"Find A Pretext For Skylarking" for Tuba

 "Find A Pretext For Skylarking" 

for Tuba

Bil Smith Composer

Published by LNM Editions

Link To Full Score (PDF)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19DP8YYATJS15KLz1EHl98lRMIbA4c6BH/view?usp=sharing

"Certain of These Balloonists" for Tuba

"Certain of These Balloonists" 

for Tuba

Bil Smith Composer

Published by LNM Editions

Link to PDF Hi-Res Score

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XXNuQ1ezp3B0qVgHD-QdpliMsJ9n12yo/view?usp=sharing

In terms of starting a new composition, an important fact for me is that it’s not genre-specific. It doesn’t reflect back to a particular genre. And that’s what’s engaging to me about it, it’s a very speculative assumption: that one can think about producing a musical score, and making meaning, at the same time understanding that there’s no absolute and stable benchmark to rely on for the stable production of that meaning.

Tablature Scema - Hirst Castellani

 

"Misfolded Proteins". For Ensemble

The Guilloche Staff in Musical Notation

The Guilloche Staff in Musical Notation: Reframing the Semiotics of Musical Inscription

Throughout history, the visual language of music notation has oscillated between the mechanical and the interpretative, striving to reconcile the precision of instruction with the organic unpredictability of performance. Western musical notation—emerging from the modular neumes of Gregorian chant to the rationalized staff of modernity—has solidified its utility at the cost of untapped aesthetic resonance. However, in an era where semiotic boundaries are ripe for deconstruction, the time has come to envision a notational paradigm that exceeds its functional constraints.

Enter the Guilloche Staff, an enigmatic system that fuses the exquisite precision of interlaced patterns with the evocative potential of sound. Drawn from the decorative intricacies of guilloche design—long revered in the realms of luxury engraving and banknote security—this newly crafted archetype resists reductive readings, opening interpretative pathways that destabilize and enrich the performer’s relationship with the score. The guilloche system, while echoing the lineage of Western notation, dares to reconstitute the staff as an interactive and philosophically charged artifact.

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Guilloche: Expanding Performative Possibilities

Spatial Metaphors as Sonic Coordinates

In this reconceptualization, the guilloche’s delicate intricacies transcend their ornamental origins to operate as spatial metaphors for microtonalities, asymmetries, and unquantifiable fluctuations. By abandoning the rigidity of linearity, the performer is offered a visual matrix that gestures toward multidimensionality—an immersive architecture where phrasing emerges not from prescribed symbols, but from the interplay of embedded contours and rhythmic deviations.

For example, densely coiled guilloche bands might suggest accumulative tension, their visual density a sonic harbinger of harmonic compression or tonal dissonance. Conversely, stretched motifs could signify ethereal expansiveness—a dynamic invitation to interpret temporal elasticity.

Displacing Certainty with Aesthetic Agency

Traditional notation, with its definitive symbols and rigid structures, assumes a unidirectional flow of authority: from composer to performer. The guilloche staff resists such certainty. Instead, it interweaves ambiguity into its design, enabling a performer to negotiate between preordained gestures and emergent interpretations. This destabilization, rather than being disorienting, cultivates an intimate dialogue between score and performer, dismantling hierarchies of control.

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Guilloche as Interpretative Topography

Multilayered Semiotics: Dynamic and Textural Encoding

The guilloche’s curvatures invite interpretative layering:

• Dynamic Gradations: Subtle shifts in line density might embody crescendos or decrescendos, dynamically nuanced beyond the capacity of conventional hairpins.

• Timbre Modulation: Spiraling motifs could encode shifting timbral hues, embedding a cartographic representation of coloristic variation.

• Temporal Anchoring: Rhythmic integrity, often fixed by bar lines, is liberated through curvilinear arcs that insinuate pulsation without enforcement.

Recalibrating Complexity

In an era saturated with the performative demands of extended techniques and asymmetrical forms, notation must evolve to embody not only technical precision but also gestural intent. The guilloche staff's multidimensionality accommodates nested rhythms, polymetric layers, and textural juxtaposition, all without imposing restrictive symmetry.

For instance, in a hypothetical movement for ensemble, the flute’s passage might spiral outward in guilloche waves to signify airy fragility, while the cello’s part interlaces denser helices, alluding to grounded, resonant tension. This interpretative freedom—anchored in visual suggestion—enriches collaborative exploration.

