Hyperbolic Notation and Spherical Striation: The Jubal Project

 

Now In Hot Attics and Institutional Vaults of Decidedly Sub-Archival ... For Piano. The Score (PDF) and Commentary

"Now In Hot Attics and Institutional Vaults of Decidedly Sub-Archival Womblike Moistness 

Our Campaign Ribbons Have Turned The Colors of Cattails and Almond Grass"

For Piano

Bil Smith Composer

The Score:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5lqYq0XwE76dFRSU2VTdzBkOFk/view?usp=sharing

In “Now In Hot Attics and Institutional Vaults...”, the score intertwines a rich tapestry of Western musical notation with a new sub-discreet notational lexicon, creating an ever-modulating and elusive sonic landscape. At its core, this work explores the precarity of matter in both its musical and philosophical dimensions—an idea that resists stasis, defies preservation, and questions the very essence of form.

To approach this composition is to confront the paradox of matter itself: it is never static, always shifting, always undercutting the assumption of fixity. This is not merely a technical concern about notes on a page; it reflects a deeper metaphysical uncertainty about the world we inhabit. Jeremy Waldron’s conception of precarity, notably his philosophical engagements with security and vulnerability, serves as an apt intellectual backdrop for interpreting the tensions that animate this piece. Waldron’s reflections on the fragility of legal and political systems resonate with the fragility of form in this composition, as the pianist must continuously navigate a set of circumstances that refuse to cohere into any definitive, stable narrative. The material of the score itself is contingent, susceptible to forces of disintegration and reinvention, much like the social orders Waldron interrogates in his writings.

The sub-discreet notational lexicon employed here is subtle in its deployment but profound in its implications. Traditional Western notation, long the bedrock of classical composition, is subverted by these elements, which are woven through the score in ways that quietly shift the terrain under the performer’s hands. These modulations do not merely add texture; they invoke a sense of flux that mirrors the illusory spaces the piece explores. The illusory here is not an ethereal abstraction; it’s grounded in the reality that matter, in both musical and physical senses, is subject to constant change. The illusory is the precarious—the sense that everything, no matter how solid, can dissolve under pressure, temperature, or simply the passage of time.

Waldron’s work often returns to the theme of institutional fragility—how political and legal institutions, which we often take as enduring, are in fact deeply precarious and vulnerable to disruption. This fragility resonates with the thematic undercurrent of “Now In Hot Attics and Institutional Vaults...” The score gestures towards spaces of preservation—vaults, attics—yet these are not safe, sealed environments. They are spaces where materials degrade, where air, heat, and neglect can act as agents of destruction. The institutional vault is no longer the final resting place for permanence but a space where the fragility of matter is laid bare.

I engage with the precarity of ideas themselves. Playing with different musical conditions necessitates, at times, the destruction of the original idea. The performer, in navigating the score, is compelled to destroy and reconstruct, almost as though engaging in a kind of musical archaeology, where the original material is not meant to be preserved but to be understood in its decay and reinvention. The destruction of an idea is thus the avenue through which newness emerges. This is a creation through negation, where the very act of dismantling an idea, a motif, or a rhythm, gives rise to the possibility of something genuinely new. There is no clear plot, no narrative resolution embedded in the score—only the potential for transformation. The score offers a set of conditions with no plot; the pianist, much like the philosopher interpreting law, must find a way to finish the story, but the story, in this case, may never truly end.

A major obsession is the challenge of taking something quotidian and often insufferable—whether it be the bureaucratic machinery of the state or the mundane repetitions of daily life—and rendering it magical again. This is where the piece takes its most radical stance: it insists that beauty, far from being an easy achievement, is something precarious, something that must be wrested from the conditions of insufferability. There is always a tension inherent in beauty—the tension of its transience, its fragility, and the fact that it can dissolve as quickly as it appears. In the same way that Waldron explores how rights and liberties can erode under the strain of political forces, the composer here explores how beauty itself can be eroded by the mundane forces of repetition, entropy, and neglect. But far from resigning to this erosion, the score fights back, liberating the material from stasis and offering a momentary glimpse of transcendence.

