Severance Performance Instructions The F# above middle C (F# 4) is to be sustained unbroken throughout the first section of the piece until indicated that the continuity be broken at the end of the first page. The performer should take care to ensure a continuous tone for this pitch throughout its duration, but should gradually add and subtract stops so that the timbre transitions fluidly between sections, ensuring that none of the changes sound too abrupt before the last line of the first page, when this effect is specifically called for. The tone should be generally rich but mild, and never louder than mezzo piano/ mezzo forte, but should be a registration appropriate for the context of its surroundings. Though not specifically notated, the performer is free to use any tremulants, celestes, or mutation stops (if played on a separate, unused manual to produce the same, however, depending on the partial it is supposed to represent, possibly out of tune, pitch, and should only therefore be used when that kind of dissonant beating is desired) deemed appropriate, as well as any combinations of regular, octave sounding, mutation, celeste, or tremblant stops. However, the sustained note must be of a single pitch and must always be of the same octave, the F# above middle C. Thus the performer must not use any mixtures in the registration for this note, nor stops of different pitch lengths (an 8’ and a 16’, for example) on the same division at the same time. The section before the F# drone begins to break in continuity, its tone should consist of several stops so that the sound has many facets to it. Upon the disturbance created by the chimes, the sound should gradually be “broken down” by subtracting of stops one by one in an order that does not create a smooth continuous change of timbre, but is rather quite pronounced so as to give the impression of removing layers from the sound, subtracting the stops as much as possible in-between the chime clusters so registration changes are as obvious and audible as possible.
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White clusters are to be played by the feet on the low, slow speaking pipes in a way that the pedals are touched and then left in such a way that the pipes are not given sufficient time to speak an actual pitch, but rather only produce “breathing” noise. The first such cluster (being the first shown here) is to be played by rapidly and irregularly pressing down and lifting up the feet onto the pedals in, while the second one (also shown here) is to begin as gliding as smoothy as possible over the pedals without lifiting up the feet entirely, so that it is somewhat continuous-which is finished by keeping the foot down long enough on the F# so that the pipe sounds, and which is subsequently filled in by a cluster that extends down to the lowest C. Short, medium, and long fermatas
as-fast-as-possible beams,
accelerando/decelerando beams swell pedal indications
The Third Assistant: INSIDE THE ORGAN
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The third assistant is to manually operate the reservoir (the one supplying wind to the F#4 Viole De Gambe pipe). Pressure is to be applied to the reservoir, thereby altering the “normal” sound the pipe produces. Numerous results, such as a bending of pitch, an increase in loudness, “octavating” caused by overblowing, a change in timbre, and/or a complete (however, impermanent) loss of speaking-ability, may result, depending on the specific makeup of the instrument as well as the degree of pressure employed. The section calls for a degeneration of the overall sound, which is to unfold gradually. The effect therefore is to be well-rehearsed and tested before the actual performance to ensure that the effect is carried out effectively and in the manner in which it was intended. Though the sound-event here described is by its nature, and is meant to be, ultimately very unstable and chaotic, primary concern must be given to ensure that it arrives at this state gradually. If possible to reduce the wind pressure by way of turning off the electric blower, or by any other practicable means, this effect should also be incorporated both in alternation and in conjunction with the increasing of wind pressure, along with any unforeseen ways of effectively causing a degradation of pitch, volume, timbre, etc. of the pipe as well. Creative and different means of achieving this effect, especially considering the uniqueness of any one given instrument, are highly encouraged. The variety and amount of techniques employed along with the creativity of the performer in organizing an effective (and appropriate) sequence of events in which they are to be carried out determines in general how long this central moment in the piece has the potential to last. (It is always a good idea for the performer to speak with the organ manufacturer for advice or with ideas before “experimenting” with any of the more radical approaches to realizing this section)
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Cluster notation:
Indicates 2 simultaneous forearm-clusters on separate manuals symmetrical around the F#4 pitch axis whose pitch-ranges overlap at certain moments, indicated by cross-hatched diagonal lines (page 2, system 3)
