Wednesday, September 11, 2024

"Thessalon" for Solo Guitar


Thessalon

For Solo Guitar

Link to the PDF Score File (Hi-Res)



"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.






Sunday, September 8, 2024

"Willing Ally" for Piano (2024)

 






Link to Score PDF


The score for Willing Ally for piano, with its combinatorial notational architecture—encompassing Western notation, a mathematical codexus, and the concept of "Combustione"—represents a profound tension between structure and expression, order and transgression. In many ways, this tension reflects the broader conflict between instrumental rationality and communicative action that lies at the heart of contemporary aesthetic practices. It is a homage to Alberto Burri, whose works disrupted the boundaries of traditional artistic form, and here, in musical notation, we see an analogous process: the confrontation between systemic order and the individual’s capacity for expression within it.

The Score as a Rational System

At its core, Willing Ally invokes a strict adherence to a system of signs, much like the way modern societies are governed by formal structures and institutions. The combinatorial notational architecture, which fuses the well-established Western notational system with the abstraction of a mathematical codexus, operates as a system of rules. These rules, like those of any rational system, dictate the permissible actions of the subject—in this case, the performer.

This rational system reflects what I have elsewhere described as instrumental rationality: a form of reason concerned with efficiency, predictability, and control. In Willing Ally, the performer must navigate the score’s mathematical codexus, which functions like a set of algorithms or formal procedures that must be followed to produce the desired result. There is no room here for improvisation or deviation; the system imposes its logic on the performer, compelling them to act in accordance with its rules.

And yet, this system is not merely a representation of rationality; it is also a demonstration of the limits of rationality. Like many modern structures, the score for Willing Ally does not offer the performer freedom within the system—it places them in a position of unthinking submission to the abstract rules that govern their performance. The performer’s agency is subordinated to the logic of the notational architecture, much like the way subjects in modern bureaucratic systems are subordinated to the logic of institutional rules.

Combustione as the Disruptive Element

However, within this system of rules lies an inherent contradiction. The inclusion of "Combustione," a reference to Burri’s use of fire as a destructive and creative force in his visual art, introduces an element of unpredictability and disorder into the otherwise rational framework. Combustione here symbolizes the interruption of the formal order, a disruption of the logic of the score that reveals the fragility of the system itself.

This reflects a broader philosophical question about the role of disruption within structured systems: Can a system of rules that seeks to govern and contain human action ever fully account for the creative, expressive impulses that lie beyond rational control? The answer, in Willing Ally, seems to be no. The combustive elements embedded within the score act as moments of resistance, where the system’s rationality is undermined by forces it cannot fully control.

In this way, Combustione in Willing Ally serves as an example of communicative action—a form of interaction that transcends the instrumental logic of systems and creates space for genuine human expression. The combustive elements, while seemingly destructive, are in fact creative; they open up new possibilities for the performer, allowing for moments of rupture where the rigid order of the score gives way to something more fluid, more human. This tension between rationality and expression mirrors the broader tension between system and lifeworld in modern society.

The Lyric Aspiration and the Expansion of Grammar

The score’s reliance on rules, while simultaneously assaulting, exaggerating, and exploiting those very rules, brings to mind the dynamics of modern lyric poetry. It aspires not merely to add new rules but to interrogate the very nature of rule-making itself, to expose the contradictions and limitations inherent in any system of signs.

In Willing Ally, the score functions in a similar way. It does not merely introduce new notational elements into the existing Western tradition; rather, it seeks to question the very foundations of that tradition by pushing its internal logic to the point of rupture. The mathematical codexus, for instance, might at first seem to represent an expansion of the grammar of musical notation, but it quickly reveals itself as something more complex: it is a system that exaggerates its own rationality to the point of absurdity, where the rules themselves begin to lose coherence.

This is where the lyric aspiration of the score becomes clear. Willing Ally does not seek to create a harmonious balance between rational order and creative expression; instead, it foregrounds the tension between these two poles. The performer is caught in this tension, suspended between the rational demands of the score and the disruptive force of Combustione. In doing so, the score invites the performer—and, by extension, the audience—to reflect on the contradictions inherent in systems of order and the ways in which those systems both enable and constrain human agency.

