COMPOSING WITH VOCAL PHYSIOLOGY: EXTENDED VOCAL

TECHNIQUE CATEGORIES AND BERIOS SEQUENZA III

by
Margot Glassett Murdoch

A dissertation submitted to the faculty of

The University of Utah
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

School of Music
University of Utah
May 2011

Copyright Margot Glassett Murdoch 2011

All Rights Reserved

The University of Utah Graduate School

STATEMENT OF DISSERTATION APPROVAL

Margot Glassett Murdoch

The dissertation of

has been approved by the following supervisory committee members:

Miguel Chuaqui

, Chair

11/22/10

Steve Roens

, Member

11/22/10

Morris Rosenzweig

, Member

11/22/10

Susan Neimoyer

, Member

11/22/10

Sydney Cheek-O'Donnell

, Member

11/22/10

and by
the Department of

Robert Baldwin

Date Approved

Date Approved

Date Approved

Date Approved

Date Approved

, Chair of
Music

and by Charles A. Wight, Dean of The Graduate School.

ABSTRACT
Luciano Berios Sequenza III for solo voice is a graphically notated piece of
music with very few exact pitches and rhythms, and instead a variety of unconventional
vocal gestures. Existing published analyses of Sequenza III have focused on extramusical aspects instead of its compositional structure. The analytical approach required
for a more structural analysis of Sequenza III must be based on musical elements other
than pitch and rhythm because they fail to provide an adequate description of the musical
material. In order to build an analytical approach, a survey of the history of extended
vocal techniques is undertaken from which a categorization of extended vocal techniques
is harvested and is organized according to vocal physiology. This physiological
categorization combined with other general musical parameters is the basis for analysis of
Sequenza III where musical motives are described in terms of physiological production
types. This physiologically influenced approach will reveal how the voices capabilities
and tendencies are the impetus for the structure and development of Berios Sequenza III.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................iii
LIST OF TABLES..............................................................................................................vi
LIST OF FIGURES...........................................................................................................vii
LIST OF EXAMPLES.......................................................................................................vii
ACKNOWLEGEMENTS...ix
PART I, COMPOSING WITH VOCAL PHYSIOLOGY: EXTENDED VOCAL
TECHNIQUE CATEGORIES AND BERIOS SEQUENZA III...1
Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................2
II. A BRIEF HISTORY OF EXTENDED VOCAL TECHNIQUES..................................5
Early Developments and Roots..........8
Symbiosis: Electronic Media and the Extended Voice12
The Vocalist-Composers: EVT Repertoire Developments after Berio........17
III. EXTENDED VOCAL TECHNIQUE CATEGORIES................................................23
IV. ANALYSIS OF BERIOS SEQUENZA III................................................................41
APPENDIX........................................................................................................................69
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................73
PART II, ALBURNUM OF THE GREEN AND LIVING TREE....................................76
NOTATION KEY..............................................................................................................78
Movement
V. LATE JUNE..................................................................................................................79
VI. THE FIELD AND ITS KNOWER..............................................................................85
VII. LITTLE PORTRAITS..103

VIII. AT TIMES SHE BELIEVED THAT EVERYTHING LOVED HER...114

IX. INGRID, OVER HER TIDEPOOL...148

LIST OF TABLES
Table

Page

1.

Location of First Appearances of Complete Phrases48

2.

Descriptions of Characteristics.54

3.

Characteristics Found in Each Production Type...58

4.

Locations of Production Types by Section...59

LIST OF FIGURES
Figures

Page

1.

Basic vocal anatomy.24

2.

Spectrograph of cross-register ululation...30

3.

Spectrograph of overtone isolations..32

4.

Overtone isolation range...33

5.

Spectrograph of multiphonic ingressive fry..37

6.

Relationships among the characteristics of production types A, B, and C...53

7.

Relationships among the characteristics of production types A, B, C, and D..55

8.

Characteristic relationships of all production types..57

9.

Division of characteristics in Cadenza and Statement sections....60

LIST OF EXAMPLES
Examples

Page

1.

Cold Genius solo from Henry Purcells King Arthur8

2.

Example of air turbulence in Sequenza III40

3.

Example of unlunged noise in Sequenza III.40

4.

Example of speech, ululation, singing in Sequenza III.40

5.

An example of production type A.50

6.

An example of production type B.....50

7.

An example of production type C.........52

8.

An example of production type D.53

9.

An example of production type E.........55

10. An example of production type F..56

11. An example of production type G......56
12. An example of production type H..........57
13.

Beginning of the First Statement section..62

14. Introduction of production type G.....63

15. Rapidly changing production types in Cadenza 1.64
16. Climax in Statement 2...65

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS
I am indebted to a number of people whose help and support made this
dissertation possible. I owe my deepest gratitude to the chair of my committee, Miguel
Chuaqui, for his hours of work on my behalf. His guidance helped me focus my ideas
and his suggestions added depth to my composition. I am truly grateful for his relentless
dedication and gracious criticism.
The members of my dissertation committee, Steve Roens, Morris Rosenzweig,
Susan Neimoyer, and Sydney Cheek-ODonnell have generously given their time to
better my work. I thank them for their thoughtful considerations.
I own many thanks to Christian Asplund for providing a place to explore my
voice and for creating a community where inspirations are abundant, and to all the
members of UBA for engaging in sessions of musical brainstorming. Also to Lara
Candland, for the use of her beautiful words and for her open-minded existence that has
inspired me to define my own range of possibilities, my most genuine thank you.
I would like to express graditude to my parents, and especially my mother, who
traveled to care for my children while I prepared for exams and deadlines and to my
children who tolerated my less than perfect parenting when I was under pressure.
Lastly, to husband, for his financial and moral support, for understanding what
this dissertation means to me, and for encouraging me when things got rough, thank you.

PART I
COMPOSING WITH VOCAL PHYSIOLOGY: EXTENDED VOCAL
TECHNIQUE CATEGORIES AND BERIOS SEQUENZA III

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Many different analytical approaches have been applied to music written after the
Second World War, not the least of which include psychological approaches, formal
approaches (such as semiotics), comparative analysis, poststructural methods and still
others.1 This suggests that there is more than one valid method of analysis for many
pieces, and that some pieces are best examined using custom-built analytical approaches.
This dissertation will analyze Sequenza III by Luciano Berio (1925-2003), a seminal
extended vocal techniques (EVT) piece, using an approach specifically designed for this
work. Since Sequenza III is graphically notated with very few exact pitches and rhythms,
and instead focuses the listeners attention on a variety of unconventional vocal gestures,
the analytical approach required for this piece must include musical elements in addition
to pitch and rhythm. Other published analyses of this work have focused on extra
musical aspects. Istvan Anahlt has analyzed the piece according to its psychological
connotations,2 and Joke Dames analysis is inspired by French philosophy and literary

For example, Nicholas Cooks Guide to Musical Analysis demonstrates several

different more recent veins of analysis. M. J. Grants article Experimental Music
Semiotics is one demonstration of the use of semiotics on experimental music. Andrew
Dell Antonios collection of essays entitled Beyond Structural Listening? Postmodern
Modes of Hearing was largely inspired by the ideas of Rose Subotnick and focuses on
poststructural modes of hearing.
2
Istvan Anhalt, Alternantive Voices: Essays on Contemporary Vocal and Choral
Composition. (Toronto, Buffalo and London: University of Toronto Press, 1984), 25-40.

3
theory.3 While both of these analyses give insight into the piece, they are mainly
philosophical discussions, and neither discusses the development and cohesion of the
actual music.
Although ultimately inadequate for an overall understanding of the piece, the first
musical element that will be considered is pitch. There are three ways of representing
pitches on staves in Sequenza III: (1) pitches written on one-line staves, which are
spoken, (2) pitches written on three lines, which are sung without exact intervals (notes
represent relative registers), and (3) pitches written on five lines, which are sung on exact
intervals, but not exact pitches. Each sequence of intervals (between spoken sections)
can be transposed to fit the vocal range of the performer.4 Therefore, an analysis of exact
pitch in this piece will tell little about the piece since pitch is relative and meant to
change with every performance. Interval and register, then, are the most important
factors. The register of the piece is still somewhat dependent on the performer, but in
most performances, the spoken sections are mostly in the chest register while the sung
sections, all except the very end of the piece, are sung in mixed registers or the head
register. To an extent, the use of these registers reflects the overall form of the piece (to
be discussed later), but is not consistent enough to help draw comprehensive conclusions
about the form of the work.
Intervallic analysis can only be applied to the sections of the piece where a five
line staff is used. Often, these are the moments where the text is clearly delivered. The

Joke Dame, Voices Within the Voice: Geno-text and Pheno-text in Berios
Sequenza III in Music/Ideology : Resisting the Aesthetic ed. Adam Krims (London:
Routeledge, 1998), 233-246.
4
Luciano Berio. Sequenza III, words by Markus Kutter (London : Universal
Edition, 1968), score instructions, first page.

4
interval that recurs most prominently is the minor third (see 110-130, before 150,
340-350, 540-610, 820), appearing even more often than either major or minor
seconds. As Kodly discovered, the minor third is the most natural singing interval, one
that is very present in elementary folk songs and the one that children can most easily
imitate. Berios frequent return to the minor third puts the voice at ease amidst the other
vocally demanding leaps. This is fitting because, as will be discussed later in more depth,
Berios specific compositional choices in Sequenza III are consistently influenced by the
capabilities and limitations of the voice.
The minor third often appears several times in a row on the same two pitches as if
the singer is stuck on this interval. The minor third also serves as an intervallic marker
for progression in the text amidst all of the other phonetic sounds. Yet as the piece
closes, the final interval is not a minor third as in the rest of the piece, but instead the
music moves by major third. It is this change in interval that certifies the final cadence.
The piece contains 32 minor thirds, and the second most common interval is the minor
second, which appears 29 times. Compare that number to the mere eight times a major
third is used, or the six times the major second is used. All of the other intervals are only
used two to four times. Berios interval choices are intentional and unique when
compared to other vocal music. The interval choices contribute to the pieces overall
mood and give the piece a wavering, wandering atmosphere. The predominance of the
minor seconds and thirds also provides cohesion in the sung sections, and yet, although
informative, a look at the pitches in this piece fails to give a comprehensive
understanding of how the piece is shaped in terms of compositional development and
form.

5
This dissertation will look at the compositional structure of Sequenza III and
determine relationships between its specific vocal production types. How the voice is
used physiologically, combined with other general musical parameters (such as speed of
production) will be examined throughout the piece. This physiologically influenced
approach will reveal how the voices capabilities and tendencies are the impetus for the
structure of Berios Sequenza III.
To preface the analysis, a brief historical survey and a categorization of extended
vocal techniques will be undertaken. These categories may serve as a starting point for
analysis of all EVT (Extended Vocal Techniques) music, including Berios Sequenza III.

CHAPTER 2
A BRIEF HISTORY OF EXTENDED VOCAL TECHNIQUES
The oldest and most widely used musical instrument is the voice. At the same
time, in Western music, the techniques associated with the singing voice have changed
over the centuries. Alterations in mainstream vocal techniques from the Renaissance to
the Romantic period involved mostly stylistic preferences in those respective eras and,
some would argue, a continual evolving of technique towards the nineteenth century bel
canto school.5 Although singing styles, ornaments, and aesthetics may have changed
during the years leading to the bel canto school, the voice throughout these years was
used as a medium to transmit text. The techniques that were taught increased beauty,
clarity and volume to support the voices unique ability to simultaneously convey words
and pitches. Yet, in the twentieth century, the voice would finally be treated as an
instrument independent from text, and the colors and capabilities of the voice would be
explored and showcased based on the voices own acoustical merits.
This exploration paralleled the expansion of instrumental techniques in the
twentieth century, although it occurred at a slower pace. Before the turn of the twentieth
century, composers such as Bartok and Strauss were incorporating new techniques into
their orchestration, as musical color came to the fore of composers considerations.
5

Danielle Buonaiuto, Extended Vocal Techniques: The New Bel Canto?

available from www.publish.uwo.ca/~tchiles/fest2005.pdf; Internet; accessed 10
February, 2009.

7
Although composers around this time were expanding the sonic capabilities of orchestral
instruments, composers continued to write for the voice traditionally, as a melodious
conveyer of text. Perhaps one reason for the slow development of vocal extended
techniques is that the voice is the most personal and intimate of all instruments. The
composer and vocalist Meredith Monk has said of the voice It has so much nuance and
yet a very direct connection to the center of each person.6 Meaning is conveyed through
the voice with language and with nonverbal human sounds common to all people.
Perhaps the personal nature of the voice made it less aesthetically pliable than its
instrumental counterparts during the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries.
EVT executed for ornamental reasons can be found in Western music before the
twentieth century. Some folk songs contain animal sound imitations, utilizing nonsinging techniques such as Old McDonald or I Had Me a Cat. Even in art music,
there were special effects such as the Baroque ornament called a tremolando or
tremulando, a kind of measured repetition that was used by composers to represent
shivering, among other things. Henry Purcell used vocal tremolando in the Frost Scene
of his King Arthur (see Example 1) and, earlier, Jean Baptiste Lully used it in the winter
scene of his Isis.7 The Baroque tremolando is comparable to the technique we now call
ululation.8

Edward Strickland, Voices/Visions: An interview with Meredith Monk,

Fanfare 11 (January-February 1988) : 360.
7
Lionel Sawkins, Trembleurs and Cold People: How Should They Shiver? in
Performing the Music of Henry Purcell, ed. Michael Burden (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1996), 247.
8

See the Appendix for a description of ululation.

Example 1. Cold Genius solo from Henry Purcells King Arthur.

These examples of EVT remained isolated while the majority of singers and
composers were concerned chiefly with perfecting an established vocal technique.
Examples of EVT prior to the twentieth century had specific artistic duties and specified
meanings.
Composing for the voice would be reshaped by the Futurists, the Dadaists and the
Modernists, but the real emancipation of vocal technique from the bel canto tradition
could not be possible until those early twentieth century developments of musical
declamation and phonetic liberation met an unexpected catalyst: electronic music. Not
until composers started to think about raw sound as music, independent from pitch,
rhythm, and tradition in general, would the possibilities of vocal non-singing and
untexted expression be legitimized and explored as an artistic form. The advances made
in the electronic studios and through the experimentalist tradition would enable later
twentieth century composers of vocal music to create an extended technique repertoire
that would redefine the voices capabilities.

9
Early Developments and Roots
Like so many trends that would blossom in the twentieth century, the evolution of
extended vocal technique can at least in part be traced back to Schoenberg (1874-1951).
Pierrot Lunaire (1912) brought forth his use of Sprechstimme, a half speaking, half
singing technique that allows for spoken inflections to play a part in conveying the text.
Just as Schoenbergs twelve-tone theory is said to have developed logically from the
extended harmonic language of the time, so the use of Sprechstimme was a logical
development of the use of the voice during the time, most prominently from the tradition
of melodrama.9 Melodrama composers correlated the declaimers part with the
instrumental music in a variety of ways. Some parts gave continuous text and allowed
the performer to decide how the text would fit with the music. Other scores had specific
markers indicating when the declaimer was to begin.10 What set Pierrot Luniare apart
from earlier melodrama is the precision of the Sprechstimme notation, both rhythmically
and melodically, that allowed the declaimer less interpretative freedom. The declaimers
part was no longer only dramatic, it was actually a part of the music. Berg and Webern
would adopt Sprechstimme, using it in ways that fit their personal styles. Other unrelated
although comparable examples of works that incorporate a nonsung declamation around
this time are Darius Milhauds Les choephores (1915-16) and Stravinskys Histoire du
Soldat (1918). A few decades later, Pierre Boulez composed two major works for

Melodrama was a dramatic musical genre that began with J.J. Rousseaus
Pygmalion (1772) where a declaimer would deliver text with musical accompaniment. A
declaimer may have been instructed to speak during musical pauses or over the music.
Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, Schumann, and Wagner all wrote melodrama. Schoenberg
worked for a time as a cabaret pianist, so another likely antecedent to Sprechstimme is
intoned recitation that can be found in cabaret singing.
10
Anhalt, 8.

