Musing About Music in VoiceQuilts

More and more VoiceQuilt gift givers are adding songs or asking callers to include music. In fact, we’re seeing 4 key ways that music is used to create a VoiceQuilt:

1.) Add humor.
We hear lots of messages where friends invent new lyrics for familiar songs.
• Check out “the Dixie chicks” singing “Remember When” for a 50th wedding anniversary.
• Or, enjoy some lullabies from a Grandma – or even a rap.

2.) Capture a performance.
We often overhear piano, flute, tuba and violin renditions of “Happy Birthday” when VoiceQuilt Keepsakes are in quality testing.
• That said, there’s nothing quite like a toddler singing “You Are My Sunshine” or a family belting out “Jingle Bells”.
• We also heard many talented family musicians performing Broadway songs, hymns and college anthems.

3.) Elaborate On A Theme.

• Many 50th wedding anniversary VoiceQuilts include a song from the couple’s dating days. The gift giver googles something like “greatest hits of 1960” to get song ideas and then purchases the MP3 on Amazon. Or, they play the song in the background as they record their voice message.

• Get well VoiceQuilts often include prayers and favorite memories from friends – followed by inspirational music. More.

4.) Enhance Emotion.
• One Valentine gift giver recorded a romantic message and then uploaded love songs.
• Last week, an anniversary gift giver created a photo show with a soundtrack that combined VoiceQuilt messages and music.

Maybe Tim Westergreen, the Founder of Pandora, summed up music's emotional power best.

"When you’re young, music is a huge building block. Part of your identity is finding something you really love and can hold on to. It’s not only that it’s a soundtrack, it’s an exposition of who you are"

Quilting, Perfectionism and the VoiceQuilt Process

Amy Milne, Regina Carter and Jodie Davis

Amy Milne at the Alliance for American Quilts (AAQ) invited me to a live interview with Regina Carter, an award-winning quilter. The interview took place at the Georgia Quilt Show this past Friday where Regina was teaching classes and exhibiting some of her handiwork.

The interview was one of many conducted by the Alliance members across the country as part of a grass roots project called Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories. Thanks to this project, over 1,000 interviews with quilters have been transcribed and archived by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

VoiceQuilt is supporting the Alliance by donating services to quilters at the International Quilt Festival in Houston so they can record personal statements and comments about their quilts.

Even though I am not handy with a needle and thread, the interview with Regina was fascinating. She talked about the creative process, the women who taught her to quilt, and the quilting business she runs out of her garage. Regina shared the following poignant observation:

"The biggest challenge that quilters face is putting too much pressure on themselves to be “perfect”. Too many people curb their creative potential because they fear ruining fabric when learning a new technique.”

That fear of trying something new – because something might not be perfect (or even ruined) – isn’t a just quilting issue or a woman’s issue. It’s a human issue.

A few weeks ago a VoiceQuilt recipient stated that the favorite messages of her retirement VoiceQuilt were the “out takes”. (The gift giver included all the fumbling , bumbling messages -- the ones where people mis-spoke or got interrupted -- at the end of the VoiceQuilt playlist.) These messages weren't perfect...one reason they were so memorable.

With Regina and the VoiceQuilt callers in mind, I resolve to try MORE new things this week!

An Anniversary VoiceQuilt As Photo Show Soundtrack

Dave's Parents -- 50 Years Ago

Just heard from a VoiceQuilt gifter giver named Dave. He created a VoiceQuilt and used it as the soundtrack for a photo show at his parents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration.

“I was able to add photos (used the Ken Burns effect to give the photos motion) …and then had music playing below the VoiceQuilt track. Love that your service displays the duration of each message. I was quickly able to set the displayed photo's duration to match the message duration…..Mom and Dad were so surprised and grateful for this precious gift. Everyone who attended raved about the presentation. “

Dave’s one of a growing number of gift givers creating party entertainment – a photo show or video – by using a VoiceQuilt playlist of toasts, tributes and favorite memories as the soundtrack. There are more examples here.

Dave’s also an entrepreneur, the founder of RummageWisconsin.com. Check it out!

The Alliance for American Quilts, Oral History and VoiceQuilt

"Shattered" a quilt by Karen Musgrave on Alzheimer's disease.

For the past few years, a small but mighty non-profit called the Alliance for American Quilts has been partnering with Michigan State University Museum (MSU) and MSU’s MATRIX: Center for Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences Online to create a virtual museum or Quilt Index. This online museum includes photos of over 50,000 quilts. The Alliance for American Quilts also runs a project called Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories, transcribed interviews with quilters archived by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

In the words of blogger Betty Londergan

"The Quilt Index allows readers to log on and see a Tennessee quilt from 1850, then zoom in and compare it, stitch by stitch, with a quilt from Massachusetts from the 1950s. It’s like unlocking the treasures of every basement, attic, museum warehouse, and hope chest – along with the hearts of each woman (or man) who stitched these quilts together."

Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories (Q.S.O.S.) is a grassroots project. Anyone interested in recording the stories of local quilters can get started by downloading a free manual on the Alliance for American Quilts (AAQ) website here.

What’s not to love about a group that uses a seminal American Art form for storytelling and oral history?

VoiceQuilt supports the Alliance's efforts by donating services so that quilters with work on display at the International Quilt Festival in Houston can record personal statements and comments. And we’ll be making it easy for Quilt Festival attendees to call in their impressions and reactions to quilts like these. Stay tuned!

NPR, Precious Audio and VoiceQuilt

Last week, NPR did a segment entitled “Storing Treasured Memories On CD May Be Risky”. I had to tune in because VoiceQuilt’s mission is to capture and preserve voice-based toasts, tributes and favorite memories - for this generation and generations to come.

Sam Brylawski, the show guest, was co-author of a study entitled, "The State of Recorded Sound Preservation in the United States: A National Legacy at Risk in the Digital Age." During the segment, Mr. Brylawski expressed alarm at the “ephemeral” nature of digital audio.

He recommended that listeners save audio in multiple formats, especially flash memory and gold archive CDs.

He recommended that listeners take advantage of “digital repositories”.

Every VoiceQuilt keepsake box stores precious voice-based memories on the most stable media available: flash. In addition, every VoiceQuilt keepsake gift and mp3 download is preserved online in the VoiceQuilt Sharing center. Check out the toasts and tributes the Association of Personal Historians left for Studs Terkel – in honor of his 96th birthday - back in 2008.

Our lawyers advise us not to say “forever” but our hope is that VoiceQuilt's online sharing center serves as a safe deposit box for precious voice-based memories.