to sing (2018/rev. 2020) by Kurt Rohde

to sing

for solo soprano (2018/rev. 2020)

-for Chris Reynolds-

TEXT

Give me to sing to build a house

a few words a truth without worrying

for a woman allowing us before night comes

-Markus Kutter

PERFORMANCE NOTES -if possible, singer should be slighty amplified with low reverb added; a bluetooth headset would work best -solid arrow indicates transition from one timbre or technique to another as indicated -dashed arrow indicates transition between phonemes -circle with arrowhead indicates purposeful generation of overtones: the end of this technique for a section will be indicated by a closed bracket: singer may generate overtones on any vowel sound of their choosing, changing smoothly and at a rate that feels appropriate to the moment -noteheads in parenthesis are notes that are meant to be an extremely airy, breathy sound, on the threshold of unsung but still adhering to the indicated pitch as much as possible -noteheads that are smaller in size than the standard notehead are suggested pitches; in the cases where this technique is used, the notes with the smaller noteheads have been provided to "fill-in" the full contour of the melodic line and are meant to create a blurring in the melody -striking chest with fists is intended to simulate the striking of a drum, and should result in a disruption in the tone of the voice -the X note heads in the voice part are meant to be either executed: >with an "air" sound (similar to a loud, breathy whisper), >with a "1/2 spoken - 1/2 air sound" (similar to a weak spoken sound, perhaps containing some weak vocal fry), or >with a "1/2 spoken - 1/2 sung" sound (similar to a very breathy, unsupported sung tone) -square noteheads are silent; the singer "sing" & "drum" the lines & text as written, but without any sound; the production and practice of singing is entirely intact except that it is silent -scooping or gentle bending into or away from notes is indicated by a slightly curved line into or away from the pitch; the direction (up or down) of the scooped bend is reflected by the direction of the curved line -meters are in place only to indicate the grouping of subdivisions, thereby giving the singer information that would allow her to understand the character and affect of the music: while the singer should try to execute the rhythms inside each measure with general rhythmic accuracy, the overall effect should be a seamless stream of connected phrases, some done so smoothly and some done so abruptly -pitches that are "bent" or scooped into or away from are indicated by a curved line connected prior or after a given pitch: it is left to the discretion of the singer to determine the amount of bend or scoop that should be used, as well as the rate (quick or slow) that it should be executed, although the duration of the written note value should be used as a guide -feathered beaming follows standard practice -microtonal accidentals follow standard practice -vertical arrows above noteheads indicate direction or breathing, and should be executed in a manner to emphasize the sound of the breath; >arrow pointing up = inhalation >pointing down = exhalation -measures with bracket above are without meter alla ad libitum, and should be performed somewhat ad libitum; this means that measures the immediately follow the bracketed measure should be back intempo and in the written meter -music in boxes is meant as a guide for the singer to improvise on; in these places, follow directions in the score

PROGRAM NOTES As a musician, scholar and colleague (must these be separate things?), Christopher Reynolds has always demonstrated an honesty and enthusiasm in all that he undertakes. He has been a quiet inspiration and model since I arrived at UC Davis. His work on allusion in music is of great interest to me because it often feels to me that nearly all music is a cumulative history of allusion up until that point - - - intentionally threading backward in time to innumerable points (some obvious, some hazy, and others altogether obscured) that have brought the musical sound now being heard into being, and feeding forward to the musical sound that will be created an hour from now. His work on songs by female composers is also something I have found indispensible in my classroom. So much allusion, so much twoness. My little tribute to Chris is a solo soprano setting of the modular poem by Markus Kutter, which is the text used by Lucian Berio in his Sequenza III for Female Voice. Mine is not meant as a 2.0 version of the Berio setting, but thanks to the fact that the Berio exists, well...the allusions are inescapeable. Since the lines of the poem can be read in any number of orders, I have decided to focus on using the act of reordering as a means to create a variety of different meanings to the phrases. The orderings and fragmentation I have chosen use all the lines of the poem in a number of combinations, with the exception of the line to sing: This line is saved for the end of the song. The end is the only point these two words are heard (and sung), as the slowest and most langorous music of the setting unfolds and reaches outward, only to have the voice run out of music (and words) to sing, and go silent. (Additional notes upon revisiting & revising the work in 2020) I returned to this piece after quite some time. My original version, like so many of my "first tries" at a piece, left me deeply dissatisfied. I liked the basic musical ideas, and I liked the concept for the piece, but the design of the work was sloppy and unintegrated. This second version uses much of the same material from the vocal part, and keeps the body drumming intact. In revisiting the work, I realized that the idea of having Kutter's modular poem being read in any order was a delightful concept that needed to be investigated differently. Perhaps the setting would follow a more traditional technique of notated setting the text, with the body drumming being use to differently activate the vocal part. Perhaps at a dramatically vital juncture, the rigid written notation will give way to a more improvisatory, performer-centered notation, allowing the singer to fly more freely away from what I want and towards what they imagine. Perhaps the line "to sing" would be reserved for the end of the song, since that is what I want my modular reading to focus on. Perhaps this is what I did.

to sing (2017/rev. 2020)

Cool, gliding - many voices, many lines, a single singer e. = 100 - 104 [x = x]

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1/2 spoken ord. 1/2 air fpp

sub. p 72

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∑ Anchored q = 60 Boxed musical material is meant to be gently improvised upon, or not. If improvising, use the written text included in box. Singer may repeat as much or as little as desired. Improvisation should use music from the song as source material. Entended techniques, both those used in the song and those not used in this song, should be part of the palette of improvisational practice. staid, scintillating, wandering

1/2 air 1/2 sung

NV ord.

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The musical material in the top box is the center of the closing improvisation; this boxed phrase should be repeated at least once. The matieral improvised from the smaller boxes below the top box are used to provide/guide the material for improvisations as interruptions, as overlays, and/or as transformations atop the music in the top box. These "micro improvisations" will take place over the main central phrase, like a gentle brush stroke of paint being applied over an existing image. Only the text in the box that is the top box is ﬁxed; singer may use any text from the song or may vocalize freely on a phoneme. Rhythms and durations are approximate. Body drumming part may also be improvised at the discretion of the singer; it may be also eliminated entirely.

as soft as possible

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distant, whimsical

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This is sung as the ﬁnal phrase. Singer may inhale and exhale as needed. Lowest pitches may be out of range, but that is OK; the feeling is at if the ﬂoor of and support for the sound has sunken away. 98

the end p

pppp

& bw

airy - very little tone

100

pppp

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