UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

29-Apr-2010

Date:

Tyler B Walker

• I,
• ,

hereby submit this original work as part of the requirements for the degree of:

Doctor of Musical Arts

in

Composition

It is entitled:

An Exhibition on Cheerful Privacies

Tyler B Walker

Student Signature:
This work and its defense approved by:

Mara Helmuth, DMA

Mara Helmuth, DMA

Committee Chair:

Joel Hoffman, DMA

Joel Hoffman, DMA

Mike Fiday, PhD

Mike Fiday, PhD

• 5/26/2010
• 587

An Exhibition On Cheerful Privacies

Three Landscapes for Tape and Live Performers
Including Mezzo-Soprano, Bb Clarinet, and
Percussion

A dissertation submitted to the
Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Musical Arts

in the Division of Composition, Musicology, and Theory of the College-Conservatory of Music
2010 by

Tyler Bradley Walker

M.M. Georgia State University
January 2004
Committee Chair: Mara Helmuth, DMA

Abstract

This document consists of three-musical landscapes totaling seventeen minutes in length. The music is written for a combination of mezzo-soprano, Bb clarinet, percussion and tape. One distinguishing characteristic of this music, apart from an improvisational quality, involves habituating the listener through consistent dynamics; the result is a timbrally-diverse droning. Overall, pops, clicks, drones, and resonances converge into a direct channel of aural noise.
One of the most unique characteristics of visual art is the strong link between process and esthetic outcome. The variety of ways to implement a result is astounding. The musical landscapes in this document are the result of an interest in varying my processes; particularly, moving mostly away from pen and manuscript to the sequencer.

iii

The term "exhibition" implies that consideration be given to how subsequent performances of this work are presented. I conceived these movements in the order they are presented in this document; however, just as any visual artist might base her exhibit on context, the same principle can be followed with this music. Each landscape can be selectively presented.
The scores contained in this document are labeled as such: (1)Williams Mix 2, (2)Automatic Story Telling, (3)Familiar. The tape parts are available upon request from the author.

iv

Copyright ©2010

by
Tyler Bradley Walker

The material contained in this document may not be reproduced or distributed in whole or in part without the author's permission.

v

For Mom, Papa, Adrian, Libby, and Bebe; my most enduring allies. And for those family and friends existing healthily in the periphery. Especially for those, despite having come and gone, I can see in mind's eye smiling.

vi

Contents

• Abstract
• iii

• v
• Copyright

Acknowledgements Contents vi vii viii 1
Preface Instrumentation Performance Notes Score Title Page
37
An Exhibition on Cheerful Privacies

• Landscape 1 Williams Mix 2 (Score)
• 8

Bb Clarinet, Tape, and Percussion

• Landscape 2 Automatic Story Telling (Score)
• 12

Mezzo-Soprano, Bb Clarinet, Tape, and Percussion

• Landscape 3 Familiar (Score)
• 18

Mezzo-Soprano, Bb Clarinet, Tape, and Percussion

vii

Preface

An Exhibition on Cheerful Privacies is a seventeen minute multi-movement-sonic landscape for tape and live performers. While this work was judiciously conceived as a whole, each "movement" occupies its own geographical space and can be selectively presented.
Homogeneity and interactivity often guides the balance between tape and live instruments. Overall, the music is informed by an interest in deconstructing samples and tracks through the use of distortion, bit-rate reduction, looping, and layering. These techniques, coupled with the selective use of algorithms capable of randomizing playback speeds and lengths, help develop the improvisational character of An Exhibition on

viii

Cheerful Privacies.
The blending of acoustic instruments and tape material is achieved through consciously pairing timbral elements. For example, homogeneity can be achieved by matching recorded glockenspiel strikes with a live percussion part occupying the same pitch, amplitude, or register. The opening and closing of the movement entitled Automatic Story Telling demonstrates this principal. Moreover, also supporting homogeneity between tape and live performers, amplification serves to alleviate any disparate spatial relationship that would exist between an amplified tape source and an instruments natural acoustics.
Most of this work doesn't rely on preserving such an obvious technique as blend between parts or other processes to achieve any kind of narrative. As a whole, An Exhibition on Cheerful Privacies presents an epic timbralism with changes of color, registral space, and texture illuminating the present, not necessarily working for an overall

