"Scheggi" for Chamber Ensemble.

"Syndergard". Score Page 1 with Moire Coded Grid

"Scheggi"

for Chamber Ensemble

Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Tenor Sax, Percussion, Piano, Theremin Sensor, Violin, Viola, Cello

Bil Smith Composer

Premiere:  Ensemble Ottetto

Soho House, New York, NY

Casual Fermion System for Solo Piano. Bil Smith Composer

"Casual Fermion System" for Solo Piano. 

Bil Smith Composer

Premiere Performance 

CSW59/Beijing+20 (2015)

The 59th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women 

The United Nations, New York, NY

This work for piano is inspired by the Lagrangian formulation of classical notational field theory  The pianist with instruction: 'a piacere', mimics the dynamics on a causal fermion system that is described by a variational principle defined as follows.

In contemporary physical theories regarding hyper-notational systems, the notion of space-time refers to a Lorentzian manifold (M,g). This means that space-time is a set of points enriched by topological and geometric structures cast into a syntactic score arrangement .

The organization of the meters is closely aligned with the organization of tempos.

In the context of causal fermion systems, space-time does not need to have a manifold notational structure. Instead, space-time M is a set of operators on a Hilbert space (a subset of \mathcal F). 

This implies additional inherent structures that correspond to and generalize usual objects on a space-time manifold in this score represented the vibration sequencing of the color bars on the bottom of the score.

"Does Their Determining Factor Reside In Their Prior Inscriptibility Or In Their Inscription?" The Recording

"Does Their Determining Factor Reside In Their Prior Inscriptibility Or In Their Inscription?" 

The Recording

Bil Smith Composer (2011, Updated 2023)

Upcoming on the "Sound Morphology" blog I will explain the intent of the various terminology associated with the traditional instrumentation listed below.

In this work, I propose a new way of apprehending the radical formalism of unplayable compositions and seek to unveil the politics of the score.  

In doing so, I attempt to expose the mechanics and radical formalism as a practice that moves beyond aesthetic considerations into the realms of ideology and materiality.

For Chamber Orchestra, Allele Adsorbtion (Viola), Inverted Cryoacceleration Plasmotransmutation (French Horn), Polonium Oscillation (Oboe), Titanium Technoionization (Tuba), Unlimited Crystosolution (English Horn), Xenon Aquasaturation (Alto Flute), Revised Albedo Solution (Trombone/Bass Trombone), Rotating Buffer Configuration (B Flat Clarinet), Cytoaccretion ( Bell Tower), Delta Wave Hypnooxidation (Timpani), Fractional Hydrocarbon Osmosis (Accordion), and Irradiated Autosplicing (Guitar)

Listen To The Recording on SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/bil-smith/does-their-determining-factor

"Run Slower Than Others and Faster Than Yourself". For Accordion

"Run Slower Than Others and Faster Than Yourself"

For Accordion

Bil Smith Composer

40" X 4"

4" X 40"

The ideal of a perfect musical nomenclature, one operating exophorically to communicate a content of purely referential signifieds, would depend and rely on the absolute transparence of the medium; not just the evacuation of the note from the page...although the materiality of the medium makes available alternative strategies.

"Revolure" For Spoken Word Into A Piccolino Trombone

Piccolino Trombone

Extended Trumpet Techniques for The Composer and The Performer

Extended Trumpet Techniques for The Composer and The Performer 

from Amy Kristine Cherry

I am always on the lookout for resources which may be useful regarding extended techniques for instruments.  This was an interesting find from Amy Kristine Cherry from The University of Cincinnati. 

Topics such as slideless trumpet overtone and pitch tendencies; Kurt Stone's notational method for subtle mute changes and Blatter/Zonn vibrato variances notation present novel tools for the contemporary composer.

From the Abstract...

The impetus for this study was the question of whether extended

 techniques are actually being taught in college trumpet studio

 settings as standard skills necessary on the instrument. 

The specific purposes of this document included: 1) catalogue the

 extended techniques available to today’s trumpet performer, 2)

 reflect on their current use and address the question of how and

 when students are introduced to extended techniques, 3) contribute

 pedagogical exercises and suggestions to aid trumpeters in the study

 of some of the more challenging techniques, and 4) conclude with

 a Guided Approach to the literature detailing suggestions for the

 study of the twenty pieces referenced in this document.


A survey was conducted of the

 current pedagogical status of

 extended techniques at the

 collegiate level. 

The online survey, which included

 questions regarding how and when students are introduced to

 extended techniques in their study of the trumpet, was completed

 by 166 college and university trumpet studio teachers from the

United States and Canada. Examination of the results offers a unique

 view of the attention currently being given to extended techniques

 in college trumpet studios; they provide insight into specific

 teaching materials and performance repertoire being used by studio

 teachers today.