Yet, just as individuals can resist the power of institutions, so too does the performer in Willing Ally find moments of resistance within the score. The combustive elements, by exaggerating and distorting the rules, create spaces where the performer can push back against the system, where the rigid order of the score breaks down and allows for new possibilities of expression. This dialectic of subjection and resistance is central to the score’s aesthetic and philosophical project: it reveals the ways in which systems of order both constrain and enable human action, and it invites us to reflect on the possibilities for resistance within those systems.

Conclusion: Willing Ally as a Communicative Act

As we consider the implications of Willing Ally, it becomes clear that this is not merely a score for piano but a reflection on the broader dynamics of power, agency, and communication in modern life. It asks us, as both performers and listeners, to question the systems that govern our actions and to seek out new possibilities for resistance and expression within those systems.








Friday, September 6, 2024

"Referential Cavity". For Baritone Saxophone

"Referential Cavity"

Excerpt

Commissioned by Bank of China


"Flee, Like An Explosion Of Heaviness." The Full Score (PDF). For Piano, Thein Piccolo Trombone and Contraforte

The Contraforte from Benedikt Eppelsheim



"Flee, Like An Explosion Of Heaviness."  

For Piano, Thein Piccolo Trombone and Contraforte

Bil Smith Composer

The Full Score (PDF)

Commissioned by The Santander Group


The score for "Flee, Like an Explosion of Heaviness" unfolds not merely as a set of musical instructions but as an experiential odyssey for the musicians—Piano, Thein Piccolo Trombone, and Contraforte—similar to the way a theatrical visionary might deconstruct the medium to reveal its core. Yet, unlike Brecht's intention to expose the mechanics of theater, this composition directs its dramatic essence into the physicality of the performers themselves.


The piece opens with an array of guidance icons, each one an invitation to interpret and explore beyond the normative expectations of notation. These symbols are imbued with an ethical potency, challenging the performers to engage with the music on a level that is both introspective and socially conscious.


This score is deconstructivist in essence, breaking down the established structures and expectations by employing a variety of techniques, the visual language of the score spans "narrative, romantic, axiometric, schematic, or completely abstract" visuals, each contributing to the overarching dialogue of the piece.


This is a composition that lives in a continuous dialectic between fact and implication, concrete performance guidance, and the suggested emotive or conceptual associations they evoke.


The musicians become akin to mendicant pilgrims, each carrying the entire weight and wonder of the theater within themselves. They navigate the score’s landscape with animistic devotion, embodying an apt analogy to the piece's compositional journey. The score's evolution is a pilgrimage across the vast terrain of human experience and artistic expression, where the performers' bodies are not merely instruments but sanctuaries of sound, housing the sacred essence of music and drama.


This embodiment of the theatrical in each performer reflects a unique compositional ethos. The performers are invited to become vessels of a drama that transcends the physical instruments in their hands. Their rigorously trained and sensitized bodies are tasked with channeling an entire edifice of musical theater, evoking a rich tableau of emotion and story through their every movement and note.


The spirit of "Flee, Like an Explosion of Heaviness" is one of nomadism and improvisation, characteristics that emerge in isolated, yet profoundly impactful moments throughout the performance. These moments spotlight the notational devices within the score, which, through their reliance on incongruity and paradox, animate the raw visual constructs with an enigmatic vitality.


As the piece progresses, these notational symbols and cues—spread whimsically across the page—spark flashes of understanding and illumination in the performers. It is within these ephemeral instances that the score breathes life, fostering a sense of living art that grows and evolves in the hands of those who interpret it.


"Flee, Like an Explosion of Heaviness," in its essence, champions a musical theater of the mind and soul, one that is carried within the performers and bestowed upon the audience not as a fixed narrative but as a journey of discovery. The score, through its visual and notational paradoxes, becomes a catalyst for this transformative process—a process where every musician is both a pilgrim and a storyteller, weaving tales not through words, but through the resonant language of music.