The musical magic evoked in “Now In Hot Attics and Institutional Vaults...” is not the magic of enchantment but the magic of survival, of perseverance through precarity. It is a work that invites us to think about how we preserve, not in the sense of locking something away in a vault, but in the sense of allowing something to exist in a state of flux, constantly reinventing itself in the face of disintegration. The illusions we might hear in the interplay between the traditional notation and the new sub-discreet lexicon are not there to deceive, but to remind us that nothing is fixed—neither the music, nor the matter of the score, nor the institutions we think protect us.

The Conceptualization of Uncertain Compositional Devices is an Enduring One.

The conceptualization of uncertain compositional devices, understood as a set of possibilities, each assigned a specific notational value—a schema for performance that draws its origin from the very circumstances that gave rise to it, namely the game of chance, the die, and its faces—retains a lasting hold on our thinking about music and its indeterminate forms. This notion, which locates the act of composition within the dynamics of chance, operates not merely as a technical device but as a profound framework for understanding the engagement between contingency and intention.

In the realm of indeterminate composition, the 'occasional cause'—that is, the metaphysical spontaneity of the performer or gambler—continues to assert an intuitive grip on how we conceive of uncertain eventualities. It shapes both the interpretation and application of musical events across varied contexts. The performer's role, caught in the uncertainty of each moment, mirrors a broader existential engagement with the unknown, one that colors the relationship between agency and outcome.

However, stripped of these metaphysical associations, the meaning of composition remains as elusive as ever. Is composition an idealized construct, one that neutralizes the unpredictable through the abstraction of infinite possible trials? Or does it represent a real property of the world, a genuine propensity or random generator that functions independently of the human mind’s interpretative frameworks? This question points to the fundamental enigma of how we understand the role of contingency in artistic creation.

As composers, we dramatize this tension in the asymmetry between the wager and its outcome. On the one hand, we have the naive performer—analogous to the ordinary gambler—who approaches each roll of the die as a singular, hazardous adventure. Each note, each moment, is fraught with uncertainty. On the other hand, the composer assumes the role of the casino manager, who controls the overarching structure and never truly loses. The composer's position in the long game assures mastery over the risk inherent in each individual gamble, rendering the short-term fluctuations irrelevant to the final outcome.

Yet, what emerges from this dialectic is a deeper philosophical tension between the notion of chance as an epistemological deficit—something we confront because of our limited knowledge—and the idea of chance as an object of technical mastery, as a domain that can be quantified, predicted, and controlled. The notion of probability, and more recently, risk, provides a conceptual apparatus for this engagement. While the concept of risk may appear as a relatively modern invention, it carries with it far-reaching implications, not just for contemporary compositional techniques but for the entire intellectual framework within which we approach uncertainty in modernity.

Thus, the compositional process becomes a negotiation between two seemingly opposed conceptions: the performer's intimate, momentary engagement with chance and the composer's detached, overarching control of the totality. In this interplay, we find not just the logic of musical creation, but an enduring metaphor for how we, as human agents, confront the uncertainties of existence itself.

The Evolving Art of Macaronic Composition: Blending Musical Languages and Notational Systems

The Evolving Art of Macaronic Composition: Blending Musical Languages and Notational Systems

In the expansive landscape of contemporary music, where boundaries between genres, styles, and techniques blur more than ever, the concept of Macaronic Composition has re-emerged as a vital and multifaceted tool. Originally aligned with humor and satire, macaronic composition refers to the blending of different notational systems, sometimes involving entire passages written in more than one musical language. Though historically used for comic effect, this technique has seen a resurgence in serious, avant-garde contexts, allowing composers to play with both the expectations of notation and the cultural associations of musical languages.

Yet, macaronic composition is not simply about throwing together diverse systems or contrasting musical tongues. Like its literary counterpart, Macaronic Verse, this compositional method, in its original form, doesn’t merely insert foreign notational symbols but transforms the composer’s native musical language by giving it the inflectional features of another. This nuanced practice creates a hybridized musical expression that challenges the listener’s comprehension, breaks down cultural barriers, and opens new possibilities in the exploration of musical meaning.

Historical Context: Macaronic Verse and Early Musical Applications

The term "macaronic" is derived from the Latin macaronicus, which referred to a burlesque mixture of languages, often employing Latin with vernacular insertions. In literature, macaronic verse has long been a medium of satire, combining multiple languages to mock or critique cultural or political realities. The fusion of languages within a single text served to highlight the absurdity of rigid linguistic conventions and societal hierarchies.

