M EA NI NG M AC HI A un SO i UR q u e CE CO D IN N CE TH RT E W O RI F TT EN MU SIC W O RD
NE S
Meaning Machines - Programme Machinic Intro Solo 2 - Chris Stubbs [10’] Trish Elphinstone, Dan Goren, John Grieve, Paul Medley Location composite #1: Portbury Wharf - James Saunders [9’] BeezArts Trio (Bruno Guastalla, Eric Clarke, Sarah Verney-Caird) SOL - Guido D’ Arezzo, BeezArts Trio [9’] BeezArts Trio (Bruno Guastalla, Eric Clarke, Sarah Verney-Caird) Falling Stars - Dan Goren [12’] Oxford Improvisers Orchestra The Thickness of Things (2) - Patrick Farmer [12’] The Set Ensemble (Bruno Guastalla, Sarah Hughes, David Stent) Machinic Interval Airtime - Jill Elliott [15’] Oxford Improvisers Orchestra Love Songs of the Jazz Age - Paul Medley [4’] John Grieve, Paul Medley, Anne Ryan For Four - Dominic Lash [10’] The Set Ensemble ( Jill Elliott, Bruno Guastalla, Sarah Hughes, David Stent) The Rhetorical Essence of Goatsong - Malcolm Atkins [15’] Oxford Improvisers Orchestra (conducted by Pat Thomas) Machinic Outro
Solo 2 (Dedicated to the memory of Barry Anderson) Chris Stubbs The idea for Solo 2 is derived from “Solo”, a piece by Karlheinz Stockhausen that uses one solo player and a series of playbacks, or delays, allowing sound layers to build up. Rather than through the precision of a tape head or electronic delay, here the playback is achieved through improvising musicians. The first player improvises then subsequent players are asked to reproduce what the person adjacent to them has played, all filtered through the medium of their musical experience as an improvising musician. The added difficulty is that the players not only have to “playback” but must also “record” or listen to the present output. The text material on the following page is derived from descriptions of the original “Solo”.
Location composite #1: Portbury Wharf (2011- ) James Saunders (first performance) Use these descriptions as instructions for making sounds. Descriptions may be realised by any number of performers, using any sound sources, and for any duration. Any distribution of the descriptions amongst the performers may be made. Descriptions may be used more than once in a realisation. • • • • • •
constant rhythmic hammer sound constant twittering gentle crashing and lapping intermittently brushing forcefully pulsing like a finger on a buzzer low-pitched distant monotonous hum combined with white noise sound that goes and comes in a regular rhythm now and then a high-pitched whistle in irregular intervals loud droning, constant sound coming from the north
All descriptions relate to sounds heard at Portbury Wharf nature reserve, and were provided by geocachers who found GC2VJAH. For more information on Geocaching(*), visit www.geocaching.com. The instructions for the activity were: sit quietly for a short period of time and listen on one of the sheets, describe one particular sound that you can hear with as much detail as you can do not include the source of the sound in your description, only how it sounds the source should be ambiguous to the reader Some descriptions were edited slightly to remove references to source sounds, but are otherwise unchanged. Descriptions kindly provided by: alan g, Captain Gore-tex, exetermonkeys and HarryHund, pajoguwo, and The Humdingers.
(*) Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online.
SOL Guido D’ Arezzo (c. 1020), BeezArts Trio Notes: Today is the summer solstice. Mid-13th Century, from O.Fr. solstice, from L. solstitium “point at which the sun seems to stand still,” from sol “sun” + pp. stem of sistere “to come to a stop, make stand still”. Sol is also the fifth degree of a scale. The naming of the steps by the seminal theoretician Guido d’Arezzo in the 11th Century came with his noticing in the hymn below, that each new phrase starts on the next step from the previous one. It is still in use today - although with a few modifications, and within a very different outlook on theory of music - mostly in Romance language speaking areas, as well as in the SOLFA pedagogical framework. Ut queant laxis resonare fibris, Mira gestorum famuli tuorum, Solve polluti labii reatum, Sancte Iohannes.
