On The Shoulders Of Giants: The Isaac Newton Project

This musical initiative aims to engage the artistry and creativity of all the participants in nurturing an “ecosystem” of versions of the song material. Imagine a song that’s hundreds of years old, and which has spread throughout the world as cultures expand, travel, grow. There would be hundreds of different versions, each representing different musical values and cultural priorities.

The Isaac Newton Project aspires to this level of diversity and variety.

Here’s how it works.

The original song material is a simple melodic setting of a quotation from Sir Isaac Newton. The great scientist’s words are:

“I don’t know what I may seem to the world, but as to myself I seem like a boy playing on the seashore; diverting myself, now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

(As Sir Isaac’s collaborator, I changed “boy” to “child” in the interest of greater inclusivity.)

Here is a little video of me singing the three basic parts of the song:

Introduction to the song material

Here is a version of “Shoulders of Giants” built around the backing tracks recorded in July 2023. During that session several vocalists and a saxophonist were present to record their versions of the material (thus allowing me to create preliminary mixes as a proof of concept). In this version, the A section is taken at 110 bpm, the B section at 195 bpm, and the C section at 60 bpm. Featured vocalists in the A section are Zion Dyson and Deeptha Ganesh, in the B section is Warren Senders, and in the C section is Sunniva Brynnel (whose harmonized antiphony was recorded in Sweden).

Participants:

Brian Shankar Adler

Seshie Adzekpo — Ghana

Chihiro Asano

Andrew Barr

Brad Barr

Jason Belcher

Samm Bennett

Sunniva Brynnel

Adrian Chabla

Zoe Christiansen

Anaar Desai-Stephens

Jonathan Dimond

Zion Dyson — Boston, MA, USA — vocals on various tracks

Maria Ferrante

Rob Flax

Deeptha Ganesh — Boston, MA, USA — Vocals on various tracks

Russ Gershon

Steve Gorn

Jordan Hadrill

Donald Heller

Leslie Helpert — Barcelona, Spain

Jodi Hitzhusen

Bill Homans “Watermelon Slim”

Ian Howell

Lily Honigberg

Heather Dea Jennings

Apoorva Deshpande

Lysander Jaffe

Kailas Joshi — Pune, India —

Max Kennedy

Chaitanya Kunte — Pune, India —

Utsav Lal — Brooklyn, NY — Piano parts on all backing tracks

Emiliano Lopez

Tom Macdonald — Boston, MA, USA — Drumset parts on all backing tracks

Heather Masse

Zach Meyer — Saxophone improvisations on various tracks

Sophie Michaux

Josh Mizruchi

Nick Morrison

Stephanie Munoz

Samarth Nagarkar

Ranjani Ramachandran

Mukta Raste — Mumbai, India —

Mac Ritchie — Carlisle, MA, USA — Oud and percussion parts on all tracks

Mike Rivard — Boston, MA, USA — Electric bass parts on all tracks

Gina Sala — Portland, OR, USA —

Rudi Seitz — Boston, MA

Warren Senders — Medford, MA, USA — Composer, facilitator. Vocal, guitar, and percussion parts on various tracks.

Vijaya Sundaram — Medford, MA, USA — Vocal and guitar parts on various tracks

Sharada Sundaram-Senders — Medford, MA, USA — vocals on various tracks

Isaac Taylor

Willy Schwarz — Bremen, Germany — 2 santoor parts (A section, 115 bpm), 2 bowed psaltery parts (B section, 180 bpm), 2 accordion parts (C section, 60 bpm) and 1 dousso’n’goni part (C section, 60 bpm)

Anupam Shobhakar

Benjy & Heather Wertheimer

Dee Wood

Mona Yamazaki Sangesland

These artists will record their own versions of the song material, backing/accompaniment parts, or various improvisations. These can be done with the backing tracks I recorded at Wellspring Sound in May 2023 — but alternative versions are welcome and desired! The goal is to compile a “library” of widely diverse renditions of the core material.

If you are interested in participating, please leave your email address in the comments and I will send you a download link for the sound files.

The second phase of the project is to combine and recombine these submissions. Anyone with audio editing software (GarageBand, ProTools, Logic) can create their own remixes of the material, and all of these will be featured on this page.