> NumOneMom_300x250_OL15
> Bunn/300x250
>  frame end
> CD "We Woof You a Merry Christmas" is not mere YouTube jingle-dog yapping.
> It is a labor of love by a creative composer who has had special
> relationships
> with some special dogs.
>
> Out of 19 hours of recorded dog romp, Elsea isolated 513 sounds, which she
> used to compose the 16 canine carols. She linked each sound to a key on her
> electronic
> keyboard, filling the keyboard 60 times. Elsea's challenge was to remember
> the keyboard location of each sound and to create music. Not simple music,
> either.
> "O Holy Night," for example, is an overlay of 24 tracks.
>
> It took five months of 10-hour days to complete the CD. Every note is a
> direct quote by a dog. No pitch has been changed and no sound has been
> altered.
> The bass line, melody, four-part harmony and even the occasional
> instrumental solo on a dog toy is produced by the dogs.
>
> The CD is for sale in Santa Cruz at Tom's Medical Pharmacy on the Westside;
> Made in Santa Cruz on the Municipal Wharf; Streetlight Records, downtown;
> and
> at Scotts Valley Feed. The CD is also available online at
> www.laurelcreekmusic.com.
> Contact Joel Isaacson at 429-2436 or
> jcopeland at santacruzsentinel.com.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Lora and Leader Dog Myrtle