Simon Løffler Monodactyl (2016) for 5 musicians Dur. 7′30″
PERFORMANCE NOTES This piece is for 5 musicians, each playing a small instrumental set-up with 1 of the 5 fingers on the hand. The instruments and their playing techniques are explained below. Musician 1 – Thumb The thumb has a small stick attached to it, which is used to strike a bell, and plays on a retractable pen. It requires some practice to play this part without fatiguing. Note heads A black triangular note head indicates a depressing AND releasing of the pen, a white triangular note head indicates to not depress entirely (but still release), which will be a very soft sound as there is no ‘click’:
Staff The 3 staff lines indicate 3 different hand positions 1. Top staff line: Hold the pen normally in 2. Middle staff line: Hold the hand front of the body: against the chest, which produces a slightly more damped (lower) sound:
3. Bottom staff line: Hold the pen down against the chest as in the 2nd position, and hold the other hand over it (with a soft glove on), to produce an even more damped sound: The movement from one position to the other should be short but smooth (approximately a 16th note). Bell A small stand with a bell is placed close to the musician. The bell is struck with the stick by straightening the thumb upwards (from hand position 1): Bell notation: