I have performed many text-based scores over the past year. Like with the open form that Fluxus provides, which I talked about in the last post. Text scores provide that same freedom of form and content but more focused on musical output. I am going to try and reflect on my past year of text scores which will hopefully provide a basic overview of some of the more successful pieces that I have engaged with in the past year.
The advantage that most appeals to me personally about the text score is that fact that, as a composer, you are presented with a completely blank canvas. There are no restrictions on instrumentation, length, or action from one realisation to the next. There is a complete freedom to the possibilities of performance. In The Medium is the Massage, Marshall McLuhan proposed that the tools that you use end up using you. There is definitely an aspect of this with music notation. The five lines immediately imply pitch and certain ways of approaching music. The text score ignores these. You are free to do anything. Composers have used this freedom in interesting ways. Looking at Fluxus scores, another text based art medium, you can see this freedom taken to the extreme.
In 1968, Stockhausen composed Aus den sieb Tagen (From the Seven Days), a collection of fifteen compositions for a variety of different ensembles. The two that I have previously performed are Right Durations and Set Sail for the Sun. Both are incredibly easy to perform and create interesting sonic results.
RICHTIGE DAUERN
(Right Durations)
Play a sound
Play it for so long
until you feel
that you should stop
Again play a sound
Play it for so long
until you feel
that you should stop
and so on
Stop
when you feel
that you should stop
But whether you play or stop:
keep listening to the others
At best play
when people are listening
Do not rehearse
One of the striking features of this score is that you are instructed not to rehearse the piece. There is a focus upon one moment in time. Stockhausen called the pieces from this collection as “intuitive music.” The idea that the intuition of the performers is used rather than the intellect. I have definitely found while performing this piece that you lose yourself in the sound-world. I have used my keys as my sound generator in one performance and as the piece goes on, I find myself really exploring every sonic possibility that I can. A really useful exercise to try and get the absolute most out of any sounding object. The instruction, 'keep listening to others' is what I really love about this piece. The act of paying attention to what the performer hears is at the centre of the performance.
This brings me to Pauline Oliveros, whose text scores demonstrate her Deep Listening philosophy. Similar to John Cage's idea that we should listen to all of the sounds around us, Pauline Oliveros promoted an active listening to all of the sounds around us. I discovered her electronic pieces' years ago, but it is her text scores with which I have engaged the most. The Riot Ensemble performed a selection of text scores at Cardiff University as part of a tour in 2017. It was an incredible mixture of pieces, all of which were created by text-based instruction.
The Oliveros piece that I have become most familiar with is The Tuning Mediation.
The Tuning Meditation (1971)
Begin by playing a pitch that you hear in your imagination. After contributing your pitch, listen for another player's pitch and tune in unison to the pitch as exactly as possible. Listen again and play a pitch that no one else is playing. The duration of the pitches is determined by the duration of a comfortable breath or bow. the dynamic level is soft through out the piece. Brass players use mutes.
Continue by alternating between the three options described below:
· Playing a new pitch of your own that no one else is playing
· Just listening
· Tuning in unison to the pitch of another player
Introduce new pitches at will and tune to as many different players as are present. Although the dynamic level is soft make your tones available to others.
Play warmly with variations in tone quality.
The simplicity of the instructions means that no prior musical experience is needed. In newCELF events, we have included the audience in our renditions, and it has always created a fantastic communal experience. Check out the recording from Unaccompanied here. The simplicity of the instructions means that it is easy to explain, doesn't require any musical experience, and is non-intimidating to take part in. It creates a communal singing atmosphere with a powerful sound-world. We have found that even people who are adamant that they don't sing end up giving it a go after a few minutes of the piece.
The freeness of text scores is something that I love to explore. It stretches the mind in terms of how to organise material within a piece and how performers react. It can be used for any ensemble and create pieces that unfold differently every time they are performed. I believe that every composer would gain a lot from performing and trying to write text scores at some point in their compositional explorations.
If you are interested in reading further, check out Word Events: Perspectives on Verbal Notation by James Saunders and John Lely. It is a valuable collection of interesting materials and scores. There is a strong examination of what makes up a text score, with examination and examples of different types of scores. It presents a useful collection of pieces that are not difficult to perform and worthwhile to experience.