Without Words [excerpt]

1

Aaron Einbond

Without Words (2012) fĂźr Sopran, elf Instrumente und Elektronik for soprano, eleven instruments, and electronics

Partitur • Score

eg 2183LM

WITHOUT WORDS for soprano, eleven instruments, and electronics

AARON EINBOND 2012 duration ca. 15 duration 17 minutes minutes

written for Dal Niente This piece was made possible by a grant from the Fromm Music Foundation of Harvard University Instrumentation Bass flute in C English Horn in F, with filter paper (to prepare the low B and C toneholes) Contrabass clarinet in B-flat (metal), with paper (32 lb. / 90 g) and plastic (sturdy report cover), shaped to rest loosely over bell or attached with tape, prepared to vibrate freely when lowest note is played.

Alto / Baritone Saxophones in E-flat Percussion: Large Bass Drum (may be muted with cloth to reduce low resonance) Marimba (5-octave) prepared with metal knitting needles lying horizontally over keys C2-F2 (chromatic).

1 Crotale (D6) Waldteufel with paper clips, coins, reibestock (wooden rasped stick), rute (hot rod stick), hard rubber mallet, contrabass bow, and wire brush.

Electric guitar (amplified with output placed near instrument) scordatura prepared with 2mm bamboo knitting needle woven between the strings near the bridge, with a piece of rubber (cut from a bicycle inner tube) Ad lib. the guitar may be placed on a table.

Piano, with wooden bar (with cloth-wrapped edge to dampen strings), wooden pencil, glass guitar slide, superball mallet, wire brush (percussion mallet), Blu-tack (to prepare strings D6 and A7-C8) metal knitting needles (to prepare strings A0D2), heavy paper (to dampen strings C#4-D#4), and battery-powered electric fan (with soft flexible blades and motor that can be switched on and off as quietly as possible, or another similar vibrating object may be substituted).

Soprano voice, with metal police whistle, metal kazoo, ceramic coffee mug, large cardboard poster tube, spring drum, and plastic grocery bag.

Violin scordatura: G string tuned down as low as possible (almost completely losing tension, sounding below C2). prepared with 2mm bamboo knitting needle woven between strings s.p.

Viola, with hard plastic plectrum Violoncello scordatura: C string tuned down to A-flat 1.

Contrabass (4-string with C-extension) scordatura: C string tuned down one 8va. with paper (heavy coffee filter) and aluminum foil, to be prepared between the string IV and fingerboard s.t.

Technical Requirements -

MacBook Pro laptop computer OS 10.6.8 or higher with computer program Max 6.1.7 (32-bit mode) and signal processing packages FTM.2.6.0.BETA and catart-1.2.2 (included with the concert patch) Audio interface (MOTU 828 or similar) with at least 2 ins and 3 outs (stereo output and 1 headphone jack) 1 or 2 vocal microphone(s) with breath guard for amplification and processing 4 cardioid instrumental microphones for amplification only (bass flute, saxophones, violin, and contrabass) Stereo loudspeakers and mixing board Electric guitar with amplifier independent of the rest of the technical setup Electronic cues may be triggered from an optional MIDI pedal and interface, or from the computer space bar.

3 Soprano

Notes

Breath only (whispered).

Clef two octaves above the treble clef.

Half breath, half-sung.

Clef two octaves below the bass clef.

Sung ordinario.

Clef used for non-pitched playing techniques, indicating approximate relative register.

B ˜ I

Sung at approximate pitch (sprechstimme).

¼-tone sharp, flat. Accidentals last the entire measure.

Spoken at approximate pitch.

¾-tone sharp, flat.

Staccatissimo: tongue palate explosively with almost no diaphragm support.

≤

Gradual change between playing techniques.

W U U " f"

Exhaled when not otherwise indicated.

Short (add less than 1”), medium (add ca. 3”), and long

“ ”

fermata (add ca. 5” or more).

Glottal fry on inhale, exhale.

Dynamic indicating subjective effort applied when the sonic result may be significantly quieter.

" #

Inspirando (inhaled); may be combined with other techniques.

Bracketed text to be sung or spoken in a speech-like rhythm for the duration indicated.

Amplification start, stop.

Winds Prepared note: resulting sound with be distorted as a result.

Breath noise only with as little pitch as possible (notated with hollow noteheads regardless of rhythmic value).

Exaggerated pressure.

Breath noise with some pitch (notated with hollow noteheads regardless of rhythmic value).

Beating or distortion resulting from the indicated playing technique for the duration of the note value.

Key noise ad lib. following indicated contour. When specific pitches are indicated, they are fingered pitches and may sound differently as a result.

Irregular crackling or scraping for duration of the note value.

Small notes played as fast as possible after the beat.

Lip pizzicato (pizz., flute): forcefully articulate the letter “p” without tongue.

Tongue ram (t.r., flute).

Repeat small notes as fast as possible for duration of beam.

Slap tongue (s.t., may be combined with other techniques).

Proportional rhythmic notation within the indicated duration, ad lib.

Harmonics / overblow: finger lower pitch and aim for approximate high partial as indicated.

Multiphonic, (English horn: numbers refer to Peter Veale, Techniques of Oboe Playing.)

Embouchure closed / open.

≤ ≥

Inspirando (inhaled) / exhaled.

