AM

Program Notes Inspired by the short story “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream,” by Harlan Ellison, AM is a sonic exploration of a populous world devoid of individual voices. Multiple interweaving motives, laced with multiphonic pleas, are constantly met by silence, as if the world is screaming in pain into a vacuum.

Notes to the Performer Fermatas over barlines are pauses, to be held for the indicated amount of time.

Each aleatoric passage is to be played in an increasingly more frantic manner with each passing iteration.

Glissandi leading to notes are to be played as ad. lib. runs leading to the indicated target note. bisbig. indicates the technique bisbigliando, a rapid switching between the indicated note’s normal fingering an a color fingering/harmonic fingering of the players’ choosing. accel. bisbig. indicates that the bisbigliando is to become more rapid over time.

The measure of key sounds is to be a continuation of the bisbigliando fingerings from the prior accel. bisbig.

The ending consists of three sounds to be linked into one consistent sound: begin by blowing through the reedless oboe, then transition into sucking air with great velocity before using a slap tongue (S. tongue) to cut off the sucking of the air. The slap tongue does not need to be a voluminous sound in and of itself, but rather should serve as the sudden end to the previous sound.