10
orchestra and voices that continued the ideas (relating to the voice) of Schoenberg.
Singers in Le Visage nuptial and Le Soleil des eaux use a variety of speaking modes:
monotone, parlando, precisely notated declamatory rhythms, and exaggerated and
prosodic sentence designs. Schoenberg, Boulez, Stravinsky, and Milhaud were some of
the first major composers that allowed the voice to do something besides sing, a first step
towards expanding the voices expressive range, and, paradoxically, a first step towards
expressing the meaning of the text by undermining its intelligibility as language.
Schoenbergs invention of Sprechstimme was not the only artistic vocal
transformation that happened in the early decades of the twentieth century. Another early
trend by various groups (mostly noncomposers) was the breaking down of language into
presentations of phonemes and nonsense syllables. Although James Joyce (1882-1941) is
known to most as a writer, attention to sound and rhythm and to phonetics in his work is
nothing short of musical. Joyces work would inspire one of Berios first vocal
explorations, Thema (Omaggio a Joyce) later in the century. Absurdist theater authors
such as Eugne Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Arthur Adamov, and Harold Pinter,
would also write nonsense syllables in their works.
Members of the Futurist Movement were also exploring language and the voice.
Filippo Marinetti (1876- 1944), playwright, poet and founder of the Futurist Movement,
wrote an article, Dynamic and Synoptic Declamation published in 1916, that discusses
superior declamation performance styles. He envisions the mixing and alternating of
equivalent or subordinate declaimers and proposes that the declaimers should metalize,
liquefy, vegetalize, petrify, and electrify his voice, grounding it in the vibrations of matter

11
itself.11 During the 1910s, Futurists were producing one-act plays that contained
nonsense speech. Giacomo Balla wrote Macchina Tipografica (1914) where the voice
imitates the sounds of a printing press using phonetic and syllabic fragments while the
performers physically imitate the operation of the printers gears and levers.12
Developing alongside these vocal innovations were sound experiments involving
machines. Luigi Russolo invented instruments such as the Intonarumori, which created
hisses, pops, grunts and other mechanical noises. The use of machines alongside the
extended voice is a trend that returns with the invention of electronic music. The effects
the Futurists would have on music would not be seen immediately as the growth of their
radical movement was hindered by political and economic unrest in Western Europe after
World War I. Not until a few decades had passed, when composers such as John Cage
and Karlheinz Stockhausen started working in the electronic medium, would the
Futurists ideas be further realized.13
Another movement related to the development of extended vocal techniques was
the Dadaist movement. During the First World War, artists gathered in Switzerland to
develop ideas not welcome in their own countries. Proponents of Dada include Hugo
Ball and Kurt Schwitters, who experimented with breaking down language into phonetic
and syllabic pieces. Balls poetry does not rely on semantics, rather his poems are
carefully structured using repetition and other sonorous characteristics to make it
memorable and artistically meaningful. Tristan Tzara wrote poems that were performed
by many speakers at the same time using different texts, perhaps in different languages.
11

Anhalt, 10.
David Ernst, The Evolution of Electronic Music (New York and London:
Schirmer Books, 1977), xxvii.
13
Ernst, xxiii.
12

12
The breaking down of language and phonetically based vocal pieces would become the
focus of composers such as Henri Pousseur, Mauricio Kagel, and Gyrgy Ligeti later in
the century. Berios vocal pieces would also break down language, but he would break
down coherent language whereas the Dadaists started from phonetic sounds only.

Symbiosis: Electronic Media and the Extended Voice

As discussed above, before the invention of electronic music, composers
interested in writing non-bel canto style vocal music did it in ways that involved spoken
vocal sounds. Spoken declamation, phonetic collages, and mixtures of speech and
singing (Sprechstimme) were the major extended techniques developed in the early
twentieth century. The invention of electronic music would invite composers to think
even more freely about the voice, independently of singing and speaking. As electronic
composers explored the sound capabilities of their machines, they would imitate these
capabilities in traditional instruments, like the voice. This prompted many composers to
use the voice in new ways.
Some authors have noted the influence of EVT on electronic music while others
have noted the influence of electronic music on EVT. The relationship is symbiotic, each
medium contributing to the development of the other. Explorations of extended vocal
sounds and electronic sounds have in common an endless array of possibilities and a
scant formal tradition. It is only natural that the first composers of truly extended vocal
music were also active in electronic studios. With developments in electronic music
came a new awareness of sound, and within a narrow time frame, composers such as
Berio, Boulez, Stockhausen, Babbitt, Oliveros, and later La Barbara, Wishart and many

13
others, either wrote electronic pieces using the voice or composed for voice and
electronics. The voice was not only manipulated by these composers, but was actually
the main source material and inspiration for their pieces.
From the very inception of electronic music, the voice played an important role.
When Pierre Schaeffer (1910-1995) was creating what would become known as musique
concrte in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he looked for sound sources that would be
rich enough to make a piece of music. After a few electronic music trials that he
considered to be failures such as using locomotive sounds, he created a catalog of sounds
that contained two categories: human sounds (breathing, vocal fragments, humming) and
nonhuman sounds (footsteps, percussion, instruments).14 These categories are juxtaposed
in his piece Symphonie pour un homme seul, which was presented in concert in 1950.
It is significant that both the Futurists and Schaeffer initially used mechanical
means and the voice to explore new sound worlds. Schaeffers experiments involving
sounds from trains and other found noises seem to follow the Futurist manifestos calling
for the use of noises as music, but astonishingly, Scheaffer claimed to be unacquainted
with the Futurists noise experiments while he was composing his early pieces.15
Karlheinz Stockhausens (1928-2007) electronic work is also certainly an
extension of the Futurist aesthetic, but unlike the Futurists, Stockhausen had technology
available to him that could realize his ideas, and take the dissecting of language into
sound a step further. In the Cologne studio, Stockhausen wrote Gesang der Jnglinge
(1955-6), a tape piece that mixes and alternates equivalent or subordinate declaimers

14

Peter Manning, Electronic and Computer Music (Oxford, New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004), 24.
15
Ernst, xxv.

14
and in some sense followed Marinetti in that it metalized, liquefied, vegatalized,
petrified, and electrified the voice by combining vocal Musique Concrte with
synthesized Elektronische Musik.16 The dissecting and layering of the boys voice in
Gesang is not unlike what Berio would do in Sequenza III, only Berio had a smaller
ensemble to work with (a single voice instead of several layers). Repetition of text,
mutilation of text beyond recognition, juxtaposition of texted sounds with other sounds
and sectional form are common to both pieces.
The sixties would see a flourish of activity in the electronic and extended vocal
genres. Electronic music studios would be founded around the world and composers
would start to think about sound and the voice in ever newer ways. Composers using
EVT would not only incorporate electronic musics uninhibited sound world, but they
would employ actual processes stemming from the creation of electronic music. In 1961,
Pauline Oliveros would write Sound Patterns, a piece for extended technique choir. In
Sound Patterns, she explored vocal devices such as phonetic sounds, glottal stops, tongue
clicks, hand muting and other vocal devices. Around this time, Oliveros had been
working seriously with electronic music, and the connection between her expanding
sound imagination (thanks to electronic music) and aspects of Sound Patterns is evident.
Von Gunden found that the sounds of the vocal piece can be categorized into four sound
types that are also used in electronic music: 1) white noise (consonants such as sh, s, th,
z), 2) ring-modulated sounds (rapidly changing vowels), 3) percussive envelopes (lip
pops and tounge clicks), and 4) filtering techniques (hand mute).17 Although Berios

16

Anhalt, 10.
Heidi Von Gunden, The Music of Pauline Oliveros (London: The Scarecrow
Press Inc, 1983), 26-29.
17

15
EVT music also contains elements inspired by electronic music processes, he did not
come to them as directly as Oliveros, or use them as exclusively. However, Berios
inspiration can also be directly traced to electronic music but, as will soon be discussed,
the relationship between electronic music and extended vocal techniques in his music
stems from Cathy Berberians improvised imitations of electronic music, not via the
direct imitation of electronic music techniques.
The studio that would have the most responsibility for developing the use of the
voice would not be Schaeffers studio in Paris, but the Studio de Fonologia in Milan,
perhaps to compensate for its having had less sophisticated recording equipment than
other contemporary studios. In order for complex sounds to be synthesized, the studio
included a bank of nine oscillators. To the close circle of composers working in the
studio, vocalist Cathy Berberian (1925-1983) was known as the tenth oscillator.18
Berberian at the time was married to Luciano Berio, who along with Bruno Maderna, was
the original founder of the Milan studio. Starting in 1954, Berberian and Berio would
work together on radio music projects, one of which was inspired by the work of James
Joyce. Their interest in Joyces onomatopoetic qualities would eventually lead to Berios
Thema (Omaggio a Joyce) in 1958. The words in this piece are first declaimed in Joyces
order and context, and then treated as independent sound systems, focusing on the
sonorous nature of the words, grouped by their onomatopoetic and alliterative elements.19
These radio projects were only the start of Berios interest in phonetics and the expressive
capabilities of the voice.

18

David Osmond-Smith, The Tenth Oscillator: The work of Cathy Berberian

1958-1966, Tempo 58 (227, 2004) : 4.
19
Ernst, 4.

16
After lecturing with John Cage (1912-1992) at Darmstadt during the summer of
1958, Berio invited Cage to come work in the studio in Milan. Cage accepted and
worked on his Fontana Mix at the studio in Milan and spent much of his time at the Berio
residence. Berberian had been living in a world obsessed by epics of tape montage. In
response, she had developed her own form of domestic clowning: a one-woman
simulacrum of rapid tape editing that leapt from one type of voice to another, but
maintained the expressive integrity of each.20 Cage saw the potential of her domestic
clowning and wrote a piece for her that involved ten singing styles, which he called
Aria. Berberian imitated vocal tape pieces, which Cage then turned back into a vocal
piece. For many composers, Cages Aria changed what could be expected of the voice.
Two composers who would see Aria performed and take particular notice of Berberians
unique vocal capacities were Sylvano Bussotti and Berio himself.
Berios first response to Cages Aria was an electronic and voice piece entitled
Visage. The precomposition of Visage would influence Berios vocal writing for the rest
of his life. During two or three hour recording sessions, Berberian would improvise in an
emotional pseudo-language. Berio gave vague suggestions, and provoked Berberian until
he heard what he wanted. According to Berberian, Berio wanted to work within a
parabola from the failure of communication, through trivial conversation, to serious
emotion, and ultimately to song.21 One entire session was spent exploring different
types of laughter, after which Berberian claimed her diaphragm was bruised. These
hours of recording were then cut, spliced and layered with other electronic material to
create Visage, which contains virtually no traditional singing, but instead whispers,
20
21

Osmond-Smith, 5.
Osmond-Smith, 8.

17
frantic stuttering, moaning, crying, and laughing. The voice colorfully declaims a
nonsensical text with a variety of emotions. Also explored in this piece are extended
techniques such as mid-register ululation, vocal fry (also known as glottal clicks), and
rapid declamation of singular phonemes.22 It would not be until after their divorce that
Berio would write the piece that distilled the Visage improvisations into a purely acoustic
composition: Sequenza III (1966). This piece would be the couples vocal magnum opus,
making use of Berberians vocal and dramatic gifts and Berios rigorous compositional
abilities.
Composers who were associated with electronic music expanded the repertoire of
extended techniques by disassociating both speech and pitch from traditional vocal
sounds. Although only a few are mentioned here, many more composers who were
active in electronic studios also wrote for the extended voice. A new generation of
vocalist-composers would build upon the vocabularies and vocal aesthetics of Oliveros,
Stockhausen, Berberian and Berio and develop a vocabulary of techniques useful for the
description and analysis of EVT music.

The Vocalist-Composers: EVT Repertoire Developments after Berio

While much of the history of extended vocal techniques has been documented by
Anhalt and others, not much has been written about a group vocalist-composers who
through firsthand experience have stretched the limits of vocal possibilities and spent
much of their careers exploring extended vocal techniques. The vocal virtuosity and
breadth of sounds these vocalist-composers have harvested goes beyond what preceding
22

See Chapter 3 of this dissertation and the Appendix for an explanation of these
vocal techniques.

18
composers have done for the extended voice, and so are worth mentioning here. Their
work broadens the catalog of extended vocal techniques presented in this dissertation,
and contextualizes the techniques Berio uses in Sequenza III. The composers discussed
below are representative of a larger group of singer/composers that have explored the
voice including Greetje Bijma, Yoko Ono, Priscilla Mclean, Shelly Hirsch, Brenda
Hutchinson, Pamela Z and Diamanda Galas, to name a few.
The extended voice tradition is still developing, and these vocalist composers
each discovered their catalogs of technique in their own ways. While pieces like
Sequenza III have given composers permission to further explore the voice, composers
have also used other sources of inspiration to find their vocal sound world. In addition to
the electronic music and literary sources that inspired Berio, they also have looked to
non-western singing techniques. In fact, this practice is not limited to post-Berio
composers. In the early decades of the twentieth century Arthur Farwell and Maurice
Dlage used non-Western vocal techniques in their pieces. Arthur Farwell was
concerned with Native American folk music, and wrote pieces such as Bird Song Dance,
where he sets nonsense syllables that are derived from Cahuilla tribe bird imitations. The
French composer Maurice Dlage was another early composer to use non-Western vocal
techniques in a Western musical environment. In his Themmangau, he exhibits Indian
influenced techniques such as staccatos at the back of the throat and quasi-parlando.23 It
is difficult to tell if these isolated examples influenced later composers who would use
world vocal techniques or if non-Western music is a natural destination for composers
exploring the capabilities of the voice.
23

Jann Pasler. Delage, Maurice (Charles) Oxford Music Online; available from
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com; internet; accessed 6 January 2009.

19
One notable extended technique vocalist who broke ground during the seventies
was Meredith Monk (b. 1942). The early years of Monks professional life were spent as
a dancer and avant-garde theater choreographer and in the early 1970s her theatrical roots
would serve her music when she turned to composing. Like Schoenberg, Monks
extended vocal technique developments were inspired by theater, but unlike Schoenberg,
Monk sought to create an amalgamation of art forms throughout her career; even her
purely acoustic pieces can be heard as invisible theater. Monk said, I work in
between the cracks, where the voice starts dancing, where the body starts singing, where
theater becomes cinema.24 Her repertory of vocal techniques would eventually include
glottal stops, Native American style vibrato, nasal singing, nonsense syllables and childlike vocal tones, sounds featured in Balkan singing, Tibetan chanting, and vocal
techniques from other non-western traditions. Like Berio, the techniques used by Monk
are rooted in singing and are considered extended because they specify the singing
methods involved. The difference is that Monks techniques include styles from many
traditions while Berios are limited to Western traditions.
Joan La Barbara (b. 1947) has developed a repertoire of signature sounds
throughout her career and used them in ways that expand the traditions of Cage, Reich
and the American experimental tradition. Like Berberian and Berio, La Barbara found
the correlation between electronic music and extended vocal technique to be inspiring,
and during her college years explored sound with a Moog synthesizer and tape pieces.
She was also influenced by her work with jazz musicians and minimalists such as Steve

24

Deborah Jowitt, Meredith Monk (Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins
University Press, 1997), back cover.

20
Reich and Phillip Glass, and by John Cage. These influences are evident in her writing
throughout her career.
Some of La Barbaras early pieces are etudes of sorts that invite the exploration of
vocal possibilities. Hear What I Feel (1975) presents a blindfolded singer sitting in front
of bowls with unknown objects in them. The singer then vocally responds to what she
feels in the bowls. The exploration of her vocal extensions she says developed as a
result of improvisation, sometimes with other musicians, and as a result of responding to
experimental situations of stimuli from other media or ideas.25 In her mature style, her
compositional style is formally drawn-out, exploratory in aesthetic, and predominantly
concerned with timbre and vocal colors. While Berio uses several universal and familiar
vocal techniques in new ways (juxtaposed and rapidly alternated), La Barbara uses new
techniques. She was one of the first to extensively use circular singing, pitched ululation,
glottal clicks, fry, and multiphonic singing.
While La Barbara was creating her extended vocabulary on the East Coast, the
Extended Vocal Techniques Ensemble was creating and cataloging its own vocabulary at
the Center for Music Experiment in San Diego. Their catalog is an important influence
on the catalog of extended vocal techniques used in this dissertation for the analysis of
Sequenza III. The Extended Vocal Techniques Ensemble, organized in 1973, included
Deborah Kavasch, Linda Vickerman, Ann Chase, Warren Burt, Philip Larson, and Ed
Hawkins. When La Barbara visited the ensemble, Deborah Kavasch was surprised by
how similar La Barbaras sound resources were to their own, only they used the sounds in
different contexts. The group would develop into a vocal performing ensemble, and

25

Brown, 26.