In music, macaronic practices can be traced back to polytextual motets of the medieval and Renaissance periods, where composers like Guillaume de Machaut would overlay multiple texts in different languages, such as French and Latin, onto a single composition. These early explorations were often sacred in nature but, through their complex layering of languages, they pointed to the power of mixing idioms to communicate multiple ideas simultaneously.

The essence of macaronic composition today draws on this tradition, though it manifests differently in a modern, highly notational music world.

Modern Macaronic Composition: Blurring Borders of Notation and Meaning

In contemporary music, macaronic composition has evolved beyond its satirical roots. Modern composers often use it to interrogate and expand the limits of musical notation, drawing attention to the inherent flexibility and cultural embeddedness of musical symbols. By mixing notational systems, composers challenge the hegemony of any one musical language, suggesting that music is not confined to singular, culturally-bound systems.

At its core, macaronic composition involves more than a superficial juxtaposition of different notational languages. Rather, it operates as a deeper commentary on the act of notation itself—what it represents, and how it controls or frees a performer. Composers may weave together systems of Western staff notation with graphical, spectral, or even invented systems of notation, forcing performers and audiences to navigate between familiar and unfamiliar terrains.

For instance, a passage might be written using traditional Western rhythmic notation, only to dissolve into a section requiring graphic notation, where visual symbols (shapes, lines, and colors) offer a looser interpretive framework. These jumps between systems require a recalibration on the part of the performer, but they also invite a richer interpretive space, where musical intention and the performer’s own creativity merge.

Inflectional Notational Hybridization: A More Subtle Approach

A more subtle, but profound, aspect of macaronic composition entails not just inserting foreign notational systems into a score but altering the composer’s native notation by inflecting it with the grammatical or stylistic markers of another musical language. This technique is akin to the way macaronic verse blends two languages into a single, hybridized form, rather than simply switching between them.

For example, a composer working within the framework of 12-tone serialism might introduce elements of Indian classical rhythmic cycles (tala), bending the Western harmonic grid to align with the cyclical time structures of another tradition. The serialism isn’t abandoned, but rather it takes on the inflectional nuances of a foreign system. In this case, the Western notation might retain its linearity but be marked by accents and rhythmic groupings that reference tala patterns, creating a macaronic hybrid.

Similarly, a composer rooted in the Western classical tradition might overlay aspects of microtonal tuning systems from Persian music, subtly inflecting harmonic progressions with quarter-tone alterations that push the boundaries of tonality. The result is music that operates simultaneously in two worlds, invoking a duality of cultural meanings without completely severing ties with the original notation.

Macaronic Composition as Cultural Commentary

What makes macaronic composition especially compelling is its ability to serve as a form of cultural commentary. The mixing of notational languages can reflect the pluralism of modern identity, the intermingling of global traditions, and the fluidity of borders between genres and techniques. It raises important questions about ownership, cultural borrowing, and the power dynamics implicit in notational systems.

For example, a composer might use macaronic notation to reflect on the colonial history embedded in Western classical music, juxtaposing European staff notation with indigenous or folk notational systems as a critique of how certain musical traditions have been marginalized or suppressed. By forcing performers to engage with both systems, the composer highlights the friction between dominant and subjugated cultural languages, inviting listeners to question how and why we privilege certain forms of musical expression over others.

Moreover, the very act of blending notations challenges the assumption that music must adhere to a fixed, singular language. It speaks to the inherently polyglot nature of modern artistic life, where borders between traditions, cultures, and technologies are increasingly porous. The composer, like a cultural translator, must navigate these borders, mediating between different worlds to create new forms of expression.

Macaronic Composition in Performance: A Demand for Flexibility

For performers, macaronic compositions pose unique challenges. Navigating between different notational systems requires not only technical proficiency but also a high degree of interpretive flexibility. The performer must adapt to shifting languages of instruction, often making interpretive leaps as they move between traditional notation, graphic notation, or non-Western systems.

In some cases, this might involve using entirely different playing techniques, depending on the notational system employed. A macaronic score might ask a string player to switch from conventional bowing techniques to extended techniques (like bowing on the bridge or tapping the instrument), aligning with a change from standard notation to graphic notation. Or, in the case of vocal music, a singer might be required to alternate between traditional Western intervals and microtonal ones, creating a textural and harmonic complexity that stretches their interpretive skills.

