Barnett, Bonnie

Barnett, Bonnie, American singer and composer; b. Chicago, May 2, 1947. She studied at the Univ. of 111. (B.S., 1968) and with Gaburo, Oliveros, and Erickson at the Univ. of Calif, at San Diego (M.A., 1972). She then moved to San Francisco, where she developed the TUNNEL HUM Project, a series of participatory vocal events taking place in acoustically interesting environments. A conducive tonality is established by a group of instrumentalists (E-flat major is used often); the participating hummers then improvise on that tonality, following a written process score. Since 1981 Barnett has produced 29 Hums in a variety of contexts, including two satellite-linked live national radio broadcasts (1983, 1984), a Houston subterranean shopping mall (1986), and Auto Hum, a live radio broadcast for car-commuter participation throughout Southern Calif. (1985). Her intent is to re-create the participatory pleasures of group vocalizations as a means of “tuning the world”; her Global Hum, part of the “Music and Peace” event sponsored by the World Phil. Orch. in Montreal, sent live singers in San Francisco worldwide through satellite broadcast. She was the recipient of a 1983 grant from NPR and a 1984 NEA grant. Since 1986 she has lived in Los Angeles, where she teaches privately and co-hosted the KPFK-radio program “Imaginary Landscape.” She also developed a more elaborate Global Hum and, eventually, an Intergalactic Hum.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire