Seven Episodes for Six Voices

by Brandon Young

This piece is to be performed by six voices accompanied by a recording to be made in advance by one of the vocalists. All voices must be able to sing comfortably within the range of C4 to E4 (middle C to the E above). The voices should be as similar in character as possible.

The seven sections (episodes) should be performed without interruption. The duration of each episode is free, but sufficient time should be given to each one to allow the material to develop fully (approximately one minute for each).

Syllables for singing are indicated using the International Phonetic Alphabet (see below for pronunciation). All voices sing on [o] except where otherwise noted in episodes II and IV.

THE RECORDING One of the vocalists should record himself/herself singing a D4 (D above middle C) for the duration of one breath and at a low dynamic level. This recording, on a continuous loop, should accompany the performance very softly at approximately the level of the ensembles pianissimo. There should be no detectable break in the recording from the time it begins (with the cue for episode III) till it is faded out (during episode VI).

The following score is included as a graphical representation of one possible realization of this piece. It is intended for reference and clarification only and should not be used in performance.

GRAPHIC & PHONETIC SYMBOLS - a cue to be given by Voice 1

- the duration of a quick breath

- hissing/crackling sound produced by speaking [x] or [] or any similar sound between the two

- D4 (D above middle C), the pitch of the recording

[o] [a] [x] [] ~ [] -

no in Spanish father human nach in German; similar to lightly clearing your throat cat; with as nasal a tone as possible

EPISODE I 1. Voice 1 begins singing pp drone on D4 for the duration of a breath 2. After a few seconds, Voice 2 enters in unison followed similarly by the successive voices 3. Voice 1 stops singing upon hearing Voice 2 or 3 enter 4. Voice 2 stops after hearing Voice 3 or 4 enter (etc.) 5. Voice 1 begins the cycle again some seconds after Voice 6 has entered 6. All voices gradually decrease the amount of time between entries while gradually increasing the volume of each entry 7. Maximum dynamic level is forte

EPISODE II 1. On Voice 1s cue all voices begin to sing pulsing piano half notes together on the syllable [no] on a unison D4 at 66-72 bpm; there should be a slight break between the pulses. 2. After several seconds, Voice 1 begins to bend the pitch down on each pulse, beginning with a microtonal distance and gradually increcreasing the distance of the bend

EPISODE III 1. On Voice 1s cue all voices return to a unison D4 drone, this time mezzo piano, and the recording is played 2. After some time, one of the voices begins a very slow upward slide in pitch for the duration of a breath, returning to the drone upon reentering, then repeating ad libitum 3. After a voice has introduced this gesture, other voices begin doing the same 4. After some time, one of the voices begins a very slow downward slide in pitch for the duration of a breath, returning to the drone upon reentering, then repeating ad libitum 5. After a voice has introduced this gesture, other voices do the same, ceasing the upward gesture; if a voice was in the middle of an upward slide, that voice should finish the gesture before changing to the downward slide 6. After some time, one of the voices reintroduces the upward slide 7. After this gesture has been reintroduced, all voices may either slide upward or downward or sing the drone

Note: Throughout this episode, the slide should remain very slow and the dynamic level, constant.

EPISODE IV 1. On Voice 1s cue all voices return to a piano unison D4 drone 2. After some seconds and on Voice 1s cue, Voices 2-6 abruptly slide upward or downward to a random mezzo forte pitch no more than a major second away and change the vowel to [a] 3. After several seconds and on Voice 1s cue, Voices 2-6 abruptly slide back to the original piano unison D4 on [o] 4. Repeat this process five times with each of the voices respectively sustaining the drone while the other voices slide 5. The random pitches should be selected anew each time
2

EPISODE V 1. All voices return to a unison D4 drone, piano 2. After several seconds voice 1 begins to vacillate in pitch microtonally around the drone, staying within a major second above or below it 3. After several seconds Voice 2 begins to do likewise, followed by Voices 3-6 respectively 4. The result should be an increasingly dense cloud of vacillating pitches

EPISODE VI 1. On Voice 1s cue all voices simultaneously sustain whatever pitch they are singing at the time 2. From this microtonal cluster, all voices gradually crescendo while moving toward an exaggerated nasal tone and nasal [] vowel 3. Throughout the crescendo, voices begin to insert periods of unvoiced hissing/crackling noise (e.g. [x]_____ or []_____) 4. The hissing/crackling interjections should be brief at first and increase in duration as the voices crescendo till finally all voices sustain the hissing/crackling 5. The result should be an increasingly abrasive and unstable tone decaying into white noise

EPISODE VII 1. On Voice 1s cue all voices cut off abruptly 2. On Voice 1s cue all voices choose and sing a random forte pitch simultaneously (no specified relationship to drone) 3. Over a period of about a minute, all voices should gradually approach and agree upon a unison pitch 4. During this time the voices should gradually decrescendo till reaching piano at about the same time as or just before reaching unison 5. Voices are free to vacillate in pitch while crossing other voices and paying attention to the beat of the wavelengths 6. Upon reaching a unison, voices sustain till out of breath and just beyond, allowing the integrity of tone to decay into nothing

pp

mp

Voice 1

Voice 2

Voice 3

Voice 4

Voice 5

Voice 6

II

= 66-72

Voice 1

etc.

Voices 2-6

etc.

Voices sing [no]

III

mp

Voice 1

Voice 2

Voice 3

Voice 4

Voice 5

Voice 6

pp

Rcrdng.

(play recording on cue)

IV

sub. mf

sub. p

sub. mf

sub. p

sub. mf

sub. p etc.

Voices 1-6
[a] [o] [a] [o] [a] [o]

C [o]

pp

Rcrdng.

Voice 1

Voice 2

Voice 3

Voice 4

Voice 5

Voice 6

pp

Rcrdng.

VI

Voice 1

Voice 2

Voice 3

Voice 4

Voice 5

Voice 6
~ []

[o]

pp

Rcrdng.

VII

(high)

All voices on random pitches

a niente

(low)