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Theoretical Challenges: Toward a Meta-Notation

Translational Fluidity

While the guilloche staff’s semantic richness offers unrivaled interpretative depth, its abstracted forms may challenge performers accustomed to finite, codified symbols. Transitioning requires a reeducation—not only of the performer but of pedagogical frameworks.

Interdisciplinary Synthesis

How does one standardize ambiguity? A paradox emerges: to universalize guilloche notation’s abstract language, does one risk diluting its radical freedom? Resolving this tension demands interdisciplinary collaboration, from cognitive psychologists studying visual interpretation to digital innovators designing adaptive performance interfaces.

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Philosophical Ramifications: Beyond the Page

The guilloche staff is, in essence, a post-structuralist critique of notation’s historical rigidity. By reframing the staff as not only a functional but a poetic artifact, this approach echoes Derridean deconstruction: the “text” of notation becomes an unstable site of meaning. In such instability lies infinite interpretative potential, where notation ceases to dictate and instead collaborates.

Performers, as interlocutors, translate guilloche’s enigmas into lived sound. This process—iterative, imperfect, and profoundly human—honors music as a space of becoming rather than being.

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Toward an Unknowable Horizon

The guilloche staff gestures not merely toward an evolution of musical inscription but toward a rupture: a dismantling of the limits we once imposed upon sound’s visual representation. It merges the ornamental with the functional, destabilizing rigid hierarchies while opening paths for exploratory creativity.

By embracing its enigmatic design, we engage not in solving music’s mysteries but in reveling within them, cultivating a paradigm of notation that perpetually transforms alongside the boundless possibilities of music itself.

"The Jubal Project"

Beginning late in 2022, I embarked on an ambitious project to reimagine music notation.  I realize, for some of you who know me, this does not seem like anything new coming from me.    

 

The Jubal Project" is a reckoning even for me.  It is a journey to create a massive new musical lexicon for composers and performers alike.  At the core of this lexicon is the circle; yes, the circle, not unlike the circles or ellipses found in traditional notation, however, there is a profound difference in how these new 'circles' are interpreted.  And there will be many. 

 

Why the circle?  The circle is a universal symbol with extensive meaning. It represents the notions of totality, wholeness, original perfection, the Self, the infinite, eternity, timelessness, all cyclic movement, God ('God is a circle whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere' (Hermes Trismegistus)). 

 

The impetus behind the creation of this new musical lexicon is the creation of a notation system (archetype) which is able to oscillate between indexical registrations, symbols of forces in flux, and sensory stimuli.  It is intended to be a continuous, self-vibrating region of intensities whose development avoids any orientation toward a culmination point or an external end.  

 

Features within this notational archetype yield aftereffects which empower the composer and performer that can be injected back into a pattern to generate multiple transformations and variants of sound creation.  This offers a specific type of experience, one that is paradoxically immersive and partial, but always highly sensual. 

 

As composers, our proficiency in crafting and exploiting form allows us to make, modify and deploy patterns of sound unlike those of previous generations.  The selection or creation of a pattern of notation can go a long way towards establishing a domain of sensibility for the performer. 

 

Why “The Jubal Project?”  It is named for Jubal who was a Biblical figure in Genesis 4:21 of the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. Mentioned only once, he is sometimes regarded by Christians, particularly by medieval commentators, as the 'inventor of music.' 

 

Much more to come… 

 

The Jubal Project: Creating a New Musical Lexicon

The Jubal Project: Creating a New Musical Lexicon

The world of music is constantly evolving, with new technologies and techniques enabling musicians and composers to create innovative and exciting sounds. However, few projects are as ambitious as "The Jubal Project," a new musical lexicon that promises to change the way we think about notation and sound.

At the heart of The Jubal Project is the circle - a universal symbol with profound meaning. This new lexicon uses circles as a core element, allowing composers and performers to create complex patterns of sound that are both immersive and sensual.

So why the circle? The circle represents wholeness, totality, and original perfection, making it the ideal symbol for this new musical language. By using circles to represent sound, The Jubal Project offers a new way of thinking about musical notation, one that is both flexible and dynamic.

