The Dancing With Cats Album
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Dancing With Cats Album The Dancing With Cats Album |
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The Dancing with cats album
music by David ParsonsBracketed numbers next to track titles refer to
page numbers in the book, Dancing with Cats
Track 1 — Cycat
3:08
(28,68,69)
A strong beat interspersed with sudden fragmented episodes from a wide range of feline intensities provides an unusually compelling sound that surges through us to create a potentially turbulent yet highly energized relationship with our cats a relationship at once charged with tension yet deeply absorbing and satisfying on a higher vibratory plane. Ideal for those who wish to pursue a passionate relationship with their cats through the dance. ( Dogs often react badly to this piece and it is unwise to play it in their hearing.)
Hear a short soundbyte of this track (366K)Track 2 — Pre-dance with Burton Silver
14:49
A guided introduction from Burton Silver, author of Dancing with Cats. In his introduction, Silver provides a brief overview of cat dancing and takes us through a simple pre-dance energy aligning, purring exercise.
Track 3 — Invocation to the Dance
4:28
(19,31,52)
Here we find a slow spacious grandeur beautifully interwoven with a deeply peaceful austerity which speaks to us of higher realms a kind of glazed feline hauteur which immediately sets it above and beyond our human limitations, yet invites us to share in a new cosmic reality. Inspirational cat cries and sonorous purring combine with a descending cascade of bell-like notes which are repeated over and over to create a sense of enlarging peace and deep feline quietude. Highly recommended for pre-dance energy-aligning exercises and slow dances .
Hear a short soundbyte of this track (458K)
Track 4 — Sassy Cat
5 — Freeline
7:10
(46,47)
Both purr and meow are masterfully combined in this lively cat-chi piece to produce a radical new sound that captures the very essence of the sassy cat. It is this sound source that not only represents the kernel of hip feline nonchalance, but at times appears to contain rudiments of human language forms, immediately suggesting the exciting possibility of a meaningful dialogue. But the overall mood is one of fun and frivolity with jaunty purr-beat and other kittenish rhetoric hiding cheekily between the notes and leaping out when we least expect it. Ideal for extended energy-building dance sequences.
Hear a short soundbyte of this track (275K)
10:57
(6,33,43)
A deeply moving evocation of the inner cat that has the power to unite us with our core energy as we gently descend purr by purr, then note by note (two for each of the seven chakras), into the harmonic essence of being. Here the cat calls with long remembered suffering and we respond, as we must, to become one with it and build the vibration that begins to surge with a new life-giving rhythm. Perfect for those wishing to move through from a peaceful mutual purring exercise into an invigorating trance dance.
Hear a short soundbyte of this track (397K)
6 — Primal
8:16
(9,50,51)
This is a more up-tempo number with staccato mewing and deep vibratory structures reminiscent of primitive man and early cat. Sudden feline yowls that surprise with their intensity, suggest the genesis of primeval passion and are at once transforming enabling us and our cats to express and dream. Small, contained movements work well with this music, allowing the energy to build and intensify before releasing it spasmodically with sudden whole body gestures that can excite and invigorate. Some cats may respond aggressively.
Hear a short soundbyte of this track (275K)
7 — Om Cat
4:33
(74,76)
Om Cat invites us to enter an enchanted world of shimmering waters and lofty trees that resound with bird song and the distant cries of feline yearning. We glide unhindered through this transcendent land on a celestial vessel powered only by slow nourishing purr-strokes that move us within and beyond. Experiments have shown that cats are especially attracted to the tanpura (a four stringed Indian drone instrument) which has been utilized as the fundamental sound source on this track. As the music contains examples of elongated cat vocalizing, in which the cat attempts to reach the fundamental pitch of the tanpura, this composition may stimulate your cat to "sing" along. To encourage this, slowly whirl with your cat in a strictly clockwise direction in keeping with the cyclic nature of the drone.
Hear a short soundbyte of this track (397K)
8 — Purrmutations
5:06
(62,63)
With rich sonorities of tone and seraphic lines of melody, Purrmutations draws our movements and energies out and extends them along exquisitely vibrant lines of graceful expression. The deep resonant purring, which is played almost alone in the middle section, provides its own compelling musicality that surges through us like some deep elemental force and creates an abiding sensuality. For the cat it likely represents the archetypal sounds of the mother cat and evokes early memories of contented kittenhood. Many cat dancers find this piece of music perfectly suited to entirely prone dancing which replicates the more languid rolling modes of floor-based feline expression.
Hear a short soundbyte of this track (214K)
9 — Katchama
6:23
(87,88)
Influenced by the musical techniques of the Himalayan Katchama mystics, this music is heavily nuanced with intricate feline melodies and should be used with discretion. Ancient subliminal sound structures which use Tibetan cat-bells, bird-blocks and the sarangi have been included and may cause some cats to enter a trance-like state. If, after repeated playing, your cat displays actions that are totally out of character or if you notice a subtle change in the color of its eyes (in particular a slightly reddish hue) then you should stop the music immediately and play "Purrmutations" in order to bring it back to its own reality.
Hear a short soundbyte of this track (488K)
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