THE SOUNDSCORE TO heartBEAT: A NARRATIVE-FORM MUSIC ...

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DAVID
Thank you.
KIM
As some of you know, heartBEAT began a little over two years ago, in Febmary of
'86, when David and I had agreed in principle to do a short, dramatic work linking music
and video. As I worked over the next several months on a script to present David with, a
number of ideas remained central. One was the simple phrase that served as the
cornerstone for this work: "Thoughts are cerebral gunshots." Another was the notion of
some kind of play or simple oscillation between opposites, such as between light and
dark, masculine and feminine, the commonplace and the extraordinary.
DAVID
Perhaps the most obvious central idea is a purely formal one. The flow of images
in heartBEAT is set within an overall structure that can best be described as musical.
There is a prelude, four movements (the "4 Thoughts"), a conclusion, and coda. Thus,
heartBEAT might be described as a "music drama," a "long-form" or "narrative-form
music video", a "mini-opera" or, since the look and feel of television is prominentiy
featured, a "television opera."
KIM
Anyway, I presented David with the script later that spring, and he agreed to
prepare the soundscore. In January of 1987, we taped heartBEAT in the watercolor
studio of the Art Building. We had temporarily transformed the room, between
semesters, into a television studio. It was there that some 50 of us spent 10 long
production days. And, in November of 1987,1 was able to present David with the final
edited version of heartBEAT for which he could, in earnest, begin to prepare a
soundscore. David, it is now your story.
DAVID
The soundscore to heartBEAT was prepared over a five month period at Broadway
Studios in Lubbock in a suite specifically designed for preparing audio for video. The
work is a pioneering effort in electronic synaesthesia, and attempts to engage the eyes and
ears simultaneously with a single aesthetic presentation.
KIM
Without making this sound too much like the academy awards, at least not just yet,
we'd like to thank a number of individuals who made this project possible. First of all,
I'd like to thank the Chairman of the Art Department, Terry Morrow, who provided
encouragement and the initial funding support of heartBEAT. We'd both like to thank the