About Name Music

I feel names are very special, even sacred. Hearing our own name spoken gets our attention, and hearing the name of a loved one or friend can evoke an image or recollection of that person. In some cultures a person’s name is considered to hold great power, and is used sparingly as a result. People sometimes take on or are given different names in different stages of their lives, or they acquire nicknames for various reasons. We identify people by their names, and use names to represent them and their special individual qualities.

chart: Mer Boel


Here’s the mapping system we use, in case you want to have your own compositional fun with creating Name Music. All of the pieces on the Pre-Release and Skinnydipping CDs were composed using this system. 		We have tried to capture that uniqueness and specialness in our Name Music compositions. I mapped the letters of the alphabet to pitches on the violin, so each piece is inspired by the series of pitches corresponding to the letters in the name. The compositions and performances recorded by my group Water Bear attempt to express some of the special qualities of that particular name and the people we know who have that name.

To purchase recordings and/or sheet music for Name Music pieces, please click here.


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