Jewel Dirks

All the sounds you hear are from various pieces of frozen things around the farm, enduring a 30 below winter....  For notes about this set of pieces, click here.               ...

Soon after my first two dogs died of old age, my father died.  A thoughtful theologian, I doubt if he believed in a heaven, but somehow the title seemed ok....   I remastered this piece I wrote way back in 1994.  This used a...

A snipe is a bird which has the wonderful ability to soar down through the sky, making the air “winnow” through his tail feathers, producing a wonderful hu-hu-hu-hu-hu.  He will make huge loops over and over, supposedly to...

These three little pieces were written back in 1990 on my Ensoniq sampling keyboard with it's tiny 3 x 6 cm screen for the onboard recording sequencer.  (In other words--this was before my computer, Cubase, sound effect...

For a description of how and why I wrote this, please click on the three dots to the right of the title, Elk, then View Details....

Small Bites is a collection of little experimental bits which I'm hoarding for use in longer pieces.   For my notes on how and why I wrote this strange little Pretzel Focaccia, click here....

My greatest fear when I’m packing in wilderness areas is encountering a mountain lion.  I know how to avoid lightning, and am good at hanging my food to avoid bear encounters.  I don’t travel in highly populated grizzly...

When I was in the mountains I heard the most incredible coyote song.  It echoed across the mountain valleys I was camped above, and off the canyon walls.  Surely the coyotes knew what a wonderful place that was to sing.  All...

Nook the Magnificent Sheep was a 4-hour old bum lamb when he went to live with Savanah Salisbury, a young 4-H student.  For the first 6 months of his life, he lived in town, and became the darling of the neighborhood, going...

My sister, pictured here with rhubarb from her garden, tapped out a couple sounds on those rhubarb flower stalks for me.  All the sounds you hear in "The Rhubarb Run" are from that initial tapping (which you can hear in the...

I was reading an article about Arnold Lobel and his Toad and Frog books from The New Yorker by Colin Stokes when, strangely at the same time, my friend Mark sent me some sounds of frogs he had heard on a walk in his Iowa...

Repository of all the original sounds I recorded for sounds used in my music....

First I'll tell you about Janelle Pepper Chew (long), then I'll explain how I wrote these little pieces (short). I worked with Pepper in 1990-91 at Central Wyoming College.  She was Director of the TRIO Student Support...

All the sounds you hear are from recordings I made from my farm.  To see how I did that, plus see some fantastic pictures of my dear animals, click here....

This recently received the International Alliance of Women in Music Honorable Mention for the Pauline Oliveros New Genre Prize.  This is the Stand-Alone Version.  Click here for the Donkey Bray part for the Horn Version. You...

My friend Mark sent me some great sounds of trees rubbing against each other.  All the sounds you hear are created from what he sent me.  For more on how I wrote these, click here....

My nephew Stryde loves drifter cars.  For a treat, I created a series of songs based on noises of drifter cars.  For more on how I created the pieces, please click here.  ...

All the sounds you hear are from recordings I made of varioius toy cymbals and bells, with just the attacks in most cases.  Thinking my pieces were beginning to sound all the same, I decided to do a piece of just rhythms.  I...

All of the sounds  you hear are from my banging away on various irrigation pipes--mostly out of irrigation frustration!  Click here for more on how I did that, in addition to seeing some pictures of my little goat farm.  ...

All the sounds you hear are from a meadowlark call I recorded.  For more information on how I did that, click here....

All the sounds you hear are from a meadowlark I recorded.  For more information on how I did that, click here....

All the sounds you hear are from a tiny cymbal I have.  For a description of how I wrote these pieces, please click here....

These early (1990) pieces were composed on my EPS Ensoniq sampling keyboard, using only the sounds of Sprite pop cans jangling together, a small drum and a small tubular bell.  I used a small 4-track cassette tape recorder to...