ix

development. Each ateleological landscape could be said to evolve as new moments of color or texture arise. Here, as in nature, the evolution is never goal oriented but blind to the outcome creating distortions on one hand or complex results on the other. These sonic results were the product of a multi-step workflow involving a continuous layering and degradation of various materials.
The workflow for this project and its individual tracks can be summarized into four primary stages. First, considerations are made regarding the general length, harmonic content, and overall timbral quality of the work (e.g. light, dark, sharp, thin, dull, or a combination of these elements). From these ideas samples are chosen based on the sketched guidelines of chosen instrumentation and timbral quality. Samples for this project primarily include a variety of percussion and woodwind samples recorded at the University of Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music.

x

Second, what could be described as a root track is created. Work within the sequencer begins and samples are processed and arranged spatially. The use of delays, reverb, or other timing effects is often applied to individual elements. Emphasis is given to spatial clarity and tracks at this stage often contain a mono-centered bass, mono-centered 12-18 kHz noise, and stereo ambience. This root track is printed (to tape) and serves as a starting point for stage three.
Third, the root track is reinstated into the sequencer and a process similar to stage two is followed. Often several variations of the root are printed; one stereo, one mono, and one low passed/high passed stereo version are used. These elements are arranged spatially within the sequencer. At this point an algorithm is chosen to introduce an improvisational element to the mix bus or overall sound. The algorithms employed at this stage in the project all made use of randomizing octaves, tempo, delay, or segmenting the track into

xi

various slices through random rates that play back portions of the audio.
Fourth, the results from the third stage are often found to be spatially limited after the application of a process that often reorganizes playback timing in addition to stereo separation. Thus a final mixing stage is established to adjust stereo imaging and provide final touches to the mix.
The acoustic elements, when desired, are assigned at various stages throughout the process. The sketching of material that takes place in stage one often features detailed orchestrations of acoustic instruments. The sketches of acoustic elements were often reinterpreted electronically and from time to time preserved as unadulterated orchestrations remaining intact throughout the process. However, many of the acoustic elements for this particular project were embedded into the fabric of the tape part during the fourth stage.
I view the acoustic elements of this work as brush

xii

strokes embedded on a busy canvas of textures; not necessarily as a driving force. The text included in the movements entitled Familiar and Automatic Story Telling, written by the composer and consisting primarily of fragmented or short phrases, exists as an equal counterpart to the other dimensions of sonority within this work. The live musicians and sung words serve to make a gentle but poignant mark within a ceremony of loud electronic utterances.
The main title of this work is loosely inspired by the poetry of Denise Levertov; inspired by perhaps nothing more than her ability to draw warmth, presence, and existence from the most seemingly simple circumstances. This music attempts a similar feat by taking simple elements, perhaps the tail end of a reverb, idle chatter, or just pure ambience, and drawing out hidden timbral qualities.

xiii

Williams Mix 2, the first movement, is titled and influenced by John Cage’s early tape work Williams Mix from 1952. Whereas Cage spliced samples using chance operations into a collage, Williams Mix 2 follows a similar routine by using an algorithm capable of playing back random sections of a given track and varying the length of each segment. The result is also a collage, complimented by live performers, but without the sound of Cage's frogs. The result is also a track, more so than any other in this work, which earns the label experimental.
Another important composition which features the sound of various species of frog that also influenced this work is called Unfamiliar Wind by Brian Eno. While there is no obvious timbral connection between this works movement entitled Familiar and Eno’s Unfamiliar Wind, similarities existed in the preliminary

