The Rea Family’s Square Dance Caller Tones

Tim Rea’s been a square dance caller for 34 years. He’s been performing since he was ten–it’s a skill that runs in the family. “The talent came naturally to him. He started calling when he was six, pretty much at his mother’s feet,” another family member told me.

This is Marilyn Rea, Tim’s mother, an artist and a fiddle and mandolin player. She’s also a square dance caller, “a real treasure in this region,” I was told, by folks who made recommendations to me about what Pittsburgh sounds like musically. “It’d be really great if you could get Marilyn to make some square dance caller tones for the project.”

When I spoke with Marilyn Rae about the possibility, she demurred and suggested we record her son Tim instead, “He’s really a much better caller than I am.” And since the opinions and wishes of my community collaborators are an important part of this public art project’s design, I told Rae I’d be delighted to record her son.

Early this May I headed down to the Armstrong County League of Arts where the dances are as complicated as the caller makes them. Every first Friday of the month, October through May of each year, three generations of the Rea family perform in the band at the League’s Hoe Down Square Dances. Tim Rea calls and sings; his mother Marilyn plays fiddle and mandolin; and Tyler, Tim’s son, plays rhythm guitar. The band also features T.J. McLaughlin on bass and Shirley Woodside on electric keyboards.

Before the dance that night officially started, the band performed a set of three songs to be recorded as tones. This series documents three generations of talent and tradition within the Rea Family. And these are the first tri-generational tones in the project, so I’m thrilled to include them. First up is the Bullytown Tone, a square dance call that conveys the high energy and a range of Tim Rea’s square dance caller vocal techniques. Next up is the Lonesome Pine Tone–a tone that conveys the energy of the dancers–you can hear at least one dancer clap rhythmically. The last is the Pistol Packin’ Tone–I wanted at least one tone to feature the instruments. In this track you can hear me picking up Marilyn Rea’s fiddle and Shirley Woodside’s keyboard when I stroll past them with my boom microphone.

Thanks to Marilyn Rea for allowing Locally Toned to come and record some tracks for the project. Additional thanks to Tim Rea and the rest of the band for generously performing their hearts out before the dance started so I could record “clean” audio. And here’s to Bill and Lori Headley who thoughtfully invited and included myself (and my girlfriends in tow) to join in on the square dance–they gave us fast and furious lessons before we headed out on our trail (back to the city of Pittsburgh).

Personal thanks to pals Jen Morris and Sue Abramson for making the fun journey with me that evening, and to community ringtone collaborator and photographer Heather Mull, who accompanied us on our ringtone recovery mission, skipping the dancing to document the audio field recording session with her most excellent eye (and photographic equipment)! Mull’s beautiful photos are below, and the videos she shot will be part of a Locally Toned video project (to be completed by this year’s end).

Heather Mull’s Buddhist Chant Ringtones Featuring Bhante Maithrie and Bhante Pemaratana

Music industry ringtones? Bah, humbug!

How about some Buddhist Chant ringtones?

Locally Toned has some now, thanks to Ms. Heather Mull–a gifted photographer who lives and works in Pittsburgh. I’ve known Heather for years (as a friend and through my previous work as a media literacy specialist at Pittsburgh Filmmakers). Late this summer she wrote in to Locally Toned saying, “What would you think of some Buddhist Chant Ringtones?”

Heather travels to Natrona Heights, PA, each Wednesday evening for group meditation at the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center (a Theravada Buddhist temple). When I told her I thought Buddhist chants would make wonderful ringtones, she checked in with the monks, Bhante Maithrie and Bhante Pemaratana, to see if that’d be possible. They graciously agreed to contribute some chants to the project.

To me, these tones reflect the ever-expanding cultural and ethnic diversity of the Pittsburgh region. They’re also a fresh approach to conceptualizing content for (extra-ordinary) ringtones. After we finished recording the chants, Bhante Pemaratana said, “So this means that when someone’s phone rings, one of our chants, such as A Wish for World Peace could play?” Yes, Bhante–even when you are not there to sing it. These chant tones also expand the range of language included in the project–some of the Buddhist tones are in Pali (language of the earliest extant Buddhist scriptures), and others are in Singhalese.

Bhante is a term of respect that means master teacher–and now I should introduce you to the monks. Both are from Sri Lanka, and have been in the US for 14 months. They were invited by the Buddhist Association and Friends of Buddhism in Western PA.