It may be translated: “So that your servants may, with loosened voices, resound the wonders of your deeds, clean the guilt from our stained lips, O Saint John.”
Falling Stars Dan Goren The poem ‘Falling Stars’ by Maggie Goren was written for a choral composition by composer Dan Goren in 2006 for The Sixteen. Dan has returned to to the poem for a new and radically different interpretation. After a recitation of the poem itself the musicians respond to an audio score - a temporal arrangement of the poem’s text which the performers will hear through earphones. Each musician has an individually arranged setting of the text to which they respond by improvised word painting, together forming a collective ‘image’. The form of this work aims at a particular balance. It draws on each improviser’s skills, sensibilities and imagination whilst providing just the right level of structure to evoke the magicial and thought-provoking world conjured by poem. Word painting is a fundamental technique with a history as broad as it is long and improvisation an ideal medium for it; speaking as it does with the plurality and individuality of experience at the heart of so much contemporary culture and thinking. www.dangoren.com www.maggiegoren.com
The Thickness of Things (2)
Oxford, 12.06.11.
Patrick Farmer For Bruno, David and Sarah. For three. a silence in accordance to what is imagined. not one or two starting without an or other. not one or two leaving without an or other.
pre -place | short periods. with in - with out | short periods. to do -so do | short periods. starting -leaving
For ‘Meaning Machines’ John Grieve
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Airtime (for voices and wind soloists) Jill Elliott Airtime is one of a number of pieces in which I have attempted to create, control and structure musical effects by means other than conventionally musical instructions. In this case, words are used to create rhythm and texture in a piece which draws on elements of nonsense and theatre. In Airtime, a group of vocalists interrupt and articulate the stream of air needed to produce vocal sound, using the phonemes of the word time; t, ai and m. These are arranged into semi-nonsensical phrases and annotated with stage directions. Complex rhythmic patterns and microtonal melodies arise without the need for a detailed musical score. Phrases such as ‘I might tie my tight Thai tie’ and ‘My, my!’, whilst selected for their musical effect, nonetheless suggest some sort of zany narrative which encompasses moments of exuberance, weariness and musings on the future. A small group of wind instruments, improvising within loose guidelines, comment on and develop the material presented by the vocalists and provide them with breathing space. In its current version, Airtime suffers from the limitations imposed by a script in English, with English stage directions. More widespread performance would necessitate a more complex musical score.
Love Songs From the Jazz Age Paul Medley
For Four Dominic Lash
I
every 10 seconds
identical
II
every 25 seconds
converging
III
every 40 seconds
diverging
IV
every 55 seconds
unique
from one minute to one hour Falmouth, MA 9/3/11
The Rhetorical Essence of Goat Song Malcolm Atkins This piece presents a summation of the basic structural forms of Greek Tragedy using vocal conduction. As tragedy itself seems to have evolved from improvised song this seems entirely appropriate. Disparate words are used such that meaning is given through method of delivery rather than through formal language. Each participant supplies their own text. 1 or 2
Prologos
Worry a bit
All
Chorus/Parodos
Be positive
1
Rhesis
State arrogant position
All Chorus
Be concerned and think of mortality
2
Agon
Argue a lot
Stichomythia
And even more
All
Chorus/Kommos
Be depressed
1 or 2
Exodus
Be patronising
Contributors Malcolm Atkins Eric Clarke Miles Doubleday Jill Elliott Trish Elphinstone Patrick Farmer Julian Faultless Dan Goren John Grieve Bruno Guastalla Liz Hodgson Sarah Hughes John Jobbagy Dominic Lash Anne Mackintosh Emily Marshall Paul Medley Anne Ryan Fran Ryan James Saunders David Stent Chris Stubbs Pat Thomas Sarah Verney-Caird
www.oxfordimprovisers.com