21
would eventually tour the United Stated and Europe with whimsical compositions written
specifically for them, including pieces by vocalist-composer Deborah Kavasch. Some of
the ensembles primary influences were:
Tibetan monks chanting and creating an octave drone with prominent overtones,
Mongolian and Tuvan overtone singing, Bulgarian womens music and African
funeral music using ululation, popular music with occasional vocal fry or
multiphonics (such as in recordings of Janis Joplin) and jazz recordings with
octave singing (Ella Fitzgerald sings an entire chorus of How High the Moon in
octaves. . .).26
From these inspirations, the members created two EVT lexicons. The first one
attempted to categorize the sounds with linguistic-like terminology while the second used
a more subjective terminology that accentuated the inherent properties of the sounds.
This second lexicon, called the Lexicon of Extended Vocal Techniques (1974) includes
sounds organized according to their sonic qualities and categorizes them into three
groups: monophonic (for example: ululation and fry), polyphonic (for example: glottal
overpressure and cross register ululation), and miscellaneous (for example: clicks and
tongue squishes). The Appendix of this dissertation (a catalog of extended vocal
techniques) includes several of the same sounds as the Lexicon, but organizes them
according to manner of vocal production (not simply according to their sonic qualities)
and includes a few more techniques. The EVTEs Lexicon includes a production
description for each sound and the individual sounds are demonstrated on an audiotape.
The Lexicon is a collection of the most learnable and performable sounds. The Extended
Vocal Techniques Ensemble excluded sounds that were thought to be unsafe for the voice
or those that were difficult to produce.
26

Deborah Helene Kavasch, Extended Vocal Techniques: Then and Now paper
presented at Donne In Muisca, Gli Incontri Al Borgo, at the Fondazione Adkins Chiti:
Donne in Musica Fiuggi Citt, Italy, 6-12 September 1999.

22
Another composer/performer who has also created an important catalog of
extended techniques for the voice is the English composer Trevor Wishart (b. 1946).
Wishart has taken the relationship between the voice and electronic music that was
explored by pioneers such as Stockhausen and Berio, and delved deeper into the
acoustical properties of the voice, allowing him greater flexibility in the electronic realm.
Wishart writes primarily digital audio media with extensions of the voice serving as the
main source material. He has several publications, including On Sonic Art (1996), where
he demonstrates some of the philosophies and tools he uses in the creation of his digital
audio media. On Sonic Art also includes a chapter called The Human Repertoire which
catalogs all sounds human. In addition to vocal sounds, Wishart includes sounds that can
be made with the hands when combined with the voice. His discussion starts with vocal
oscillators and filters and then proceeds through various vocal effects. Wishart is
methodical in his exploration of the sounds that a human, not just a human voice can
make. On Sonic Art has an accompanying CD where the described vocal sounds are
demonstrated. Unlike the Lexicon, Wishart puts more focus on nonlaryngeal oscillators
and includes a section on combining various vocal sounds. Wishart is interested in
EVTs as they can be used in connection with electronic music, while the Lexicon is more
of a tool for composition of purely vocal pieces.

CHAPTER 3
EXTENDED VOCAL TECHNIQUE CATEGORIES
Both The Lexicon of Extended Vocal Techniques and The Human Repertoire
chapter of On Sonic Art include a variety of sounds and innovative thinking in relation to
the sounds themselves, but because the capabilities of the voice are so broad, neither is
organized in a manner that concisely demonstrates the voices abilities within a historical
framework. Neither catalog lists speaking or singing as categories, which in their various
forms, are contained in a sizeable portion of EVT repertoire. A more concise system of
organization of possible vocal sounds is necessary for the analysis of EVT pieces, and
will be more useful for composers navigation of the voice. The Lexicon of Extended
Vocal Techniques is organized according to sound qualities and does not include the
breadth of sounds that Wishart does. The Human Repertoire chapter of On Sonic Art is
organized according to oscillator, filter and effect, but does not explore multiphonic
techniques in the way the Extended Vocal Technique Ensemble does and never distills
the techniques into a list or table. A more comprehensive and effective organization
would be based more fully on the anatomy of the voice and the methods used for
producing the sounds. The Appendix of this dissertation is an EVT catalog organized
with consideration for anatomy and production method. In addition, the collection of
sounds in the Appendix includes a few sounds not found in the Extended Vocal

24
Technique Ensembles Lexicon or Wisharts chapter. These include multiple ways to
isolate overtones, overtone manipulations on ingressive fry, and cheek squishes.
In order to understand an anatomically influenced catalog of the techniques, one
must understand basic vocal anatomy. Figure 1 shows the basic parts of the vocal tract
that are used in creating vocal sounds. It may be referred back to as the reader goes
through the vocal categories below.

Figure 1.

Basic vocal anatomy.

25
The Appendix is organized according three distinct contributors: 1) oscillator, 2)
filter and 3) lung function. The Appendix categorizes EVT production by beginning with
vocal fold oscillators and moving through other oscillators. Each category includes very
broad sonic possibilities as members of categories may be manipulated more specifically
by filters, placements, registers, and by combining sounds from other categories. Where
a category ends and another begins is determined by considerable deviation within any
one of these contributors, as well as the techniques historical significance. For example,
ululation could be considered a subcategory of speech or singing, but because the lung
function is so unique to this technique, it warrants its own category.
The most distinctive contributor to any vocal sound is the oscillator. The
oscillator is the specific part of anatomy that actually vibrates to produce sound. In
typical speech and singing, the primary oscillator is the vocal folds contained within the
larynx. Secondary oscillators are used in speech and singing to create consonants, such
as the tongue for a rolled r or the lips for a p sound. In addition to the vocal folds,
extended vocal technique oscillators may include various parts of the tongue, the cheeks,
lips, uvula, epiglottis, esophagus and extra-glottal windpipe sounds sources.27 Any single
oscillator alone may produce a variety of sounds due to variations in tenseness of the
involved anatomy and the amount of airflow being pushed (or pulled) through the
anatomy. These variations in sound produced at and around the larynx will be labeled as
different phonations, and result in different sound bases (such as overpressure, forced
blown sounds, fry, all to be discussed later) as well as variances in intensity and air
efficiency (as can be noted in different singing techniques from various styles).
27

See the Appendix, glottal over-pressure/windpipe sounds (Audio examples 2728), and forced blown (Audio example 29).

26
Filters are the immovable anatomy such as the structure of the mouth, and
movable anatomy such as the lips, tongue, cheeks, larynx (also known as Adams apple,
which houses the vocal folds), and soft palate. They affect the volume of a sounds
various partials. The easiest way to understand filters is through comparisons of vowel
sounds. Every distinct vowel sound has a different filter configuration. For example, the
i (ee) vowel requires the middle of the tongue to be close to the roof of the mouth and
the lips to be relaxed and slightly open while the u (oo) vowel requires the tongue to be
much lower and the lips to be pursed. The different shapes of the mouth produce unique
sonic spectra. Filters can create more than just vowels used in language; a wide gamut of
filter configurations can also produce sounds not associated with speech.
The third area of production is lung function. Lung function dictates which
oscillators and filters may be used (some sounds are not possible when breathing in a
specific direction and others do not require lungs), and how the oscillators and filters may
be used. In addition, the lungs may alter the sounds made through starting, stopping or
pulsing air. Air can be flowing in through the oscillator (ingressive) or out through the
oscillator (egressive). A special technique involving rapid periodic interruption of
airflow is called ululation and utilizes the diaphragm or epiglottis. Vocal tract pulses are
also possible by trapping and releasing air in various parts of the vocal tract that do not
require the lungs. Wishart calls these semilunged or unlunged sounds.
Whereas the Appendix describes a very large portion of possible vocal sounds
using oscillator, filter, and lung function as their descriptive parameters, the chart
certainly does not contain every possible sound or delve into the depths of possibility
within each category. It also does not include external filters such as hands or water, or

27
human sounds that do not involve the vocal tract such as clapping. The table is meant to
succinctly demonstrate vocal possibilities and serve as a guide for analysis and
composition. Where a label has become more or less standard for a technique, it is used
in the Appendix.
The first supplemental file included with this dissertation will be referenced in the
coming paragraphs. This audio file contains 31 audio examples that demonstrate the
capabilities of the extended voice. The Appendix may also be useful at this point in
distinguishing various EVT categories.
The first vocal category listed in the Appendix is speech. Speech traditionally
involves egressive movement of air, although ingressive speech is possible with some
modifications to certain consonants (audio example 1). The larynx is the primary
oscillator of speech and combinations of the lips, teeth and tongue as secondary
oscillators to create consonants. A basic understanding of phonetics is most beneficial to
a composer working with extended vocal techniques, as speech contains in itself a
complicated and fascinating range of musical possibilities. Earlier, the speech
manipulations of the Futurists, Dadaists, and Absurdists were discussed. The
emancipation of phonetics by these groups was one of the first means of extending the
voice. In addition to manipulating the structure of speech, the musical aspects of speech,
such as rhythm and intonation, can be manipulated for artistic effect. Actors are most
proficient at manipulating registers, placements, and filters to create character voices and
accents. Schoenberg was maybe the first to implement the available colors of speech into

28
music. Composers such as Meredith Monk have continued to explore the possibilities of
connecting music and dramatic speech.28
The vocal technique that has been most explored musically is obviously singing,
the second technique in the Appendix. Singing can be defined as pitch focused vocal fold
production. As with speech, filters, registers, and placements may be altered to produce
very different sounds, which when stylized by extra-vocal musical features, are distinct
enough to be heard as individual techniques or vocal styles. The mechanics of singing
are well documented and a variety of vocal styles have been physiologically explained by
the location of moveable anatomy along the vocal tract combined with placement,
phonation, and register issues. The representation of styles in audio example 2 is only a
small sampling of existent vocal styles, and represents only one interpretation of each
style. Each style may mean something different to every singer and whole careers are
spent perfecting single styles. John Cages Aria is an exploration of dynamically varied
singing styles in which singing is the exclusive technique. Recordings of this piece
demonstrate how stylistically flexible one voice can be. Cage allows the performer to
pick the ten different styles; Berberian chose jazz, lyric contralto, Sprechstimme,
dramatic, Marlene Dietrich, coloratura, folk, oriental, baby, and nasal.29 To achieve each
of these unique styles, Berberian altered the shape of her resonance cavities, changed the
intensity of phonation, employed various registers, as well as added non-vocal musical
nuances specific to each style. For example, coloratura would have a very open

28

Monks association with theater has influenced her use of musical speech in
works such as The Education of the Girl Child. Other works such as Dolmen Music
also explore speech as music.
29

Osmond-Smith, 5.

29
resonance cavity, efficient phonation, and mostly head register while a jazz style would
have a more neutral resonance cavity, perhaps breathier phonation (less efficient), and
mostly a chest or a chest/head mixed register.
Before leaving the topic of singing, a few less traditional singing techniques will
be discussed: ingressive singing, filter modulations and shakes. Ingressive singing (audio
example 3) is possible and has been used by composers such as Joan La Barbara in
combination with egressive singing to create circular singing, where only a very brief
stop in sound must occur while the air changes directions. Unlike many other extended
techniques that will be discussed later, ingressive singing still allows for some level of
traditional vocal virtuosity in speed and interval size. Filter modulation (audio example
4) is another specific singing technique in which specific filters are rapidly alternated to
create a singing flutter effect. Different vowel combinations can be used to create
harmonic modulations. An oo-ah combination requires intensive use of the lips while ohee most rigorously utilizes the tongue. Vocal shakes (audio example 5), which are
related to wide vibrato and vocal trills, require fast alternation of two pitches, spaced
wider apart than trills. Very wide shakes are most feasible over a singers break.
The next category, ululation, requires speaking or singing with rapid airflow interruptions
by the diaphragm or the epiglottis or a combination of the two. Ululation may be spoken
(audio example 6) or sung (audio example 7) and also includes emotive techniques such
as laughing and sobbing (audio example 8). Cross-register ululation occurs when pitches
are sung alternately in separate registers to create an illusion of multiphonics (audio
example 9). Figure 2 is a spectrograph of audio example 9. Frequencies that are most
intense are yellow and orange in color. There are four bands of strong frequency in this

30
spectrograph of this cross-register ululation, including two fundamentals and two
harmonics. Both of the harmonics belong to the lower note of the ululation. The interval
of a major third can be heard most predominantly; the bottom of the third is sung in the
singers chest/middle register and the top of the third is sung in head register. Figure 2
demonstrates that the listener actually hears a rapid alternation of two pitches, and that
those individual pitches have very different spectra resulting from the registers in which
they were produced.

Figure 2.

Spectrograph of cross-register ululation.

31
Ingressive ululation is possible, but less flexible than its egressive counterparts
(audio example 10). Ululation has been widely used by extended vocal composers and
has roots in vocal music of the Medieval and Renaissance periods where shorter single
note reiterations were used ornamentally. As mentioned earlier, the Baroque term
tremolando is thought to have been associated with various kinds of ululation.30
Another specific kind of singing is overtone isolations or harmonic singing.
Tuvan and Mongolian singers are practiced in this technique, and use a gravelly
phonation that we will call chant (discussed below) that allow their overtones to speak so
clearly. Singers not accustomed to this kind of production may find it easier to explore
overtone isolations through traditional western singing. Written explanations for
producing overtones differ on methods of production for overtone isolations, but what is
common to all sources is that the oral cavity filters are manipulated to make overtones
speak. Overtones can be produced on a variety of vowels, but are most easily produced
on closed vowels. The oo vowel (audio example 11) requires a slight lowering of the
larynx and the pointing and retroflexing of the tongue to bring out the third partial. The
other partials are found as the singer turns this tongue curl inside out, raises the back of
the tongue and larynx, effectively progressing up the harmonic series. The ee vowel
(audio example 12) is an entirely different production sensation where the sides of the
tongue touch the roof of the mouth where the molars meet the hard palette (resulting in a
sound like the American r) while the tip of the tongue flexes very slightly. This tongue
position is combined with pursed lips (from barely pursed to furthest protrusion) to create
the overtones. The spectrogram (Figure 3) demonstrates the acoustic difference between

30

Sawkins, 247.

32

Figure 3.

Spectrograph of overtone isolations.

the oo and eehr sounds. The images on the left are the eehr sound from audio
example 12, whose isolated overtones are very bright. The second partial is also very
strong and may be distracting while listening for the upper partials. The oo sound from
audio example 11 is on the right and conversely has a stronger fundamental and less
interference from the second partial.
While changing the shape of the lips and tongue allows certain overtones to
speak, it is the singers soft palate height, glottal height, and air flow pressure that
control the volume and clarity of the overtones. Lowering the soft palate, raising the
larynx, and providing maximum diaphragm support will bring out the isolated tones so
that they as loud as the fundamental. Audio examples 13 and 14 demonstrate overtone
singing with these additional modifications.
The range in which overtones can be easily isolated is an acoustical phenomenon.
The range of overtones for both Tuvan and Western singers and for both men and women
is basically the same, and it lies within an octave and a half. Where the Lowest C on the
piano is C1, overtones speak most easily from A5 to E7, with the most prominent and

33
easy to find being from G6 to D7. While women can certainly isolate overtones, the
available acoustical range of the overtones gives men some advantages, as mens range
for fundamentals is more conducive to creating scalar overtones. The circled notes in
Figure 4 demonstrate the overtones in isolation range for two given fundamentals, G3 and
G4.

Figure 4.

Overtone isolation range.

