Performance Notes
General
1 A total of 16 wine glasses are needed for performance Wine glasses should be pitched at stated pitches and performed by being clinked together, as opposed to struck with an implement A key for wine glass pitches is provided below:
Flute - D5, F#5
Oboe - B4, E5, G#5
Clarinet - C5, G5
Saxophone - C5, A5
Horn - B4, D5, E5
Percussion - B4, E5, G#5, A5
In some cases, performers will need to clink their wine glass with a performer on either side of them These instances are denoted with a dashed line in the score and cues in the parts
2 All glissandi should fll full duration
3 Phrases in boxes should be performed freely with slight fuctuations in tempo They should take up the entire specifed duration Wavy glissandi indicate to gliss the boxed material in the specifed direction
Woodwinds/Brass
1 Square noteheads indicate air
Percussion
1 Crotale on snare drum - place crotale pitched B♭4 on snare head and strike (snares on)
Drumset
1 The drumset should be mufed to avoid overpowering the rest of the ensemble
2 A key for the drumset can be found below:
1 Muted notes are notated using a plus sign and should be muted with the performer’s hand In combination with the depressed pedal, the efect should be round and resonant
2 E-Bow - the performer should use the fermata in m 481 to place the E-Bow on B♭ 4, then depress the sustain pedal in m 482 and perform the entirety of Act IV with the pedal down, to ensure that the string continues to resonate When striking the B♭ 4 key, the string may vibrate against the E-Box, creating a buzzing sound This sound is encouraged, and the performer should lean into the slight buzz and distortion
Piano
Electric Guitar
1 Harmonics - harmonics are notated with both the string number (circled) and fret number (roman numeral) denoted, and sound at the given pitch or the pitch specifed in parentheses
2 Pedals - the performer will at a minimum need the following pedals or an efect pedal/s with the following parameters: Reverb Delay Distortion Overdrive Freeze Volume
The performer is encouraged to add to this list, using efects and pedals that they feel best complement and add to the overall texture, timbre, and atmosphere of each given section
3 Surface Transducer - Act III - Talking to Trees calls for a surface transducer to be used to resonate the guitar body The performer should hold down the specifed notes while the transducer resonates the guitar The efect should sit on the edge between noise and pitch, with dynamic swells controlled by the volume pedal If a surface transducer is not available, any sort of loud, noisy texture within the given chords will sufce
4 Additional Equipment - an E-Bow and glass slide are needed in Act II - This mountain, an amphitheatre
5 Crescendos starting from silence imply the use of a volume pedal to fade in the sound
Strings
m s t - Molto Sul Tasto
s.t. - Sul Tasto
ord - Ordinary
s p - Sul Ponticello
m s p - Molto Sul Ponticello
l b pr - Light bow pressure
ord b pr - Ordinary bow pressure
1. Amplifcation - each string instrument should be amplifed and mixed to balance well with the rest of the ensemble. This is done to raise the overall volume of the ensemble A small amount of reverb should also be added to blend the sound For more info, please feel free to contact me at gibson mahnke@gmail com
2 Ghost Bowing - bowing with a weight too light for the contact point and bow speed of the stroke The resultant efect should have more air and less presence than fautando
3. Scratch Tone - mute the string with your left hand and turn the bow with the wrist to create a scratchy sound. The resultant efect should be similar to that of walking on leaves
4 Overpressure - wedges indicate moves to overpressure The efect should be crunchy and pitchless
5 The following efect calls for rapid left-hand movement in randomized order with harmonic pressure One need not play specifc nodes, just harmonic pressure The resultant efect should be a cloud of shimmering harmonic noise.
