complete score as pdf file - Simon Steen-Andersen

76 Pages·2009·2.62 MB·English

Chambered Music
for 12 instruments and sampler
Simon Steen-Andersen 2007
Instrumentation:
Flute (without mouthpiece and extension)
Clarinet in Bb
Piccolo trumpet in Bb (with a ”Yamaha Silent Brass” practice mute)
Horn in F
Trombone (off-stage with live video-feed of the conductor)
Percussion 1:
Vibraphone, long guiro, thin needle, piece of sandpaper, small
piece of paper, large piece of cardboard, suitcase/briefcase
(with old fashioned locks), 2 different slim jam glasses, sound-
proof box with removable cover containing 3 metronomes
(making clicks, not beeps), soft plectrum and a straw.
Percussion 2:
Large bass drum, piece of sandpaper, A4 sheet of normal paper,
small piece of normal paper, large piece of cardboard, unpitched
metallic object, pitched metal instrument (sounding F# 1,5 oct.
above middle C), 1 crotali (F# 1,5 oct. above middle C,
sounding 2 octaves higher), 2 different slim jam glasses, sound-
proof box with removable cover containing 1 metronome
producing a tuning tone, thin/light stick and an extremely soft
bass drum stick.
Keyboard/sampler (5 octaves)
Violin 1 (with a metal practice mute)
Violin 2 (with a metal practice mute)
Viola (with a metal practice mute)
Cello (with a metal practice mute)
Double bass (with a heavy practice mute)
The samples trigged by the keyboard are played through a large speaker on
stage and a small speaker placed inside a closed piano also on stage.
Score notated in the relevant transpositions
Staging:
Off-stage, ”locked up”
Trb.
Screen showing cond.
Percussion 1 Keyb./samper Percussion 2
e
d
si
n
u d s p . ipia n o Cl.
L o e d
s
clo Trp.
H
Vl.2 or
n
Fl. Vla.
Camera sending cond. D
1 Image to trb. screen V b
l. lc .
V .
Loudsp.
Conductor
Audience
Notation and performance:
Concerning all instruments:
Dynamics:
Resulting / mutual dynamics are written without parenthesis, action dynamics are
written in parenthesis and indicate the effort or the amount of energy to put into the
action although the resulting sound is either much softer or louder.
Crescendo and diminuendo should be performed very ”exponential” (late, exploding
crescendo (”zoom”) and early, ”reverberating” diminuendo (”reverse zoom”)).
The piece is extremely soft. If played in a very large or noisy hall general amplification
might be considered, although it will destroy certain spatial ideas.
Tenuto+legato possibile:
All notes are to be held steadily their complete value making a virtual legato (no gap)
to the following instrument playing on the next beat. When a sound is not tied to a
”point” it should be ended – where possible – with a cut right on the following beat:
winds with tounge stop, strings by damping with left hand, etc.
Staccato is always as short /dry as possible no matter the note length.
Tremolo is always as dense as possible and unmeasured.
n: niente or ”quasi niente”.
Glissandos shoud start immediately and be distributed evenly.
Flute:
Preparation:The piece is played without mouthpiece and extension.
”Pan flute”: The flute is mainly played ”like a pan flute”. The flute is held ”up side
down”, so that one Can blow into the key holes in an optimal angle between key and
hole (lips 1-2 cm. from instrument). The notated ”tone” indicates the key/hole – the low
D being the rightmost hole and the high C (fundamental) being the leftmost. (When
doing a glissando the head should keep still and the flute moved from side to side.)
Signs:
air sound / blow. In combination with a trill: blow while trilling the single
key. Above the system: blow into the tube (from the left end). Up-bow:
breath in.
(single) key sound (no air) or if notated above the system: hit the left tube
end with the palm of the hand.
whistle tone by blowing on the tube edge – below the system indicates
the right end, above indicates the left end.
Clarinet:
Dynamics: playing the ”normal” tones and scales in ppp should always have the
sub-tone sound where the scales are not really heard as tones but more as some kind
of directional mumble …
Signs:
air sound. A dotted arrow between a squared and a regular notehead
indicates a gradual transition between noise and pitch. Up-bow: breath
in. Tremolo: hyperventilation (either with mouth or lounges).
+ slap tounge.
blow INTO the key holes with the lips very close to the hole/key (1-2 cm.
- ”like a pan flute”). In combination with a trill: blow while trilling the single
key/hole. (When doing a glissando the head should be still and the
instrument should be moved from side to side.)
(single) key sound (no air)
whistle tone. (Above system: blowing at the point of the reed. Below the
system: blowing on the edge of the bell.) The last diamant shaped Bb
indicates to whistle with the mouth into the bell (sound Ab) which should
produce a soft and nice but unstable multiphonic sounding approx. the
minor 3rd Ab-Cb.
sticky sound removing the full underlip from the reed. (Always done with
the bell pointing forward – undramatiacally).