34
In other words, women must sing at the bottom of their range where fundamentals
produce a greater variety of overtones in order to create more than a few notes on a given
fundamental.
Overtones higher than this range can be isolated when a higher fundamental is
sung with additional effort, but the trend is that fewer overtones speak as the fundamental
gets higher. For example, if a singer is singing C6, only two partials (the third and
fourth, G7 and C8) may be isolated. For this reason, composers may find it advantageous
to often move the fundamental when writing music for female overtone singers. Audio
example 14 shows overtone singing in a higher register.
Chant is a term borrowed by the Extended Vocal Techniques Ensemble from
Tibetan chant production. Octaves are perceived in this type of phonation (audio
example 15), caused by the simultaneous vibration of the vocal folds and the false vocal
folds. Like overpressure, fry, and forced blown sounds, which will be discussed below,
this technique involves two simultaneous oscillators in the area of the larynx. Unlike
overpressure, fry, and forced blown sounds, it impossible to get the secondary oscillator
(the false folds) moving without also moving the vocal folds. Consequently, it has been
listed near singing and not near the other dual laryngeal oscillator sounds whose
secondary oscillators can all be isolated. Chant also differs from the other dual laryngeal
oscillator sounds as it requires much more airflow and the position of the glottis stays in a
relaxed position. Chant is possible in several registers, but is most easily employed in the
chest register.
The remaining categories all use nonvocal fold oscillators, and can all be
combined with the vocal folds, and selectively with each other depending on similarities

35
in required airflow. The first three use oscillators near the end of the vocal tract (the
buccopharynx): lips, tongue, and cheek. The next three use oscillators near the beginning
of the vocal tract in the area of glottis (the laryngopharynx) whose employed anatomy is
less easily identifiable. The last categories are air turbulence noises and a series of
unlunged pulses that can also be combined with the vocal folds.
Lip flutters are created by forcing air through the lips. As with tongue and the
vocal folds oscillations, this oscillation results from lower air pressure being present
where air is moving, causing the lips to repeatedly pull together and burst open. Lip
tenseness affects production, as demonstrated in audio example 16 as the lips go from
tense to relaxed. Ingressive lip flutters are also possible when the lips are tense, and
double lip flutters are possible when the middle of the lips are pressed together and either
corner of the mouth allows air to escape.
Egressive and ingressive tongue rolls can be produced using various parts of the
tongue. Audio example 17 contains egressive flutters with the front, middle and back of
the tongue followed by ingressive flutters with the front, middle and back. The front
ingressive flutter is most possible when the tongue is retro-flexed and vibrates against the
hard palate. The cheek flutter is only possible with ingressive production and is known
as a slurp (audio example 18).
Nonvocal fold vibrators that are found in the laryngopharynx are the next group
of categories that will be discussed. Glottal clicks or iterated impulses can be made
ingressively or egressively and are commonly known as fry. Sustained manipulation of
glottal clicks is a signature technique of Joan La Barbara. This technique is thought to
originate in the larynx from the false vocal folds, but requires much less airflow than

36
chant. Therefore, the glottal clicks can be initiated without also initiating the vocal folds
(audio example 19). The clicks may be combined with regular vocal fold vibrations to
create semi-voiced fry and voiced fry, which may contain multiple pitches (audio
example 20). Strohbass, a term commonly mistaken for fry, is actually voiced fry in a
persons lowest register when the larynx is forced below its normal stabilized position.
Vocal fry is only a by-product of this ultra low singing. Fry is possible while singing
higher pitches also (audio example 21), it just takes a conscious decision to add it instead
of fry resulting from pushing the range lower. Music for strohbass has been written
mostly for men, but women are also capable of creating strohbass with their voices, it is
simply not as resonant or useful as the male counterpart.
Where egressive fry may prove to wear the voice and be difficult to sustain and
stabilize pitches, ingressive fry is easy on the voice, easy to sustain, uncomplicated to
make resonant, and can extend a singers low range by an octave or more (audio example
22). Ingressive fry may also move from unvoiced to voiced (audio example 23). It is
possible to create secondary audible melodies with ingressive fry by manipulating the
filters of the mouth (audio example 24). Moving the fundamental is possible but may be
difficult to keep stable (audio example 25). Fundamental multiphonics are possible, and
can be combined with oral filter manipulation to produce some fascinating sounds (audio
example 26). Figure 5 contains spectrographs of ingressive fry. The first example in the
spectrograph shows audio example 24 with its stationary lower pitch and the rise and fall
or another frequency that corresponds to oral cavity resonance and more specifically, the
singers tongue placement. The second example in the spectrograph is of audio example

37

Figure 5.

Spectrograph of multiphonic ingressive fry.

26. Notice the lower, weaker fundamental in yellow that stays stationary while the main
fundamental and its overtones ascend.
Overpressure, or windpipe noises, have been heard by most people thanks largely
to Louis Armstrongs singing of What a Wonderful World. Wishart believes that the
overpressure technique originates from the shaking of the windpipe below the larynx, and
it certainly helps to think of this when learning to produce overpressure. Overpressure
may be produced by itself (audio example 27), or combined with the vocal folds (audio
example 28).
The final lunged nonvocal fold category is forced blown sounds. What
overpressure was below the larynx, forced blown sound is above the larynx. Forced
blown sound requires constriction above the larynx. Separate pitches are easily produced
and perceived in forced blown sounds. Audio example 29 demonstrates a plain forced
blown sound and then forced blown sounds combined with low and high pitches.

38
Air turbulence noises are those made without a specific oscillator, but by pushing
(or pulling) air through the vocal tract in specific ways including breathing, panting,
whispering, and teeth whistles (audio example 30). Some consonants such as s, sh, f, and
h, are made distinctly by sustaining air friction. Other consonants are made by shorter
bursts of air friction (k, t, p). Sustained s and sh are called teeth whistles.
Unlunged or semilunged noises are those that are created by snapping or
squishing air pockets created along the vocal tract. Audio example 31 demonstrates seven
different pulses in the same order listed in the Appendix. Like other sustainable sounds
not created by the vocal folds, pulses may be combined with the vocal folds. Several of
the categories may be multiplexed (rapidly alternated) or combined according to the
availability of filters, oscillators and airflow.
The vocal techniques listed above can be divided into five category groups: vocal
fold sounds (speech, singing, ululation, reinforced harmonics, chant), buccopharynx
oscillators (lip flutter, tongue flutter, cheek flutters), nonvocal fold laryngopharynx
oscillators (glottal clicks, glottal over-pressure, forced blown), air turbulence, and
unlunged noises.
Sequnza III uses vocal techniques from only three of the five groups: vocal fold
sounds, air turbulence and unlunged noises. In the piece, air turbulence often signals the
end of a section and is otherwise used ornamentally. Example 2 is an instance of air
turbulence and occurs at about 142. After a very busy introduction, Berio includes this
sigh to signal the end of the first section.
Like air turbulence, unlunged noises are not used as parts of motives. They are
instead used when introducing new sounds or are used transitionally. The unlunged noise

39
in Example 3 (the box with a vertical line through it) is a tongue click that signals the end
of the use of one motivic category and the introduction of the next. This use will be
explained in more detail in the next chapter.
While air turbulence and unlunged noises play specific roles in the piece, the
motives that are developed in the piece are built on three categories of vocal fold sounds:
speech, singing, and ululation. Example 4 shows a moment in the piece when all three of
these categories are used in close proximity; it includes speech (very tense), ululation
(nervous laughter), and singing (impassive). It occurs during the introduction at about
100.
Berio carefully introduces these vocal fold categories and combines them with
other musical elements while maintaining their identities. The next chapter will explore
the physiological consequences of the juxtaposition of these categories in the work, as
well as how musical elements based on these categories are combined as a means of
formal articulation and development.

40

Example 2. Example of air turbulence in Sequenza III.

Example 3. Example of unlunged noise in Sequenza III.

Example 4.

Example of speech, ululation, and singing in Sequenza III.

CHAPTER 4
ANALYSIS OF BERIOS SEQUENZA III
In traditional Western music, specifically music that has been identified as being
organic and formally unified, a composer makes decisions on the order of events in a
work based on the relationships between combinations of pitches and rhythms, or through
the spinning out of a motive. This kind of organicism is also evident in Berios Sequenza
III, but the traditional analytical tools of pitch and rhythm fail to provide an adequate
description of the musical material. A motive can be identified in an EVT piece such as
Sequenza III not primarily by pitch, rhythm or interval, but by its specific combinations
of various vocal sounds. In extended vocal music, these vocal sounds can be described
using phonation, phonetics, placement, register, intensity and production location. Pitch
and rhythm still play a roll in the identification of a motive in EVT analysis, but instead
of standing as the supreme identifiers, they now are on an equal footing with aspects of
the voices timbre. The simultaneous examination of pitch, rhythm, and timbre will
unveil how motives are developed in this analysis of Berios Sequenza III. The timbral
aspects of this piece will be described in terms of the specific physiologically based
categories that were discussed earlier in this dissertaiton.
For music in which timbre is a key element, such as electronic music, Schaeffer
and others have employed spectrographic analysis. While use of a spectrograph provides
great insight into tape pieces, it is less effective in an analysis of Sequenza III for a few

42
reasons. First, a recording of Sequenza III depends on the performance, unlike a
recording of a tape piece, which is fixed. A spectrograph of a singers performance of
Sequenza III would be specific to that performer so an analysis by this method could
never purely represent the piece. Second, a spectrograph cannot vividly demonstrate
words, syllables, emotions and other elements of human expression that are essential to
an EVT piece. Analysis based on physiological coding of sounds can give great insight
into how an EVT composer might go about composing out vocal ideas. A
physiologically based analysis can demonstrate how motivic events are juxtaposed,
transformed, liquidated, repeated, or otherwise manipulated while correlating them to
human forms of expression. In addition to shedding light on vocal production variation, a
physiological approach can take into account compositional aspects that a sonogram
cannot show, since physiological issues (such as vocal weariness) often affect
compositional choices made by the composer.31 Producing a vocal sound makes the
employed musculature demand a counterbalancing response, a need to bend the voice
back the other way. Physiological sensations often lead the improviser/composer towards
specific compositional choices.
Basing an analysis of a piece that was written by a composer who was not a singer
on physiological premises may seem at first counterintuitive. However, Berio knew the
female voice, Berberians in particular, better than many singers know their own voices.
In the years prior to Berios writing vocal pieces for Berberian, she had been submerged
in the developing world of tape music, and vocally responded to the electronic sounds she
31

The stimulus for this type of analysis comes from the authors own vocal
improvisations with UBA, a Utah-based extended technique improvisation group, where
she noticed that structural articulation or change in musical direction in vocal
improvisation was motivated by the need for a physical release in the voice.

43
heard around their house with domestic clowning. These clownings were her vocal
impersonations of spliced tape music. Berberians improvisations used multiple vocal
personalities and rapid changes in technique. It was Cage who first recognized the
brilliance in her improvisations, and composed Aria for her. Berioss first response to
Cages piece and first use of Berberians improvisations was in Visage, a tape piece made
of Berberians wordless vocal improvisations. The improvisations Berberian produced
during the creation of Visage would influence Berios writing for the voice for years to
come. The influence of Berberians improvisations in Visage can be seen particularly in
Sequenza III. Because Berberians material was physiologically born, Berios
construction is sensitive to the voices tendencies and capabilities. Berberian edited
Sequenza III, and even said, We almost composed it together.32 As Janet Halfyard put
it, the material of Sequenza III is rooted in the way that Berberian vocalized.33
Joke Dame even argues that Berberian, or any performer of the piece, actually
plays a bigger role in the creation of this piece than does the composer.34 Dames
analysis of Sequenza III is rooted in the French philosophies of Roland Barthes and Julia
Kristiva. Barthes uses Kristivas concepts of geno-text and pheno-text in his paper
entitled Le grain de la voix where the pheno-text is described as the surface text, or the
structures and laws of language, while the geno-text lies below the surface of a text and is
revealed in

32

. . . falterings, exclusions, repressions, hesitations, subversions, and that

Anhalt, 271.
Janet K. Halfyard, A few words for a woman to sing: the extended vocal
repertoire of Cathy Berberian. A paper presented at the University of Newcastle, 2004,
8.
34
Dame, 233-246.
33

44
which is not said.35 Dame relates geno-text and pheno-text to Sequenza III, and claims
that the piece is basically a showcasing of geno-text; that geno-text is the actual subject
of the piece. Since the performer actually creates the geno-text, she is responsible for
the ultimate composition. Later Dame writes The score is more a description of
Berberians vocal experiments than a prescription for Berberian as a performer.36 While
the performer is key to Sequenza III, and while the score is based on Berberians vocal
experiments, this analysis will show that there is more in the structure of the music than
a description of geno-text improvisations.
On the other hand, Anhalt analyzes Berios Sequenza III according to
psychological implications.37 He uses the research of Jean Piaget and P.J. Moses as a
starting point and regards the piece as an utterance monologue in which the performer is
trying to tell the audience something, but is incapable of doing so. Anhalt categorizes
sounds into general groups of pathological phenomena and uses the contents of those
groups to demonstrate a psychological chronology that includes anxiety attacks and
oscillation of moods. He comes to the conclusion that the woman that the actress is
portraying is insane.
To a listener attuned to musical development and compositional cohesion, the
idea that this piece is ultimately about an insane person may seem to miss the point. A
listener who is able to hear the music in Sequenza III as sound rather than purely as
intimate emotional expression can find a wealth of musical meaning unrelated to a
psychological narrative. This does not mean that a psychological interpretation of

35

Dame, 238.
Dame, 245.
37
Anhalt, 25-40.
36

45
Sequenza III is invalid, it just means that there is also more at play. Berberians initial
vocalizations were inspired by machines, and in some sense, specifically because of its
treatment of the text, the piece dehumanizes the performer despite its emotional intensity.
The text in the piece is not declaimed in a traditional manner but is fragmented, repeated,
and interrupted. Berio set phonemes, syllables, whole words, and whole phrases from the
text, and did so in a calculated manner that has a coherence beyond the presentation of
psychological states in Anhalts analysis. This analysis will show that Berio used the
fragments of the text more musically than linguistically. The text fragments are often
combined with traditional musical building blocks like pitch and rhythm in a motivic
manner that contributes to overall cohesive structures. The varied presentation of text,
whether presented as phonemes, syllables, whole words, or whole phrases, has structural
or motivic purpose. The modular text by the Swiss writer/designer Markus Kutter reads:
Give me
to sing
to build a house

a few words
a truth
without worrying

for a woman
allowing us
before night comes

Part of the text, Give me a few words for a woman to sing, consists of Berios own
words to Kutter when he solicited the text. Janet Halfyards analysis of Berios setting of
the text shows that all but one phrase of the original poem can be discerned. The
excluded phrase is without worrying, which is appropriate since many of the score
expression markings evoke apprehension (for example: anxious, frantic, tense,
desperate). She describes the text setting as an unsuccessful attempt to convey its
meaning. Halfyard aptly claims that Sequenza III is attempting to build a house or at
least build a sentence with the string of phonemes and syllables, but the phonemes are

46
only a pile of bricks with no cement.38 The text will be considered more closely within
the context of the musical analysis below.
The score contains no dynamic markings, but instead a series of emotion-related
expression markings. Anhalt and Halfyard have created a categorization of these words,
such as tense, anxious, distant, frantic, and nervous, in order to distill the
range of emotions and vocal colors of the piece.39 The score instructions describe the
function of the descriptive words, saying the words may inspire facial and body gestures,
but the singer should not pantomime the words, allow them to let the cues . . . act as a
spontaneous conditioning factor to her vocal action (mainly the color stress and
intonation aspects) and body attitudes. The processes involved in this conditioning are
not conventionalized; they must be experimented with by the performer herself according
to her own emotional code, her vocal flexibility and her dramaturgy.40
Berio was obviously more interested in the singers resulting interpretation of the
score than in a specific realization of a series of traditional dynamic markings. The best
access Berio had to such a broad spectrum of vocal colors was through the emotions
associated with them. He realized that every performers emotional code would be
unique, and every musical nuance would be tailored to the performers emotional
experiences and to her voice. Each recording of Sequenza III is a personalized
interpretation rather than the presentation of a standardized work. Although the piece
was written for Berberian and she was the definitive performer of the piece for several

38

Janet Halfyard, Provoking Acts, The Theater of Berios Sequenzas in Berios

Sequenzas ed. Janet Halfyard (Burlington, VT and Hampshire: Ashgate, 2007), 170.
39
Anhalt, 35-36; Halfyard, Provoking Acts, 107.
40
Luciano Berio, Sequenza III, words by Markus Kutter (London : Universal
Edition, 1968), score instructions, last page.

47
years,41 after her death, Berios preferred performer of the piece was Luisa Castellani.42
This analysis, although primarily based on the score, is informed by Berberians and
Castellanis performances.
Sequenza III can be heard in six basic sections: Introduction (starting at 0),
Statement 1 (starting just before150), Cadenza 1 (starting just after 420), Statement 2
(starting at approximately 515), Cadenza 2 (starting just before 650), and Closing
Statement (starting just after 730). The Statement sections present the text coherently
and contain music that is mostly sung on musical intervals. By contrast, in the Cadenza
sections the text is broken up into phonemes, and Cadenza sections are characterized by
rapidly juxtaposed alternation of pitched and unpitched vocal techniques.
Although the piece is somewhat exploratory in character, one can observe a solid
logical progression of the text and an organic progression of musical ideas. With the
exception of a woman, in the Introduction, whole words are presented phrase by phrase
in their original word order. However, the stretching of the words in time, and the
amount of fragmented material between initial presentations of the text phrases, skew the
presentation of the text so substantially that the listener will find it challenging to hear the
text linearly. Upon close examination of the text, however, it is clear that the placement
of the text is not arbitrary. First time presentations of phrases of the poem occur only in
the Statement sections of the piece, never in the Cadenzas. Discernible phrases are
broken up over the course of the piece. They are introduced for the first time as shown
in Table 1.

