Tsao THE BOOK OF VIRTUAL TRANSCRIPTIONS by ScoresOnDemand

TSAO

The Book of Virtual Transcriptions for Ensemble

Score

The Book of Virtual Transcriptions

Score for Ensemble

Introduction

The Book of Virtual Transcriptions consists of 49 aural signs that range from abstract to concrete images of musical material taken from the Adagio movement of Mozart’s oboe quartet (K.V. 370). These signs and their relations pose as stimuli that can force the brain to complete a virtual transcription of the Mozart movement in which one constructs a way to listen to the Mozart that engages the musical unconscious, as past knowledge and experience, with the imagination. By removing transcription from the sphere of phenomena, as transcription to be heard, and placing it into the realm of experience, as transcription to be constructed, The Book of Virtual Transcriptions can be said to consist of not just one transcription of the Mozart but an infinite number of them. The initial idea for this piece came from Daniel Libeskind’s Virtual House. 1 I developed the 49 aural signs from 49 lines of text that Libeskind provides in Virtual House where each line of text suggested musical parameters from which the aural sign could be recalibrated according to a different and often strange set of acoustical laws. The lines of text have been preserved in the score as names for each of the 49 aural signs.

The Book of Virtual Transcriptions was written in admiration and affection for Peter Veale.

1 From The Space of Encounter by Daniel Libeskind (Universe Publishing: New York, 2000; pg. 199-201).

Performance Notes

Instrumentation

Oboe, Trumpet in C, Double Horn in F/ Bb, Trombone, Violin, Viola and Violoncello.

Seating arrangement

General Notes

Duration of the piece is approximately 14 minutes.

Score is transposed.

If the piece is performed in a medium to large size concert hall, then all of the instruments should be ampliﬁed slightly.

Quarter-tones

b)  (harm.) = natural harmonic

c) 

= ‘pitchless’ slap-tongue with the indicated ﬁngering where some amount of the ﬁngered pitch is present.

d) In measures 480-82, the oboe is asked to make use of the ‘special eﬀect’ cited in The Techniques of Oboe Playing (pg. 138), where the reed is removed and the lips of the performer cover the aperture as the performer gently inhales.

Brass

a) The three brass instruments are to use wispa (practice) mutes throughout the ﬁrst three quarters of the piece (until measure 474).

b)  = Inhalation (a sound of sucking in air)

c)  = Exhalation (a sound of blowing out air)

d)   or = Toneless breathing through the instrument

one quartertone sharp three quartertones sharp three quartertones ﬂat

one quartertone ﬂat

also: a downward arrow on an accidental indicates the natural seventh harmonic (for string harmonics, an upward arrow on an accidental indicates the perfect eigth harmonic)

Incomplete measures

= indicates that the quintuplet that occurs after the first beat of the measure is ‘cut’ by the first beat of the following measure, after the third sixteenth note of the five sixteenth note quintuplet.

Winds (Oboe and Brass)

a)  = the sound is forcibly cut oﬀ with the tongue (as if simulating a ‘reverse’ attack).

b)   = ﬂutter-tongue

c)  = slap-tongue (producing a percussive attack)

Oboe

a) It would be best to favor fingerings that give a duller and more diffuse tone for the softer dynamics. Occasionally, these fingerings are written into the score. The fingerings are taken from (and can be found in) the following book: The Techniques of Oboe Playing by Peter Veale and Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf (Barenreiter: Kassel, Germany 1994). The notation for the fingerings in the score are those used in the book cited above (page18; the fingerings for a more dull and diffuse timbre are given between pages 23-39 with the numbers 4 or 5 written below the specific fingering). Fingerings are supplied in the score for the double-harmonics as well as the three multiphonics that occur (measures 218-21, that use multiphonic #64 and #87 in the book, and measures 237-39 that use the pitch/multiphonic transition #27 in the book).

e) The brass instruments are asked to distinguish five distinct gradations of breath sounds, from lowest to highest with respect to the brightness of the white noise. These five sounds are notated in the five spaces on the usual five line stave ordered from lowest to highest.

Speciﬁc ﬁngerings for toneless breathing through particular valve combinations are often notated for the trumpet.

f) The brass instruments are often asked to make various transitions between breath states. It is important to follow the notated gesture as faithfully as possible, paying attention to ritardando and accelerando curves.

g) The notation ‘ ’ (half-valve) for the trumpet and horn and the notation ‘ ’ (half-trigger) for the trombone indicate a transition in which the valve or trigger is gradually placed into a half-way position to create as much resistance to the breath sounds as possible.

Trumpet in C

a) A wispa (practice) mute is required.

b) Valve 3 is detuned a quarter-tone lower resulting in the following scale of fundamentals:

Fingerings are notated in the score for each of the pitches. It is important that all pitches (including the quarter-tones) are played as natural harmonics of the fundamental for which the ﬁngering is provided in the score (intonation should not be adjusted by lipping the pitch up, for example). This is particularly true of the partials that are naturally ﬂat (such as the natural seventh partial).

Oboe Vln. Vla. Cello

Horn Tpt. Tromb.

Double Horn in F/B-ﬂat

a) A wispa (practice) mute is required.

b) The horn part is transposed throughout, sounding a perfect ﬁfth lower than written.

c) The F horn side is detuned a quarter-tone lower than the B-ﬂat horn side. This results in the following scale of fundamentals:

132312(or3)120

tFingerings are notated in the score for only the F horn side (i.e., the quarter-tones), since the B-flat horn side remains unchanged. Occasionally, fingerings are notated for the B-flat horn side when a partial from a particular fundamental pitch is wanted. It is important that all pitches (including the quarter-tones) are played as natural harmonics of the fundamental (intonation should not be adjusted by lipping the pitch up, for example). This is particularly true of the partials that are naturally flat (such as the natural seventh partial).

Trombone (with F attachment)

a) A wispa (practice) mute is required.

b) Occasionally, slide positions are notated in the score when a partial from a particular fundamental is wanted. It is important that all pitches (including the quarter-tones) are played as natural harmonics (intonation should not be adjusted by lipping the pitch up, for ex ample). This is particularly true of the partials that are naturally ﬂat (such as the natural seventh partial).

c) Glissandi = Try to perform glissandi as evenly as possible over the indicated duration.

Strings

a) The strings make use of two clefs: a lower clef that indicates the position of the left hand on the instrument and an upper clef that indicates the general position of the bow or right hand ﬁngers on the instrument. The upper (right hand) clef notates the following general positions on the instrument:

sul.pont d

ã ord sul.tasto moltosul.tasto

b)  = Left hand dampening of all four strings in ﬁrst position. When the  symbol is indicated, then the left hand dampens all strings until ﬁngerings are notated in the lower stave, in which case the left hand undampens the indicated strings.

If the upper stave calls for 2 strings to be bowed but only 1 pitch is notated in the lower stave, then the other string must be dampened with the left hand.

c) kkkk kkkk = slight overpressure bowing

This technique requires moving the bow both vertically along the trajectory of the notated line (or curve) and horizontally so that the bow hairs can set the muted string into vibration. It is best to perform this action using the upper quarter of the bow where the pressure of the bow against the strings is weakest. The sonic result of this action should not be that of a ‘crunch’ sound. Indeed, the pitch that the bow hairs make when gently scraping along the strings should be the audible result. It is to be played extremely delicately with quasi pitch glissandi being the most audible result. It is important to follow the notated gesture as faithfully

as possible on the instrument, paying attention to ritardando and accelerando curves. Occasionally, open string(s) are notated in square brackets in the lower stave while the overpressure bowing occurs in the upper stave. This simply indicates to stop muting the string(s) for the indicated duration, which slightly ampliﬁes the overpressure bowing (note that the pitch of the open string(s) will not be audible in this context).

d) kkkk = Overpressure as above but with extremely slow bowing. This action does not need to be performed only on the upper quarter of the bow but can use the middle of the bow as well. The aural result is a very soft creaking sound.

e) Much of the playing by the strings is toneless bowing, where the left hand dampens the strings and the right hand bows the strings both horizontally and vertically creating varying degrees of white noise. It is important to follow the notated gesture as faithfully as possible on the instrument, paying attention to ritardando and accelerando curves. There are occasional gestures in which the right hand moves the bow quickly from molto sul tasto to molto sul pont (or vice versa), creating a slightly dramatic eﬀect.