Exhaled when not otherwise indicated.

[i]

Sing, whisper, or scream indicated phoneme (notated phonetically or with IPA symbols).

[t k]

Double tongue.

scream into instrument while playing.

eg 2183LM

Percussion

Strings

Rub or scrape in a continuous vertical motion for the duration indicated.

m.s.p. s.p. s.t. m.s.t. c.l.b. c.l.t. ½ c.l.b. ½ c.l.t.

molto sul ponticello / directly on the bridge sul ponticello / near the bridge sul tasto / near the fingerboard molto sul tasto / directly on the fingerboard col legno battuto / hit bow-wood with no hair col legno tratto / draw bow-wood with no hair hit bow-wood and hair draw bow-wood and hair

Rub or scrape in a circular motion for the duration indicated.

+

Actions with the left hand (such as pizzicato).

Rub or scrape in a continuous curve for the duration of the indicated note or group of notes.

Pizz. with nail

Electric guitar Sounding pitches (which may be further distorted by preparation) are notated on the upper (RH) staff and fingered pitches are notated on the lower (LH) staff.

“ ”

Ecrasé: exaggerated pressure specifically on up or down bow.

LH slide positions are notated on outer strings (I and VI) only.

Beating resulting from exaggerated bow pressure on string or bout (edge of body) of instrument; “perforated” sound.

Pluck knitting needle.

Press bowhair against body of instrument producing an irregular crackling.

Tap indicated string(s) with palm.

Natural harmonics (notated with hollow noteheads regardless of rhythmic value). Harmonics are notated at sounding pitch but may be fingered elsewhere.

Actions on dampened strings.

Dampen indicated string with left hand to produce a whitenoise-like sound with as little pitch as possible.

Dampen all strings inaudibly with LH to mute any resonance

Release all strings with LH, allowing them to vibrate freely.

H P

Ecrasé: exaggerated bow pressure.

Hammer-on, pull-off.

Play indicated string behind bridge.

Actions on body of instrument (side, table, or back as indicated).

Ricochet (as many bounces as possible within the indicated duration).

Piano

A7 – C8 are fully dampened with Blu-Tack so that no pitch is audible.

Vertical bowing: move bow parallel to string with as little movement as possible in the ordinary (perpendicular) direction.

Vertical tremolo: move bow rapidly back and forth parallel to the string (windshield-wiper-like).

D6 is partially muted with with Blu-Tack so that some pitch still is audible.

Circular bowing: move bow in a rapid circular motion.

A0-D1 are prepared with metal knitting needles resting loosely over strings.

Pluck knitting needle (violin).

Harmonic, with lower pitch played on keyboard and string touched lightly to produce resulting upper pitch.

Dampen string completely so no pitch is audible while playing on keyboard with opposite hand. When indicated, press paper tightly against the strings to dampen.

Mute string partially so some pitch is audible while playing on keyboard with opposite hand.

Play directly on the strings with electric fan or finger pizz. as indicated.

Play between bridges and tuning pegs in approximate register indicated.

Play on tuning pegs: press beater firmly against the side or base of the pegs and draw horizontally, the indicated rhythm resulting from the ricochet of the beater along the pegs.

Multiphonic: finger near the indicated harmonic node to produce a flickering sound with several partials.

5

imaginary gardens with real toads in them — Marianne Moore, “Poetry,” citing an unattributed source.

Trace the gold sun about the whitened sky Without evasion by a single metaphor.

— Wallace Stevens, “Credences of Summer” Even in Kyoto— hearing the cuckoo's cry— I long for Kyoto — Matsuo Basho, translated by Robert Hass The world is full of objects more or less interesting: I do not wish to add any more.

I prefer, simply, to state the existence of things in terms of time and/or place.

— Douglas Huebler, Untitled Statements With fragments, translations, and paraphrases from Paul Éluard, Jonathan Swift, Walter Benjamin, Helmut Lachenmann, Ai Weiwei, www.leo.org, W.H. Auden, Kenneth Goldsmith, Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, and my father Benard Lionel Einbond.

Texts by Robert Hass and Kenneth Goldsmith are used by kind permission of the poets. An excerpt from "Credences of Summer" by Wallace Stevens, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., and recorded at Harvard University in the collection of the Woodberry Poetry Room, is used with the agreement of Random House Bertelsmann. Solar sonorizations generated from the Michelson Doppler Imager are used by kind permission of Dr. Alexander G. Kosovichev of the W.W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory of Stanford University. This piece was made possible by a grant from the Fromm Music Foundation of Harvard University.

I gratefully acknowledge Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, Constance Volk, Andrew Nogal, David Wegehaupt, Shizuyo Oka, Christian Dierstein, Klaus-Steffes Holländer, Melise Mellinger, Alec Hall, Elsa Balas, Delphine Biron, and Mark Buchner for their instrumental samples. I thank Diemo Schwarz for his technical guidance and the CataRT concatenative synthesis package for MaxMSP.

eg 2183LM

7 to Ensemble Dal Niente

Transposed Score ca. 30 sec.

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English Horn

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Contrabass Clarinet in B b

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Alto / Baritone Saxophone in E b

Bass Drum

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WITHOUT WORDS

AARON EINBOND 2012

for soprano, eleven instruments, and electronics

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eg 2183LM

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eg 2183LM