41

Halfyard, A Few Words, 9.

Luciano Berio. Sequenzas [sound recording] Hamburg : Deutsche
Grammophon, 1998. CD booklet, 12.
42

48

Table 1
Location of First Appearances of Complete Phrases
Introduction

(a woman)

Statement 1

give me a few words for a woman (100) / to sing (350) / a

truth (420)

Cadenza 1
Statement 2

allowing us43 (547) to build a (600)

Cadenza 2
Closing
Statement

house (745) before night comes (813)

The appearance of these phrases in their designated sections supports the idea that
there are two kinds of sections in the piece: those that move the text along (Statement)
and those that have another purpose (Cadenza). The sections have been identified by the
categories of sounds that are used in them. The next paragraphs will label techniques and
identify then within the sections.
The vocal color palette of Sequenza III is broad, but the number of employed
physiological categories (from the catalog presented earlier) is actually quite limited.
They include speech, singing, ululation, air turbulence, and a few unlunged noises. In
this analysis, physiological categories that are used significantly in conjunction with
additional distinctive qualities will be called production types. Additional distinctive
qualities have extra-physiological characteristics that are used consistently, such as tempo

43

The actual text here is a___wing, but the melody imitates the contours of the
spoken allowing so well, that it is suiting to label this place as the first appearance of
this phrase.

49
and general melodic shapes. The order and way in which the production types are
introduced support the notion that the piece has organic qualities and also makes the
sectional form more apparent.
A few of the sounds, air turbulence and unlunged noises, have not been included
in the analysis as production types because they are not used in the same way as the rest
of the sounds. They are not developed or expanded and they are isolated when they
appear. These sounds are used specifically as exclamations, section closers, and
transitional sounds between production types. The Introduction, Statement 1 and
Cadenza 2 all conclude with air turbulence sounds. The unlunged noise (the tongue
click) is used to separate production types within sections. The section from 20 to 40
of the Introduction is a good example of this.
There are eight production types that recur in the piece. The first two types
include characteristics (i.e., distinctive qualities) that are present in the remaining six
types. The piece opens with a series of very quiet, unvoiced or barely voiced chains of
nonsense phonemes muttered as fast as possible. Fast mutterings with unclear pitch will
be called production type A (see Example 5) and fall into the Speech and Air
Turbulence categories in the Appendix.
The second significant production type is type B (see Example 6), containing
sustained, pitched singing on vowels. Type B first appears just after 20 and would be
classified as Singing in the Appendix.
There are more than purely musical issues at play in Berios choice of initial
production types A and B. In production type A, the filter muscles in the area of the
buccopharynx (specifically the tongue and lips) are the vocal tract muscles that are

50

Example 5.

An example of production type A.

Example 6.

An example of production type B.

51
utilized most intensively. In contrast, production type B most intensively uses the
muscles in the areas of the laryngopharynx (specifically the soft palate) and the
oropharynx (specifically of the larynx). In other words, type A and type B intensively
use muscles at opposite ends of the vocal tract. Berio will highlight the difference
between these physiological types throughout the piece, as well as combine
characteristics of the two types as a means of development. After the Introduction, these
initial two production types combined with new characteristics are used consistently in
different formal sections: type A in the Cadenza sections and type B in the Statement
sections. For the singer, the oscillation between production types, and consequently,
between one end of the vocal tract and the other is physiological reinforcement of the
pieces sectional form. Similarly, a listener may be physiologically sympathetic (perhaps
unconsciously) to the singers vocal juxtapositions and also understand the pieces
development through its physiological methods of production. Berios descriptive words
for the muttering (type A) are tense and urgent. Conversely, the sustained notes
(type B) are labeled distant and dreamy. Here we see a distinct concurrence of
opposites, not only of sound producers but of emotional cues as well.
In the first 60 of the piece, both production types expand in length and diversity
while interrupting each other. This juxtaposed dialog between types A and B soon
evolves as elements of the production types meld to create new production types: types C
and D. Berios artful way of juxtaposing opposing production types A and B makes their
convergence into new production types seem logical. A third production type is
introduced a little after 100: ululation in the form of laughter, or type C (see Example
7) and is categorized as Ululation in the Appendix.

52

Example 7.

An example of production type C

Type C is a musical and physiological convergence of characteristics (to be

designated char. below) from type A and type B. Type As characteristics can be
described as rapid (char. 1), containing consonants (char. 2), and undirected/undefined
pitch (char. 3). Type Bs characteristics are pitched singing (char. 4), on vowels (char.
5), and sustained/slow moving (char. 6). Production type C contains char. 1 (rapid) from
type A and char. 5 (on vowels) from type B. It also has a new characteristic: directed
pitch on repetition of a single phoneme, which will be labeled char. 7. As expected,
given their opposite manners of production, A and B share no characteristics, while C
shares characteristics with A and B and includes a new characteristic. This relationship is
demonstrated graphically in Figure 6.
The next production type to be introduced also combines elements from types A
and B but in a different way. It contains consonants (char. 2) from type A and pitched
singing (char. 4) from type B (both characteristics unused by type C) to create type D
(first appearing on the words a woman after 100). Like production type B, type D
falls under the Singing category in the Appendix. Type D (see Example 8) also
introduces a new characteristic, a succession of prescribed pitches, as opposed to a single
sustained pitch, i.e., a melody (char. 8).

53

Figure 6.

Relationships among the characteristics of production types A, B, and C.

Example 8.

An example of production type

54
Table 2 has been included for the sake of clarity and lists the descriptions of the
characteristics found in production types A,B,C, and D, presented thus far.
Figure 7 shows the intersection between production types A, B, C and D, and the
characteristics they share.
After various less traditional production methods, the arrival of this most
traditional of production types, type D (singing a melody on words), stands out as
significant. The words a woman are the first intelligible text heard by the listener and
these words are also the central concern of the text. These words are misplaced within
the delivery of the original text, and their placement in the introductory section serves as
a foreshadowing of the first real statement, after 150. Full phrases of text are always
presented for the first time using production type D.

Table 2
Descriptions of Characteristics
Char.
Number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Characteristic
Rapid
Containing consonants
Unclear pitch
Pitch focused singing
Vowel phonemes
Single sustained pitch
Prescribed pitch direction, repetition of a single phoneme
Moving melody

55

Figure 7.

Relationships among characteristics in production types A, B, C, and D.

The four remaining types are presented after the Introduction is over. Just as
characteristics of A and B combine to make C and D, Berio continues to combine
characteristics of production types to create new production types. Characteristics of
type A combine with characteristics of type C to create type E. Type E (see Example 9)
contains rapid, undirected pitch ululation and is introduced in Statement 1 at about 210.
Type F (see Example 10), which contains characteristics from types A and C, is
first employed at 230, and is described as single-pitch texted singing.

Example 9.

An example of production type D.

56

Example 10. An example of production type E.

Type G (see Example 11), which contains characteristics from B and D, is
introduced just before 250. Type G is a melody sung only on vowels.
The final type presented in the piece begins just before 430. Type H (see
Example 12) is rapid pitch directed repetition containing consonants. In this case, single
consonants are rapidly repeated to create verbal trills.
The origins of types E, F, G and H are demonstrated graphically in Figure 8.
Entranced by the vocal spectacle that is Sequenza III, a listener may hear the
variety of vocal colors as random, but the connections between the characteristics of
these production types shows how economical Berio is with his material. This economy
of means gives the piece a cohesiveness that cannot be explained by extra-musical
elements.

Example 11. An example of production type F.

57

Example 12. An example of production type G.

Figure 8.

Characteristic relationships of all production types.

58
For the purpose of clarity, Table 3 is included. It describes the characteristics
found in each production type and may be used as a reference for the remaining analysis.
In order to get a clearer picture of how the use of production types contribute to
the structural understanding of the piece, see Table 4. Types are used in specific sections
of the piece: A, C, E and H are primarily found in the Cadenzas while B, D, G and F are
found primarily in the Statement sections. Table 4 demonstrates which sections
significantly employ each of the production types. An X in parenthesis stands for
notable, but less significant use of a production type.

Table 3
Characteristics Found in Each Production Type
Production
type
A

Characteristic Characteristics
Numbers
1,2,3
rapid, containing consonants, unclear pitch.
(muttering and speaking)

4,5,6

pitch focused singing, vowel phonemes, sustained

single pitch (includes humming)

1,5,7

rapid, vowel phonemes, prescribed pitch direction

and repetition of a single phoneme. (ululation)

2,4,8

containing consonants, pitch focused singing,

moving melody. (traditional singing)

1,3,5

rapid, unclear pitch, vowel phonemes. (ululation)

2,4,6

containing consonants, pitch focused, single

sustained pitch. (single pitch singing)

4,5,8

pitch focused singing, vowel phonemes, moving

melody. (singing on vowels)

1,2,7

rapid, containing consonants, prescribed pitch

direction and repetition of single phoneme.

59

Table 4
Locations of Production Types by Section
Production
Type
A

Introduction

Statement
1

Cadenza Statement
1
2
X

X
X

(X)

X
X

X
X

X
X

Cadenza Closing
2
Statement
X
(X)

Although each production type is primarily found in either the Statement or the
Cadenza sections, production types, and their characteristics, are rarely completely
excluded from any one section. The Introduction Section, however, contains only the
first four production types, but they include all eight characteristics found in the rest of
the piece.
In Figure 9, the characteristics relationship figure from earlier (Figure 8) has been
split in half, in order to show how the production types are used within the Statement and
Cadenza sections. Notice that characteristics 2 (containing phonemes with consonants)
and 5 (vowels only) are shared where the division lies, because they are used in both
RTGkinds of sections of the piece.

60

Figure 9.

Division of characteristics in Cadenza and Statement sections.

The division of production types and characteristics as it pertains to the over-all

form results in a piece where the larger sections complement each other physiologically.
Figure 9 shows that Characteristics 1 (rapid), 3 (unclear pitch), and 7 (prescribed pitch
direction, repetition of a single phoneme) belong almost exclusively to the Cadenza
sections. While employing these characteristics, the voice will use mostly chest register,
bouncing of the diaphragm (for ululation), and intensive use of the filters contained in the
mouth (lips and tongue) to produce the rapid consonants. In contrast, the characteristics
used almost exclusively in the Statement sections, 4 (pitch focused singing), 6 (sustained
single pitch), and 8 (moving melody), use much more head register, use the diaphragm to
sustain notes, and allow the filters of the mouth to move much slower. Berios careful
placement of production types results in a piece with sections that can be felt
physiologically by the singer.
As discussed earlier, finding a method of analysis for Sequenza III has been
troublesome because the piece has indeterminate elements and changes with every
performance. Production type analysis is an appropriate method for this piece because

61
means of production apply to every singer. The descriptive words will change the
presentation of the production types according to the emotional code of the performer,
as instructed by Berio, and the notes and speed that are sung will change, but the
production types themselves are specifically described, and are, for the most part,
inflexible.
We have seen how Berio introduces his materials throughout Sequenza III and
how those materials are used in specific sections. The next portion of this analysis will
look in some detail at how those materials are employed after the Introduction, and how
their use supports the sectional form suggested earlier.
The first Statement section (starting just before 150) contains the first
appearances of production types E, F, and G. At the sections beginning, a long string of
coherent text is introduced for the first time. Give me a few words for a woman, like
almost all presentations of discernable text, is sung on production type D. Calling this
moment production type D and leaving it alone would not sufficiently describe the
depth of nuance contained within this passage. Within type D, Berio changes how the
phrase is sung with every note (see Example 13).
For example, the section begins with humming, and after the two plainly sung
initial words, humming begins again before scooping to a, which is to be sung in a
breathy tone, before a grace note to few and a scoop on words where a hand mute is
to be used. This one fragment of text effectively uses four ornamental notes and three
different colors. The rest of the line, for a wo-man, continues this trend of varying how
the notes are sung with mouth tapping and more humming.

62

Example 13. Beginning of the First Statement section

The music of this phrase ends with a tongue click, referencing the tongue click at
20 in the pieces Introduction. As in other passages, like the click at 20, this new click
is followed by a new production type: the first appearance of type E (based on
Ululation). This production type only lasts a few seconds, and feels foreign to this
Statement section where sustained resonant singing dominates. Although production
type E is introduced in this Statement section, it will be used much more in the Cadenza
sections.
The next production type that is introduced is type F at 230. Type F is preceded
by two different production types that share its characteristics. Singing on words from
type D and sustaining a single pitch from type B are combined in type F: singing with
words on a sustained pitch. A short interruption from production type A can be heard
around 225, before Berio once again changes the subject with tongue clicking (this
time he adds a cough) before introducing production type F. This is the third time a new
production type is introduced after a tongue click. Using tongue clicks to mark the
arrival of the new production type and introducing it after showcasing contrasting
production types that are related to it make arrival of the new production type evident and
natural.

63
This is not the first time two divergent production types have been employed
immediately before introducing a new production type that is related to both. The
introduction of types C and D in the Introduction section could be described in this way.
It is not the last time production types will be introduced this way either. The phrase
after 240 can be described as production type F alternating with single short vowels,
which could be interpreted as type E. This passage precedes the introduction of type G,
which shares single characteristics with both types E and F, once again creating an
effortless evolution to the new production type. Example 14 shows the alteration of types
E and F on the words /fo/ [i] be [u] to [e] /fo/ [i] before the arrival of type G on [a].
This method of introducing production types creates a sense of logic and
unification amidst the emotional turbulence and vocal ingenuity contained in Sequenza
III. By the end of Statement 1, the singer has been making sustained, sung pitches for
about two and a half minutes. Starting just after 420 (the beginning of Cadenza 1), the
diaphragm shifts as it bounces to accomplish the passage made of production types C and
E and is relieved by this new use. Counterbalancing use of the anatomy makes this
almost nine-minute vocal solo singable because different parts of the vocal tract are able
to rest at different times.

Example 14. Introduction of production type G

64
The final production type is introduced shortly after at 430. While the next part
of the first Cadenza mentally challenges the performer with its rapid changes of
production type, it is actually vocally quite freeing, and is vocally akin to warm-ups
singers do to make their voices relaxed and performance ready. From just before 440
to just after 5, six of the eight production types can be found (see Example 15). This is
the highest concentration of change in production types in the piece, and it is intense for
singer and listener alike.
Before the Statement section 2, Berio stops changing production types; the
remainder of the first Cadenza section uses only production type A and it alludes to the
arrival of the new section where changing of production type is less frequent. The
artfully executed transition includes the alternation of type A with type D (the most
characteristic type in the Statement sections) starting at about 515, until type A has
been liquidated and the types prevalent in the Statement sections take over at 527.
Register, duration and articulation create the climax of this Statement section.
Around 615, the singer is asked to sing a high note of her choosing, and to stay on that
note and come back to that note for more that 30 seconds, accenting the note with every
different word (see Example 16).