Piccolo trumpet (in Bb):
Mute: The piece is played with Yamaha Silent Brass practice mute.
Signs:
air sound by blowing 1-2 cm. away from the mouthpiece.
the high E played as soft as possible does not have to be 100% stable.
When slurred into the air sound it is an attempt to notate the sound of the
air pressure that has to be let out anyway (notated or not). It should be
audible but not exagerated in any way. Later this sound should be
imitated without the preceding tone by producing a similar pressure
without a tone.
remove mute with a little twist to produce a high pitched ”squeak”
sounding approx. a high F# 3,5 octaves above the middle C.
Horn (in F):
Mute: no mute except as an alternative to stopping the glissando to the high
C#. In that case choose the mute easiest to change quickly and often
(not necessarily imitating the sound of a stopped tone, but imitating the
level of damping).
Signs:
air sound – blowing through the instrument.
glissando by gradually stopping the tone ”completely” – without changing
the fingering. (The stopped tone is not supposed to be nice – rather it
should be hampered or ”stuffed”.) Make a very late crescendo in order to
make the stopped tone clearly the loudest.
The last part of the piece is played only with the mouthpiece:
hand pressed rather hard against the opening of mouthpiece well in
advance lifted suddenly. The other end of the mouthpiece should be
closed – for example by supporting it on the leg.
whistle tone by blowing a focused air stream on the sharp edge of the
tube of the mouthpiece.
Trombone:
The trombone is placed off-stage, several walls or doors away from the
hall, so that when the trombone is playing as loud as physically possible
it only sounds aproximately pp-mp in the hall.
A live video-feed of the conducter is needed for the trombone player to
be able to follow. It probably would be helpfull if the player can hear the
sound from the hall as well.
Percussion 1:
Instuments:
vibraphone (played with a knuckle, a straw or air, the deepest unused
9th and the sharps could be used as a stand).
straw used to make a soft guiro-like glissando on the vibraphone
and to touch the spinning fan between the keys (when the
motor is on).
long guiro / vacuum cleaner pipe – on a stand or in another way fixed.
soft plectrum / soft plastic / small piece of cardboard for the guiro.
thin needle for dropping on a hard surface (“so silent that you can hear a
needle drop”).
piece of sandpaper (with or without handle)
large piece of cardboard to slide the sandpaper on.
small piece of paper used for blowing a whistle tone on the edge.
suitcase/briefcase with “old fashioned locks” used for the recognisable
sound of opening and closing the lock – the suitcase
shouldn’t be too visible, though, to avoid making it too
obvious.
2 different slim jam glasses (different from the ones used by the other
percussion player) chosen for their ability to make a
“swooping” sound or tone, when you lift your hand
suddenly after pressing the palm rather hard against the
opening (covering it). The glasses should both be semi-
fixed (stable) and yet movable – for example by placing
them in fitting holes in a fixed piece of foam.
sound-proof box containing 3 metronomes (making clicks, not beeps).
The box should have an easy removable cover and when
closed the clicking metronomes should be 100% inaudible.
The metronomes should be started before the audience
enters the hall or before bringing the box on stage and
should be set to 140, 160 and 180 bpm.
Signs:
finger snap the jam glass (hitting it with a finger nail).
hit the two glasses against eachother.
rub the two glasses against eachother (evenly, in circles).
Percussion 2:
Instuments:
large bass drum (played with hand or an extremely soft stick).
piece of sandpaper (with or without handle)
small piece of normal paper
large piece of cardboard to slide the sandpaper and paper on.
sheet of A4 paper to be rattled or shaken while held in one corner.
2 different slim jam glasses (different from the ones used by the other
percussion player) chosen for their ability to make a
“swooping” sound or tone, when you lift your hand
suddenly after pressing the palm rather hard against the
opening (covering it). The glasses should both be semi-
fixed (stable) and yet movable – for example by placing
them in fitting holes in a fixed piece of foam.
sound-proof box containing 1 metronome (making a tuning A).
The box should have an easy removable cover and when
closed the tone of the metronome should be 100%
inaudible. The metronome should be started before the
audience enters the hall or before bringing the box on
stage.
unpitched metallic object (sharp metallic sound without a well defined
pitch).
pitched metal instrument sounding F# 1,5 oct. above middle C (like a
crotales of extended range (tuned disk?) or any other
object that fits the description). The instrument shall be
able to be gradually dampened until dampened completely
(no recognisable pitch, only a percussive sound) with one
hand while hitting it with the stick held in the other hand.
thin, light stick (for the metal and the pitched metal).