xiv

stages of its development. The initial root structure of Familiar was pervaded by timbrally rich pulsations and the 15-19 kHz range featured moving noise. The higher-pitched material was, and the final form still contains this timbral quality, reminiscent of cicadas in the summer months of the South. Overall in its earliest stages, the pulsations made me think of Eno’s important work, the cicada sounds related to the pastoral qualities of that same work, but most importantly the cicada sounds are “familiar" to me. In its final form, written for mezzo-soprano, Bb clarinet, percussion, and tape, Familiar is inundated with the voices of popular influence, including but not limited to a willful misuse of musical technology.
Another connection exists between the fifth movement
Automatic Story Telling and a master of aural narratives. The title is directly inspired by Robert Ashley's Automatic Writing. Ashley's work exemplifies a picturesque

xv

narrative through a genius use of background sounds, in this case a low-pass filter applied to popular music, in addition to a magnification of the breaths, sighs, and nuances of female and male dialog. Automatic Story Telling, written for mezzosoprano, Bb clarinet, tape, and percussion, presents its own narrative of heavily articulated percussive and chordal sounds along with a soprano line made up of short-fragmented phrases. The inclusion of a mezzo-soprano distinguishes Automatic Story Telling and Familiar as narratives within a greater context of the absolute in this Exhibition on Cheerful Privacies.

xvi

Instrumentation

Mezzo-Soprano
Bb Clarinet
Tape (two-channel stereo)
Percussion

Duration 17:25
All performers use amplification Transposed (performance) score

1
Percussion Requirements:

Instruments

Crotales (full range)
Glockenspiel Small Triangle
Suspended Cymbal ("Crash" 14"-18")
Vibraphone

Accessories

3 soft-yarn mallets (Vibraphone)
2 rubber mallets (Crotales/Glockenspiel)
1 dark-hair cello bow (all bowings)
1 wire brush (Cymbal)
1 triangle beater (Triangle)

2

Performance Notes

Amplification and Speaker Placement

A minimum of three microphones should be employed.
Four microphones are encouraged, with two delegated for percussion. The composer recommends that the vocalist occupy a mono channel to aid with intelligibility. The speakers should be placed no more than twenty feet apart on stage. As a general rule, one-third the distance from either wall is recommended. Each speaker should face directly forward. Floor monitors are highly recommended in addition to the loudspeakers.

Multimedia

The premiere performance of this work at the University of Cincinnati (November 2010) featured a dual video presentation. The composer highly recommends a multimedia aspect to any subsequent performance of An Exhibition on Cheerful Privacies.

3

The use of easels in lieu of music stands is encouraged.
Large pieces of black cardboard or other material will make efficient scores. Each page of music should be enlarged and pasted in succession on the cardboard.

Notation

The scores Familiar and Williams Mix 2 are notated proportionally. The score to Automatic Story Telling is metriportional. There are two general conventions regarding duration in proportional notation: the extension of beams to indicate duration, and a reliance on note-head extensions. Note-head extensions were chosen for their practicality with single-toned instruments.
Another convention of proportional notation is the reliance on a rigidity of horizontal spacing. This rigidity is diluted by the timing indications of minutes and seconds provided in the score. Thus the basic tenets of horizontal spacing should be observed in relation to the timing cues of the score. In other words, if

4

notes are presented before a given cue time, they should be played as such; before the given cue time.
On occasion a decimal point is used to indicate an event before or after a second interval. The indication .5 simply indicates an entrance or cutoff roughly half a second after the given time. The mark .8 indicates a little more than half a second after the given time. These are approximate indications and should in no way be strict imperatives for performance. The composer encourages the indications to be interpreted as slight hesitations during entrances and cutoffs. The accuracy of the performance of these cues will not affect the aesthetic outcome in a negative manner provided they are “in the ballpark.”
One general convention of vocal notation has been amended in this document. It is common practice to avoid extender lines for the last syllable of a word if it is sung on one note. These scores use extender lines for words in

5

conjunction with note-head extensions for legibility and clarity.
X-shaped note-heads are used to indicate indeterminate pitches and noises. More often than not x-shaped note-heads represent poorly-tuned pitches.

