Bára Gísladóttir: Rage against reply guy (2021)

Bára Gísladóttir Rage against reply guy

(2021)

for bass clarinet, electric guitar, violin, violoncello, electronics Dur. 9′6″

Commissioned by and written for Distractfold Ensemble in the spring of 2021

SCORE

Bára Gísladóttir Rage against reply guy

(2021)

for bass clarinet, electric guitar, violin, violoncello, live electronics Dur. 9′6″

A reply guy is a term for a man who frequently comments on tweets or other social media posts in an annoying, condescending, forward, or otherwise unsolicited manner–especially posts by women. It can also refer to a person who frequently and zealously responds to posts from famous people on Twitter.

Dicitionary.com, 21 April 2021

INSTRUMENTATION Bass Clarinet in Bb Electric Guitar Violin Violoncello Electronics Electronics The electronics are run from Ableton Live 10 Suite (Max for Live required) and need to be controlled by someone outside the ensemble.

Amplification The amplification requires a PA with 2 speakers (or more).

An audio interface with four inputs is required.

EXPLANATIONS General Rage against reply guy is a drone piece (with heavy metal and overdrive aspects) that seesaws between fully written and freely improvisational passages. The improvisational passages are marked in seconds. Here, the players should continue their loops until something else appears. For instance in the example below, the bass clarinet is given a sole note to play for 30 seconds, then changes to the next loop which is sustained for 20 seconds. The electric guitar performs the rubato loop given for 50 seconds. The strings vary between the two loops given as they please for thirty seconds, then the same loops appear again, but with overpressure, and are sustained for 20 seconds.

2 25

mad growl

free breathing

B. Cl.

tempo rubato E. Gtr.

IV m.s.t. - m.s.p. (and everything in between) free bowing

Vln.

IV m.s.t. - m.s.p. (and everything in between) free bowing

Vc.

By all means feel free to add other aspects you find fitting to the improvisational loops given. Do as you please, just keep in mind that Rage against reply guy is a drone piece, so it should not contain too much “all over the place” content.

Bass Clarinet in Bb ord. - ordinario mph. - multiphonic

ææ w)

Growl. The growling should be performed in the form of a voiced throat flutter. If you cannot do a throat flutter, you can fake it with a flutter that is a bit rougher and unsteadier than the general one.

Square notes should be voiced, preferably in the octave written, but otherwise in the octave that feels best for the performer. The voiced parts of the piece are absolutely not required to be in perfect tune, but preferably somewhere close to the pitch given.

U

This notehead indicates a (very) approximate voiced pitch in the given register.

!

Highest possible voice pitch.

Glissandi fake gliss.

4 4 #w

> #w

There are a few places with glissandi or wavy bend tones in the piece.

Some of them are impossible, and should be performed as imitational glissandi. Take a look at the example below. In the first bar there’s a “fake gliss.” upwards, where you should just combine embouchure and fingering to imitate something close to the effect. In the next bar the wavy line quasi sticks to one note, which calls for the use of embouchure only.

Multiphonics The multiphonics do not require a specific fingering or outcome. Simply a fundamental is given, followed by a description of the desired outcome.

Electric Guitar Wavy gliss.

The electric guitar serves as the piece’s solo aspect and binding material all at once. The part is very free and improv.-based. Your job is to create a dark, heavy, metal, drone-like atmosphere that gives the listener a chill.

Scordatura

&

w w nw w #w w

Strings m.s.t. – molto sul tasto s.t. – sul tasto ord. - ordinario s.p. – sul ponticello m.s.p. – molto sul ponticello Gradually move from one technique to the other.

Wavy gliss.

Highest possible pitch on the string indicated.

!

Harmonics and harmonic trills/trem.

~

Harmonic

w~

Artificial harmonic

Slurred tremolo is to be played on one bow throughout its whole time value (but with free bowing during improvisational passages). Take for instance the visual example given here in the explanations; the tremolo should be played on one bow only, through the two beats. That is, not a new bow on every trill between the first and second note.

˙

˙O

A tremolo of four lines should be played as fast as possible. There are a few spots where tremolo increases and decreases in speed, indicated in the following way: It should be kept in mind that some of the harmonics are very pure, others are very grungy, almost a white noise. Take them as they come.

Overpressure The overpressure is indicated by black graphics above staves: Electronics The electronics are run from Ableton Live 10 Suite (Max for Live required) and need to be controlled by someone outside the ensemble. The rehearsal numbers serve as electronic cues. Initially, make sure all patches in all tracks are turned on. Before the piece starts, Track 0 is the only track unmuted. Subsequently, the cues in the score indicate the following:

1

Unmute Track 1

2 &3

Unmute Track 2 Unmute Track 3

4 5

Mute Tracks 2 and 3

6

Unmute Track 6

Unmute Track 5 (perhaps unmute Tracks 2 and/or 3 as well if more noise is needed

The last bar consists of 40 seconds of electronic fade-out. In case the electronics have not faded entirely out within those 40 seconds, just (very) slowly turn down the Master.

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