ã . . Often this dramatic eﬀect is coupled with a harmonic(s) ﬁngered by the left hand or open string(s).

f) j œ œ = the sound is forcibly ‘cut oﬀ’ by keeping the bow aﬃxed to the string(s) to prevent them from vibrating any further (simulating a reverse bow stroke)

œ = let the vibration of the string die on its own accord

g) j arcobatt.

h) kkkkk kkkkk arcobatt.

= arco battuto (a gentle bouncing of the bow hairs on the string(s) by the bow’s own weight, letting gravity determine the accelerando of the bouncing sound)

i) ¿ ¿ legnobatt.

= arco battuto with overpressure. This gesture is to be performed as an arco battuto followed by moving the bow vertically up or down the strings with some horizontal bowing to perpetuate the bouncing of the bow. The aural eﬀect should sound like a quiet ‘rattling’ of the bow hairs against the string(s).

= arco battuto but hold the bow ﬁrmly against the strings after letting the bow bounce ﬁrst against the strings. The aural result should sound like a ‘sped up’ arco battuto.

= col legno battuto (a gentle bouncing of the wood of the bow on the string(s) by the bow’s own weight, letting gravity determine the accelerando of the bouncing sound)

j) col legno tratto = Bow the string(s) with the wood of the bow so that pitch is only slightly audible.

k) 1/2 col legno tratto = Angle the bow slightly so that the string(s) is bowed with part wood and part bow hair so that any pitch in the left hand is still clearly audible but perhaps with a bit of ‘dirt’.

l) Ord. or arco = indicates a return to standard playing technique with the bow.

IVIVIV (vln.)(vla.)(cello)

= natural harmonic on the indicated open string(s) with the notated ﬁngering

n)  = shaded harmonic on the open string. This requires muting the string slightly behind the notated ﬁngering with another ﬁnger so that only a hint of the harmonic pitch is perceptible. Its sonic appearance should be that of a ‘ghost’ tone.

o) Occasionally, only one pitch is notated on the lower stave but two separate strings are notated on the upper stave. This indicates that the string that has no corresponding left hand ﬁngering is to be muted with the other ﬁngers of the left hand, producing white noise on that string as it is bowed.

p) Tailpiece clef In measures 87-142, the strings are occasionally required to bow extremely slowly but with pressure on the upper part of the tailpiece. The aural result is to gently produce a low tone caused by the vibrating tailpiece.

TopendofTailpiece(closesttoBridge) "

BottomendofTailpiece "

q) R ≥ pizz.

≤ pizz.

rasg.

= Pizz strum. A pizz. downstroke with the right hand fingers, using primarily the flesh of the fingers, across all four strings beginning with string IV.

A pizz. upstroke with the right hand fingers, using a backstroke with the nails of the fingers, across all four strings beginning with string I. The upper clef indicates generally where on the strings this action should be performed. Often, these pizz. strums are coupled with a left hand fingering for a harmonic or an open string(s). When a left hand fingering is notated (or an open string), the right hand must still strum across all four strings, where the other strings are simply dampened with the remaining left hand fingers.

This strum is also performed with a plectrum. In this case the plectrum simply acts as an ampliﬁer for the ﬁngernails where an upstroke or downstroke requires arpeggiating all four strings with the plectrum beginning with string IV or string I respectively. There is one exception in which the individual strings are to be arpeggiated separately according to a notated rhythm.

= Rasgeado. This action requires arpeggiating the right hand fingernails with a backstroke across all four strings beginning with String I and moving across all four strings. The left hand dampens all strings unless notated otherwise in the lower stave. Sometimes the player must perform this action while also holding the bow. In this case, hold the bow with the index finger (i) and thumb and arpeggiate the nails of the rest of the fingers (in the order of e, a, m or pinky, ring, middle) across all four strings. This action is also occasionally coupled with an open string(s) when only one or two open strings are notated, the left hand dampens the remaining strings as the rasgeado is executed across all four strings. The upper clef indicates generally where on the strings this action should be performed.

r) = (for viola and violoncello) loosen the bow hairs and roll the loose bow hairs into the strings at the general position indicated on the upper clef. It is important that this rolling action is one single roll (not a rolling of the hairs back and forth) and is to be performed as gently as possible.