6

An Exhibition on Cheerful Privacies

Landscape 1 Williams Mix 2 Landscape 2 Automatic Story Telling Mezzo, Cl., Perc., Tape Landscape 3 Familiar Mezzo, Cl., Perc., Tape
Cl., Perc., Tape

7

Landscape 1

Williams Mix 2

duration: 5'59''

TYLER WALKER

(2010)

All Instruments Amplified. Transposed(Performance)Score

Glitchy. Constantly Changing sempre legato

œ

• &
• b œ

Clarinet In Bb
CUE

œ>

p

• œ
• n

b œ

• ∏
• p
• π
• ∏

• 0
• 20 21
• 26
• 28

38.⁸ 39.8 43

• 31
• 33

15.8

High-Frequency Noise, Bowed Crotales 10.1-20Khz
Pan

• L__R
• 8

‹
,

• ‹
• ‹

*

H-F Material L-F Material

• ‹ ‹
• b ‹
• ‹

• &
• &

?

processed keyboard bowed crotales processed drums

f

‹ ‹

Tape

F

M

_RhodesM
_RhodesM

L-F Rumble

œ

organ with added noise
Crotales/ Glockenspiel

&

to glck.

_malletœ

bow

œb œ œ
&

?

Percussion

b œ

Vib.

• π
• p

*

Begin perpetuum mobile characterized by constant reorientation of rhythm and pitch; always with noise and distortion.

pitched key slaps. any order, uneven, unpitched key slaps improvise tempo, uneven, fast

^fast,# ^v‹ ^{ary tempo}

MM

‹
&
&
# ‹
‹

Cl.

œ

sempref f poss. sempref f poss.

• p
• π

1:05

Bowed Crotale

1:20

47.8 49

51

• 55 59 1:00
• ¹:12
• 1:28
• 1:31

CUE

High-Frequency to Low-Frequency Noise
15 rhodes

# œ

i

‹

High-Frequency to

# œ

• œ
• œ
• ‹

&

# ‹
&

?
‹

Low-Frequency Noise

P

Tape

œ M œ
M

# M

œ
M

M

Glck.

mallet

Crot.
Glck.

bow

œ

l.h.

œ

Crot./ Glck.

&&
# œ

π

r.h.

^bowœ

stick end

œ

** **

head of mallet

_mallet # œ

Perc

œ

r.h.

>

∏

Vib. simile

F
F

?

use stick end of mallet, slowly drag end across keys, adjust pressure so that it "pings" as is drops between bars and strikes edge

Copyright © 2010 by Tyler Walker

8

unpitched simile

œ
# ‹

( )

• ‹
• œ

M M

• &
• # ‹

‹

Cl.

π
Pñ

2:01.8

• 1:37
• 2:03
• 1:50
• ¹:39

CUE

8

œ

Rhodes

œ

rhodes

• ‹
• &

?
‹

p

Tape

(Glck.)

# œ
&

take bow

Crot.

bow
Crot./ Glck.

# œ

π

take bow

Perc.

&
# œ

mallets

P

increase pressure of stick to plate as you drag

Vib.

œ
?

pitched simile

‹

M^uM^npitched

‹
&

Cl.

‹
‹

• ²:09.8
• 2:52
• 2:05
• 2:12 2:17 2:24
• 2:29
• 2:34
• 2:38

CUE

bowed crotales articulated noise tone

• ‹
• # ‹

‹
‹ # ‹

Rhodes

‹

œœ

&?

œ

&

Tape

^bow œ

(Crot.)

take 2 yarn mallets
Crot./ Glck.

&

drag stick end r.h. simile

Perc.

&

smack with stick end

>

Vib.