PART II: A Surface Construct as a Tablature for the Performer. The Evolution of Composition and the Score.

A Surface Construct as a Tablature for the Performer. The Evolution of Composition and the Score. 

 A student asked me is this piece more complex or less complex than Brian Ferneyhough's Mnemosyne or Sisyphus Redux? 

 My response..."Don't weaponize complexity" 

Any part of this new notational system (tablature) can be generated by the functional demands it has to meet, however its relationship to those requirements is not an ethical one; they are not necessarily the nature or true substance of the notational system. 

 The polytypic nature of this new music lexicon (language) suggests that there can be a gap between the way each visual icon will look and perform. For the performer, this notation or pattern can play multiple interrelated roles, each capable of being understood without knowledge or appreciation of the others. One might zero in on a particular coloring effect while another gravitates towards its structural logic. It can also appeal to multiple audiences. 

 In this work for solo flute, here are two pages for the performer to interpret throughout the score. The overlay transparency page consisting of Moire elements lies above the surface construct tablature page. 

 As one pages through the score these are consistently alternating, one transparency Moire based score page residing above the surface imagery construct. The capacity of a surface construct to embody and adapt to changing material information being processed by the performer - information that is arranged to withstand large amounts of geometric interpretation provides a suppleness to the score. 

 At first glance, the page looks like a constellation of randomly chosen imagery as opposed to a traditional stave and notational system. In fact it is a highly calibrated and topologically generated tablature whose overall effect is sonically deep and complex. The interpreter/performer should recognize each page of the score and image itself belies its agility in adapting to different operative and environmental requirements. 

To successfully execute the score, the performer must take an integrative approach which will result in a combinatorial interpretation that performs multiple roles with nuanced effects. In this score, patterns are meant to function as more than a motif or an expedient design tool as they must be able to produce new sonic environments by linking the notation's internal (that is formal and spatial techniques) with extradisciplinary knowledge. 

Their capacity for doing so is granted along three interrelated lines; their redundant qualities, their flexibility and their combinatory logic.

In the end, it's music...it's composition that does not play by all of the rules.