Example 15. Rapidly changing production types in Cadenza 1

65

Example 16. Climax in Statement 2

The climax happens on a combination of production types D and F, which share
two of their three characteristics. The Cadenza section before this produced a climactic
moment (445 505) through rapidly changing production types, but the second
Statement section does just the opposite, hanging on to a single method of production to
create a climax.
This opposition of production type usage, and consequently physiological
opposition, is even more apparent when comparing the end of the second Statement
section with the beginning of the first Cadenza section (615 650 and 650 710).
The second Cadenza section begins not through elimination of production types and
alternation with new production types (like the second Statement section) but by simply
ending the section and immediately showcasing an array of Cadenza Section material. In
a way, the physical climax that takes place at the end of the second Statement section is
matched by the mental climax in the beginning of Cadenza 2: the two sections use
complementary tactics to create intensity. Just before 650, Cadenza 2 briskly alternates
types E, A, H, and C, challenging the singers coordination. This section is not unlike the
climactic material at 445 except the coordination climax of the second Cadenza is
intensified by the sustained material that precedes it as well as the pitch range of its
musical figures (the singer travels back and forth between her high and low ranges

66
several times in a short time period) creating an even grander dichotomy between the
sections. This rapid succession lasts for a little more than 20 seconds before it begins to
give way to alternation between two production types: at 710, only production types E
and A are employed. At 720, production type A is transformed into type D (a
Statement section type) by sustaining the previously short notes before a sigh lets the
listener know the section is over.
The Closing Statement begins with an alternation of Statement Section material
(type G) and Cadenza Section material (type A), just after 730. The alternation
between these two types is quite regular, creating a rhythm of change. The rate of change
of production type following this regular rhythm grows ever slower, giving the listener a
sense of ritardando and conclusion. Gradually, type D goes from interrupting types G, A,
and C to being the main material that is interrupted by types G and C. Like the
Introduction, the Closing Statement contains significant material from both Statement
and Cadenza sections, but in the Closing Statement, Statement material prevails and
seems to be interrupted by Cadenza material, whereas in the Introduction, Cadenza
material is predominant and is interrupted by Statement material.
This analysis has shown how Berio took a vocally born idea and through logical
progression of musical ideas and physiological feeling, created a cohesive piece that
displays an incredibly wide range of emotions. Does this analysis shed light on anything
more about the extra-musical meaning of Sequenza III? When considering a historical
knowledge of Berio and Berberians life at the time, the analysis takes on new meaning.
The piece was written in 1966, and it was the first piece written for Berberian
after Berio and Berberians divorce was final. Berio had moved to California while

67
Berberian stayed in Italy. Berio disclosed that the piece was not only written for Cathy
but is about Cathy.44 The range of emotions, juxtapositions of production types, formal
contrasts, even the treatment of text, all lend themselves to a divorce narrative, or at least
a narrative of feelings towards an estranged spouse.
Berio reacted to Kutters text, for a woman to sing a truth allowing us to build a
house by cutting it up (Halfyards pile of bricks with no cement45). Perhaps this
Sequenza is Berios very personal essay about his relationship with Cathy. The final line
of Kutters poem, before night comes can be found just after 810. The word night
is sung on a high, sustained note. The material that follows it is considerably lower in
register. This makes the word night stand out as significant. Certainly this piece
doesnt have a happy ending, and his emphasis on the word night could symbolizes the
end of their relationship. Try as they might, these two dynamic personalities could not
build a house together, and they could not do it without worrying. The intensity of
the material seems to match the intensity of their relationship, and the formal contrasts
made clear by the use of distinct production types in different sections may describe the
relationship between their differing personalities, or of Berios dichotomized feelings
towards Cathy. With this in mind, it is interesting to note that while Cadenza material
dominates the beginning of the piece, Statement material is the main subject of the end of
the piece, suggesting a process of change taking place in the piece, or in their
relationship.

44

Luciano Berio, Two Interviews with Rosanna Dalmonte and Blint Andrs
Varga, trans. and ed. David Osmond-Smith (New York/London: Marion Boyars, 1985),
94.
45
Halfyard, Provoking Acts, 107.

68
The climax of the piece (from 615 to about 710) is a juxtaposition of the most
brilliant and rigidly characteristic production types. Having fully developed, this climax
is the crisis moment where the dichotomized characters (or dichotomized feelings) can no
longer co-exist. We may not know all the details of Berio and Berberians relationship,
but we do know that it was Berio who found someone new and left. Imbedded in the
lyrics of this climax statement just after 740 are the words forgive me.
One of the most striking aspects of use of the production types throughout the
piece is that they constantly interrupt each other. David Osmond-Smith recounted that,
Even with an ocean between them, each was incapable of ignoring the other; each had
an almost seismographic measure of the command that they had upon the others
attention.46 Speculation aside, while Berberian and Berios marriage may not have
lasted, the work they did together certainly has. Berberians vocal ingenuity combined
with Berios strong analytical mind produced one of the most remarkable vocal works of
the twentieth century.

46

Osmond-Smith, 10.

APPENDIX

Audio

2-5

6-10

11-14

Categories

Speech

Singing

Ululation

Reinforced
Harmonics
(Overtone
isolations)

Nasalized,
nonnasalized,
different vowels
different
phonations

Pitched ululation,
Spoken ululation,
Laughing,
Sobbing
Cross-register

Bel canto,
Pop, Legit,
Belt, nonvibrato,
folk, etc.

Phonetic poetry,
recitation,
Nonsense
phonemes
Sprechstimme

Subcategories

Vocal Folds, also

possible with
Chant

Vocal Folds

Vocal Folds
(less-definite
pitch)
Some consonants
require additional
oscillators such as
the tongue against
the teeth for t
Vocal Folds
(definite pitch)

Oscillator

All, tongue is
primary, lips
secondary. Sounds
may be nasalized.
Filters can create
harmonic oscillation

Filters used in speech

and singing may be
employed.

Speech filters
employed.
Manipulation of
filters in part creates
singing styles

Filters are used to

create phonemes.

Filters

Egressive or
ingressive, air flow
is quickly and
repeatedly
interrupted either
by epiglottis or
diaphragm.
Egressive

Egressive or
ingressive

Egressive or
ingressive

Lung Function

Only certain vowels

are possible; filters are
busy.

Ornamental
possibilities such as
trills, yodels, cross
register shakes,
vibrato, slides, and
filter modulations.
Crossing registers
creates a multiphonic
illusion.

Pitch changes have

meaning in different
languages.

Notes

70

15
16

17

18

19-26

Chant

Lip
Flutter

Tongue
Flutter

Cheek
Flutter

Glottal
clicks or
iterated
impulses

Cheeks against
teeth

1)Tongue
tip/alvelor ridge or
hard pallet,
2)Mid tongue/soft
palette,
3)back
tongue/uvula,
4) sides of
tongue/molars.

Lips

Vocal Folds,
Tuvan phonation

Fry or Strohbass False folds, when

when combined
vocal folds are
with vocal folds.
added,
multiphonics are
possible

Slurp

1) Tongue
tip(rolled R)
2) Soft palete
(French R or
snort),
3) Uvula
(German R
or snoring),
4) duck sound

Mongolian,
Tuvan or Tibetan
throat singing
Motor sounds
Lip farts

Soft palate and glottis

height are helpful in
projection of glottal
clicks,
Speech filters are
easily employed on
voiced or unvoiced
fry.

Lips

Lips, soft pallet,

glottal height

Tongue, soft pallet,

glottal height

Same as for speech or

singing

Egressive or
ingressive.

Ingressive

Some singers have more

control over volume and
range and a wider range
of expressions with
ingressive production of
glottal clicks.

Lip tenseness and air

flow affect pitch and
oscillation speed.
Double lip flutter
possible out of sides of
mouth.
Egressive
Tongue tenseness and air
Ingressive (only flow affect pitch.
possible with
tongue tip when
the tongue is
retroflexed)

Egressive
Ingressive is
difficult
Ingressive,
egressive

71

Breathing,
sighing, panting,
whispering,
Teeth whistles
Lip whistles
1) epiglottis
pulses
2) Tongue clicks
3) Kiss
4) Lip smack
5) Cheek squish
6) Horse click
7) tisk click

30

Air
turbulence

unlunged
31
noise
(clicks/pulses)

Growl
Gravel-voice
Pitch complexes

Alien voice

27-28

Forced blown 29

Glottal Overpressure/
windpipe

1) epiglottis pops
open
2) tongue and roof
of mouth
3) lips
4) lips
5) cheeks and
molars
6) tongue and
molars
7) tongue and
teeth

Windpipe/below
larynx. Can be
combined with
laryngeal
vibrations for
multiple pitches
Windpipe/above
larynx. Can be
combined with
laryngeal
vibrations for
multiple pitches
Air friction

Traditional Filters
are employed to
change pitch and
resonance.

Speech filters may be

employed.

Filters may be
applied much the
same way as in
singing.

Filters may be
applied much the
same way as in
singing.

None, air is
trapped above
the lungs and
released
rapidly.
2-7 are made
possible by
sucking
muscles.

Ingressive,
egressive

Egressive only

Egressive only

Changes in filters and

airflow change pitch.
Filters can also change
harmonics. Lip whistles
focus pitch through
placement of lips and
tongue.
Epiglottis pulses
combined with vocal
sounds create a
gulpingsound.

72

REFERENCES
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Composition. Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto Press, 1984.
Berio, Luciano. Two Interviews with Rosanna Dalmonte and Blint Andrs Varga, trans.
and ed. David Osmond-Smith (New York/London: Marion Boyars, 1985).
-- Sequenza III. Words by Markus Kutter, (London : Universal Edition, 1968).
-- Sequenzas [sound recording] (Hamburg : Deutsche Grammophon, 1998).
Berio, Luciano and Theo Muller. Music is not a Solitary Act: Conversation with
Luciano Berio. Tempo 199. (Jan., 1997), 16-20.
Boretz, Benjamin and Edward T. Cone. Perspectives on Notation and Performance
New York: W.W. Norton &Company Inc, 1976.
Bosma, Hanna. (1996) Authorship and female voices in electrovocal music.
http://www.hum.uva.nl/~hannah/icmc96.htm
Briscoe, James R. Contemporary Anthology of Music by Women. to hear the wind
roar. By Joan La Barbara. Indiana University Press, Bloomington Indiana. pp.
99-105
Brown, Linda Ann. The Beautiful in Strangeness: The Extended Vocal Techniques of
Joan La Barbara. Ph.D. Dissertation. Digital Dissertations 9/10/08
Buonaiuto, Danielle. Extended Vocal Techniques: The New Bel Canto?
publish.uwo.ca/~tchiles/fest2005.pdf
Cook, Nicholas. A Guide to Music Analysis. New York: George Braziller, 1987.
Cope, David. New Music Notation. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company: Dubuqu , Iowa,
1976.
Dame, Joke. Voices Within the Voice: Geno-text and Pheno-text in Berios Sequenza
III in Muisc/Ideology : Resisting the Aesthetic ed. by AdamKrims. London:
Routeledge, 233-246, 1998.
Davies, Maxwell Davies. Eight Songs for a Mad King. Boosey and Hawkes, 1971.

74

Ellingson, Terry. The Technique of Chordal Singing in the Tibetan Style. American
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Ernst, David. The Evolution of Electronic Music. Schirmer Books, New York and
London, 1977.
Grant, M.J. Experimental Music Semiotics, International Review of the Aesthetics and
Sociology of Music 34 (2003) 2, 173-191.
Halfyard, Janet K. A few words for a woman to sing: the extended vocal repertoire of
Cathy Berbarian. A paper presented at the Univeristy of Newcastle, 2004.
-- Provoking Acts: The Theater of Berios Sequenzas in Berios Sequenzas ed.
Janet Halfyard. Ashgate 2007.
Higginbotham, Diane. Performance Problems in Contemporary Vocal Music and Some
Suggested Solutions. Ph. D. Dissertation. Digital Dissertations 9/10/08
Hirst, Linda and David Write, Alternative Voices Cambridge Companion to Singing.
(Cambrige: Cambridge University Press), 2000.
Jowitt, Deborah. Meridith Monk. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and
London, 1997.
Karkoschka, Erhard. Notation in New Music. Translated by Ruth Koenig. Praeger
Publishers: London, 1972.
Kavasch, Deborah Helene. Some Compositional Aspects and Performance Problems of
Selected Extended Vocal Techniques. Doctoral Dissertation University of
California San Diego, 1978.
-- Extended Vocal Techniques: Then and Now. Paper presented at Donne In
Musica GLI INCONTRI AL BORGO 6-12 September 1999 Fondazione Adkins
Chiti: Donne in Musica Fiuggi Citt, Italy.
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75

Miller, Richard. The Structure of Singing: System and Art in Vocal Technique.
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Schaefer, John. CD insert to 73 Poems by Joan La Barbara and Kenneth Goldsmith.
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1979). 6-11.
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-- On Sonic Art. Ed. Simon Emmerson. Routledge: New York,1996.

PART II
ALBURNUM OF THE GREEN AND LIVING TREE

For electronics, soprano, and string quartet

Electronic accompaniments may be found in the supplemental files

included with this dissertaion.

Copyright Margot Glassett Murdoch 2011

Text copyright Lara Candland, used with permission

Notation Key

Spoken. When consistently notated on middle C, the pitch of

the spoken voice has not been considered and serves to
demonstrate the rhythm only. The beginning of a longer
passage of text may be marked in time by a single eighth or
quarter note.

Spoken. Used in the electronic part only. Relative pitches of

the spoken text are relevant to the other performers and so their
approximate pitches are shown.
Spoken. Demonstrates half note and whole note, respectively.
Same considerations as other spoken notations.

Improvise on boxed notes. When notes are separated by

commas, the order of the figures may be chosen by the player.
Players should move from one figure to another or repeat the
entire box immediately as the amount of rest required is already
indicated in the figures.

Thick black line demonstrates the duration of improvisations in

the string parts, and loops and texture passages in the electronic
parts.

Lines that are not horizontal are in the electronic part only and
demonstrate loops or texture passages that are changing
register.

Sing approximate pitches on the indicated vowel rapidly by

bouncing the diaphragm as though laughing (ululation).

huh. . .

ah

(gasp!)

ee

Unpitched electronic sound with rhythmic significance.

Throat singing. Also known as Chant and Tuvan or Mongolian

phonation. Singer activates vocal folds on the note with the
typical note head while the false vocal folds produce the pitch
with the square note head an octave lower. The highest square
note head represents the strong fifth overtone. After the singer
has established this phonation, she should slide upwards in
pitch until she leaves chest register and the throat singing
breaks. She then immediately and audibly gasps for air.
Gradual vowel change. Change shape of mouth gradually over
the duration of the note.

Late June
>
& 44 b b
>
q = 90

Electronics

Soprano

& 44

nuj

il

nuj

Violin II

& 44 .
p brightly

& 44

p brightly f

Viola

B 44

Cello

? 44

nuj

il

q = 90

Violin I

!

f
>
b .
.

p brightly >f
b.

b >

f brightly

>
b b
>
il

nuj

F
b

il
exuberant

>

Music by Margot Glassett Murdoch

Text by Lara Candland

late June

late June

b
b b b

late June late

June.

late June late

b
>

b
>

June.

b
P

P b

#
b

80
5

&
I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&
&

wear dot - ted swiss to the wed-ding.

&

Vln. I

r
" # #
#

.. n n n
.. b

The bride's

f
b

" R

The bride's

b
b

B # #
? b b

b
#
b

b . b

fl

j
b

b
fl
b b n
J
.

b
J
.

bou-quet

(the bride's
bouquet)

j
.

j
#

composed
of many

bou-quet

b
blooms. . .

j
n

blooms

pizz.

j
-

arco

j
#

" j
- .

j
b

pizz.

pizz.

F
!

arco

arco

81
8

b b n ... # n n b b ...
#

&

Vln. I

&

&

P
.

flow

j - . b - - n b
# -

" r

the only important

Vla.

n #
#
#

& " # j .
- . # -
cresc.
#

B n - . b - . n - b . n #
cresc.

Vc.

# # n

cresc.

Vln. II

flow - er

# #

# #

" r
n

the child's pinky

er

P
sul tasto

j b j

#
P

j # j

#
P

jb

sul tasto

sul tasto

P
sul tasto

j
# J

82

&

11

b b n
b n
3

the the the the the li - ly of the

&

P
w

val - ley

val

Vln. I

&

Vln. II

& b

11

Vla.

Vc.

b -

# -

n -

? b

serdiam

b .
.

ley.

b .
.

b
f > p

ord.

b > b > . . .
f
p
f
!

b . .
.
>f
3

ord.

my has a lamb
dress chop sleeve

b ord.

F

.
J

b
F
ord.

83
16

&

&

Vln. I

Vln. II

&

Vla.

paler then
lime chiffon

truer
than moss

yellower
than sea

b b

subito

b
<

b b

subito

more
soothing

than a
mother

b
F
p

b b
F

b b
<
F
p

b b
<
F

Not in strict time.

Play with vln. I after each phrase in the elctronics.

Vc.

Not in strict time.

Play with cello after each phrase in the electronics.

&

16

the fabric
green

if I can
find a word

that says green

>
b J

b j
>

84

22

&

I will never write.

F with presence
&
I

&

22

Vln. I

Vln. II

&

Vla.

Vc.

will

ne- ver

b J n
J 3

espressivo

b
F

b
w
b w

b b b rit.3e dim.
b J
b j j j
J
- - - b .
3
3
.
.
3

bw
b
p

write.

The Field and its Knower

q = 48

Electronics

4
&4

Soprano

4
&4
q = 48

!
!

4
&4

Violin II

4
&4

Cello

b

B 44 b
F mechanically
?4
4

U
w

ah

U
w

p
# # n

b b b n n
J

pizz.

#pizz.

