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After a whirlwind trip to Perth in October/November when I immersed myself in the sights and sounds of the city, I am excited to share a unique collaborative activity where you will be able to contribute to the creative process of Between the Desert and the Deep Blue Sea: A Symphony for Perth. Since the launch of our project, we have received some amazing sounds that represent the city to you, and I have had the opportunity to record some of my own along with the help of my colleagues at the Perth International Arts Festival. Since my return to the MIT Media Lab, my team and I have been hard at work processing all of this recorded material in order to share it with you in a special web app called CONSTELLATION, which has been enhanced especially for our symphony. From within the CONSTELLATION app, you can explore many of the Perth sounds that have been collected so far and then reshape, modify, morph, and personalize them to create a sonic version of the city and its surroundings that you like best. It has a truly fun – and, honestly, somewhat addictive – interface that lets you move the mouse over clouds of star-like dots to create “constellations” of beautiful sounds. These constellations are recorded, can be played back, and become your personal musical “score” made from this material. Using the Constellation app, you’ll find five very different “galaxies” of sound – Dry, Wet, City, Improv and Mix – in which to create your sonic trajectories.  Each category of sounds is quite distinct and was shaped by my recent experiences in Perth: Dry: Sounds from the hills, wheat country, mines, flies, crows…..all the good, the bad and the ugly from “dry Perth.” Wet: Ocean sounds from up and down the coast, plus rivers, fountains, and other lovely, fluid strains. City: A mixture as diverse as Perth itself (including some snippets from Fremantle Market). Improv: Snippets taken from improv sessions with local Perth musicians, from cello to clarinet, laptop to electric guitar, piano to didgeridoo, and more. Mix: A little bit of everything, all in one “constellation.” Please experiment with these different sounds and settings as much as you want. Everything that you create with the Constellation app will be considered for use in many sections of the piece, and I’ll be sure to let you know how and where it gets used over the coming weeks. You can also play with the “constellations” that other people have created by visiting the Score Gallery. And don’t forget to keep sending in your own audio recordings of your favorite sounds of Perth via our special SoundCloud account!  If you can send me sounds by January 10, 2014, it will be more likely that I will be able to include them in the symphony. I look forward to continuing our collaboration towards the premiere of Between the Desert and the Deep Blue Sea: A Symphony for Perth as the finale to the Perth International Arts Festival on March 1, 2014. Tod (from far-away and very cold, snowy Boston!)