In this sense, macaronic compositions often call upon the performer to engage in a kind of musical multilingualism, where the language of the score is constantly shifting, and the performer’s role is not merely to interpret but to translate between these notational systems.

As composers continue to push the limits of notation, macaronic composition offers a powerful lens through which to explore not only the interaction of different musical languages but also the deeper cultural, historical, and political meanings embedded within those languages. The blending of musical tongues, once a playful gesture, now carries serious implications for how we understand the global, interconnected nature of musical expression in the 21st century.

"Hectoring Commentaries" For Solo Viola

"Hectoring Commentaries"

For Solo Viola

Premier Recording by Renee Baker, Esteemed Member of the AACM

Luxotrophic Notation: Light and Sound Integration in Contemporary Musical Notation

 

Luxotrophic Notation: Light and Sound Integration in Contemporary Musical Notation

In the evolving landscape of contemporary music composition, the fusion of visual and aural elements has birthed a series of groundbreaking notational systems. Among these, Luxotrophic Notation emerges as a radical, multi-sensory approach, integrating light as a primary source of influence in shaping musical performance. Drawing its name from lux (Latin for light) and trophic (relating to nourishment or growth), Luxotrophic Notation is not merely a technical system for representing sound. It is a conceptual framework where light—both in its physical and metaphorical forms—becomes a driving force for the generation and interpretation of musical ideas.

Luxotrophic Notation reimagines the role of the performer, the composer, and the audience, placing them within an ecosystem where light nourishes sound. The notation, rather than being static or prescriptive, serves as a dynamic guide that responds to variations in luminosity, intensity, and shade, much like how a living organism grows and evolves in response to light in nature. 

Philosophical Foundations: The Nourishing Power of Light

At its core, Luxotrophic Notation is founded on the principle that light has the capacity to “nourish” sound in much the same way that sunlight sustains life. Light, as a source of energy and illumination, is metaphorically and literally integrated into the notational process. Here, the performer becomes a kind of photosynthetic entity, absorbing visual cues from the score and translating them into sonic expressions. The light-based symbols on the page are not mere indicators of pitch or rhythm, but radiating forms that shape the contours of the performance itself.

Philosophically, Luxotrophic Notation draws from ancient understandings of light as a symbol of knowledge and creation. In Platonic thought, the metaphor of light as truth permeates the allegory of the cave, where illumination brings enlightenment and the ability to perceive reality in its fullness. Luxotrophic Notation takes this ancient metaphor and applies it to the realm of sound, where the light-based notation acts as a conduit for uncovering hidden musical realities that cannot be conveyed through conventional notation alone.

Aesthetic Implications: The Influence of Dan Flavin

Luxotrophic Notation owes much of its aesthetic sensibility to the minimalist art of Dan Flavin, whose use of fluorescent light tubes transformed the perception of space and form in the 20th-century art world. Flavin's installations challenge the viewer to reconsider the relationship between light and the surrounding environment, creating immersive experiences where light is not simply a medium but a sculptural presence that alters how we perceive space.

In the same way, Luxotrophic Notation employs light not as a background or secondary element, but as a central, active participant in the musical experience. The symbols in Luxotrophic scores might vary in intensity, brightness, or shade, guiding the performer to interpret dynamics, tempo, or even timbre based on the visual “light” of the notation. Much like Flavin’s installations, where light both defines and disrupts space, the notation in this system serves to simultaneously illuminate and obscure, revealing new layers of interpretation while leaving others in shadow. The score becomes an architectural object, a sculptural form that the performer must navigate through both visually and sonically.

Light as a Performative Agent

One of the key features of Luxotrophic Notation is the way it demands the performer to engage with light as an active force in the creation of music. The traditional role of the musician is expanded to include a performative relationship with the visual elements of the score. Light, in this context, can take on a variety of forms within the notation, ranging from gradual gradients of brightness to sharp contrasts of light and dark, each influencing how the performer interacts with the music.