Link to the PDF file:

https://www.scribd.com/doc/135336869/Extended-Trumpet-

Techniques-by-Cherry-Amy-Kristine

"Verna Blase Tomassi" (A Compaction Music). Recording on SoundCloud

"Verna Blase Tomassi" (A Compaction Music) for Chamber Ensemble, Shortwave Radio, Voice, and Modified Ultra WideBand Transformer 

Bil Smith Composer

https://soundcloud.com/bil-smith/verna-blase-tomassi-a?si=76952f4da8db478e9d1cb6779546e0a6&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

From Dan Tramte, "Ursatzing the Unursatzable"

Trailer to Dan's project Ursatzing the unursatzable.

http://www.dantramte.com/ursatzing-the-unursatzable.html

"This work blurs the distinction between composition and theory by transforming the latter into a creative practice such as the former, and thus packaging the two into a ‘meta-art-form.’ 

Indeed, the composer/theorist’s virtuosity is measured by two factors: 1) his/her ability to find new and elegant methods to execute the analysis on the spot, and 2) the difficulty level of analysis for the piece at hand. 

I have, and will continue to analyze works by 1960s American Experimentalists (e.g., John Cage, Earle Brown, etc.), New Conceptualists (e.g., Johannes Kreidler), Compaction composers (e.g., Bil Smith Composer), and many more."

-Dan Tramte

"Hypoblast" For Two Pianos. Toni Casperangelo, Composer. Published by LNM Editions.

"To Be Sold To Be Let" for Voices. For Penny Arcade. Bil Smith Composer

"To Be Sold To Be Let" for Voices.  For Penny Arcade.  

Bil Smith Composer

RECORDING:

https://soundcloud.com/bil-smith/to-be-sold-to-be-let-for

The overwhelming majority of Laboratorie New Music composers' works thus far reproduced inscribe themselves in a syntactic stucturElist perspective created expressly for our ambitions. Indeed the creative effort in our works is principally brought to bear on the formal aspects of composition: sonic, consonantal, vocalic, rhythmic, graphic, prosodic and numerical constraints, structures and programs.

Score Template for "To Be Sold To Be Let"  Bil Smith 

Penny Arcade (born Susana Ventura, July 15, 1950), is an American performance artist, actress, and playwright based in NYC.

Ventura's long association with alternative performance began at age 17, when she performed with John Vaccaro's Playhouse of the Ridiculous, and appeared in the Jackie Curtis play Femme Fatale, followed by an appearance in the  Andy Warhol film, Women in Revolt. She traveled Europe during the 1970s, returning to New York in 1981, where she worked with many underground theatre artists, including Jack Smith, Charles Ludlamand the Angels of Light. She co-starred with Quentin Crisp in the long-running performance/interview piece, The Last Will and Testament of Quentin Crisp.

As Penny Arcade, she has been performing her own monologues since 1985, mostly in New York. In the late 1980s she created a character named Margo Howard-Howard, a 50-year-old drag queen with a scandalous past, for her performances. The NY Times refers to the character as "patently unbelievable", but in a later article acknowledges that her monologue was "based on real Lower East Side residents." Howard-Howard received an obituary in The Village Voice.

The Village Gate Sign on the corner of Thompson and Bleecker streets, January 2006

In the 1990s she toured internationally with her most popular show, Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore!, which, like much of her work, was an opinionated commentary on sexuality and censorship; it featured a chorus of amateur reverse strippers. In 1998 she performed at the first Gay Shame event (as opposed to gay pride) at DUMBA in Brooklyn she appears in the documentary film of the event by Scott Berry, entitled Gay Shame '98. Her 2002 performance New York Values, which also toured abroad, addressed the loss of cultural identity in New York during the Giuliani years. 

The famousVillage Gate marquee in New York is still adorned with her name and the title of her performance piece, although the nightclub no longer exists.

Arcade is a co-founder of the Lower East Side Biography Project, a video production and oral history workshop that trains participants in documentary filmmaking and preserves the stories of Lower Manhattan artists and activists. Recently profiled individuals have included Herbert Huncke, Jayne County, and Marty Matz, among others.

In 2002 Arcade ran for the New York State Assembly as a candidate of the Green Party. She received 1,054 votes out of 32,976 in the 74th Assembly district, losing to incumbent and anti-rent control advocate Steven Sanders.

In January 2011 Arcade had an on stage spat with notorious performance artist Ann Liv Young who was in guise as her alter ego Sherry.

In 2012 Arcade took up residence at London's Arcola Theatre for a run of her show "Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore!"

"Up The Soft Slope" For Solo Violin

 "Up The Soft Slope"

For Solo Violin

Bil Smith Composer

Commissioned by China Construction Bank

Published by LNM Editions

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ssIvOkN-7KNvBv9D18ZRKUbUTokd1cVv/view?usp=sharing