ADAM FERGLER “...I want to know about the lull in the storm” in four parts (2009)
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Copyright Š 2009 Adam Fergler
Instrumentation and Duration There is no specified instrumentation. The piece may be played by any number of people. The four parts can be assigned to the performer(s) in any way. The score is divided into short sections, which are designed to aid coordination and help to maintain structural proportion. Each section is marked out by a horizontal beam above each system. Every section is assigned a duration expressed as a number. This number should be understood as a multiple of a single basic unit. The length of the basic unit (i.e. the length of ‘1’) is at the discretion of the performer(s). A simple scale to use is 1 unit = 1 second, but any other scale is equally feasible.
General Notation Styles Passages notated on staves should be read in any clef commonly associated with the instrument(s)/voice(s) assigned to the part. The pitches on the staves can be read at concert or transposing pitch at the discretion of the performer(s). Not every performer has to arrive at the same decision. Clefs used can change from passage to passage, but the decision to read the notes as transposing or at concert pitch must remain constant throughout. Any pitches out of range can be transposed by an octave ad libitum. The score makes use of graphic notation with varying degrees of implied specificity. The performer(s) should decide how to interpret these passages and how to translate what they perceive as differing levels of specificity. For instance, a diagonal line may be interpreted as a general pitch contour, dynamic envelope, change in pressure, as indicative of the distance between performer and instrument, etc. Whereas groups of horizontal lines extending from the numbers 1-5 might indicate sounding pitches in a pentatonic scale, the placement of fingers on the instrument, shifting between differe nt shades of the same tone, etc. However the performer(s) decide to interpret the graphic notation the approach(es) should remain consistent within each part – the same method of interpretation should be used every time a particular type of graphic notation appears. With the exception of coordination instructions (see below), all notational ‘directions’ apply only until the end of each section. For instance, part I is solo in in page 7’s second section. Parts II, III and IV stop at the end of the page’s first section and re-enter in the third.
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Coordination The degree of coordination between performers changes throughout the score. In many cases coordination of sounds is optional. In other cases the performers are specifically instructed to abandon any methods of coordination and continue independently or, conversely, to synchronise events (sometimes to the point of being quasi-metred). In all cases, the performers, individually or as a collective, must be aware of the timings of each section and be ready to move on (i.e. have sounded all their ‘notated’ material) in the time-frame indicated. A coordination instruction subsists until another appears. Additional instructions on levels of coordination are written in the score as appropriate.
Dynamics An x indicates an unspecified dynamic. This instruction subsists until another dynamic indication appears. Decrescendos marked ‘natural’ indicate that the sound should decay naturally. Where an instrument or voice is capable of sustaining a sound indefinitely these decrescendos should be treated as obviously different to those not marked ‘natural’ (what the difference is and how it works will have to be figuredout by the performer(s) on a case-by-case basis). Decrescendos not marked ‘natural’ should generally be considered forced and/or artificial. A crescendo on a single sustained note may be executed as a roll or tremolando where necessary. Dynamic hairpins with a small circle at their point indicate that the sound should crescendo from silence/diminuendo to silence. The relationship between dynamic obligations and other concerns should be carefully considered. For instance, where a ‘natural’ decrescendo is notated some pitches, registers and performance techniques might not be appropriate.
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Programme Note “…I want to know about the lull in the storm” is an open instrumentation work whose score incorporates open and graphic notation elements. The idea was to write a piece equally well-suited to any ensemble and to encourage performers to engage with, celebrate and question their performance medium, whatever that may be. The score is not completely ‘open’ – there are relationships to be upheld. The performer(s) have to find ways of navigating the notation and their instrument(s) in a way that conveys these relationships. For instance, sections of music are labelled ‘coordinated’ or ‘uncoo rdinated’. How does the musical fabric break apart (or diversify) into a field of independent sounds? How does this field come together again? These are all decisions for the p erformer(s), guided by directions and suggestions in the score. The interaction between interpretative exploration and the sequence of score events lends itself equally well to an organically evolving performance and a regulated, systematic one. Time and again I’ve been fascinated by the way interpreters have discovered movements in the music’s limbs and reflected this in their performances. Soloists have acted out balletic dramas with their assembled company of individual fingers, arms, legs and instrument parts ; ensembles have twisted and uncoiled as a bound group of individuals, like branches of a tree each blowing separately in the wind giving the whole, unified organism an ever-shifting shape. The title for the work comes from composer and trombonist Radu Malfatti: “What’s needed is not faster, higher, stronger, loud er – I want to know about the lull in the storm”.
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