D.N. “Divisional notation,” indicates that the specific shading of noteheads or clusters corresponds with a certain manual which they are to be played on, occurring at two points in the piece: P.1: employed in the beginning of the piece when the two hands must negotiate the playing of the lower three manuals simultaneously along with the pedals, requiring significant usage of the “thumbing down” technique as well as complicated changes of hand position while keeping certain notes in certain manuals sustained. In writing the beginning of the piece, I imagined a kind of center, in fact the exact middle of the organ’s range, built up of many different timbres but which would slowly “unravel,” and that from a single voice, nine separate voices would emerge (see transcription of the event in standard notation treating each chord change as an eighth note in duration, ex.1). ex.1
P.2: Divisional notation is employed once more for the top system of the second page, as it involves rapid alternation between all four manuals in somewhat complicated patterns (which are to be closely observed). Each manual starkly contrasting from the other three, this section is a pivotal moment in the piece as it undergoes a more highly concentrated degree of what can be called thematic gestures in relation to its relative duration than anywhere else in the piece. It is the first moment that the F# drone, the “center,” is no longer a constant, sustained entity, as the section begins with separated, increasingly rapid attacks of the F# drone pitch rather than a sustained, continuous sound. It is further “decentralized” in that the timbre, given the aforementioned registration and mode of playing, is in constant and dramatic flux. The single pitch grows into gradually increasing clusters, which are played by what will be referred to as cascading, or beginning with one of the two hand (and/or forearms) at the top manual and pressing down while pulling inward so that the hand or arm pulls off of each manual and falls to the one before, alternating hands so that it can be achieved in a continuous gesture. Once full forearm clusters (with the F# drone pitch serving as their midpoint) have been achieved, these clusters soon separate from themselves. A somewhat complicated pattern of the order of manuals to play had to be worked out in order to maintain the same degree of timbral fluctuation. The pattern has 8 parts before it recycles itself, each manual played once by each arm and never in direct succession as the arms maintain a constant alternation between left and right (see ex.2). Arms as far apart as possible, registration is suddenly altered so that the middle two manuals switch to two separate floating divisions behind the audience, becoming antiphonal with the forth manual, and are played once again in a cascading gesture so that three manuals are successively played within what had been the duration of one. These clusters eventually evaporate into the single note at the high end of the keyboard before plunging to the organ’s lowest register in the following system. ex.2 Right Left IV
II
I III
IV II
III I
(each arm descending one manual each time it plays, their actions are identical but offset)
S.N. “Standard notation,” indicates a return to standard notehead usage (in unmetered sections), “ ” being a sustained pitch and “ ” being shorter, if notated as stemless noteheads instead of standard rhythms.
Non-Standard Meters
Free meter, durations indicated by various means.
Semi-free meter subdivided into eighth notes at about 144, the music during which is either: o phrases defined by the dotted “barlines” whose durations (in eighth-notes) are variable and are indicated in parentheses at the start of each new phrase or o unmetered and not necessarily falling within subdivisions of eight notes, yet loosely maintaining the general rate of the indicated tempo. •
Note values may be indicated by an intermixture of: o real rhythms (quarters, eigths, etc.) o extended noteheads (in “S.N.” or standard notation) o duration-bracketed notes, indicated for the reasons of either:
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clarifying the duration of the bracketed events (for complex tuplets) ex. or defining their durations:
o
o
feathered beams indicate a uniform speeding up or slowing down
stemless noteheads are to be played somewhat freely, but with an overall sense of either speeding up (Î) or slowing down (Í). If a note within the bracket is marked with a tenuto, it should be the longest note of the bracketed phrase.
Extended Noteheads: in free meter, note values can be indicated by noteheads with lines extending from them, and may occur in both S.N. standard notation (as white noteheads) or D.N divisional notation. Notations (shown here in intermixed notations): sustain until the following note or notes
terminate note (when not followed immediately by a new note, chord, or rest)
continue sustaining the pitch with the arrow (without re-attacking the note) through the next chord (if it contains an enharmonic unison on another division and same staff)
with unisons, the notehead on the left corresponds with the top line, the one on the right to the bottom.
when the manual staves are divided into right hand (top staff) and left (bottom), indicates to trade off hands while keeping the note held down.
when staves are defined by division, indicates to depress unison-sounding key or pedal on a coupled division so it will make the transition seamlessly. Also is an indication to continue sustaining through to the next system, where it will be continued with
indicates to sustain pitches through the transition from staff notation to cluster notation.
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