1 crotali F# 1,5 oct. above middle C (sounding 2 oct. higher).
extremely soft bass drum stick for hitting the crotali!
Signs:
finger snap the jam glass (hitting it with a finger nail).
hit the two glasses against eachother.
rub the two glasses against eachother (evenly, in circles).
gradually damp the pitched metal.
Keyboard/sampler: The keyboard should have a range of five octaves. The
keyboard should be set to ”not touch sensitive”. A sample with a predefined dynamic
will be appointed to each key (exept some keys used for the sound of lifting the keys).
The samples triggered by the highst 3,5 octave are panned to the right and will be
played through a small speaker placed inside a closed piano. These sounds are
mainly sounds recorded inside the piano and there are also some sounds of heavily
filtered speech. The lowest half octave triggers samples panned to the left played
through a speaker at the left stage front. These sounds are all recorded and produced
inside a wooden loudspeaker.
Signs:
guiro effect by sliding a small piece of cardboard (like a buisness card)
over the black keys without pressing down the keys. The exact range
and position of the glissando is unimportant – the direction is important.
lift previously pressed down keys (without samples) suddenly.
Strings:
Mutes: a metal practice mute is used through the whole piece (double bass:
heavy plastic practice mute)
Scordatura: Viola: 2nd string down ½ a tone.
Cello: 2nd string down ¾ of a tone, 4th string down about 1 octave.
Double bass: 4th string down about 1 octave.
Signs:
noise sound. Above system: bow on body (treble side). Below system:
bow on body (bass side).
percussive sound as indicated – col legno battuto.
+ left hand pizz.
tremolo along the string (in piano: close to the point, in forte: not too
close to the frog).
vlc+db: bend 4th string outside fingerboard close to the head (producing
a rattling, percussive sound when bowed).
vl1+vlc+db: one continous glissando movement while reattacking in
different (indicated) ways.
arpeggio while doing a glissando (one string at the time, evenly filling out
the complete note length).
arpeggio (while doing a glissando) as if on a six-stringed instrument
(treating the body as string 1 and 6). (If no rythm is notated: fill out the
complete note length.)
arpeggio while doing a glissando, moving the left hand in a more or less
fixed chord, starting the arpeggio on the large note and changing string
in the indicated rythm (the string being represented by the glissando line
going back to the initial chord).
vl1: the same tilting technique as when changing legato back and forth
between two strings.
Chambered Music was written for Ensemble Modern 2006-2007.
There is no program text for the piece.
Estimated duration: ~11 minutes.
Description – NO PROGRAMNOTE!
Chambered, as in compartmentalized and as in a limited or even locked up space.
The piece consists of “chambered” musical elements in various interpretations of
the word.
Special things in the setup:
The pianist plays a sampler in the middle of the ensemble. A small speaker is
placed inside a closed piano (without a player), through which is played sounds of
a piano played inside (on the strings, on the metal frame, etc.) and the sounds of a
muffled voice as if heard through a thick wall or a big pillow. The unrecognizable
text is an excerpt from Nelson Mandelas diary, talking about the life as a prisoner.
At one point in the middle of the piece, the voice gradually gets clearer for a few
seconds, making understandable the words “in any prisoners life”.
Another speaker is placed at the right stage front, and through this speaker is only
played sounds recorded inside a speaker. The speaker finally gets to represent
itself or at least its own kind, so to speak…
The trombone player is sitting off-stage, so far away and with so many walls or
doors between him and the audience, that even though he is playing as loud as
possible, it is only just audible in the hall, matching the very soft dynamics of the
violin. The trombone player follows the conductor with a live video-feed.
The beginning of the piece is rather loud, dense and confident, and the instruments
are obviously connected by the sounds and tones, that they play together. The
piece later gets extremely soft, transparent and fragile, and the very movements of
the instrumentalists get to be more and more important, eventually being the “main
theme” connecting the instruments and the musical lines. In the middle of the
piece there is a kind of “movement cadenza”, where most of the instruments
perform a “visual unison”.
Examples of chambered musical elements (apart from the locked up trombone and
speaker inside the piano):
Short loops as a kind of confined time. A piccolo trumpet with a practice mute
(almost closing the trumpet, making it an air chamber), constantly playing a high
tone, which needs such a high pressure, that, when the tone is stopped, the air
bursts out of the player – sounding even louder than the tone he played. A
percussion player plays on the locks of an old suitcase, changing the music as it
opens and closes. The percussion players cover jam glasses with the palms of
their hands, making a “vacuum sound” when suddenly lifting the hands. Insulated
boxes with metronomes making (inaudible) tuning tones and rhythms through the
whole piece are played on by opening and closing the lid, revealing the sound
inside. Etc.
©2007 Simon Steen-Andersen : www.simonsteenandersen.dk/ [email protected]