Ornamental Alphabets for trombone, tuba, and piano
Jacob Gotlib
Š 2015
INSTRUMENTATION • Tenor Trombone • Tuba • Piano
Duration: approx. 2’45”
“Earlier in my life there seemed to be unlimited possibilities, but my mind was closed. Now, years later and with an open mind, possibilities no longer interest me. I seem content to be continually rearranging the same furniture in the same room.” - Morton Feldman Performance Notes: General: • Accidentals apply only for the notes on which they are found; they do not carry throughout a measure. • Passages under large slurs should be played under a single breath if possible. • Dynamics are consistently very quiet. For brass instruments, play with a porous sound (particularly in the higher registers), even at the expense of pitch stability. For piano, play with a light touch and with the una corda pedal. • Trombone should use harmon mute (stem in) throughout. Brass Vocalizations: The trombone and tuba parts are each notated on two staves: the top staff contains conventional pitch and articulation information. The bottom staff is a “vocal” staff which denotes the contours of vocalizations to be made by the player by humming through their instrument:
The performers’ voices are integral elements in the piece, performing independent lines whose rhythms and phrasing are in counterpoint to the material played “normally.” The voice functions primarily serves to warp and complicate the instruments’ normal timbres based on the harmonic relationship between the hummed pitch and played pitch, as well as distortions of the embouchure and vocal cavity. The voice part is notated on a 3-line staff that is designed to accommodate each performer’s individual voice and range. Each line indicates a region of the performer’s tessitura: the first line is the absolute top of the performer’s vocal range (wherever that may lie), the second line is a comfortable middle, and the lowest line denotes lowest pitch attainable. For much of the work, the performers’ voices glissando continuously in an indeterminate area between and around these zones. Performers should not consciously try to match the hummed pitch to the played pitch. While the majority of vocal sounds serve to affect the timbre of the played tone, in several areas, the independent rhythms of the played and hummed parts align in such a way that the played tone ends before the hummed tone (e.g. trombone, m. 23). In cases such as these, it is important to let the voice continue as a “residue” of the played phrase; do not raise the voice’s volume to compensate for the disappearance of the instrumental sound. Rehearsal C (mm. 46-60) consists primarily of sung tones by themselves with no additional instrumental sound. Extremely Tight Embouchure: Rehearsal C also contains the following symbol, notated on the top (“instrumental”) staff:
This represents a tightening of the embouchure to such an extreme that a series of pitchless, granular clicks are emitted from the instrument. These should be very quiet and percussive. Piano Pedaling: Pedaling for the damper pedal follows a consistent pattern throughout the work: depress the pedal throughout each recurring phrase, holding the pedal through the shorter silences (carrying the accumulated resonance through) and change the pedal at the beginning of the next phrase. Though the rhythm is mechanically consistent, the effect should be of an echoing harmonic blur. Lift the pedal completely only at longer pauses, denoted by fermatas.
Ornamental Alphabets for the Morton Feldman Chamber Players q = 54/e = 108/x = 216
°B
38 µ œA
5 16
38
with harmon mute (stem in)
ææJ
ææ
gliss.
n œææ ææ æ æ
pp [Maintain uniform dynamic level throughout]
Weston
44 œ
# œ-
J
" ®
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ææ
¢ °? Beth
¢
=
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pp
Œ
{
q = 54/e = 108/x = 216
?
Andy
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A
b œœ b œœ " œ œœ
bb œœ b œœ œ bœ
ppp
?
pp
œ b œœ bb œœ œ bœ œ
œ
bn œœœ b œœ n œœ œ œ
ppp Ped. Una Corda
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ppp
pp
ø
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‰
b œ n œœ œ bœ œ œ bœ
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µœ œ
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38
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(Ped. sim)
11
W.
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b œ b œ œ nœ b œ b œ bœ œ b œ œ œ
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42
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6
W.
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Jacob Gotlib
38
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[11th partial of G]
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f ™
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7 16
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4
24D
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B.
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nœ b œ
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pp
f
38
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3
f f
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b œ nœ b œ bœ ‰ " ppp
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=
38
°? 51
W.
[Vocalize through instrument]
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¢
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f ™
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44
µ‚
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f ™
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ppp
A.
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ppp
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7 16
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5 16 f
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f
æær œ
3
f
f
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∑
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‰
bœ b œ b œ œ œ b œœbn œœ ppp
œ œ n œœ b œœ œœ bb œœ # œ
ppp
‰
Œ " Œ
b œ b œ b b œœ bb œœ b œ b œ œ b œ nœ b œ œ b œ œ œ b œ nœ b œ œ ‰
ppp
pp
ppp
42
ææ œ™
[Throat tremolo, no tongue]
‰™
"
" n œ b œ œœ n œ œ œ œ pp
U ∑ U∑
f
[Cont. throat trem.]
B.
¢
Œ
‚
‰ f
œ b œ œ œ b œœ b œ b œ
ppp
38
Œ
°?
f
‰
pp
=
W.
œ œ bœ bœ œ œ ‰
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56
Œ
"
? ‰™
Œ
[Extremely tight embouchure; quiet, granular clicking]
°? B.
" Œ
ææ #œ ™
ææ ˙
U ∑
[Cont. throat trem. with slight speed variations]
f ™
f ™
b œœ bb œœ œ ‰
f
j
U∑ U ∑
pp
œ n œœ b œœ n œœ œ
pp
7 16
U ∑
ppp
38
°? W. ¢ 61
38E Bœ ™
5 16 œ
[As discrete as possible]
38
#œ œ
ppp
œ J
44
œ
Ϫ
®® µœ ™
œ
œ Bœ ™
œ ™™
œ
œ ‰™
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7 16
5
Ϫ
"
As quiet as possible while still producing pitch (however fragilely); slight discrepancies in intonation should not be avoided
B.
°? Bœ ¢
œ #œ
œ
ppp
Ϫ
" µœ
Bœ œ
∑
As quiet as possible while still producing pitch (however fragilely); slight discrepancies in intonation should not be avoided
{
?
A.
Ϫ
œ R
E
∑
?
6:7
œ bœ œ bœ œ ‘ “ pppp
Hold ped. until end
=
42
°? ¢ 66
W.
°? B. ¢
‰™
{
5 16
Œ
œ
"
3
œ #œ
ppp
œ
3
œ #œ
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3
œ
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3
œ
œ
œ
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œ
#œ
ppp
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38 œ 3
#œ
œ
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A.
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=
°? 71
W.
¢
B.
°? ¢
{
?
A.
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38 #œ
œ
œ
#œ
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7 16 œ
œ
f ™
®
œ œ
f ™ f ™ ®f
42 f
Ϫ f
"
7 16
" f
œ f
f
œ
" Œ " Œ
11 16
√ ∑ √ ∑ √ ∑ √ ∑ √ ∑ Louisville, KY March 2015