Sō Percussion plays Nathalie Joachim's "Note to Self"

Nathalie Joachim - Note To Self

I'm Supposed To Be Doing
Much More
Take a Nap
Maybe
I’m Feeling
Motivated

Nathalie Joachim - voice and electronics

Sō Percussion - SPD-SX sampler pads with samples of Nathalie Joachim’s voice and electronics, snare drums, kick drum, crotales, glockenspiel bars, tuned pipes, and splash cymbal

Engineered, edited, mixed, and mastered by Matt Poirier.

Note to Self was co-commissioned for Sō Percussion by Andrew W. Siegel and Carnegie Hall. The world premiere was given by Sō Percussion in Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York City, on December 11, 2021.

This recording of Note to Self was funded in part by the Aaron Copland Fund for Music Recording Program.

From Nathalie:

Though I’ve spent much of my life trying to quiet my inner voice, for this work, I chose to focus on and explore the thoughts that occupy my headspace as a result of my chronic anxiety.

Note to Self, for percussion quartet and recorded samples of my voice, takes the listener through different phases of cyclical thoughts and states of being that I experience regularly. Composed in three short movements - Much More, Maybe, and Motivated - each preceded by its originating vocal interlude, this work examines the notion of having my inner voice embodied elsewhere, in an attempt to create new space for processing emotion. It also plays with repetition as an opportunity to bring new meaning, understanding, and perhaps some levity, to the language itself. Each movement is a reimagining of vocal incantations that, driven by imaginative, virtuosic, and whimsical percussion scoring, re-center and re-purpose my voice as a tool for healing.