mesh for two to four players
Each player chooses a sustained, spectrally-rich noise. The noise should be stable—its pitches/timbre/continuity should oscillate/break/waver minimally if at all—and it should have no clearly predominant pitch. The noise should have a wide volume range—over which it is audibly “the same” sound—and must be audibly distinct from noises chosen by other players. Noises may be acoustic or electronic. In the latter case, however, the means of controlling volume should be continuous, not discrete; handmade and/or lo-fi electronics are encouraged. Players alter noises’ volumes in two alternating ways: 1) Sustain: all players sustain their noises at a constant volume. 2) Transition: 10-30 seconds after the beginning of a sustain, any one player (only one at a time) may initiate a transition by changing volume in a gradual fashion, in two possible ways: i) If a player’s sound is softer than any other player’s sound, they may crescendo until audibly louder than that player; if louder, they may diminuendo until audibly softer. ii) During the piece, each player should proceed 1-2 times (in extremely long realizations, possibly more) from any volume to as loud as possible, and 1-2 times (in extremely long realizations, possibly more) from any volume to as quiet as possible. In concatenating the two transition types, avoid obvious morphological or durational patterning; there should occasionally be extended expanses of time when no player enacts transitions to as loud/quiet as possible. The next sustain begins once the change in volume stops. Vary rates of volume change—explore the space between moderately paced change and change so slow it is almost imperceptible. If 30 seconds elapse and no player has initiated a transition, the player who enacted the previous transition must perform the next transition. Otherwise, successive transitions should only rarely be executed by the same player. Calibrate volume levels so that no player is ever completely inaudible. Therefore, the indications “as loud as possible” and “as quiet as possible” should be interpreted in a context sensitive fashion and need not result in consistent decibel levels. The piece begins and ends with full sustain sections; the piece’s total duration is 20 minutes or (possibly much) more. Begin and end the piece by entering and cutting off precisely together, respectively. In the initial sustain section, players choose volume levels freely, making sure that all players are audible.
Colin Tucker August 2010 This piece is part of the work-series maps of disintegration and forgetfulness