morass

morass for four to ten players Players play extended sequences of legatissimo glissandi.

• Alternate ascending and descending glissandi, with no break in pitch—and minimal rearticulation—between successive glissandi • Glissandi should last 1.5 to 5 seconds. Each player should frequently utilize this full range of durations.

• All glissandi should move at slow to moderate speeds. Each glissando should move at a constant speed throughout; successive glissandi may move at differing speeds.

• Avoid obvious patterning in creating sequences of glissandi: do not emphasize or extensively repeat pitches or durations. Where possible, change registral position frequently.

There are two circumstances (“pedals”) where certain rules outlined above may be broken: • Extended Glissandi: At some time during the piece, each player must play 1-2 extended glissandi. These should be 12 and/or 34 seconds in duration, and should mainly occur at slow speeds. Within the texture as a whole, the two possible lengths of extended glissandi should occur roughly equally.

• Sustained Tone: Once during the piece, after playing at least one extended glissando, each player must play a sustained tone 20 to 57 seconds in duration.

The sustained tone must be connected in pitch to adjacent glissandi. When choosing when to begin and end sustained tones, make sure that at least 1/3 of players playing at that moment are playing glissandi.

Within the texture as a whole, vary time intervals between instances of pedals; there should be occasional extended expanses of time where no pedals occur. At least once during the piece, multiple pedals should occur simultaneously. If multiple sustained tones occur simultaneously, avoid intervals of one or more octaves between them.

Pedals should never occur immediately adjacent to pauses (see below for mechanics of pauses).

Players are assigned places in a registral ordering, from low to high, which remains in effect throughout the piece. Players must maintain their assigned positions in registral space, above or below other players. Given players X, Y, and Z, assigned ascending places in the registral order, respectively, player Y’s pitch should never go above player Z’s pitch, and never below player X’s pitch; similarly, player Z’s pitch should never go below player Y’s pitch, while player X’s pitch should never go above player Y’s pitch. Note that registral ordering pertains to relative (higher vs. lower), not fixed, pitch positions.

For a significant portion of the piece, intervallic spacing between players should be close—close enough that players must frequently adjust glissando durations/speeds to avoid moving into other players’ registral space. At least once during the piece, spacing should widen considerably, such that the intervallic distance between top and bottom players is roughly twice that of close spacing.

To begin the piece, players enter one by one until three players are playing, after which players proceed normally. The piece may end at any time after each player has played their one sustained tone; to end the piece, players drop out so that only one player is left playing, and this player stops playing after a short while. When players enter at the beginning, and exit at the end, time intervals between entrances and exits should be irregular and should be 10 seconds or less; similarly, avoid obvious linear patterning in the registral order of entry and exit.

Throughout the piece, players may pause and re-enter freely, provided that two or more players are playing at any given time (excepting the beginning and end, the only circumstance where one player may play alone), and that each entrance is of a substantive length—at least 10 individual glissandi.

Avoid obvious durational patterning of entrances and pauses. Vary the number of players playing simultaneously so as to utilize the full spectrum between 2 players and tutti; within the piece as a whole, avoid emphasizing any one number of players playing simultaneously by according it significantly more time than other numbers.

Given players X, Y, and Z, assigned ascending places in the registral order, respectively, if player Y exits, players X and Z are considered registrally adjacent (X must not go above Z’s pitch, while Z must not go below X’s pitch) until Y re-enters. Y may re-enter on any pitch above X and below Z. Instruments should always be equal in volume. Instruments should be timbrally somewhat similar; timbres need not be identical but all instruments should blend into a relatively homogeneous texture.

Players should be arranged in a semicircle, in an order corresponding to their registral order.

Duration is at least 10 minutes.

Colin Tucker February 2010/rev. December 2015 This piece is part of the work-series maps of disintegration and forgetfulness