I
CAN
ALMOST
SEE
THE
LIGHTS
OF
HOME

Discerning form in Hardy and Portelli's essay-in-sound, "I Can Almost See the Lights of Home"

  • Difficulties of Leaving Print Media
     In the essays written by Hardy and Portelli about their piece, they note the difficulties in traversing media and constructing a work that is essentially an essay done in a new way, i.e. in stereo. Hardy notes that in order to use an old structure in a new way, new elements must be added. Unlike This American Life, the piece on Harlan County could not be driven by a single character as it was the focus of the piece that it represented the entirety of Harlan County citizens. However, by adding a common thread among the people of Harlan County, their music, Hardy and Portelli were able to use the stories of individuals in conjunction with the music common to so many of them to make the piece representative of a group and come to life for listeners.


  • Using Sound and Music

    • In making a piece about a place and a culture of a people, music is always helpful in appreciating what it is that a culture values or appreciates. In the case of Harlan, emphasis was placed on the importance of home and friends and family, such as Home Up in the Hills and I Can Almost See the Lights of Home. Hardy and Portelli also recorded sounds frm the natural environment- crickets chirping, people laughing and talking, and the sound of June bugs as dusk fell. These sounds became to the essay in sound what the QUAD or quadruple spacing is in print media. It was a break, a time for reflection on what the piece meant ( as Ira Glass says is so key) and a segue into the next piece, without seeming hurried as would have been contrary to the nature of Harlan County. Also the natural sounds and the music werte important in discerning how this was in fact, an essay in SOUND and had not come diurectly from print media.

  • The Form of I Can Almost See the Lights of Home

    • The form of I Can Almost See the Lights from Home vaguely follows the sequencing as Ira Glass set it forth in talking about This American Life. You can see this in the following dissected "sequence"from the beginning of the essay.

    Music: I Can Almost See the Lights of Home

    music fades back in order that the listener can hear the speaker, yet continue to consider the music

    Introduction of the host Alessandro Portelli

    music returns at full volume in order that the listener might reflect on what he is about to hear

    music fades again as a local of Harlan County talks about the meaning behind the words

    ------

    Chapter 1: My Home Up in the Hills

    Music: My Home Up in the Hills

    again the music fades back in order to

    discuss the history of the area and of Kentucky with a small child

    music fades up and then back again

    Local relates stories about living in Harlan County and home remedies for asthma

    musical fade in and out

    Discussion of what it means to be a hillbilly

    music...

     


    Mary Templeton
    09.12.01