The Sonic Memorial Project

Tayloe Skelton reads a poem he wrote after 9/11.

Tom O'Riley's band wrote a song, Land of the Free, in response to 9/11.

Songwriter and teacher Liza DiSavino wrote a song on 9/11 about her experience of watching the towers from her New Jersey school 12 miles away.

Richard West's father was among the workmen who helped build the WTC and died during its construction from asbestosis. West wrote a piece of music, Twin Towers Suite, and a poem, While the City Sleeps, about 9/11.

Jazz pianist Jay D'Amico played at the Windows on the World bar from 1984 to 1993 and has released an album called From the Top.

Atilla Akgun describes how he saw the sun set twice during a visit to the WTC. First, he watched it sink below the horizon from a lower floor, then he ran to the elevators and rode up to the top of the building to watch it set again.

James McDovett recommends a work by Dmitry Shostakovich to help ease suffering.

Floridian Robin McCrae visited the WTC with her family in July 2001 and has videotape from their elevator ride. They were especially impressed with the Welcome to Our World sign at the top. She remembers everybody ooh-ing and ahh-ing.

Photographer Neil Selkirk began filming the scene on Christopher Street near St. Luke in the Fields Church half an hour after the planes hit.

Sheila Massatt received several voicemails from her mother describing the events of 9/11 as they happened. Her mother was reminded of the news broadcasts during the Hindenburg disaster.

David Weintraub suggests that the spoken word collection at the Rodgers and Hammerstein Theatre Library might contain something about the reaction to the construction of the WTC.

Composer Uli Geissendoerfer recorded his feelings on piano after witnessing 9/11 from Brooklyn and plans to make a documentary. He put objects inside his piano to create the music's eerily broken effect.

Blind songwriter Donna Hill wrote several songs after 9/11. One was based on Dan Rather crying during his interview on the Late Show with David Letterman, and another was about the Statue of Liberty.

Musician Tom Monte and his wife cowrote an R&B gospel song called Phoenix about 9/11.

Tom Van Buren is the director at the Center for Traditional Music and Dance near Ground Zero. He produced events at the WTC and has a tape archive.

Ann Flax, who was born in NYC, was working downtown in 1989. She remembers buying two cassette tapes of Andino music near the WTC and attending outdoor concerts at the WTC at lunchtime. To her, those sounds will always be associated with the WTC.

Shirley Velazquez talks about the voicemails she received on 9/11 from her boyfriend, who is a New York EMT, as well as from her mom and a friend.

Mary Carswell wrote a story about being in the ash-covered downtown New York after 9/11.

Folk music event director Lorne Clarke from Pennsylvania describes the blind songwriter Donna Hill, who sang about Dan Rather and the news.

Brandon Perrault, an elementary music teacher in New Mexico, wrote a song called "The Twin Towers," which the schoolchildren like.