e cer ric or s rt or rre ir ishe t g e e t ter ctive
for eight voices
Partially funded by The Newbury Comics Grant and the Berklee Faculty Fellowship
Bird for eight voices (SSAATTBB)
Duration ca. 24’
Movements
Bird Theme – pg. 1 1
Art Gallery: Effects – pg.
Program Notes
Art Gallery: Variations – pg. 3 – pg.
Darrell’s Case – pg. 10
Birdis a musical suite for eight singers inspired by a metaphor presented in Michelle Alexander’s book, “The New Jim Crow.” Alexander quotes theorist Iris Marion Young likening mass incarceration and racism in the U.S. to a birdcage. The core idea is that we cannot understand racism by looking at only one wire on a birdcage. We must examine all the wires together to see the system in its entirety. To this end, Birdis constructed of vignettes with powerful imagery and text-painting to communicate the real-life memories of incarcerated artist and activist, Darrell Fair.
The composition process for Birdbegan with recorded interviews of Darrell, discussing his earliest and most meaningful memories, as well as his lived experience in prison Text was then pulled from these interviews, as well as his public casefiles, and set to eight-part choral music. Each movement is a unique tableau depicting an event or person meaningful to Darrell.
The music presented here is part of a larger project of the same name. Birdis an immersive, interactive experience featuring Darrell’s hand drawn animations and audio interviews, created while serving a fifty-year sentence at Stateville Correctional Center Players walk through and explore Darrell’s memories, each one adding a new wire to the birdcage in the virtual environment, reinforcing Young’s birdcage metaphor. Both music and multimedia project hope to connect Darrell to a widespread community, and in so doing, humanize the plight of those of us suffering from the immense weight of mass incarceration
Performance Notes
Non-standard notation is always presented in a footnote at the first instance of each movement, or as technique instruction directly above. Below are the symbols and instructions, grouped by note shapes & beams, gestures/figures, instructions, and conductor signals Also note that all dynamics are subitounless otherwise marked with hairpin crescendos/decrescendos.
Pronunciation
Birdutilizes non-standard pronunciation, particularly with changing vowel sounds. Like the non-standard notation, IPA symbols are used in the first instance of each movement and as reminders for alternating vowel shapes throughout this work. Some phonemes are described in text above the staff.
Text
Symbol/Explanation
Text
The text for Birdwas taken from two sources: interviews with Darrell Fair, and publicly available court filings from Darrell’s conviction, appeals, and other petitions for exoneration filed by his representative at The Exoneration Project. The interviews that appear here were conducted by me through the Stateville phone services in strictly enforced increments of no more than fifteen minutes at a time. Darrell has been more than forthcoming about sharing his story not just to garner support for his “ quest for justice,” but to make sure this injustice never happens to anyone else.
Alto 1
Alto 2
Tenor 1
Tenor 2
Bass 1
Bass 2
Soprano 1
Soprano 2
Bird theme
Duration ca. 30”
Art Gallery variations
Duration ca. 10’
Art Gallery: Var. #1
A.2
epeat ndependently, ary itches nd hythms reely
S.2
T.1
S.2
A.1
A.2
T.2
Ending & Prayer
ending sequence, prayer for the birds
Duration ca. 6’
Ending Sequence Part 1 (Loop)
S.2
A.1
A.2
T.1
T.2
B.1
my mother - cried
my mother - cried
my mother - cried my mother - cried
my mother - cried my mother - cried
my mother - cried my mother - cried
my mother - cried
S.1
S.2
A.1
A.2
T.1
T.2
B.1
B.2
tearsofhate and pain
my mother - cried tearsofhate and pain
my mother - cried tearsofhate and pain
my mother - cried tearsofhate and pain
my mother - cried tearsofhate and pain of hate and pain
my mother - cried hate and pain and pain
S.
S.
A.
A.
T.
T.
B.
B.
run ning - back wards -
run ning - back wards -
run ning - back wardsrun ning - back wards -
run ning - back wards -
run ning - back wards -
run ning - back wards -
run ning - back wards -
S.1
S.2
A.1
A.2
T.1
T.2
B.1
B.2
T.
T.
B.
B.
raw toma - toes -
raw toma - toes -
raw toma - toes -
raw toma - toes -
raw toma - toes -
raw toma - toes# #
mymother - cried
tearsofhate and mymother - cried
tearsofhate and mymother - cried
tearsofhate and # #
tearsofhate and mymother - cried
S.
S.
A.
A.
T.
T.
B.
B.
calling - ca dence -
rawtoma - toes -
rawtoma -
calling - ca dence -
rawtoma -
calling - ca dence -
rawtoma -
calling - ca dence -
rawtoma -
S.2
A.1
A.2
T.1
T.2
B.1
B.2
ma toes -
rawtoma - toes -
rawtoma - toes -
rawtoma - toes -
rawtoma - toes -
rawtoma - toes -
rawtoma - toes -
rawtoma - toes -
rawtoma - toes -
rawtoma - toes -
rawtoma - toes -
rawtoma - toes -
rawtoma - toes -
rawtoma - toes -
rawtoma - toes -
rawtoma - toes -
S. S. A.
A.
T.
T.
B.
B.
Ending Sequence Part 2 (Layer 2)
S.1
S.2
A.1
A.2
T.1
T.2
B.1
B.2
thistimemymother - cried -
moth-er
tearsof
S.1
S.2
A.1
A.2 T.1
aah
toma - toesaah
toma - toes -
aah raw toma - toes -
aah
toma - toesaah
toma - toesaah
toma - toesaah
toma - toes -
toma - toes -
S.1
S.2
A.1
A.2
T.1
T.2
B.1
B.2
Ending Sequence Part 4 (Loop)
raw toma - toes - warmfromthe sun q
toma - toes - warmfromthe sun
toma - toes - warmfromthe sun
A.2
T.1
T.2
B.1
B.2
tearsofhate and running - back wards -
tearsofjoy and running - back wards -
tearsofhate and running - back wards -
tearsofjoy and running - back wards -
mymother - cried questforjust ice -
mymother - cried tearsofpain and calling - ca dence - questforjust ice -
dehu - man - ized - tearsofpain and # #
T.
T.
B.
B.
T.
T.
B.
B.
S.
S.
A.
A.
T.
T.
B.
B.