Ján Števuliak
Transformations Triptych
London, 2021
Ján Števuliak
Transformations Triptych for various instruments
Duration 4’ 4’ 5’
Notes The idea for this piece came to me when my phone suggested a photo (featured on the next page) of my travel to Snowdonia in 2019. The full scope of the portrayed slate quarry startled me, as in reality, its proportions seemed quite drastic. I also have watched a documentary about lignite pit mines in Germany, where villages, infrastructure and even rivers had to be relocated. Additionally, seeing the bare mountains of Snowdonia made me think of National Park Nízke Tatry in Slovakia and the speed of its still-undergoing deforestation. The material is either used for further production of all sorts or for home heating, which brings me to the last inspiration for this triptych. Where I live, people mostly use wood as the main heating fuel. In winters, valleys of the Orava Region are filled with smog and wood-burning smell (which also brings a ‘Christmassy’ mood). Humankind can be quite adventurous and straightforward when it comes to resourcing. With this work, I do not aim to question the businesses and industry, but rather the effects they leave on the landscape. ‘Translating’ or making these effects into music, using them as a primary material may bring some unexpected results. Acknowledgemets Thanks to my performers- Ona Černiauskaitė, Konstantinos Damianakis, Rebecca Morée Galian, Shaye Poulton-Richards and Carolina Saddi-Cury, for impressive realisations of the work and their will and interest to collaborate on this project.
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Dinorwic Slate Quarry Wales 3
The Litophone Litophone is a percussion instrument made of stone. The custom-made litophone used in this piece uses slate tiles that have been mined in the Penrhyn Quarry, Wales. Creating the lithophone has been a rewarding experience in terms of understanding the percussion instruments better. However, the behaviour of slate as a sounding material is rather peculiar. The thickness of the slate tile plays a significant role in its pitch, but it mainly defines how resonant it is. Pieces of the same height but smaller width often produce lower pitches, even if the thickness is the same, and as taller they get, the ranges are lower. Some pieces of slate even featured two tones, and some pieces produced tones just a few Hz apart, resulting in a feel of different tuning temperaments. Thanks to a guide ‘Icelandic Litophone’ accessed via google, I have discovered that for the stone to resonate well, its nodal points (fifth- to a quarter of the piece’s size, from each side) need to be placed on wooden lathes. Mallets used were of yarn and rubber.
Instructions This piece consists of three parts, which can but do not have to be executed continuously in one performance.
Instrumentation (with an exception of the litophone) is not limited to any canon. In this piece, a performer with any kind of object emitting any kind of relevant sound may sit next to a cellist or a laptop performer, however, thematic instrumentation is encouraged.
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Part One Focused on the impact of deforestation and coal mining. This part makes use of two graphic scores. Performers agree to divide the scores between themselves proportionally. Performers need to have a stopwatch. The duration of the performance should be four minutes. Prior to the performance, choose one score and prepare it in the following wayScore 1 1) cross the score with four straight lines, two on side A and two on side B, starting and ending at any edge. These should be substantially long. 2) assign these lines their approximate start and end timings, leaving two minutes for side A and another two minutes for side B. (e.g. line 1 on the side A starts at 0’05’’ and ends at 0’55’’, line 2 starts 1’10’’ and ends 1’40, then switching to side B and so on) 3) assign each of these lines their respective pitch and/or sound quality and/or intrument and/or technique which you would like to explore, where applicable 4) for each line, make a decision on various musical events when lines cross either a) forested area b) deforested area (e.g crossing forested area, dynamics are f and on a deforested area p, or you may choose different octaves, bow pressure or techniques such as fluttertongue etc.) 5) following the lines, perform the material you have decided on previously, timing should be approximate and relative. Score 2 1) cross the score with three straight lines, starting and ending at any edge. These should be substantially long. 2) assign these lines their approximate start and end timings, bearing in mind the duration of this part (4’). In the performance, use these as a relative guide to duration (e.g. line 1 starts at 0’15’’ and ends at 1’15’’, line 2 starts 1’40’’ and ends 2’10 and so on) 3) assign each of these lines their respective pitch and/or soundscape and/or intrument and/or technique which you would like to explore, where applicable 4) for each line, make a decision on various musical events when lines cross either a) a green contour line b) red contour line (eg. green- stable intervals, red- unstable intervals, green- p, red- ff, green- without distortion pedal, red- with distortion pedal etc.) 5) following the lines, perform the material you have decided on previously, timing should be approximate and relative. Recording credits- Ona Černiauskaitė- Voice, Konstantinos Damianakis- Electronics, Shaye Poulton-Richards- Voice, Carolina Saddi Cury- Voice, Ján Števuliak- Voice and Litophone 5
