S
P E N C E R A R I A S
For 8 voices (SSAATBBB)
Duration 6’ (2 0 1 9)
SLACC PUBLISHING
P R O G R A M N O T E S
In the consumption of art (visual or aural), the audience member is often times not welcomed into the creative process. The passive role as the listener while an enjoyable space to occupy on many occasions does not always give the person who claim they “have no creative bone in the body,” much agency in expanding this viewpoint. This perpetuates the idea that only experts have the ability to be creative, which fails to recognize that most people are creative nearly every single day. Perhaps we are not creating works of “art” that are meant to be passively consumed, but we do all sorts of creative tasks on the daily. Telling stories about our day or about the past, can be a creative endeavor. People curate the aspects of their life to share with the public or just their friends or family. The text from this piece was collected from members of my community who answered three questions which were:
In one sentence, tell me a story about your day. In one sentence, tell me a story about a day you had sometime recently. In one sentence, tell me a story from your past.
I received many responses, but there were eight that all seemed to create this really wonderful narrative. Each performer will be perform one of these stories interwoven within a sound world inspired by these stories. At the end of the piece I invite the listeners of this piece to participate in being creative by telling a person around you to you about your day, a day you have sometime recently, or from your past (or all three).
Thank you so much to Evan Snyder for helping me to curate these question, and to Megan DeJarnett, Ian Gunnarschja, Marianna Filippi, and the five other story tellers who wish to remain anonymous.
For more info on the composer visit his website at http://spencerariasmusic.com If you perform this piece please let the composer know, and send him a program.
Cover art was photographed by the composer, but is of a paint pallet by his Great Grandfather Emeterio Arias Gajardo currently hanging at his childhood home in Phoenix, AZ
PERUSALSCORE
P E R F O R M A N C E N O T E S
Tell me a story… is entirely flexible where tempo and rhythm are nearly all up to the performer to interpret. Within repeated figures the rhythm is flexible but should not be drastically changed from repeat to repeat, but can be shaped for dynamics. All text should be spoken at a high enough volume to be heard above the musical material. Sometime this might mean speaking loudly which is a different timbre than a soft spoken. This is to represent the need for people to often times needing to shout to be heard over the drowned-out noises of everyday life. All material in parentheses are continuations of previous systems. Performers are welcomed to breath as necessary. Often times different parts will have similar material but are not aligned. This indicates that the material should not necessarily be performed at the same speed. If the materials are aligned then the speed, duration, and timing should be the same.
On page 7 stemmed note heads indicate a rhythm. This should be performed in this rhythm and in unison but is flexible on tempo. This tempo should be set by the Tenor at the top of page 7 while they are singing this alone. Subsequent vocalists should join in at that tempo.
Vocalized static sound switching between Any whole note followed by an arrow Shh and sss with improvised dynamic swells indicates that a note should be held out at the discretion of the performer for the indicated duration in relation to the other performers
Closed noteheads indicate the following Open noteheads indicate that the pitches can occur in that order in a rhythm duration of the pitches should be decided by the performer slightly longer than the closed noteheads
Arrows between vowels indicate a slide between vowel sounds. Always /a/, as in raw or paw, and always /i/, as in keep or free.
PERUSALSCORE
"Someone
"I got so nervous around a crush that I forgot the word crow and said Corvid instead, revealing what a nerd I am" "Someone I looked up to told
"When I was two I fell head-first off the top of a slide on the playground and my sister caught me by the ankle"
"I was sitting on a bench at my previous university when an old man came up to me to sit down and said "nothing like a warm sun on a day like this, is there? And I responded quickly and left, which I now regret deeply
"It was exhilarating to sail past a pod of basking sharks on that perfect summer day"
& & & & V ?
Tell
Tell
