44691 (let that grace now) - electronic collage by Mya Vandegrift

‘44691 (let that grace now)’ is a collage of sounds from my hometown, Wooster, Ohio. Most of the recordings are of the voices of my family and friends laughing, singing, talking, storytelling, praying, and playing music.
Included are:
The sounds of a wildflower meadow in the countryside with Lily swatting a bug away
The rain the night my friends left for college
The opening phrases of a string quartet I wrote about the sun in Ohio
Fran playing piano on an out of tune upright
Pam teaching Aaron how to cook
Marlene playing guitar and singing the hymns we both grew up with
Fran telling the story of her and Bob’s first date
Rilee discussing Dianne’s hair color
Fran and Bob praying and laughing
My high school orchestra playing my first full orchestra piece
The time I failed singing one of John’s compositions
Fran talking about Anna
The first demo of my single, Your Faces

When I think of Wooster, I think of the beautiful countryside I grew up on, and the voices of the people who made it home. It’s rarely big, complete memories of events. It’s the dialogue, timbre of laughs, noise of outdoor evenings, and slips of expletives and other silly comments that make this place human and home. This piece is representative of the small moments we remember from places we call home, and how we carry these pieces with us, eventually creating an internal collage of people, places, and things that have shaped us. I consider myself very lucky to have grown up in this lifetime and place with these people.