slippages Instructions for play and score
slippages
Deborah Carruthers - Artist-Composer, 2018
The original score is held in the Canadian Women Composers Archive.
Instructions for play…
The original score is meant to be presented stacked, with page 1 on top. Each sheet represents a history, with the most recent history first.
The past influences the present.
It is written in the language of glaciers, informed by their physics, chemistry, ecologies and philosophy.
The holes in the score reference the holes found on the surfaces of glaciers.
The language is meant to be read through time. What is seen through the holes is played in the present and dominates the past.
This language is subject to movement and influenced by geography.
It is recommended that both temperature and mass be balanced, and that energy be conserved at all times.
Considering stress and strain and deformations, it is desirable to crumple score sheets and drop them as necessary. Solastalgia may be experienced as drifts emerge.
The number of musicians can be extremely variable.
This piece was originally conceived of as having a length of 10 minutes.
For large ensembles, such as symphony orchestras, it is recommended that the work be timed, with each sheet representing approximately 25 sec.
As the time-scale of glaciers is dramatically different from ours, I would suggest that this too may be mutable.
The original slippages score consists of twenty-seven 18 inch by 24 inch pages of bespoke St-Armand cotton paper, with the score rendered in coloured acrylic ink and marine salt.
The videos may be seen here.
About My Graphic Scores…
Graphic scores in general do not have to contain any musical notation – although some may incorporate notations in unusual configurations.
My scores contain no musical notation whatsoever. slippages has no temporal or pitch indications; although it has a suggestion related to the overall length of the work to facilitate working with large ensembles.
It does not include directions as to what kind or how many instruments are to be used (including voice).
It will produce a unique piece each time it is played.
It will encourage close listening – a necessary thing in these kinds of dialogues.
It will (hopefully) inspire experimentation.
It is not a free improvisation.
Structured improvisations provide a framework to examine ideas, themes, and sound.
Deborah Carruthers - Artist-Composer, 2018
The original score is held in the Canadian Women Composers Archive.
Instructions for play…
The original score is meant to be presented stacked, with page 1 on top. Each sheet represents a history, with the most recent history first.
The past influences the present.
It is written in the language of glaciers, informed by their physics, chemistry, ecologies and philosophy.
The holes in the score reference the holes found on the surfaces of glaciers.
The language is meant to be read through time. What is seen through the holes is played in the present and dominates the past.
This language is subject to movement and influenced by geography.
It is recommended that both temperature and mass be balanced, and that energy be conserved at all times.
Considering stress and strain and deformations, it is desirable to crumple score sheets and drop them as necessary. Solastalgia may be experienced as drifts emerge.
The number of musicians can be extremely variable.
This piece was originally conceived of as having a length of 10 minutes.
For large ensembles, such as symphony orchestras, it is recommended that the work be timed, with each sheet representing approximately 25 sec.
As the time-scale of glaciers is dramatically different from ours, I would suggest that this too may be mutable.
The original slippages score consists of twenty-seven 18 inch by 24 inch pages of bespoke St-Armand cotton paper, with the score rendered in coloured acrylic ink and marine salt.
The videos may be seen here.
About My Graphic Scores…
Graphic scores in general do not have to contain any musical notation – although some may incorporate notations in unusual configurations.
My scores contain no musical notation whatsoever. slippages has no temporal or pitch indications; although it has a suggestion related to the overall length of the work to facilitate working with large ensembles.
It does not include directions as to what kind or how many instruments are to be used (including voice).
It will produce a unique piece each time it is played.
It will encourage close listening – a necessary thing in these kinds of dialogues.
It will (hopefully) inspire experimentation.
It is not a free improvisation.
Structured improvisations provide a framework to examine ideas, themes, and sound.
Photos – John William
I would like to acknowledge the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies in supporting this project.
