YATES, DANE;
for prerecorded piano, iPods, dancers and winds
9’
The piece outlines that a prerecorded ‘sonic score’ is played to dancers through headphones. Dancers are then free to interpret the piece through improvised movement. Players, situated elsewhere on stage, interpret these gestures musically; one dancer to each player. The score is a prerecorded piano piece performed by myself in which I play a theme and variations piece. The ‘score’ is to be played on an iPod with ‘shuffle mode’ enabled so each variation by each other dancer will be in a random and altered order.The number of performers is not of concern as the piece can stand as a solo, duet, trio, chamber or large ensemble piece. In the case of a solo performance, the score could be played on loud speaker along with the live instrument. Consideration should be taken of the location of performers and dancers so as interruption is not caused by either the score or live performance. Dancers are instructed with the piece to make movements and gestures accordingly to what they are hearing. “Improvisation should allow for changes within the piece, including timing, height and depth of pitch, denseness and quality of sound, ‘glitches’ and other musical qualities of the given piece, perceiving of individual dynamics, including body, energy, space and time.”
Performers are instructed to follow the movements and gestures of the dancers and portray them musically. “Throughout the piece, play close attention to both extreme and minimal gestures. Phrases played should correspond to height or depth of gesture, as well as recognition of dancers dynamics; body, energy, space and time. Volume can be determined by the extent of given gestures.”
The performance / recording that took place in Studio 2 @ WAAPA featured 6 solo performances to obtain a better recording sound. It featured two flutes, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, and baritone saxophone (sexophone). As the score is quite ambiguous, performers are able to interpret the gestures personally based on loose instructions given to them. Performers have taken different paths whilst performing the piece, basing their musical ‘phrases’ on all aspects of the dancers, whether it be their position in the space, the ‘size’ of the gestures, the height of their breaths and/or defining pitch levels based on vertical positioning of the dancer.
The piece was born out of a previous piece performed at MA@WAAPA earlier in the semester entitled [teaspoons I]. It involved two dancers (Dominik Mall and Emma Joubert) reading a graphic score as the basis of an (7’) improvisation. Myself and lv would follow the performers, using them as our scores. I call this scoring technique ‘the corruption of notated data’ or a “side-chain score”.
9’
The piece outlines that a prerecorded ‘sonic score’ is played to dancers through headphones. Dancers are then free to interpret the piece through improvised movement. Players, situated elsewhere on stage, interpret these gestures musically; one dancer to each player. The score is a prerecorded piano piece performed by myself in which I play a theme and variations piece. The ‘score’ is to be played on an iPod with ‘shuffle mode’ enabled so each variation by each other dancer will be in a random and altered order.The number of performers is not of concern as the piece can stand as a solo, duet, trio, chamber or large ensemble piece. In the case of a solo performance, the score could be played on loud speaker along with the live instrument. Consideration should be taken of the location of performers and dancers so as interruption is not caused by either the score or live performance. Dancers are instructed with the piece to make movements and gestures accordingly to what they are hearing. “Improvisation should allow for changes within the piece, including timing, height and depth of pitch, denseness and quality of sound, ‘glitches’ and other musical qualities of the given piece, perceiving of individual dynamics, including body, energy, space and time.”
Performers are instructed to follow the movements and gestures of the dancers and portray them musically. “Throughout the piece, play close attention to both extreme and minimal gestures. Phrases played should correspond to height or depth of gesture, as well as recognition of dancers dynamics; body, energy, space and time. Volume can be determined by the extent of given gestures.”
The performance / recording that took place in Studio 2 @ WAAPA featured 6 solo performances to obtain a better recording sound. It featured two flutes, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, and baritone saxophone (sexophone). As the score is quite ambiguous, performers are able to interpret the gestures personally based on loose instructions given to them. Performers have taken different paths whilst performing the piece, basing their musical ‘phrases’ on all aspects of the dancers, whether it be their position in the space, the ‘size’ of the gestures, the height of their breaths and/or defining pitch levels based on vertical positioning of the dancer.
The piece was born out of a previous piece performed at MA@WAAPA earlier in the semester entitled [teaspoons I]. It involved two dancers (Dominik Mall and Emma Joubert) reading a graphic score as the basis of an (7’) improvisation. Myself and lv would follow the performers, using them as our scores. I call this scoring technique ‘the corruption of notated data’ or a “side-chain score”.