Seasonal Affective Disorder
* TRANSPOSED SCORE *
Flute 1 & 2
Oboe 1 & 2
Clarinet in B-flat 1 & 2
Bassoon 1 & 2
Horn in F 1 & 2
• Grace notes should be played before the beat.
• Trills are half-step.
Tenor
Trombone Bass
• An X in place of a time signature indicates an unmeasured section. The duration of each such section is indicated above in seconds.
• Stemless noteheads followed by solid horizontal lines indicate notes held for an indeterminate length. The proportions of the lines give a general sense of how long the notes should be held.
• Musical material notated in between repeat signs followed by a thick black line (for example, the woodwinds at m. 18) should be repeated freely for the duration of the line. These repeat signs often do not line up with barlines. Where necessary, brackets with rhythmic values are used to show how much of a measure the repeated figure occupies. Such repeated ideas do not need to be played strictly in time, though the initial tempo should be close to that of the orchestra as a whole.
• Similarly, when players are instructed to “begin together but gradually move apart”, those entrances should begin in alignment with the overall tempo and meter before individual players start falling out of sync with each other and with the conductor.
• An arrow indicates a gradual change from one playing technique to another (for example from ord. to scratch as in the the violins at m. 3).
• In the flutes, “T. R.” above a note indicates a tongue ram. The fingered pitch is given in normal notation, with the sounding pitch cue-sized and in parentheses below.
• In the oboe and bassoon parts, “M” means the player should play any multiphonic that includes the given pitch prominently (in the notated octave or in another octave as desired).
• The following notations can be found in the timpani part:
• “C” (with or without a dashed line) indicates to play on the center of the indicated drum. If a dashed line follows, play in the center for the duration of the line. If there is no such line, play in the center only for the note where the C appears above.
• “N” refers to the normal playing position, but is only indicated where necessary for clarification.
• “D.S.” refers to dead stroke. When a solid line follows this indication, the player should execute the dead stroke and continue to press the mallet into the drum head until the line lifts.
• + means to muffle the drum with the opposite hand.
• An x notehead means to play on the rim of the indicated drum.
• A diamond notehead two ledger lines above the staff refers to clicking the shaft of the mallets together.
• Triangular noteheads mean to play with one’s hands on the indicated drum.
• In the strings, “scratch” refers to a scratch tone created by excessive bow pressure. Col legno battuto is abbreviated as “c. l. batt.”, and a grouping of four staccato-type dots above a note indicates jeté with an indeterminate number of bounces. For behind the bridge playing (denoted by ), note placement indicates which string to play rather than any particular sounding pitch.
• A notehead above the staff with an upward arrow indicates the highest note possible.
Program Notes
Seasonal Affective Disorder was written in 2011 for the Seasons Fall Music Festival. The condition for which the piece is named generally involves the connection of some negative mood with a particular season - an ironic reference, since I have particularly fond memories of the time I spent at the Seasons Festival in 2010 and am quite partial to fall in general (being both the season in which I was born and that which contained my favorite holiday, Halloween). Still, the nervous excitement and chaotic outbursts of the music do reflect some of the emotions I associate with autumn, albeit taken to a (possibly unhealthy) extreme.
Composer Contact Information
Jessica Rudman
Email: jessica@jessicarudman.com
Website: www.jessicarudman.com