Instructions for the Recorder

1

Wait for the sleeper to fall asleep and begin to record once the snoring starts.

2

Whispers the description of what is happening to the sleeper's ear. Adjust the loudness of voice so that the sleeper stays asleep.

3

If the sleeper wakes up, stop the recording (and the description). If the sleeper stays asleep (or falls back to sleep), record until the end of the description.

4

Play back the recording to produce a duet of snores (live and recorded)while recording with a second recorder.

5

Repeat 3 and 4 to produce trios, quartets, quintets and so on of snores, either until (a) the sleeper cannot take it anymore and starts complaining, or (b) the recorder falls asleep, or (c) morning comes.

6

Edit the recordings, placing all the takes in the order they were recorded, one after the other.

7

For performance, play the entire recording, as loud as possible. Keep the venue as dark as possible to entice the audience members to join the sleep.

“...Take one, Friday, December 28, 2012, 2am.

I am recording your sounds while you sleep and describing to you at the same time about what I am doing, which you will only hear at some later time when you wake up.

I will continue to record and talk to you until the end of this description or until you wake up. If you wake up, I will wait for you to fall back asleep again.

Then, I will record the sounds you make as you sleep for the second time, while simultaneously playing back this first recording. This will thus be a duet.

I will continue to record and play back until the end of the first recording, or until you wake up.and so on and so forth, until morning comes.

Whether the piece ends up being a duet, a trio, a quartet, or any other form, along with the length of the piece, will depend either on how long you can stay asleep, or how long I can stay awake...”