Rei MUNAKATA: Buckle in the Air (2011)

Rei Munakata Buckle in the Air (2011) for alto flute, clarinet (Bb), guitar, and sound objects

Instrumentation

Alto flute in G

The flutist also [Eat Almonds] (see below)

Clarinet in Bb

The clarinettist also performs [Pipe] (see below)

Guitar

With slide. The guitarist also [Eat Almonds] (see below)

Sound Objects (one player) The sound object player performs the following instruments: [Kalimba] Kalimba (thumb piano) Preferably 15 notes Kalimba with the following tuning:

Kalimba with more/fewer notes with different tuning can be used if the notes with arrows are included.

photo: Goshen Art School Kalimba

Played with finger or toothbrush

[Belt]

Leather belt with metal buckle.

[Beer can]

Clean empty beer aluminium can of any brand.

Played with pencil.

[Pipe]

A plastic pipe with zigzag surface such as a musical twirling pipe or a vacuum cleaner pipe.

[Almonds]

Place a small container filled with almonds near each performer where the audience cannot see.

[Dobaci]

Medium size Dobaci. Played with finger, pencil, or wooden stick

[Paper]

Two pieces of newspaper cut out in small pieces (around 10 cm x 10 cm)

Performance Notes General Notes Transposed score:

Alto flute sounds perfect fourth lower than written.

Clarinet sounds major second lower than written.

Guitar sounds one octave lower than written.

All accidentals only refer to the notes within the beam, the bar and/or tied from the previous note.

All glissandi are continuous without staying on given pitches.

[Eat Almonds] Alto flutist, guitarist, and the sound object player are asked to eat almonds in bar 79. Place a small container filled with almonds near each of them where the audience cannot see or reach. Alto flutist should prepare a bottle of water as well to recover from thirst after eating almonds. Eating and chewing should not be theatrical and the chewing speed should not be faster/slower than ordinary speed of eating quiet afternoon snack.

Bar 75: Alto flutist starts to eat almonds with some breaks in between, calm and relaxed without any stress in character, chew gently and quietly but with poker face as if he/she is “thinking about something not so important” as in a rehearsal break without being interrupted by anything happening around him/her.

Bar 78: Alto flutist continuously eats almonds without any break until 6 seconds before bar 80. Place more almonds in the mouth when needed.

Bar 79: Suddenly but gently clarinettist, guitarist, and sound object player stop what they have been doing, and notice that the alto flutist is eating almonds.

But do not act theatrically or look “surprised”. Just stare with poker face without any expression. Alto flutist keeps eating in her own world.

After 10 seconds, guitarist and sound object player suddenly but calmly start eating almonds. Keep looking at the alto flutist without looking away to take the almonds. After 3 seconds, alto flutist stops eating and prepare the next flute playing. Drink water if necessary. Clarinettist takes away the mouthpiece without looking away from the alto flutist.

Bar 80: Suddenly back to instrumental playing and the guitarist and sound object player finish eating on the downbeat of this bar.

Above “synopsis” should not be stressed as it is not meant to be performed in over theatrical manner. It is only to suggest the calm and gentle atmosphere with an intense sense of “observation” and anticipation.

Alto Flute Air/tone (Square note head): Air noise. Only air noise sound without any tone otherwise indicated as “1/2 air” (half air and half tone). ↓↑↓↑↓↑

(Arrows up and down): Exhale and inhale air.

Harmonics/whistle tone All harmonics notes are notated with diamond note head indicating the fundamental (fingering) and normal note head indicating the particular harmonic partial (sounding pitch desired). In case of whistle tone, “whistle tone” is indicated (otherwise it is a normal harmonic tone).

Overblown harmonics with undetermined pitch(es). Blow as hard as possible to achieve a cluster of high harmonic partials.

Embouchure All pitch-bendings caused by below embouchure changes are not notated in the score. 

Open: Normal playing embouchure.



Close: Cover the mouth-hole completely with lips.

Instrument turned outwards.

Instrument held with ordinary playing angle.

Instrument turned inwards.

Other (Cross note head): Key click or key percussive effect: Violently slap the key mechanism without blowing any air.

(Triangle note head): Tongue ram. Closed embouchure. Percussive thrusting of tongue into breathe aperture as if pronouncing “HT”. The triangle note head indicates the fingering and the normal tone the sounding pitch.

(“bisb.”): Bisbigliando. Timbral trill with microtones around the indicated pitch.

“Smorzato”: Rapid and violent lip vibrato.

