dedicated to JiYoun Doo and Ensemble Tempus Konnex
Instrumentation
Piccolo
Oboe
Bassoon
Violin
Piano
5-channel click track
Transposed Score
Duration: 11.5 minutes
First Performance: not alike was premiered by Ensemble Tempus Konnex as part of the 2019 ZfGM Festival in Leipzig, Germany.
Performance Directions
not alike contains fve instrumental soli which can also be performed separately. Te obligatory click track ensures to synchronise all instruments and enables a vibrant and agile rhythmical interaction with a vivid and intense interlocking of diverging tempi and measures. All passages and sections, that are comprised of more than one instrument in the same tempo, should be consciously played in musical connection. Te stated metres, with its inherent sense of gravity, should in any instance affect the musical phrasing and articulation, but not be infuenced by different tempo and metre layers played in parallel. To facilitate a transparent multiplicity of tempi, articulations and timbres, a common sense of articulating, phrasing and dynamical shaping should be elaborated by the ensemble. Furthermore, the presence of performance categories such as solo and accompaniment is interfering with the concept of this piece, a more suitable approach follows the idea of fve separated voices that encounter various situations with dissimilar degrees of independence and interconnectedness, presence and absence. A range of spatial arrangements is possible, but must take the specifed conceptual and musical conditions into account. For recordings, the successively playing of all instruments is suitable.
Technical Requirements and Setup
Te click track for not alike consists of fve individual channels, with a different tempo structure for each player. Te technical setup must provide all players with headphones, earphones or in-ear monitors. Both wired and wireless synchronisation methods are feasible and equally suitable. Te best possible setup ensures that: all performers are able to follow the click track effortlessly without the clicks being perceived by any other player or the audience, while still being able to hear all the instrumental sounds. Te concrete click samples have a major infuence on the aforementioned considerations. Dry and gentle resonating samples carry the clicks effectively without interfering. In case a player follows the click track with one ear only, the audio playback shall be allocated to this particular output channel, with the other side being muted. Te click track audio and midi fles are available upon request and can be modifed and adjusted to meet the players’ needs.
Tempo markings, changes and processes (accel. - accelerando, rit. - ritardando) should be followed as precisely as possible, additional tools might complement and aid rehearsals, performances, and recordings.
For prolonged sections subjected to a single tempo process, the targeted tempo is given alongside the starting tempo. Te process should be as continuous and steady as possible, until the tempo marking for the aimed tempo is indicated.
Te concert pitch (A4) with a tuning in 443 Hz or 444 Hz is preferred.
Te score is transposed. All instruments are displayed in the commonly used transpositions, equivalent to how they are depicted in the parts.
Each accidental affects only the subsequent note and each note always has one accidental attached to it, with the exception of pitchless, tied, or successively repeated notes.
All durations should be realised as precisely as possible, without added processes of timbres or dynamics unless indicated. Grace notes should always be played before the beat, curtailing the previous sound if necessary.
Vibrato of any intensity should only be applied if explicitly stated. (vibrato, poco vibrato, molto vibrato, exaggerated vibrato)
For all trills (harmonics, timbres, bisbigliando, tremolo, multiphonics), the auxiliary notes are always indicated, except for certain timbre and multiphonic trills specifed by fngerings.
Noteheads which differentiate specifc playing techniques are only applied as crotchets or smaller note values. Minims or semibreves are not used for these noteheads.
Single diamond-shaped noteheads representing harmonics and air-sounds are applied to all note values, except for minims. For harmonics depicted with the fundamental tone or air-sounds with the transposition, the small sized regular notehead differentiates between crotchets and minims, so that all values can be distinguished without exception.
Triangular noteheads far above the staves and without ledger lines represent very high but undetermined pitches.
Noteheads in reduced size either indicate fngerings or resulting pitches of certain transposing techniques, or signify the volume differences in multiphonics and chords. Additionally, very subtle and nearly silent tones or passages might be visually aided by small noteheads, such as the ending of diminuendo al niente
Quarter-tone accidentals, denoting tempered quarter-tone steps implemented into the twelve-tone equal temperament.
Eighth-tone accidentals, either indicating contextual micro alterations relative to the tempered quarter-tone grid, or applied to approximate representations of partials and multiphonics.
All glissandos (tones, harmonics, teeth-on-reed, embouchure, fngering) should begin immediately and connect from start to fnish as evenly as possible with constant speed. Te distance is either indicated by a targeted notehead, or by a relative distance, as stated by the added accidentals.
Slurred glissandos in a single motion and articulated glissandos with intermediate attacks.
Even and seamless transitions of articulations or playing techniques, also in combination with glissandos.
msfz - mezzo-sforzato, sfz - sforzato, sffz - sforzatissimo: subtle, strong, or very strong accents with emphasis, independent of the surrounding dynamics.
Targeted dynamic marks on a rest sign, suggesting the loudness of an imagined sound and implying its virtual physicality.
Accented rests imply an active and metrical interruption of the previous sound, or a metrical "weight" as a physical impulse for the following playing action.
Rests in parentheses hint at possible positions for unobtrusive breathing gaps.
Muting sign, used for metrically damping of the prior produced sound, or for muting of specifed strings for particular techniques.
Smaller sized dynamic markings in parentheses attached to regular dynamic markings indicate the effective loudness of certain techniques that require distinctly more physical energy for the production of this sound than the result would imply. Te ordinary dynamic marking hints at the player’s effort.
Crescendo dal niente. Diminuendo al niente.
Dashed hairpins indicate a sounding process in contradiction to the physical effort required.
Hairpins in parentheses hint at a musical connection, although the implied process is not audible.
Dashed slurs denote a best possible legato, differing from the technical execution.
Woodwinds
multiphonics are labelled with their corresponding module number , notation partially simplifed 1
Flz. - futter tongue
All phonemes refer to the International Phonetic Alphabet and are displayed in square brackets.
XXX - inhaling, YYY - exhaling: direction of air stream for various techniques
Levine, Carin, and Christina Mitropoulos-Bott. Die Spieltechnik der Flöte. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2002.
1 Levine, Carin, and Christina Mitropoulos-Bott. Die Spieltechnik der Flöte II: Piccolo, Alt- und Bassföte. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2004.
Veale, Peter, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, Wolfgang Motz, and Tomas Hummel. Die Spieltechnik der Oboe (6th ed.). Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2011. Gallois, Pascal. Die Spieltechnik des Fagotts. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2009.
Piccolo (1/2)
pizz. - pizzicato, lip or tongue production ad libitum
t.r. - tongue ram: fngering indicated by diamond-shaped notehead, resulting pitch displayed as wedge-shaped notehead
air - air sound, embouchure open or fully enclosed as indicated, blowing of phonetically coloured air noise over the embouchure hole or inside the embouchure hole (phoneme denoted in brackets), seamless transitions with normal tones regulated by the lip tension
aeolian sound/aoel. - blowing over the embouchure hole without lip tension and without phonetic colouration
jet - jet whistle, emulating the shape pictured by the arrow with the phonemes in brackets attached, or with a single timbre produced by the constituting phoneme
Piccolo (2/2)
w.t. - whistle tone, emulating the shape pictured by the lines above the staves
t.wh. - tongue whistle: embouchure plate fully enclosed, half embouchure hole flled with tongue, blowing over the tongue into the open section of the embouchure hole
key clicks/k.c. - closing the indicated key with a percussive attack, embouchure hole open or fully enclosed as stated, always without air
tpt.e. - trumpet embouchure, square-shaped notehead indicating approximated pitch
Z - embouchure with teeth on reed, also for certain multiphonics
T - timbre variation to the previous note with alternate fngering as suggested, intonation as similar as possible
key clicks/k.c. - closing the indicated key with a percussive attack, reed or oboe aperture open (°) or covered (+) with tongue, always without air
alla tromba/a.t. - trumpet embouchure on the aperture without the reed, the orientation of the triangular-noteheads differentiate the airfow directionality
w.t. - whistle tone: very gentle drawing of air from the aperture without reed
t.r. - tongue ram (without reed): stopping an air accent with the tongue at the aperture of the oboe
Oboe (1/2)air - air sound (without reed): exhaling or inhaling through the aperture of the oboe without reed
fap - hitting the reed with the tongue, almost without air
kiss - kissing sound, percussive smacking impulse on the reed without air, with audible smacking of the lips
Bassoon (1/2)
g.s. - ghost sound, very sof and airy sound with the reed barely vibrating
v.m. - velvet mode, very sof sound produced by vibration of the inside of the lips, without the reed vibrating
fap - hitting the reed with the tongue, almost without air
pizz. - pizzicato, smacking the tip of the reed, without air pressure
brassy - brassy sound, smacking on the tip of the reed very strongly and with high air pressure
key clicks/k.c. - closing the indicated key with a percussive attack, always without air
kiss - kissing sound, percussive smacking impulse on the reed without air, with audibly smacking of the lips
Bassoon (2/2) air - air sound (without reed): exhaling or inhaling through the crook, fngering and phonetic colouration indicated horn tone/h.t. - gentle drawing or blowing through the crook (without reed), the orientation of the triangular-noteheads differentiate the airfow directionality
t.r. - tongue ram (without reed): stopping an air accent with the tongue at the aperture of the crook
Violin (1/2)
natural harmonics - specifed with small numbers in brackets, always referring to the corresponding open string as fundamental:[2]=octave; [3]=octave+ffh; [4]=2 octaves; … ; [8]=3 octaves; [9]=3 octaves+second; … ; [x]=very high but undifned harmonics
harmonic trill (two variants): a - root of artifcial harmonic is released slightly to create a natural harmonic in the same position; b - unlike ordinary trills, both fngers must touch and release the string, to enable two natural fageolets to occur
timbre harmonic trill - fast alternating of harmonic touch and slightly releasing touch (open string), so that both the harmonic and the open string gets hardly enough time to resonate, with the velocity depending on the specifc resonances
harmonic pizzicato - releasing the harmonic touch in the instant of plucking
pitchless Bartók pizzicato on indicated string, all strings muted while snapping pizzicato behind the bridge on indicated string
Violin (2/3)
M - multiphonic : fnger contact similar to natural harmonics, bowing slowly and with slightly more pressure, "deep" in the string with ord. or poco 2 sul tasto contact point, using all hair (not the edge) and bowing strictly parallel to the bridge might enhance stability; present harmonics indicated similarly to natural harmonics
Te following chart depicts the touching positions and resulting pitches of natural harmonics and multiphonics on the Violoncello C-string for the lower octave. For all the other strings and on all other string instruments, the positions and resulting pitches can be derived by transposition.
Maurer, Barbara. Saitenweise: Neue Klangphänomene auf Streichinstrumenten und ihre Notation - Eine Anleitung. Wiesbaden, Breitkopf und Härtel, 2014. 2 Fallowfeld, Ellen. Cellomp. https://cellomap.com/ [accessed: Jun 29, 2021].
Violin (2/2)
f.h. - false harmonic, black diamond-shaped notehead, indicating the touching position, with a harmonic touch and the very light fautando bowing a fute-like harmonic results, one octave higher than the fngered note
vertical bowing - bow along the fretboard, with the position of the bow indicated by the circle-dot noteheads; no ordinary motion of the bow between frog and tip unless indicated differently
bridge, edge, scroll - pitchless bowing, notated over the 5th staff line and without accidentals, always as crotchets
bridge (pitchless bowing directly on the bridge) edge (bowing on the edge of the instrument body) scroll (bowing on the scroll)
crunch - crunching, cracking or squeaking sounds, slow bowing with severe overpressure, on indicated open or muted strings, and on stopped tones, indicated by square noteheads, over the fretboard dry and pitchless, near and over the bridge, strident with spectral components
cutting air - holding bow upright, bowing stick rapidly cutting through the air - forwards, backwards, lef, right, diagonal; tightening the bow hair with the index fnger might sharpen the sound
Piano (1/2)
P - pedal, mP - middle pedal (sostenuto pedal), u.c. - una corda
half depressed sustain pedal, enabling fltered resonances fast and percussive depressing of the sustain pedal without touching beforehand, rich resonances emerge, with the aimed dynamics hinting at the energy level
silently depressed keys, denoted by diamond-shaped noteheads chromatic cluster depressed silently silently depressed keys following quickly on a staccato release of the same keys, fltering the fading sound and preserving resonances
Piano (2/2)
i.a. - indirect attack, the key is pressed in advance silently half way until the pressure point is reached, then with a fast attack fully depressed until the bottom of the keyboard, resulting in a very sof tone
guero - steady scraping along the outer edges of the white or black keys, indicated by the added accidentals, with fngernails unless stated otherwise
