Like a Window Pane (No. 155 from Paul Klee : Painted Songs)

Like a Window Pane (Wie ein Glasfenster, 1924) for Indeterminate Ensemble, Pre-Recorded Electronics, and Soloist(s) No. 155 from Paul Klee : Painted Songs Jonathan Posthuma

Like a Window Pane (Wie ein Glasfenster, 1924) No. 155 from Paul Klee : Painted Songs Jonathan Posthuma (b. 1989)

Percussion Step 1:

4 /4

∑

2

∑

3

∑

4

5

∑

∑

A soloist (or group of soloists) should organize an indeterminate group of players to create or improvise gestures, textures, or musical ideas for each of the color layers, using the following suggestions as prompts.

These fragments should be pre-recorded, pre-determined, or assigned in secret before the performance.

Black -- nearly imperceptible, from silence back into silence

like the night

wie die Nacht

Grey -- in the background, from silence to quiet static

like smoke

wie Rauch

Brown -- in the background, quiet drone or sustained texture

like coals

wie Kohlen

Red -- in the middle, interwoven rising and falling phrases, with quiet passion like embers

wie Glut

Orange -- in the foreground, aggressive outburst but shortlived

like flames

wie Flammen

Yellow -- in the foreground, ecstatic and energetic

like sparks

wie Funken

Green - in the foreground, a florid cadence or trill

like tendrils

wie Ranken

Dark Red, Orange, Yellow, Green -- same ideas as above, but a faint echo

like echoes

wie Echos

like a window pane

wie ein Glasfenster

Narrators or singers can use the English or German phrases (like smoke wie Rauch, etc.) if performed with text, but this is completely optional.

Step 2: Assemble the fragments in time, so that they are distributed throughout the duration. Fragments can overlap with each other. The background layers should blend together and the middle and foreground layers stand out. The distribution can be done randomly, or with planning, but the frequency and distribution should follow this general hierarchy.

Most Frequent --> <-- Least Frequent Brown, Grey, Black, Red/Dark Red, Green/Dark Green, Orange/Dark Orange, Yellow/Dark Yellow It may be helpful for players to record or plan multiple Brown, Grey, Black, and Red gestures but fewer, or only a single, Green, Orange, or Yellow gesture depending on the size of the ensemble. Fragments can be repeated or edited, but this process should be obscured from the soloist(s).

Alternatively, the soloist can have a role in shaping the frequency and distribution of the fragments, so that they know the general form, pacing, and duration of the performance, but they should not hear the actual sound of each fragment in any way.

Step 3: A soloist, or a any number of soloists, respond to this pre-determined landscape with their own improvisation.

Ideally, the soloist(s) have never heard the landscape and react live to the pre-determined events and layers.

The piece may last any duration.

Copyright ©2020, Jonathan Posthuma Demodocus Music Publishing / www.jonathanposthuma.com

December 7, 2020 Newport, MN