Clarinet Air/tone (Square note head): Air noise. Only air noise sound without any tone otherwise indicated as “1/2 air” (half air and half tone). ↓↑↓↑↓↑

(Arrows up and down): Exhale and inhale air.

Other (Cross note head): Key click or key percussive effect: Violently slap the key mechanism without blowing any air.

(Heart sign): Kiss sound. Percussive noise created by lips as if one kisses the mouthpiece of the clarinet.

(“bisb.”): Bisbigliando. Timbral trill with microtones around the indicated pitch.

Taking away the mouth piece The performer is asked to perform without the mouthpiece after bar 79. When performing air tone or sing through the instrument, completely cover the opening of barrel joint with mouth.

Sing into the clarinet from bar 81a Singing should not be sung with a professionally trained voice. Sing gently and quietly but with a touch of groaning and growling with a lot of wide vibrato.

Do not hurry but take a lot of time as if the singing has been going on for a long time already and you are slightly drunk and enjoying singing in the enormous resonance in a big bathhouse.

Pipe See below [Pipe] under Sound object.

Guitar Staff Only one staff is usually used for normal guitar playing. Where a second system is carried out, the upper staff shows the left hand and the lower staff the right hand activities.

Normal note heads: Ordinary method of playing the guitar (the left hand fingers hold one or more notes and the right hand pluck the strings to let ring). In a passage including slurs, pluck only once every slur.

(Triangle note heads): Left hand Hammer-On”. Tap the string strongly and percussively with a left hand finger. The notes indicate where on the string to tap. Let the string hit the fingerboard as hard as possible. Note: Absolutely only left hand!

6 line right hand staff:

Indicate which string(s) to pluck.

3 line right hand staff:

Indicate the register to damp/strike. Top line shows the highest (near the bridge) and bottom line shows the lowest (near the neck). During a rapid and busy passage where it is not possible to reach the two extreme registers, try to reach the nearest register as possible.

Damping symbols Damp all the strings with palm without striking.

(Damp sign with gliss): Damp all the strings with palm without striking, and scrape the strings up and down.

(Damp sign with sfz): Strike the strings percussively from above without letting the hand go.

(Damp sign with gliss and sfz): Strike the strings percussively from above without letting the hand go, and scrape the strings up and down.

Damp only indicated tone(s).

Gradual change from ordinary to damped tone and vice versa.

Release the damping hand with great force to let the strings resonate.

Sound Object Sound Object player should have a table, and sit on a chair just like any other musician.

[Kalimba] Place the instrument on a table in order to have both hands and all fingers free. Pluck the metal tines with any finger (thus, no longer a “thumb piano”) for rapid and busy passages. Always let it vibrato otherwise indicated.

(Cross note head): Damp the tines with one hand and pluck with the other.

Gradual change from ordinary to damped tone and vice versa.

Scrape a toothbrush back and forth (left and right) across the tines (keys). The movement should be continuous and organic with a gentle and spooky manner.

[Belt] Place your hand in front of you, and hold the end of the belt without the buckle. Let it hang. Roll up the belt to adjust the length so that only the buckle of the belt reaches the floor. Preferably, prepare a “belt stand” in order to be able to hang the belt for quick and easy change of instruments.

There are four different techniques to perform the belt.

Scrape: Scrape belt buckle against the floor. Long line indicates a smooth and continuous movement, and dotted line indicates a nervous and jerky discontinuous movement.

Shake: Shake the belt to let the buckle rattle.

Lift up: Suddenly lift up the buckle to the air from the floor by pulling the belt upwards. Let it rattle in the air.

Drop down: aggressively lower the belt and let the buckle drop on the floor without any hesitation.

The floor of the performance venue should be, preferably, with rough texture (for scraping) but with dry quality without any resonance (for dropping down).

[Pipe] There are two different techniques to perform the pipe.

Scrape: Scrape the zigzag surface of the side of the tube with a pencil. Violent and aggressive.

Sing/whisper/speak into the tube: Cover the mouth with the opening of the pipe tube and sing, whisper, or speak through the pipe. For the best result, hold up the other end towards the audience. Spin the other end of the pipe when indicated.

[Beer can] Place the empty aluminium beer can on the table. Grab a pencil with the right hand and hit the side of the can while holding the upper edge of the can with left hand thumb and index finger to prevent the can to move around. Keep the palm of the left hand away from the can (“o”). To damp the can, hold the can with the entire left hand palm (“+”). Both the hitting and the damping should be very expressive and dramatic.

Copyright © 2011 Rei Munakata Please contact the composer for any question or comment. Best wishes, th Rei Munakata (rei_munakata@yahoo.com), September 13 , 2011 Stockholm