High in the mountains along the Montana-Wyoming border sit the unincorporated communities of Cooke City and Silver Gate, Montana These two small towns, with a year-round population of around ninety people, serve as the last stop before the endless mountain ranges and valleys of the North Absaroka Wilderness During the middle months of summer, tourists come from around the globe as Silver Gate sits on the Northeast Entrance to Yellowstone National Park, with an estimated 270,991 visitors traveling through this entrance in the year 2023 The towns sit rugged, with elevations of 8,127 and 7,405 feet respectively, and are often referred to as the snowiest communities in all of Montana. Only two months of the year average above 50 °F (10 °C), and each year sees around 213 1 inches of snowfall The communities sometimes see snow as late as June, with temperatures as low as 16 °F (-9 °C) recorded during this month Even though the park draws a large number of tourists during the summer months, the communities remain extremely isolated During the summer, the nearest grocery stores are a two-hour drive in nearby Cody, WY, and Red Lodge, MT The cities remain disconnected from the rest of the world, of the grid, and remote Both communities sit along U S Highway 212, with Silver Gate sitting between Cooke City and the park entrance In the winter, the road between the park entrance and Cooke City is plowed, but this stops once you leave Cooke City This is known as “the plug,” and it means that in the winter months, anywhere beyond Cooke City is only accessible via snowmobile
Cooke City began as a mining community, having been removed from the Crow Reservation in 1882, with Silver Gate later founded as a tourist destination However, Cooke City failed as its isolation made mining too difcult Now the cities sit as the true last stop before the American frontier
My family has existed in Silver Gate for generations, and I feel a deep personal tie to the town In 1934, my great-great-great-grandparents, Azarias and Gertrude Vincelette, purchased a collection of cabins in Silver Gate, just as the town was being founded, even helping contribute to its eventual name In 1946, they sold the cabins to Elmer Larson, the husband of their daughter Garnet Ruby Larson My great-great-grandparents continued to run the now Larson’s Motel for many years. At this time, they adopted a daughter, Mary Kathleen Mahnke my grandmother They later sold the lodge, and it became the Grizzly Lodge However, they maintained several cabins, including some that were part of the original lodge My grandparents still spend the entirety of their summers in Silver Gate, and I have grown up visiting every summer Here, I fnd peace in nature, completely of the grid with no cell phone service or internet It is a place of both immense natural beauty and transformation, but also of stasis and isolation It sits, trapped at the constant will of Mother Nature
In Isolation dives into the experience of living in such a remote place, practically, physically, and psychologically Much of my initial inspiration was drawn from a story about my dad’s frst year of life. My grandparents had my father, Daus Mahnke, straight out of high school, and decided to spend his frst winter in Silver Gate It is experiences like this that truly give us a diverse perspective on the world This piece is part of my attempt to understand this sort of isolation
In Isolation is based around the experience of a fctional character who fnds themselves in Silver Gate The identity of this individual is not important, as they simply represent the type of wandering soul that would stumble upon a place like Silver Gate or Cooke City The main character must come to terms with complete isolation, exploring the positives and negatives of being alone The work also explores the immense impact nature can have on a person, and what we can learn from simply sitting among the trees.