J
3

" # #
F mechanically

bU .

huh

huh

huh
huh
huh

Violin I

Viola

Music by Margot Glassett Murdoch

Text by Lara Candland

J
ee

86

&
&

2
4

F
7
b

2
4
b "
2

4
4
4
#

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

&

b b " n n # # n
&
F mechanically
arco
b
b b n n b b
B
F
? # "
arco

Vc.

2
4

meet his servant come to draw water

- for his master and our buckets as it were

4
4

2
4

4
4

2
4

4
4

b b

2
4

!
moving ahead

huh. . . .
4

4
4

4
4

2
4

2
4

"

2
4

"

2
4

" R

"

87

2
&4

4
4

Start audio on beat 1.

Thoreau. . .
7
2
&4

4 j
4

grate to- ge-ther in the same well.

7

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

2
&4

2
&4

B 42 b

?2
4 b

The Field and Its Knower

While I was giving birth to Lula the candle on the tub dimmed,
the midwife cried, I said an oath to God and to my mother,
then moved into a darker room where time unscrolled

Thor-eau.

4 b
4b

4
4 b

4
4

P
P

4
4

wo

p
w

"

wo

wo

cresc.

88

14

q = 72

&

3
4

and surrrounded me
and and

14

Vln. I

&

Vln. II

&

Vla.

Vc.

&

wo

f powerful
43 b .

and

wo

q = 72

!
!

4
4

F
F
F

Ar

ju

3
4
-

na

3
4 - .
3
4 - .
3 4 .

!
f

4 .
4
. b

Ar

#
# n # # 4 J

4
3
f espressivo
4
4
4
4 4 4

ju - na

# #

89

18

&

b
&
6

The moment in which time surrounded me,

on the bare floor of the dark room was all time,
and I was dead, and not afraid.

saw all the un- i-verse in its man-y ways and parts stand-ing as one in the god of the gods.
18

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

& #

&

B #

? #

w
f

-
f
-
f

w
p

w
p

j

!

90

& . r .
. .

22

and then and then and then and

F b b *!
?
b!

kha

j
&

22

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&w
B

"

"

&

2
4

then

voice
f full
triumphant
j # . R # 42

a- rise

intense

.
intense

#.

intense
.

intense

and win glo - ry!

2
4

2
4

"

I was alive

(gasp!)

44

2
4

2
4

"

4 #
4 J

Con - quer your foes

4 4
F
4
4 J
f
4 #
4 J
f
4 4
F

# #.

and

# . J
F f

.
J
F f
.

* Throat singing. See notation key. If performer is unaquainted with throat singing, she may sing an all chest register g flat and gliss out of the note breaking her
voice over the register change.

91

26

&
&

26

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&

b
3

ful - fill your

&
fl
B b
fl
? -

king - ship.

b
fl

fl
-

They

b b.

b b.

F
b b.
F
.

are

b
b J
3

J
f
#
J
f

b
J
f

b
J
f

al - rea - dy killed by me.

b b b b n.
3

Be

just my

be just my be just my

in - stru-

b
F

F
b
F

92

29

&
&

ment.

>
& b

29

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

b .

b
Be be be be be

>
b

& b b b b
>
>
>
>
B b b b b
>
>
? b b

>
b
b b
>
b > b
b >

the

cher

ar -

>

>
>

>

#
at

my

b > b
b
>
>

>

side.

cresc.

p

p

cresc.

cresc.

b b n n #
b
cresc.
F
3

93

31

&

and went back to

the lighter room,

So I stood up

and I pulled back

the string of my bow,

so so so so so so

&
31

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

& # b
&

!
b

f3
j

J

? # #
3

b
b

b
3

b J
pizz.

b
J
pizz.

b
P

arco

arco

b
J

"

. .
P

94

&

&

36

36

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&
&

and Lula was born.

!
Interact with electronics "the string of my bow."

. . . . . .

"

"

Interact with electronics "so I stood up."

# P
3

P 00
3

Interact with electronics "and I pulled back."

# -

Interact with electronics "so I stood up."

P3

# -

# -

- # J
3

95

&

39

P
#

Know

that

both

stunning

39

Vln. I

&
&

b b
In strict time

&

b b

0
0
0
" b " "
F
In strict time
0
0

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

B
?

In strict time

J
3

na

ture

" b " "

In strict time

p3
J
3

96

&

&

41

and

41

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

&

man's

b b
3

B
?

spi -

rit

have

no

be

J
3

gin - ning

b b

! b ! !

&

Vc.

that

qual - it - ies

and

change

have

! b

J
3

b
3

b
3

97

&

& b

43

their
43

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

&

&

or -

Vc.

gin

in

na

"

b
3

dim.3

! #

b b

dim.

b b

dim.

ture

! # ! !

b
B b
? b J

dim.

98

45

&

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&

Lula grew into a locust tree,

and her roots were in the air, and her branches

&
45

Vln. I

& "
#
B

"
!

When I was born again, I knew

the sharp ax of detachment.

low and deliberate

A fragment of me in the
living world is the timeless
essence of life.

!
b

in the earth

...

! #w

w
#

99

56

&

I knew the breath in and

the breath out and the breath expelled past

&

expulsion

q = 88

f joyfully
# #
#
R
R

expulsion

expulsion

A girl
56

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&w

w
"

&

Bw

?w

q = 88

#
f

A tree

joyfully

joyfully

a breath

A chant

w
f

. r

joyfully

joyfully

r
#

100

60

&

Locust leaves without end, small honey tongues licking the words of the world.

&

Ice

in

Bom - bay.

& # # # #
F

60

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

& #

101

63

&

Girls without end.

Girls without end.
Girls without end.

thou - sand bran - ches and

thou - sand pla - teaus and

Vln. II

Vla.

&

Vc.

&

thou - sand girls.

63

Vln. I

&

#w
P
w
P
w

P
w

#w

102

66

&

Girls without end.

&
& w

66

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&w

B
?

w
w

w
p
wo
p
wo
p
wo
p

Little Portraits
Music by Margot Glassett Murdoch
Text by Lara Candland

Electronics

q = 120

j
& 44 b

Sh

q = 120

j b
sh

sh

Violin I

& 44

Violin II

& 44

Viola

B 44

Cello

? 44

j j
b
ee

j
b
F whimsical
pizz.

j
b
F whimsical
!
pizz.

b b

" b r

n j

sh - e

she

j
n

she

b j
n j
F whimsical

pizz.

II

F whimsical

" b J .
II

104

n b #
3

J
j
& b #

b
3

She she she she

she she she she she

she she she

she a - b - a - n - d - o - n - s

She

a - ban -dons her swing

s -

&

Vln. II

&

arco

Vla.

J
f

Vln. I

Vc.

arco

arco

&
f

105

q . = 120
.
4
.
# .
12

&
r

8 . # # # # j
b
wi - ng! s wing.

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&
&
B
&

#.

to sip water
-

q . = 120

12
8
12
8

from

a jar
from

!
!

12
8

12
8

a jar

# #

from

a jar

#
. J #

with electronics

.
.

##
J

with electronics

##
J

with electronics

with electronics

# #
F

106

& .

11

from

jar

jar

jar

. b . b . .
J
J
J
J
on

Vln. I

&

Vln. II

&

Vla.

Vc.

&

11

jar

the side - walk on

the side

#.
#.

# ..

on

the

walk

#.
#.

#.
#.

. j. j

#.
#.

# ..

#.
#.

#.
#.

..

#.
#.

#.
#.

# ..

#. #.
f
#. #.
f
.
f
..
f

107

& .

15

sidewah

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

sidewah

& .

sidewah

# #

& #

15

Vln. I

44

sidewah

# #
#

q = 100

# # b n b n
#
# n
#
n

# #

B
?

&

# # b n B
b

sidewah sidewah sidewah sidewah.

q = 100

44

3
b
44

b
3
3
F
b

44
b
3
3
F

44

108

.
18

&

3

The way she drew that bird bird

18

Vln. I

&

Vln. II

&

Vla.

Vc.

b.

P
b

bird

f to the fore dim.

f to the fore dim.

b
? b.
J
P

bird

bird

> # # .
# n # . j
fl
f 3

b
>
f
b

>f
b >

f

with one
foot lifted

b
#

b
p
f
!
3

109

22

&
3

lifted. . .
22

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&

&
p
B
p
? #

b
3

b
b

3
b b

b b b n ## nn
b b n

b b
. .
f

!
!

3
b b
b b n # n
f 3

p
p

# # n b
f

110

25

&

Th - e

&

25

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&

b
"

#
P

#
3

#
3

b
"

# n # # n # n
P

#
"

#
P3

B b
"
?

n #
P3
3

w -

111

29

q = 120(Electronic rhythms are not exact).

&

29

Vln. I

Vln. II

q = 120

&
&

sh

pizz.

b ,

con legno or with pencil

bounce up finger board

Vla.

Vc.

B #
?

j
j ,

!
#
con legno or with pencil
bounce up finger board

pizz.

up finger board
, bounce
j

J #

pizz.

con legno or with pencil

r - ew th - a - t

b - ir - d w - i - th oo- uh - n f - oo - t

l - i-

112

33

&
3

f - t - ed Sh - e

33

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&
&
B
?

exact rhythm

b - e - l - ie - v

>

es

i - n

> > >

>

v - er - y

thing

#
3
3
P3
with mute

with mute

b b
P
3

with mute

#
P
3

#
3
3
P3
with mute

113

38

&

in everything.

She believes

&

38

Vln. I

Vla.

Vc.

b.
p

# # .

& b

# # .
p

Vln. II

# # .
3
3
3
p

At Times She Believed Everything Loved Her

Music by Margot Glassett Murdoch
Text by Lara Candland

Electronics

q = 70

4 3
&4 j

At

Soprano

4
&4
q = 70

5
4

5
4

j

3

j

3

3
4

times she be-lieved that ev - 'ry thing loved her

3
4

4
4

I have not taken his

advice in the past.

4
4

b
. # # . 43 b b 44
. .
f brightly
martellato
3

44
4
#
#
< <
< <
f
3
4
!
!
4
4

Violin I

4
&4

5
4

Violin II

4
&4

5
4

Viola

B 44

5
4

Cello

?4
4

5
4 b
f

heavy slide

pizz.

3
4 b
-

arco

b -

4
4

115

F
4
&4

Vln. I

Vln. II

4
&4

who wants to write a poem

For example, this morning I
thought, well, maybe it's just me instead of my paper about how
Baudelaire cuts up all those bodies.

low and deliberate

b b n
4 . . . . # #
&4

Vla.

B 44

Vc.

? 4 b
4

#
< <

pizz.

b
>

innocent

I have often doubted

his advice.

4
&4

# #

!
b
>

just me

#
<<

I like
quickly, low
and deliberate

I like writing

. b . b .
.
.

.
.
b . b b
f
!

#
< <
. b . b . .
. b . b . b . . b . . b . b . b .
.

.
b

. b b b

. . .
f
pizz.
arco
>
b >

b
b
b
> >
> >

. .
. b . b
>

116

Vln. II

Vla.

&

n -

&
B

#
< <

pizz.

.
. # # . . . # . . . . . . w
.
. . . .
!

? b

Then I got stuck and couldn't

think of what to write, so I
wrote this recipe.

arco

Vc.

writing about the bodies.

I like the flaneur lurking about Paris.

&

Vln. I

&

q = 76

b w

!
b

arco

2
4

2 2 2 2

2
4

4
4

P mildly
j b
.

4
4

q = 76
n

bunches beets,

2
4

legato
j
P simply

2
4

2
4

j
b
P simply
!

2
4

legato

4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4

117

4
&4

13

greens

4
&4

13

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

4
&4

B 44
?4
4

one quar-ter cup fine

J
P simply
legato

J
P simply
legato

oil

b b
& 4 b

with love- ly greens 2 globe on - oins

Vln. I

j

b

o - live oil fav - 'rite

fraiche

must - ard creme

#
fraiche

fresh ground

subito

b
subito p

subito p

subito

subito

subito

p
p
p

118

q = 108

&

fav - 'rite vin - ea

&

b b

16

gar. gar. gar. gar.

f 3
.
#
b

intense, focused, full voice

salt and pep - per fav - 'rite vin - ea - gar.

16

Vln. I

&

Vln. II

&

Vla.

Vc.

b
F

q = 108

It is so bright

# -
f aggressive

-
f aggressive
-
f

aggressive

blue

" R J b

out-side

it

put me

b
in

b
J

j
-

3
j

b -
J

b
J
3

119

20

&

& #
mind

20

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&

&
B

# n

.
3

of the

hap - py beets

J
!

n
J

b
b b n " r

b.
Al - ice

made

j

P
pizz.
j
b
P aggressive
bpizz.

J
P
pizz.

for me the

>
J
S
pizz.

S>

j
b
S>

day that Lu - la was born.

b.

.
P

b.
Peo

.
-

ple are

b .
J

arco

j
.

arco

.
P

.
J

arco

120

24

&

q = 76

for

#
b
& . J
J
3

mow-ing their lawns

n.

for

the

Vln. I

j
&

Vln. II

j
&

Vla.

B j
#

24

pizz.

pizz.

pizz.

Vc.

j

arco

b j
arco

last tah-hahime
(time)

b
b

the

b b

last tah - ha-hime.

(time)

beets

F simply
# n .
.
.

Pull the greens off

q = 76

!
!
!
!

j
b
b

the beets and soak

F simply
legato
#
F simply
legato
#
legato

F simply

b
n
n

121

&

28

b b b
b

wa- ter

&

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

cer - a - mic

b b

in cold wa-ter.

I have an old

&

&

28

my greens

b
b

b b
n j
b
. .

cer - a - mic sink

in the cor-ner.

subito

subito

p
p
p

n
F

F
n
F

p simply

bw
p
bw
p
bw
p

flaneaur flaneaur flaneaur

I like to soak my greens in there.

subito

b b

!
!
!
!

122

32

&

2
4

flaneaur.

F

2

& b
b b . b . . . # # # # 4 n #
cresc.

Boil some wa- ter put the beet globes

32

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

in the wa-ter cook for

&
& bw
F
B
F
?
F

four-ty five min-utes.

2
4
2
4

w
b

a- bout

2
4
2 b
4

q = 58

2
8

5
8

2
8

5
8

2
8

5
8

cool cool cool cool

Cool.

q = 58

2
8

5
8

2
8

5
8

pizz.

pizz.

pizz.

arco
2 5
8
8
p rocking

123

5
&8

4
8

37

O cuisinier aux appetits funbres,

Je fais bouillir et je mange mon coeur

5
&8

Vln. I

5
&8

Vln. II

5
&8

5
8

37

Vla.

B 85

Vc.

? 5 .
8

!
F

3
4

4
8

5
8

3
4

4
8

5
8

3
4

j
.
p rocking

5
8

4
8

quickly, low
and deliberate

(Where, like a cook with ghoulish appetite I boil and devour my own heart.)

b.
b

4
5

8 8

4
8

b.

5
8 .

b.

b .
b.

3
4

3
4
3
4

124

3
&4

45

5
8

4
4 .

Most of these
metaphors insist on the

metal

3
&4

Vln. I

3
&4

Vln. II

3
&4

45

Vla.

B 43

5
8

5
8

b .
J

5
8
85

P
b J b .
P
!

4
4

!
.

p
4 .
4
p
4
4

?3
5 #
4
4 b 8 # 4

P
pizz.

Vc.

4
4

and stone textures of the

fragments of the woman's

It is as if, in Flowers of Evil, women

were preserved in their ideal and beautiful
form in the shape of prescious stones and marble

body

125

53

&

q = 76

sta- tues sta -tues sta-tues sta-tues

53

Vln. I

&

q = 76

b
J

&

Vla.

b
w
P simply

simply
P

w
P simply
arco

b .

un - til gol-den and a lit - tle car'-

n
subito p

subito p

.
subito p

. .

b .

un - til gol-den and a lit - tle car'-

Next, slice the on-ions in thin cir - cles cook slow in half the oil

Vln. II

Vc.

F b

in thin cir - cles cook

simply

&

# J # #

j
w
w

j
b w

126

& b b

57

ma- ly.

2
4

toss in with

the on-ions.

2
& b b - - - n 4
ma - ly. Shred the greens toss in with

Vln. I

Vln. II

&
& b

subito

Vla.

Vc.

B b
?

subito

subito

p
p
p

5
8

2
4
2
4
2
4

5
8

5
8

b .
J

5
8

5
8

5 #
8#

P rocking

!
q = 58

Lecteur, as-tu quelquefois respire Avec iresse et lente

gourmandise. Ce grain d'encensquiremplit une glise,
Ou d'un sachet le musc invtr?

with the onions.