Violin

a) A practice mute and a plectrum (medium thickness, approx. .5 mm.) are required.

b) The violin is detuned in the following manner. Note that the following pitches are always to be performed with the open strings.

c) The lower stave for the left hand is transposed.

Viola

a) A practice mute and plectrum (medium thickness, approx. .5 mm.) are required.

b) The viola is detuned in the following manner. Note that the following pitches are always to be performed with the open strings.

= bar across all four strings at the indicated position with a left hand ﬁnger.

c) The lower stave for the left hand is transposed.

Violoncello

a) A practice mute, plectrum (medium thickness, approx. .5 mm.) and a ﬁnely threaded thin metal rod (American size 6-32, 1 foot or longer) are required.

b) The violoncello is detuned in the following manner. Note that the following pitches are always to be performed with the open strings.

IVIIIIII

w w m w w n

c) The lower stave for the left hand is transposed.

d) The upper stave for the right hand is not transposed. In the last quarter of the piece, the performer draws the ﬁnely threaded thin metal rod along the indicated string, bowing the string with the rod, while the left hand mutes the string. The notated pitch is the sounding pitch at the position where the rod is bowing the string. The performer must memorize two speciﬁc positions on the string to bow the rod (a high A and G on string II). The aural result should be a more delicate version of the gently overpressure sound indicated above.

(cello) (withmetalrod)

1 The constellation of a labyrinth

Oboe

Trumpet in C

Double Horn in F/B

[sounding a P5 lower than written]

[Left hand is transposed to standard tuning]

(with valve detuned a quarter-tone lower)

The Book of Virtual Transcriptions

[Left hand is transposed to standard tuning]

(with the F horn side tuned a quartertone lower than the B horn side)

[Left hand is transposed to

Trombone

Violin

Viola

Violoncello

Ming Tsao

4 A sequence of a single act constantly in progress: return via a detour

Uncontrolled movement of a great force of freedom (time past): conversion from motion along a line to motion over an area tranverse to it which intersects the motion

D. H.

Largest

Ob. Tpt. D. H. Tbn. Vln.

Subordination of movement to a goal (something which contradicts nature)

Vla. Vc.

12 Assembly of parts into a whole: a return. Movement of points from a motionless point: a narrow angle

Tailpiece

13 The merging of several surfaces into a single surface: the merging of boundaries between

kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

14 contains within itself the disintegration of a whole into parts: a large entity into smaller ones (relation of the whole extent of line to its members)

Vla.

Vc.

Vla. Vc.

Ob. Tpt.

H. Tbn.

Ob. Tpt.

24 hallowed drawing of judgement by yielding to one force but not the other: pulling against all the other strings

25 Division of a smooth hollow body as a trace of the movement of another through it

26 Nothingness penetrates a body: Body penetrates nothingness

Ob.

29 Double or mirror: a fixed point that serves as a point of departure for the motion of other points which begin their trajectory there

30 the transparence which is also a reflection (or reflective)

31 Passing through a net by going through at the points of the circuit without reigniting memory

Vla.

Regular distortion through a projection of the outer surface

Ob.

Vla.

13"

(pick up plectrum but not use plectrum until m. 345) ca. 13"

(pick up plectrum but not use plectrum until m. 345)

13" ca. 13" ca. 13" ca. 13"

plectrum can be held between the thumb and palm of left hand)

Ob. Tpt.

Vla.

38 The lines (as the most stable elements of the engraving) are concentrated behind

(set down plectrum and pick up bow)

:12 F:13

(loosen bow hairs) (gliss.) (arco along side of mute as well as strings II, III) * * a loud rattling sound should be produced II, III (Bridge) 47 An end to "hierarchy" ()

gently twist bowhairs into strings II, III

1/2 c.l.

Vln.

Vla.

Vc.

1/2 c.l.

48 were it to illuminate: perhaps as far a singular location

The process of turning inside, ceaselessly echoing its positions

Vln.

Vla.

Vc.

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