The work is broken into fve acts, starting with Act I - Beartooth Pass, Elev 10,947 ft During the summer months, the Beartooth Pass, a scenic highway known as “America’s Most Beautiful Drive,” brings people to Cooke City and Silver Gate from Red Lodge, MT The work starts with the main character descending this highway, wilderness sprawling all around This marks the protagonist entering a place of isolation, foregoing the outside world for a new way of living They are lost and have ended up on the edge of the world
Act II - This mountain, an amphitheatre, describes the central fgures’ frst few months in Silver Gate It is summer, and a time for exploration The protagonist fnds themselves surrounded by pristine waterfalls and alpine lakes, towering peaks and narrow mountain valleys Just like nature, this movement is ever-progressing and in fux, as both the natural world and the main character experience intense change They start to understand isolation and fnd solace in the beauty of the natural world However, they also start to feel the discomfort that comes with isolation
In Act III - Talking to Trees, the protagonist looks for solace in the world around them as they seek advice to deal with the isolation They fnd this comfort by speaking with the trees The trees tell them about their experience, an experience highlighted by solitude and stasis They have
remained in the same place, constantly watching the world around them They explain to the protagonist the positives and negatives of this isolation - its power as a mindset for both refection and madness Finally, they describe a moment of immense change to the main character: the Yellowstone Fires of 1988 This collection of forest fres, the largest recorded in the history of Yellowstone, burned for fve months and spanned 793,880 acres Both Cooke City and Silver Gate were evacuated, with several buildings burning down However, the trees remained, and they describe the fre engulfng them, how their bark cracked and splintered under the heat By the time the fre was controlled, whole sides of mountains sat scorched, void of life Despite their destructive qualities, forest fres are a natural occurrence and are needed to push natural rejuvenation and regrowth The trees tell this story to show that even in isolation, extreme events of change can occur The main character has found some comfort, but is still left confused The movement ends with a deafening ringing, and the main character struggles to escape it They realize that this “ringing in their head” has been present their whole time in Montana, and struggle to understand what it means
The work moves to Act IV - As I skip stones on this motionless lake It is now winter, and the main character fnds themselves beside a frozen lake They start to skip stones on the ice surface, but the rocks just bounce of the surface and slide away The main character is feeling their most isolated The town sits empty, and most people have left for the winter This solo piano movement is the protagonist at their most vulnerable The piano returns to a constant B♭ tone the sound of the stones hitting the frozen lake The protagonist is haunted by the ringing from the previous movements and although he tries to escape it, he remains stuck in his own head
Act V - ...all I can hear is this ringing. serves as the ultimate climax to our main character’s journey They sit alone in a small cabin, the wooden roof creaking under the weight of the snow They are at their most isolated It is the middle of winter, and the world is dark and cold The only solace they have is the beauty of their surroundings, but even that is not enough They spiral, as they can’t escape their own thoughts This inner dialogue becomes louder and louder until the main character is completely overwhelmed Diferent musical ideas layer on top of each other, creating an increasingly noisy and chaotic texture Eventually, the ringing in their head takes over, and they reach a point of madness Coming to the isolated Silver Gate has given the lost soul purpose and answered many of their life questions, but at the same time, the isolation has taken over, and the main character is consumed by their thoughts Then, all of a sudden, the music snaps back to the texture from the very opening Just as the trees promised, isolation can lead to extreme events of change, and the main characters have gone through one such event Only by being pushed to the breaking point through extreme isolation has the protagonist truly grown and found purpose
Throughout the work, all the members of the ensemble represent the protagonist and the world around them However, the electric guitar always represents the main character speaking out loud Whether to themselves, the audience, or even the trees, the guitar represents the character’s physical, active voice All other musical ideas give us insight into the inner thoughts of the protagonist, in a way, still representing his voice, just a private version of it
In Isolation (from Silver Gate, Montana), it is both a story of isolation and stasis, as well as a personal exploration into my family heritage It has served as a way for me to connect with my past and tell a piece of my family’s story In Isolation shows and analyzes the type of person that would move to somewhere so isolated the people that make up Silver Gate and Cooke City Musically, the work draws infuence from a diverse range of styles, including folk, post-rock, art-rock, and indie, with inspiration taken from the music of groups like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Bon Iver, Silver Mt Zion, Racing Mount Pleasant, and Black Country, New Road This piece, written for my undergraduate senior recital, is a summation of my last four years of musical and lived experiences, and pays homage to my family identity
Much thanks to Donna Rowland and the Cooke City Montana Museum for archival materials
Gibson Mahnke
8 February 2026
CONTENTS
Act I - Beartooth Pass, Elev. 10,947 ft. page 1
Act II - This mountain, an amphitheatre page 17
Act III - Talking to Trees page 59
Act IV - As I skip stones on this motionless lake... page 94
Act V - all I can hear is this ringing page 100
I N I S O L AT I