But the real power of The Jubal Project lies in its ability to generate multiple transformations and variants of sound creation. By creating a notation system that can oscillate between indexical registrations, symbols of forces in flux, and sensory stimuli, composers and performers are able to create a continuous, self-vibrating region of intensities. This notational archetype empowers the composer and performer, offering them a specific type of experience that is both paradoxically immersive and partial.

The Jubal Project offers a new way of thinking about music, one that is rooted in the power of form and pattern. As composers, we have the ability to craft and exploit form to create new sounds that were previously unimaginable. With The Jubal Project, we are able to establish a domain of sensibility for the performer, opening up new realms of musical expression.

In conclusion, The Jubal Project is a groundbreaking new musical lexicon that promises to change the way we think about notation and sound. By using circles as a core element, it offers composers and performers a powerful new tool for creating complex patterns of sound that are both immersive and sensual.

"Propaganda Fly" for B Flat Trumpet; The Jubal Project and Multimodality in Composition

"Propaganda Fly" for B Flat Trumpet

A Jubal Project Composition

Bil Smith Composer

Score: 32" X 12"

As I have written in the past, "The Jubal Project" is an ambitious endeavor that aims to revolutionize music notation by using the circle as a central symbol. By utilizing the circle as a universal symbol, I hope to create a notation system that can oscillate between indexical registrations, symbols of forces in flux, and sensory stimuli, providing a continuous, self-vibrating region of intensities that avoids any orientation towards a culmination point or external end. 

One of the key features of this notational archetype is its ability to yield aftereffects that empower the composer and performer, allowing for multiple transformations and variants of sound creation. 

The philosophy behind the Jubal project is the theme of multimodality.  Multimodality is the coexistence of multiple semiotic modes within a given context. Semiotic modes refer to the different ways in which meaning is created and conveyed, such as language, images, sounds, gestures, and movement.

Multimodality is an everyday reality as we experience the world through multiple senses and modes of communication. The rise of digital technologies has led to an increase in multimodal products, such as hyperfiction, digital books, and music compositions that incorporate various modes of expression. The twenty-first century can be seen as a quintessentially multimodal era, making the implementation of multimodality in composition even more urgent and relevant. Although the practice of multimodality has been long-standing, the field of multimodality composition archetypes is still at an early stage of development.

"Esperplode" for Alto Flute

"Esperplode"

For Alto Flute

Bil Smith Composer

26” X 16”; 66 X 40.7 cm

Vanilla Oil, Ammonium-Based Ionic Liquid, Various Inks, Squalane (Plant-Based), Pyrolytic Graphite, Graphene Foam on Moab Entrada Digital Rag Bright 300 gsm

Edition of 6 with 2 APs

In the score of "Esperplode" for Alto Flute, we encounter a radical deconstruction of the traditional notational system. This piece, through its intricate network of spheres and circles fashioned from 3D models and proprietary colorization techniques, destabilizes the very foundations of how music is conceptualized, performed, and experienced.

The use of 3D structural modeling in the notation of "Esperplode" represents a profound shift from the linear, two-dimensional plane of traditional scores to a multi-dimensional, spatial-temporal representation of sound. These geometric forms, these spheres and circles, do not merely symbolize musical elements in a conventional sense. They embody a multiplicity of potentialities, each one a différance, a deferred presence that both signifies and disrupts the expected continuity of musical narrative. They demand an interpretive act that is as much about what is not there, the absences and silences, as it is about the audible notes.

Colorization, applied through proprietary techniques, further complicates this interplay. The colors are not mere aesthetic embellishments; they are integral signifiers within the notational system. Each hue, each shade, is a trace, a mark of difference that resonates with the music’s thematic and emotional undercurrents. These colors enact a play of presence and absence, guiding the performer through a landscape of meaning that is as much visual as it is auditory. The colors themselves become a text, a script that must be read and interpreted in conjunction with the sound.

In this way, "Esperplode" absorbs our gaze and extends it beyond the immediate visual field, compelling us to engage with the horizon of our experience. The score is not a static entity but a dynamic process, a site of continuous becoming. It is a pharmakon, both remedy and poison, healing the fragmentation of traditional notation while simultaneously introducing a complexity that can never be fully resolved. The spheres and circles, with their inherent curvature and fluidity, resist the linearity of traditional notation, embodying instead a non-linear, rhizomatic structure that echoes Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of a map that is always in motion.

