Spectral Spiral Music www.spectralvoices.com

The MusicMakers Academy 485 Hartford Road Manchester, CT 06040 (860) 646-3096 info@musicmakersacademy.com

f o r  i m m e d i a t e  r e l e a s e

The MusicMakers Academy kicks off First Community Concert,
presents Rare Singing Recital by Spectral Voices

Manchester, CT:  Saturday April 5, 2003 at 7 PM, The MusicMakers Academy, 485 Hartford Road, Manchester will host it's first community concert--a unique, rarely heard style of singing by the group, Spectral Voices. The concert features Jim Cole and Alan Dow singing ethereal, meditative harmonic overtones where each performer sings two or more notes at the same time. Similar throat-singing techniques have been used throughout history, as in the chants of the Tibetan monks. A talk and demonstration will follow the performance. To reserve tickets ($5 adults/under 18 - free), please call 860-646-3096 or e-mail: info@musicmakersacademy.com

The MusicMakers Academy and Spectral Voices join forces as a result from their mutual connection - Jim Cole's children, Emily and Amanda. The girls take private piano and violin lessons at MusicMakers. After lessons one day, Cole and Paula Penna, the director of MusicMakers, began talking about Cole's musical background. Penna was thrilled to meet someone who knew how to throat-sing. Penna had first heard of Tibetan chants using throat-singing to produce harmonic overtones while studying music at Manhattanville College in New York. A voice student there, Penna was stunned to learn that people could actually sing more than one note at a time. Penna states, "It was a real turning point in how I looked at music, what I thought music was all about. In "western" music, which we are all used to, there is a melody and a harmony. But, "eastern" overtone singing really shows us the nuances of every single note we hear. Listening to Spectral Voices is like discovering the difference between pink and rose for the first time - the magic is in the hues."

Penna is encouraging parents to bring their children to hear this concert, as it can launch a child's imagination, and open up their mind to new sounds beyond MTV, or for that matter, the New York Philharmonic. It will definitely be an experience that they will not soon forget, and can be used as a launching pad for discussion about science, music, art, and history. At the end of the concert, Cole and Dow will talk about the art of throat-singing, answer audience questions, and offer a demonstration. The audience will be encouraged to participate.

The MusicMakers Academy is a small music school with a big focus on community and quality. The MusicMakers Academy has been providing private and group music lessons, classes, and workshops for 7 years. In addition to voice, the 17 instructors also provide lessons in piano, violin, cello, guitar, bass guitar, drums, woodwinds, and brass instruments to about 200 students weekly. Students start young--special "Mini-MusicMakers" classes are even offered to newborns! And, the Academy is year-round; they offer a popular Summer Performing Arts Workshops for children ages 5-12.

Spectral Voices improvises soundscapes of subtle complexity and eerie beauty, using the space they are in as an instrument. Spare lyrical melodies and blossoming chords float in space, as the singers create serene, heartfelt and intense music for relaxation and meditation. Thus, they sculpt sound within their bodies to interact with outer spaces. Jim Cole & Spectral Voices' CD's Coalescence and Sky (both recorded in an empty water tower) and Jim Cole's Godspace have been heard on the syndicated programs 'Hearts of Space' and 'Echoes,' and on hundreds of stations worldwide.

"Jim Cole & Spectral Voices have become masters of ethereal singing...a sound extreme in both beauty and emotional character." - Chuck van Zyl, Host/Producer of "Star's End" on WXPN

"...unique, sublime, extraordinary and beautiful...an experience that relaxes the mind and body as it feeds the imagination." - M. Jeffrey Schmidt, Massage Magazine