For example, a passage marked by a series of bright, radiant symbols might suggest a high degree of intensity or speed, whereas a section depicted with dim, shadowy symbols might call for a more subdued or reflective interpretation. These visual cues could be static, or they could change dynamically during the performance, through the use of projected light on the score or digital interfaces that alter the brightness and color of the notational symbols in real-time. This fluidity creates a new type of performance, where the boundaries between composer, performer, and environment are blurred.

The Structure of Luxotrophic Notation

In practical terms, Luxotrophic Notation can be structured using a variety of visual elements that represent light and its effects. These elements may include:

• Brightness Levels: Different degrees of brightness, from blinding white to deep black, can indicate changes in volume, emotional intensity, or even instrumental color. Bright symbols may suggest fortissimo, while darker symbols could signify pianissimo or a muted tone.
• Color Gradients: Beyond black and white, the use of color can represent shifts in tonality, mood, or harmonic space. For example, warm colors like red or orange might correspond to aggressive or warm timbres, while cool colors like blue or green could represent calm, serene soundscapes.
• Light Shifts: The score might include notations for light changes during the performance, with instructions for altering the brightness or hue of projected light onto the score. This allows for dynamic visual interaction between the performer and the score, heightening the sense of spontaneity and responsiveness.

Applications and Expansions of Luxotrophic Notation

Luxotrophic Notation opens up new possibilities for interdisciplinary collaboration between composers, visual artists, and technologists. In a performance context, the integration of light-based notation could be enhanced through digital projection, LED installations, or even virtual reality, allowing the performer to engage with an immersive, multi-sensory environment. This approach encourages the development of compositions where sound and light are inextricably linked, creating an aesthetic experience that transcends the auditory and engages the visual and tactile senses.

Moreover, Luxotrophic Notation could be applied to electronic music, where light-based controls could be used to manipulate sound in real-time, with performers responding not only to the traditional sound parameters but to the physical properties of light as well. This opens up new modes of performance where lighting design becomes an integral part of the score, transforming the entire performance space into a glowing, interactive musical environment.

The Future of Luxotrophic Notation

As the boundaries between art forms continue to dissolve in the 21st century, Luxotrophic Notation represents a forward-thinking approach to musical notation that invites deeper engagement with the multi-sensory potential of performance. By placing light at the center of the notational system, it challenges traditional hierarchies of sound and vision, offering a space where both elements coalesce into a unified artistic expression.

In the future, Luxotrophic Notation could evolve further, incorporating elements of AI and machine learning to create responsive scores that adjust their brightness and complexity based on the performer’s interaction. The score could become a living entity, reacting to the performer's movements and sound choices, constantly shifting the interplay between light and sound.

New Compositional Practices: Valence-Adapted Symbolic Schema

Score Excerpt from Borboline for Solo Oboe

Valence-Adapted Symbolic Schema refers to a radical notational platform where the symbols used in the notation dynamically shift and adapt based on the contextual "valence" or influence of external factors. These factors can include the performer’s interpretation, environmental conditions, emotional states, or interaction with other performers or elements. Unlike traditional static notations, where symbols hold fixed meanings, this system allows symbols to be fluid and responsive, evolving in real-time based on the relationships or "valences" within the performance space.

The Valence-Adapted Symbolic Schema essentially creates a living score that continuously adjusts its meaning based on a network of interactive influences, enabling a flexible and evolving form of expression. This new platform encourages a highly personalized, context-driven performance where the notation itself is not just a guide but a participant in the creation of meaning, allowing performers to interpret and adapt the notation in a way that aligns with the dynamic flow of the performance.

... And with a tip of the hat to "Lucy", Luciano Berio.

Foundation Score Page: Sequenza 1 for Mellophone in F

One of Six (6) Transparencies for the Score of  Sequenza 1 for Mellophone in F

Sixty One (61) Solo Pieces of which all will be premiered over the next five years in Johannesburg 

... And with a tip of the hat to "Lucy", Luciano Berio.  It was Susan Oyama, Berio's second wife's pet name for him.

I am very fortunate to be underwritten by DeBeers Consolidated and Eskom.  Tshediso Matona, Former CEO of Eskom, and a devoted Berio aficionado was kind enough to see this project through to 2025.

"Surflex" For E Flat Trumpet

"Surflex" 

For E Flat Trumpet

Bil Smith 

A Vignette

Commissioned by Bechtel 

"Tarantella" for Clarinet in 'A' and Contrabassoon