-

the on-ions.

2
4

57

q = 58

b . b
o .

P rocking
.
b J b .
P rocking
.
!
pizz.

P rocking
!

.
!

!
o

o
J

127

6
8

65

&

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&
&

b b

B .
?

r j

the

5
8

(During your lifetime, reader, have

you breathed, slow-savoring to the
point of dizziness,

65

Vln. I

low
F quickly,
and deliberate
6
8

&

5
8

6
8

.
.

6 .
8

6
8

6
8

b
5
J 8

#
85
J

5 b.
8
5
8

3
4

grain

grain of incense which fills up a church,

b.

or the pervasive musk of a sachet?)

b.

.
!

sa - chet

r j

the

q = 108 aggressive

b
n

b.
!

3
4

4
4

sa -

4
4

q = 108 aggressive

3
4

3 b
4
b
3
4 .
3 #
4
F

4
b 4
4
4
4
4
44

128

4
&4

71

"

"

b b

chet

b
focused, full voice
f intense,

r
b

4 !
b

&4

3
3
The grass is green, the mountains are

4
&4

71

Vln. I

Vln. II

j
b f
j

b
f
j

p
f

4
&4

Vla.

B 44

Vc.

?4
4

"

white,

the mowers
the mow-ers

j
#

few birds

"

distant

still

pizz.

pizz.

b
f

"

pizz.

b.
P

.
P

grace fen-ces.

arco

arco

.
P

arco

"

j

3

The

"

mow-ers

"

129

77

&

q = 76

childlike
#

Take a beet globe,grasp it in both

#
&
are sleep
77

. w
-

y.

Vln. I

& w

Vln. II

& bw

Vla.

Vc.

B
?

q = 76

rinse the globe in cold water.

-

F a little anxious
J # # .
.
.
both hands and slip the skin off with your thumbsrinse the globe in cold wa -

!
!

.
little anxious
p apoco
a poco cresc.

arco

j
b

.
p a little anxious

poco a poco cresc.

.
j
b.

130

83

&

q = 58

5
8 j j j

Mme Mme Mme Mme on et dit parfois qu'elle croyait

Que tout voulait l'aimer; elle noyait
Sa nudit voluptuesement.

b # # 5
&
8
J
un - til all the skin is gone. Slice

Vln. II

cir - cles one quar-ter inch thick.

&

&

83

Vln. I

in

Vla.

Vc.

? j
.

b.
F

b
J

b.
J

q = 58

5
8
5
8

J 5
8

j 5
8

"

P
"
b
P
!

b.

b. b

b. b

j
J
!

131

88

&

j j

q = 76

4 b b
4

ev- 'ry thing loved her

88

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&
&

b.

. b

# #
!

ev-'ry thing loved her

b n b.

4
4

. # .

b.

b.

76

in that she would bathe/ freely,

voluptuously, her nudity.)
q=

b n.

b n.

& .
B

(And one could say at times

that she believed

Arr-ange Arr-ange the beet greens

. b

. b

F simply
b

Arr-ange the beet greens and

4 J
4

f
. # 4
4
f
#. 4
4
f
4
b. 4
F

j
b

132

95

&

j
j
# #
dash - es of

your fav - 'rite

#. #.
# #
& b

#

3

on-ions on a

&

95

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&
B
?

large plat - ter

j

p simply
j

p simply
j
p simply
j

p simply

sprin - kle with sev-er -al dash

es

of

your fav -'rite vin - e-gar. Lay-er

the beet cir-cles on top. A few

b b J

F
pizz.

pizz.

b

F

j
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j
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b
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b J J # j # J # # J j
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133

j
b b

&

99

if

&

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&
& b J
B
J
?
J

j
#

of vin-e - gar, if

b
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you like. Mix

e- qual parts of your

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fav-or-ite mus-tard

. # #
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J b
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f waltzing
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you like. Mix

more dash-es

99

b
b

J
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J
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b
j J J J J # J
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creme

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Fill a pas-try bag with

3
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J J

J J
3

#
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134

&

103

# #
Dec - or - ate

cantabile

&
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the mix - ture. Dec - or - ate

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

the

&

j
j n
& b
#
P cantabile
b
j #
B

J
P cantabile

n
? b

P cantabile

beets

beets with a lat - cie - work

103

Vln. I

the

j
#

j
#

!
F
b
de - sign

b. n
of

mus - tard

j b
b
F

j b
F

and cream

Grind the

best

J
F cantabile
j

J

135

q.= 46
6
8

106

&

taste taste taste taste taste

&
106

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&

.
6
b

8
b

salt and fresh pepper

corns on top to

&
B

b.

taste.

De cette bouche o
mon cur se noya

F articulated 7
# 85

6 .
8

6 .
8

6 .
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J
P espressivo e rubato

.
P espressivo e rubato

.
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P espressivo e rubato

#.

6
8

Of this mouth where my heart has drowned it-self

q.= 46
6 .
8

5
8

" r 68

He

J 85 J J J

5
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5
8 #

5 j
8

6
8
6
8

6
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136

6
&8

6
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Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

6
8

3
8

3
3
3
3
3
3
6
3
j 85
j j8
8
b

gave me my eyes that I might see the
co-lor of but-ter-fly wings He
gave me my ears that I might hear the ma-gi-cal sound of

6
&8

110

Vln. I

5
8

110

6
& 8 .
B 68 .
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8

cresc.

5 .
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6
8

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6
8

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b 3
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38

3
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3
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137

3
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113

q.= 68

three three

3
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things.

q.= 68
b.

3
&8

113

Vln. I

Vln. II

b.
3
& 8 b

6
8

three

6
8
6
8
6
8

Vla.

B 38 b .

6
8

Vc.

? 3 .
8

b.

6
8

rushed

Three tanks of oxygen. Twenty-five packs of tender grips.

Saline drops. A bulb syringe. Benadryl.

>
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quickly, low
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He gave me.

138

120

& .

rushed

Synagis. Amoxicillin. Tylenol.

Pillows under the mattress.

&
& # #
>
f
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&
>
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>
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J
f
>
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120

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

>
#

quickly, low
and deliberate

q = 112

3
4

soo soo

3
4

My mind, my life, my heart.

> # # > n

>
j b
b
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>
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>
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j

>

q = 112

3
4

j

>

>

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3
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>
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3
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j
>
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soo

4
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Soothing Vapor Bath - on sale.

At rite-Aid. IHC. DMBA. Praxair.

#.
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4
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j
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139

126

&

&

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&

A stack of clean diapers.

A stack of clean blankets.
Thermometer. Oximeter. Cannula.

Sa- tur - a - tions

frantic shouting

j

3

This is not all

126

Vln. I

- b - -

&
p
B
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j
.
.
J

b .
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b.
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f

.
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b >
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f
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#.

.
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b .
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the La - tin I know.

>
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>

f marcato
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f marcato
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pizz.

140

&

130

ba - by

&
130

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&

pizz.

marcato

B

?

In-flu-en-za

# #

&

ba - by

Vi-rus

arco

Pneu-mon-ia

3
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calm

And Greek

4
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Cov-er-alls. night-night fin-ger nails.

# #

3
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Cov-er-alls. night-night fin-ger nails.

# 3
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3
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3
4
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pizz.

4
8
4
8
4
8
4
8
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8

141

q = 58

4
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135

5
8

fin - ger nails fin - ger nails fin - ger nails

4
&8
q = 58

Noir assassin

5
8

4
&8

5
8

Vln. II

4
& 8 #

5
8

5
8

?4
8

p rocking

5
8 .

Vla.

Vc.

B 48

P desperate

Time, you black

murderer

Vln. I

135

4
8

#

f

j

p rocking f

pizz.

5
8

de la Vie et de l'Art

4
8

5
8

4
8

5
8

4
8

5
8

of life and art

j 5 b J
4
8 8JJ JJ
4
8

5
8 .

142

&

Tu ne tueras jamais dans ma mmoire

&

Vln. I

&

Vln. II

&

141

Vla.

Vc.

3
4

141

3
4

You'll never kill her in my memory--

#
f

f
#.
B J
J
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5
8

3
4

5
8

3
4

5
8

J J J
b.

5
8

# .
J J
b.

3
4

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4 b

5
8

Celle qui fut mon plaisir et ma gloire

b .
J

P rocking
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P
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.
b.

.
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143

148

&
&

148

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&
&

6
8

We cut the body into nose, ears, chest,

abdomenm bowels, legs feet.

6
8

Not She, who was my pleasure and my pride.

o .

B .
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.
!

b b

6
8

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6 .
8

6
8

6
8

5
8

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!
determined

Her head. Every four hours.

n b.

b
5
J 8

#
85
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5 b.
8
5
8

b.

.
!

144

3
4

154

&
&

154

Vln. I

&

Vln. II

&

Vla.

Vc.

At night, the orange oil

3
4

I daren't think of it.

I only do the cutting and
the putting back together.

5
8

At night, the orange oil, the warm towel massage puts the body back together.

b
n

B b.
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5
8

3
4

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4
b
3
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3 #.
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p
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b.

b.

b.

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145

160

&
&

I forget the design for now.

This mess makes me whole.

Vln. II

& n.

Vla.

B .

Vln. I

Vc.

&

6
8

My love wakes.

160

q.= 46

b n

I do what I must
for her living.

6
8

We

I provide the place for her living.

b.

n.

b.

J
J

b.

q.= 46

6
8

f
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8
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6 .
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j

146

165

&

j
& #
espressivo e rubato

like look- ing

165

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&

at pret - ty things

espressivo e rubato

& .
P espressivo e rubato
B .
P espressivo e rubato

?
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P espressivo e rubato

We

have

bas - ket

of pret - ty things

.
#.

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to

look at

cresc.

cresc.

.
cresc.

b.

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147

168

&

&
168

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&
&

B .

? .

F
#

&

U
.

U
.

U
.

#.

J
F

U
.

Ingrid, over Her Tidepool

Music by Margot Glassett Murdoch
Text by Lara Candland

Electronics

Soprano

12

q = 120

4
&4
4
&4

12
12

q = 120

Violin I

4
&4

Violin II

4
&4

Viola

B 44

Cello

?4
4

12
12
12

q = 100

21
4 8

Ingrid, over her Tidepool July 2007, Carkeek

21
4 8

j j

>
>
>
park park park park park park

q = 100

21
4 8

21
4 8

#j
"
. . . .
p reserved

21
4 8

!
!

park

The wa - ter is near

p reserved
j
j

21
4 8

#j
"
. . . .
p reserved
!

149

19

&

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

park

&
&

#j
"
& . . . .
p
B

"
?

j
.

and it is al - most time to leave.

19

Vln. I

p reserved

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reserved

P
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The train from

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. . 4281
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150

21
& 4 8

25

F
2 1 # j
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2 1 ". . . .
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j
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F
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B 4281 b
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48
b

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

(moves along the pines of Takesago and the Puget

sound sound sound sound sound)

moves a - long the coast - line.

25

"
b . . . b # ".
J

". .
#

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"
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j b ". . . . n "
b . . .
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151

30

&

F
#
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Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

21
4 8

j 31
4 8

In- grid tou-ches the

smal - lest

an

43 #
J

.
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b
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21 .
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P transparent

&
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P transparent

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cresc.

3
J 4

. . . . 3
J 4

cresc.

2 1 b b b j 3 1 J
4 8
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transparent

30

Vln. I

3 .
4 .

With her first fin-ger and

b .

cresc.

. .

2 1 b
4 8

21
4 8

cresc.

21
4 8
21
4 8

wat - ches it close

"3 1
48
F
3 1 "4 8
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31
4 8
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31
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J

21
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152

21
& 48

21
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35

". .
2 1 .
&48

P .

"
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P
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B 4281
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35

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

F
#
J
To - day is

. #
J

the

. # j
J . . . .
# . . . .
J
J

last

#
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day of Ju - ly

. . . .
J

j
b

j
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b
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the

first day

we

re - mem -

J
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153

40

&
&

parl park park park park

ber

#
f
> b
n
J J J

Vln. II

&

Vc.

? . . .

& b

us.

Vln. I

Vla.

b -

sum- mer will leave

40

j
#

j
b b j
J

The sum - mer and the

p
. . .
J
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p

pizz.

j j
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bo - dy and the

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j
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earth

are a -

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154

46

&

!
F j
n
J

j j j
& b

like in that way,

& j

46

Vln. I

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

&

in the way

b
J

arco

j
B . . . .
?

4 > > >

4

q = 124

.
.

b arco b
J

not

j
44 b

they

not not not even the pines of Takesago can be my long standing companion.

change.

q = 124
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4
b . . .
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J
P
F with more energy
j
j - .
j .
j 44 b

.
# . . . .
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F with more energy

.
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b
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4
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4
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F with more energy

155

&

&

51

j j

Vln. II

Vla.

Vc.

j j
j j
b
b

j j
#

j j
n b
b

du du dut (etc.)
In the kitchen this morning, the big kids washed the dishes and listened to the Beach Boys.

b
f

n #

pizz.

pizz.

> b
&
JJ
> b
B
JJ
>
? J b J

j b j

j j

> b > b
JJ
&

51

Vln. I

j j
#

# n
f

pizz.

pizz.

156

j
&
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56

accel.

j
# #
# J b n ..
J

5
8

# J b n
J

the same thing I did with my parents Beach Boys album when I was fifteen, doing my chores, wondering if other people's summers were better then mine.

&
56

accel.

Vln. I

&

accel.

Vln. II

&

accel.

Vla.

Vc.

accel.

accel.

j
j b n -
P
arco

arco
j # j

arco
J # # J
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arco

b n J
J
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5
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j
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5
8

j # j

5
8

J # # J

b n J
J

# 85

b n -

5
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157

q = 86

5
& 8 j j j j j j

62

j j j
b

b b J

mine mine mine mine mine Lu- la andMar-ni

5
&8

Vln. II

F
#
J

Lu - la andMar-ni

5
&8

5
&8

62

Vln. I

q = 86

go for a walk

(blend with electronics)

Vla.

B 85

Vc.

?5
8

go for a walk

b b J b

espressivo

#
J

b
j
b J b
j
b
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j
j

#

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j
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158

j
j j
& b J n

68

and leave me with

the buck-et, in case

J b b
& J
J
J
and leave me with

the buck-et, in case

# .
I seemore

& b

b
J

Vln. II

&

j
b

Vla.

B n

b
J

Vc.

I seemore sand crabs.

Vln. I

68

J
J
j
#

b.

4
4

44
J J

"The body is madeof mostly water" Marni tells Lula

"The Earth is made of mostly water" she says, "therefore,"
she says, "The Earth and the body are alike," she says,

sand crabs

4 # #
J 4
3
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44 # #
J
3
3
3
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4
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J 4
4

159

74

&

74

Vln. I

&
&

# # #
3

Vla.

Vc.

b n

in or on

F articulated

"and they both have

living in them."
little plants and animals

#
& # #

3

Vln. II

B
?

# # # # # #

3
3
3
3
3
3
" very smooth,
freely
(with electronics)
b b b # # #

3
3
3
3
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160

78

Vln. II

&

"Like Horton Hears a Who."

&

b b

(with electronics)

(with electronics)

&

# n

# # #

# n

B #
3

Vc.

innocent

(with electronics)

Vla.

she says.

78

Vln. I

& b n

# #
3

# n
3

#
3

# #
3

# #
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n
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161

81

&

&

21
4 8

!
F low and deliberate

The aunt and her niece walk down the beach

and leave me watching the bucket.

21
4 8

21
& b b b 4 8

81

Vln. I

Vln. II

&

21
4 8

Vla.

21
4 8

Vc.

#
3

# n #
3

# #
3

# #
3

n
3

21
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162

q = 100

21
& 4 8

84

4
4

4
4

(not even the pines of Takesago can be my long standing companion.

not not not not not Who, then, will I make my true friend?)
S

21
& 4 8
q = 100

j
. . . . .
P with resolve

Vln. I

21
& 4 8

Vln. II

21
& 4 8

j
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Vla.

B 4281

j
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P with resolve
!

Vc.

? 2 1
48

84

j
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.
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!
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P with resolve

. . . . . . . 4
J
J 4

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. . . .
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163

4
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21
4 8

92

.
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Now I know

4
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Vln. I

4
& 4 .

Vln. II

4
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Vla.

B 44

21
4 8

. . 4281

92

Vc.

j
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4

21
4 8
21
4 8
21
4 8

F with resolve
.

j
b
b b
there is no oth - er

bet - ter sum - mer.

j
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Now I know

there is no oth - er

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