DROPS OF CONSCIOUSNESS III

17 years ago I was injured in a car accident. The car in which I was riding crashed into a tree and I sustained a severe brain injury. As expected, the tree survived with only a little dent.

After a period of unconsciousness, I woke up into an unknown world. A whole new horizon opened up for me. Nothing was familiar and I began constructing my new existence. In medical terms I began a series of treatment; physical therapy, cognitive therapy, ocular therapy, and many other fancy names for therapies.

For me it was a journey of discoveries.

I refused to stay in a wheelchair.

I knew I would walk one day.

I knew that I will make music again.

Drops of Consciousness is the proof. This series of musical performances are the documentary of my new beautiful world. They document the mysterious and hidden worlds I discovered after the injury. The doors that were opened to me because of this unexpected collision with a tree revealed secrets and surprises I would not have been able to discover otherwise. A new perception of time and space. New sensitivity to sound, smells, colours and shapes. Love and touch became different and more meaningful. All that was labelled as "deficits" became the new building blocks of my new me.

I KNOW THAT I AM NOT THE INJURY.

The first two chapters in this series went deep into the periods of waking up, discovering what real breathing is and the quest for the meaning of language and verbal communication. In all the performances I used texts and poems I wrote throughout the years after my injury.

I was asked for so many times why I do not write a book about my recovery. I can not imagine how words could express the brightness of my inner crystal. Each performance makes it brighter and more precious. Music is limitless in its ability to express emotions. It is way better than words.

Part III in this series, which will be performed in June 1st 2010 at Roulette (20 Green Street New York City) is not as dark as the previous parts. Instead it is a celebration of my livelihood and happiness, of my confidence to flow freely in space in spite of my crutches, of my trust in my friends to be there when in need, and of being open to touch and to love.

For many years I have been fascinating with stone eggs. Lately I placed them on the piano strings and found a new and unbelievable beautiful sound world. I combine my love for electronic music with live music.

All my three performances resulted from collaborations with other wonderful artists.

In the first two performances I combined video and music. The third performance however combines movement and music. In a way it is more personal and intimate. It is a more explicit and lucid composition. The singer, Thomas Buckner, sings and reads words that are clear and loud. I used to be afraid of it, but now find it beautiful. There are also humorous parts. When your world is not in synch with the "real" world, funny things happen.

I invite you to join me in this celebration of life

June 1st 2010

Roulette: 20 Green Street, NYC

http://www.roulette.org/events/event.php/GUY10

Part II

Part II, will be performed once again by Roulette theatre on December 2, 2007. It begins where part I left off. Breathing becomes sound; intricate visions form words and thoughts. Part II also unveils the discovering of cognizance reality. A poem written by Noa Guy at an early stage of her recovery serves as the architectural form of the piece. It is performed in four different languages, reflecting the linguistic chaos, which by the end of the performance crystallizes into a mono-linguistic song. The visual experience that complements this piece feeds on the manipulation of typography and light along given frequencies that harmonize and contrast with the audio portion. The video offers the myth, or the idea, contained in each word above and beyond its literal meaning.

http://roulette.org/events/2007_12.html

Part I

Part I, which was performed at Roulette in NYC on November 30, 2006, oscillated around the tunnel that connected breathing and sound. Still photographs taken by Noa at a period of distorted visual perception, were brought to life alongside imagery produced by video artist Lio Spiegler, and projected simultaneously with the music.

Part I trailer

Drops of Consciousness- autobiographical series

Upon waking up in a hospital room, unaware of the days she lay in coma, Noa Guy’s first wish was to hear Beethoven’s string Quartet. Still oblivious to the hardships that lay ahead she was barely able to take in the music she had loved so much…

Ever since that fateful night on October of 1993, Noa guy has been trying to piece back her personal and professional life. Drops of Consciousness is the audio-visual diary of her recovery from a severe traumatic brain injury following a car crash. Each performance in the series represents one aspect of Noa’s healing process. It takes you through the tremors of being thrown beyond the limits of perception, emotions, feelings, and the composition of reality.

The narrative is non-linear and at times seem surreal to the outsider. The purity and pain of that first gasp for air mingle with the memory of the string quartet Noa wrote in 1993 to produce a fragmented aural imprint of her long journey. As the eyes get acquainted to the dim light, the estranged world that looked at her from the windows of her hospital room slowly leaks in. Bits and pieces of reality make up the visual memory of her ordeal and together, the seemingly incompatible become curiously inseparable.

DOC is collaboration between live music, digital manipulation, and visuals. Alon Leventon and Noa Guy improvise live, on stage. Noa generates all the sounds, by singing, breathing, playing acoustic instruments, as well as synthesizer. Alon picks the sounds that appeal to him in that moment and samples them on a computer. Using several dedicated music programs, he transforms the computer into a musical instrument. The result is a cathedral of sounds that is being built during the performance. The entire experience is complemented by close-to-real-time video sequences.

The weaving of auditory and visual inputs opens the door to a world of unique sensory experience, balanced on the thin sliver between solid reality and abstract self.

For show information please check

http://www.roulette.org/events/2007_12.html

Artist Bio

Born in Israel in 1949, Noa Guy studied in the theory department of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and continued to evolve privately and compose original pieces along with composer Abel Ehrlich. In the early 70’s Noa studied composition and electronic music with Boris Blacher in the Hochscule fur Musik in West Berlin.

She moved to Norway where she made two fantastic kids and continued her explorations. After returning to Israel in 1975 Noa worked with Karlheinz Stockhousen for three years, and took master classes with Luciano Berio and Milton Babbitt. After collaborating with Heinz Holiger, Noa received a scholarship from the Scola Cantorum in Basel to compose the electronic score that was later played with live performance by renowned English tenor John Potter in the Nettlefols Festival of Contemporary Music.

She later became sound artist for Ward Swingle on his visit to Israel. From 1985 until 1993 Noa was the musical director at the Jerusalem Music Centre (JMC), where she headed the master class program, and acted as sound engineer and assistant director to all the television productions of JMC. Throughout all these years Noa continued to compose and perform with international accolades.

In the early nineties Noa was invited to NY to work under the tutelage of Isaac Stern. In October of 1993, while driving her and a colleague to New York, Mr. Stern crashed their vehicle inflicting on Noa a severe head injury that changed her life. The resulting brain injury prevented Noa from traveling back to Israel and seeing her family. Worse yet for her, she was unable to play, listen to, or compose any new music.

After being consumed in her own rehabilitation process finding innovative ways to overcome her many physical and mental obstacles Noa Guy came back to the stage. The November 30th show in 2006 marked the first time this unusual musician breaks her long imposed silence.

Photograph by Joshua Strauss -joshphoto2000@yahoo.com-