The Quotidian Shoe was composed in 2003 at the request of Elizabeth MacIsaac for the Continuum Consort with funds provided by the Canada Council.
“Everyday things represent the most overlooked knowledge. Quotidian things. If they weren't important we wouldn't use such a gorgeous Latinate word. An extraordinary word that suggests the depth and reach of the commonplace”–Don de Lillo (from Underworld)
I am fascinated by the depth of detail there exists in any given subject, and was inspired to make the words for this collection of songs having read Don de Lillo’s Underworld, one tiny part of which involves a dialogue between a teacher and student discussing the names of the parts of a shoe. I assembled the text from dictionary definitions of shoe parts and limited myself to the thirteen mentioned in the passage from Underworld. (This, sadly, meant omitting Backstay, Bodger, Foxing, Rand, Spat and Throat)