Paula Matthusen · Composer

Umbrella Etudes began as an instructional tool and experiment, being written initially for participants in the (Un)Sound Projections (CHUM 298) seminar I was teaching at the Center for Humanities in Fall 2020. The simple text score invites people to participate in sharing sound memories and listening environments through recording, story telling, or simply by using one’s own imagination.

Realizing that the umbrella has so many creative powerful associations with it – ranging from the fanciful with images such as Mary Poppins to its use in recent days in political protest – the goal of Umbrella Etudes was to create a score anyone may realize if so compelled and to invite a sharing of space.

Any audio submitted as part of Umbrella Etudes was uploaded to a radio stream that continues to stream recordings made as part of this score, so that this space may continue to extend outward.

Umbrella Etudes also draws some influence from the playful and brilliant work of Paul DeMarinis’s Raindance (1998).