Photo by Heather Mull

Bhante Maithrie is the elder monk.  He noted, via translation, that he is quite happy in the United States. He enjoys the programs that the center runs, but says he’s a little different here, “quite unlike the way I am in Sri Lanka–I’m much quieter here,” he joked. Bhante Maithrie speaks less English than Bhante Pemaratana, but he continued, through translation, “It’s a much smaller [religious] community here, and so it’s a quieter life. I’ve found that the people here are good and kind.”

Bhante Pemaratana also mentioned the “openness and welcoming nature of the people” in the Pittsburgh area. This fall, he begins work on his PhD in religious studies at the University of Pittsburgh. He’s very excited about that.

Photo by Heather Mull

The first 4 tones are in Singhalese–also Singhala–a native language of Sri Lanka.  The last three are sung in the native language of Pali.

Buddhist Chant Tones

“Namo”/Homage to the Buddha–the most commonly used chant to pay homage to the Buddha. Sung by Bhante Pemaratana.

Reflection on the Qualities of the Buddha. Sung by Bhante Pemaratana.

Excerpt from Loving Kindness Chant sung by Bhante Pemaratana.

Salutation to the Buddha or Praising the Buddha sung by Bhante Maithrie

13th Century Poem in Singhalese (or Singhala, a native language of Sri Lanka) sung by Bhante Maithrie.

Wish for World Peace (Buddhist Chant) in Singhala “May the craving for the power in the people’s mind go away. May the people understand the goodness of the human mind.” Sung by Bhante Pemaratana.

Common Buddhist Chant–a short verse with four types of meditation. Sung by Bhante Maithrie and Bhante Pemaratana.

Thanks to Bhante Maithrie and Bhante Pemaratana for this very original contribution to the project and to Heather Mull for the introduction to the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center (and for taking some photos while I recorded the Buddhist tracks)!

Six Penn Kitchen Tones

Keith Fuller, Executive Chef at Six Penn Kitchen

I went straight to my friend Heather Mull, principal photographer for Table Magazine with the question, “Where could I get some good kitchen tones?”  Her suggestion:  Keith Fuller, Executive Chef at Six Penn Kitchen.  Keith was up for it.

Why did I want to include kitchen tones in the project?  To try and capture the sound of this hard, on-you-feet-all-day work, and (some of the) language shared in kitchens that occurs most often behind the scenes.  In short, I wanted to pay a tribute to this work force.  Being a table server helped put me through film school post-college.  Working at restaurants helped to expand my cooking skills and develop my palate for good food and wine.  Such experiences also clued me into the sometimes volatile, often exhausting and fast-paced work that went on in restaurants (often hidden from customers).  I liked doing physical work, too.  Most shifts passed quickly, the money was a good deal better than doing something like office temping, and I have some lovely memories of sharing meals with restaurant worker comrades.

These tones are dedicated to kitchen and restaurant staff (even though a restaurant person might never want any of these tones on their phones–mostly you just want to forget about the intensity of such work when you’re off duty).  But perhaps the tones will make helpful alert signals to be set for pesky restaurant coworkers who have that habit of calling you at the last minute to cover a shift for them.

Keith Fuller became the Executive Chef at Six Penn Kitchen last year.  When I asked him if he’d ever use one of these tones on his phone, he said, “It’d be a cool alarm–if I wanted to have nightmares…”  Aside from running the restaurant, Keith hosts “Iron Chef” dinners at his house as to help garner charitable contributions and encourage people to support and learn more about local organizations like PASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture) and Grow Pittsburgh.

Keith invited me to come down and record audio for ringtones during a Sunday brunch.  Yikes. “While you’re working?” I asked.  Let it be noted here that the experience was challenging and stressful for a sound recordist–no opportunities for second takes, I didn’t want to get in any body’s way, etc.

Kato Pittman

I’m grateful to these gentlemen working that day in the back of the kitchen–Kato Pittman, Chris Bialas (a.k.a. Tom Copperpot, he asked me to note), and table server Tom Kruiz for their laborious audio contributions to this tone series, and to Dave Kreul, Line Cook and Kitchen Manager, and Night Closer, Chad Scott (a.k.a. Thachad “The Man”) in the front of the house.  Trying to capture audio from my source, Keith Fuller, was beyond my expertise and equipment’s ability.  When he’s working, that man moves and talks fast.

Chris Bialas

Front of the House

Here’s my personal favorite from the Six Penn Kitchen recording session, a tone involving the shaking of small metal ramekins once they’ve come out of the dishwasher, with Kato Pittman saying, “I got it!”  The others follow.

“I Got It!” Kitchen Worktone

Plates and Pans

Bottles and Plates

Front Kitchen Quichetone