LOW TATRAS NP, SLOVAKIA forested/deforested 2002
Score 1 side A
National Park Nízke Tatry, Slovakia 2002, forested(green)/deforested(white) 6
LOW TATRAS NP, SLOVAKIA forested/deforested 2015
Score 1 side B
National Park Nízke Tatry, Slovakia 2015, forested(green)/deforested(white) 7
Score 2
BEŁCHATÓW COAL MINE, POLAND landscape/intervention
Bełchatów Coal Mine, Poland landscape(green)/intervention(red) 8
Part Two -ponders landscape changes brought by mining activities in Wales and Russia. This part also makes use of two graphic scores. Performers agree to divide the scores between themselves proportionally. Performers need to have a stopwatch. The duration of this part should be around four minutes. Prior to the performance, choose one score and prepare it in the following wayScore 1 1) create an x-y axis representing relative pitch and duration of one minute. 2) cross the score with three lines (straight or curved). Assign these lines their approximate start and end timings, bearing in mind the duration of this part (4’) and the axis timespan. 3) for each line, make a decision on various musical events when lines cross either a) a green contour line b) red contour line (eg. green- stable intervals, red- unstable intervals, green- p, red- ff, green- without distortion pedal, red- with distortion pedal etc.) 4) following the lines, perform the material you have decided on previously, timing should be approximate and relative. Score 2 1) cross the score with three straight lines, starting and ending at any edge. These should be substantially long. 2) assign these lines their approximate start and end timings, bearing in mind the duration of this part (4’). In the performance, use these as a relative guide to duration (e.g. line 1 starts at 0’15’’ and ends at 1’15’’, line 2 starts 1’40’’ and ends 2’10 and so on). 3) assign each of these lines their respective pitch and/or soundscape and/or intrument and/or technique which you would like to explore, where applicable. 4) for each line, make a decision on various musical events when lines cross either a) a green contour line b) red contour line (eg. green- stable intervals, red- unstable intervals, green- p, red- ff, green- without distortion pedal, red- with distortion pedal etc.) 5) following the lines, perform the material you have decided on previously, timing should be approximate and relative. Recording credits- Konstantinos Damianakis- Electronics, Rebecca Morée GalianHarp and Distortion Pedal, Carolina Saddi Cury- Piano, Ján Števuliak- Litophone
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Score 1
PENRHYN QUARRY, WALES landscape/intervention
Penrhyn Quarry, Wales landscape(green)/intervention(red) 10
OLIMPIADA GOLD MINE, RUSSIA landscape/intervention
Score 2
Olimpiada Gold Mine, Russia landscape(green)/intervention(red) 11
Part Three Fossil fuel combustion. Transformation of material into heat, energy. Transformation of solid matter into molecular particles that float in the air. -Performers sit around a fire/fireplace or watch footage of a fire. -Fire/footage of the fire serves as a prompt to improvisation with the following rules: 1) In overall, keep an idea of deterioration in mind. You may approach this concept literally or just as an inspiration for creating a musical motif that changes over time. 2) when you think you hear a high-pitched pop that is louder than average, change pitches or pitch registers. 3) when you think you hear a low-pitched pop that is louder than average, exert some change in dynamics. The dynamic range is not restricted in any way. 4) in terms of rhythm, you may wish to use fire/footage as a prompt to improvise on certain rhythmic cells you recognize, or you may choose to directly respond to the stream of events unfolding in time as the fire is burning. or (if using pre-recorded footage without listening to audio) 1) In overall, keep an idea of deterioration in mind. You may approach this concept literally or just as an inspiration for creating a musical motif that changes over time. 2) imitate brightness and fire intensity changes in the picture by changes to dynamics, pitch or formal structure of your improvisation- eg. change tempo/rhythm abruptly, move to other registers etc. 3) you may wish to base your overall activity depending on the activities seen on the screen, but this not necessarily depends on making it obvious. Recording credits- Ona Černiauskaitė- Voice, Konstantinos Damianakis- Electronics, Carolina Saddi Cury- Piano, Ján Števuliak- Litophone
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