In "Esperplode," the score becomes a site of jouissance, a space where the limits of language and notation are tested and transgressed. It embodies a Lacanian real that eludes full comprehension, a kernel of the impossible that lies at the heart of artistic creation. The performer, in engaging with this score, must navigate a terrain where meaning is always in flux, where the act of interpretation is a perpetual negotiation with the unknown.

 

"Loy's Labyrinth" for Vibraphone and Harp

"Loy's Labyrinth" 

for Vibraphone and Harp

Bil Smith Composer

"Loy's Labyrinth" is not a composition that provides a comfortable center for its performers. Much like Loy's writings, it resists the confines of a fixed point and urges us to move forward, accepting the fluidity of "there" while rejecting the constraints of "here."

Mina Loy, known for her undulating idiosyncratic script and avant-garde literary works, serves as the muse for this composition. Her writings, characterized by their systematic organization into gridded size tableaux and "day calculations," disrupted ocular-centric regimes of viewing. Similarly, "Loy's Labyrinth" carries forward this spirit of defiance, activating the potential for embodied experience through its musical expression.

Much like Mina Loy's own engagement with profit, commodification, multinationalism, location, politics, and creative labor, "Loy's Labyrinth" is part of a "convoluted distributive process." It refuses to be confined within traditional musical boundaries and instead navigates the complex terrain of cultural and creative exchange. This composition's notational system becomes a tool for generating optic tethering, connecting it with the broader context of contemporary artistic discourse

The score is firmly grounded in the inescapable materiality of the world. This materiality anchors it in the tangible realm, allowing it to interact with and be influenced by every other cultural manifestation it encounters. It thrives on contamination, drawing inspiration from various sources and transcending traditional musical constraints.

Mina Loy, born Mina Gertrude Löwy on December 27, 1882, was a remarkable and influential figure in the realms of literature, art, and feminism during the early 20th century. Her life and work were characterized by a relentless pursuit of intellectual and creative freedom, challenging societal norms, and pushing boundaries in both her writing and her activism.

Loy, though often overlooked in canonical narratives of modernism, was undeniably a vital poet and artist who played an instrumental role in numerous avant-garde movements, including Futurism, Dada, and Surrealism. Her life and work were marked by a relentless pursuit of artistic innovation and a tireless commitment to pushing the boundaries of conventional art and literature. Let's delve deeper into the life and contributions of this remarkable transatlantic modernist.

In the early decades of the 20th century, Loy embarked on extensive travels across Europe. She immersed herself in the vibrant cultural scenes of London and Paris, where she rubbed shoulders with emerging modernist writers and artists. Notable among her acquaintances were luminaries like Gertrude Stein and Pablo Picasso.

Loy's European journey led her to Florence, Italy, where she became closely associated with the Italian Futurists. During her time in Florence, she engaged in romantic relationships with prominent artists of the movement, including F. T. Marinetti and Giovanni Papini. Her participation in Futurism marked her early immersion in the avant-garde.

The outbreak of World War I forced Loy to flee to the other side of the Atlantic. She found herself in New York, where she became an integral part of the American and expatriate artistic and literary circles. Loy contributed to influential publications like Camera Work and Rogue, solidifying her position as a figure of importance in the New York avant-garde scene.

In 1917, Loy collaborated with the renowned artist Marcel Duchamp to co-publish The Blind Man, a two-issue Dadaist periodical. This collaboration exemplified her commitment to the Dada movement, which challenged conventional notions of art and aesthetics. Loy was instrumental in disseminating Dadaist art and ideas to American audiences.

In 1918, Loy married Arthur Cravan, an amateur boxer and Dada poet, in Mexico City. Cravan's disappearance at sea two years later marked a tragic episode in Loy's life. She dedicated significant time and effort to searching for him, but he was never found.

Mina Loy's life and career were characterized by a commitment to artistic experimentation and a willingness to challenge established norms. Her involvement in multiple avant-garde movements and her pioneering contributions to modernist literature make her a figure of enduring significance in the history of art and literature.

Despite being overshadowed by some of her contemporaries, Mina Loy's legacy continues to inspire contemporary artists and writers who appreciate her unyielding dedication to innovation and her fearless exploration of the avant-garde.