"Animato" for Euphonium. Bil Smith Composer.

The Link To The Score (PDF)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fvCu5R2WRFWw6Wyoc5iIK5j4lJTLSbLw/view?usp=sharing

The score for "Animato" presents itself as a site of inquiry. The stratified geometric lexicon developed for this work, articulated through a proprietary font, represents a epistemic shift in the realm of musical notation.

The Archaeology of Musical Notation

To understand the significance of the stratified geometric lexicon, one must first engage in an archaeological analysis of musical notation. Traditional notation systems have long been the dominant discourse, structuring the way music is written, interpreted, and performed. These systems encapsulate a historical accumulation of knowledge, codifying the parameters of pitch, rhythm, and dynamics within a standardized framework.

"Animato" disrupts this conventional order by introducing a stratified geometric lexicon. This lexicon, with its proprietary font designed for the euphonium's articulatory nuances, constitutes a new discursive formation. It challenges the established epistemic boundaries, offering an alternative mode of representing musical information that is both intricate and multi-dimensional.

The Power-Knowledge Nexus

Within the score, power and knowledge are inextricably linked, each shaping and reinforcing the other. The novel notation embodies this dynamic interplay.

The notation functions as a regime of truth, dictating the parameters of musical articulation and interpretation. The geometric forms, stratified to convey specific articulatory nuances, impose a new order of knowledge upon the performer. The performer, in turn, becomes a subject within this regime, navigating the complexities of the lexicon to realize the composer's vision.

The Genealogy of Articulation

To further unpack the implications of "Animato," one must consider the genealogy of articulation within the context of the euphonium. The euphonium, with its rich and expressive timbre, requires a nuanced approach to articulation that transcends the capabilities of traditional notation. The stratified geometric lexicon addresses this need, providing a detailed and precise guide for the performer's execution.

This genealogical perspective reveals the stratified geometric lexicon as a product of historical contingencies and power relations. The notation for the euphonium's articulatory nuances is not merely a technical innovation but a strategic intervention in the field of musical notation. It reflects a broader shift towards greater specificity and complexity in musical representation, challenging the hegemony of traditional systems.

The performer, as a subject within this new discursive formation, is constituted by the knowledge embedded in the stratified geometric lexicon. This system of notation shapes the performer's identity, skills, and interpretative practices, producing a new kind of musical subjectivity.

The proprietary font, with its detailed articulation symbols, demands a high level of technical proficiency and interpretative insight. The performer must internalize the lexicon's complexities, becoming fluent in its geometric vocabulary to faithfully execute the piece. This process of subjectification illustrates how power operates through knowledge to produce specific kinds of subjects, in this case, the proficient and insightful euphonium performer.

 

"Cast Poetics" for Solo Cello. Bil Smith Composer.

"Cast Poetics" 

for Solo Cello.  

Bil Smith Composer.

Link to PDF Score File (Hi-Res)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/131pybkiB2U6R6VRQj_Nf_i7XgQsNcGcp/view?usp=sharing

I’m intrigued by this notion of surprise and sudden change in sound; so that one state of something could change into something totally different at times during the piece, and there would be no apparent connection from the process that manifests one sonic structure to the next one. 

I was working on this composition, which had this very direct, maybe literal, idea of a pseudo-sonification of turbulent equations as the source of sound. 

Nonetheless, many pieces I have been working on don’t have such a literal relation of using nonlinear functions to synthesize certain sounds. Rather than the idea of making a sound directly ‘out of’ chaos, I was interested in how it could be used to explore this notion of surprise and abrupt change: to bring this acute dynamic form into the piece.

"Gaming High" (French Horn)

 

W.I.P. >>>.Flute. Mask of Magdalese

 

"Turing". The Score. For Baritone Voice. Text by Keith Barnard. Music by Bil Smith.

"Turing"

The Score

For Baritone Voice

Text by Keith Barnard

Music by Bil Smith

This score is structured around a series of logical propositions and mathematical sequences, which are transformed into musical notation. This transmutation of abstract, conceptual thought into the realm of sound invites a reevaluation of the very essence of communication and understanding, echoing Quine's contention that the meaning of any utterance or symbol is inherently tied to its empirical and contextual usage.

The baritone voice, in this context, serves as both the medium and the message. It becomes a vehicle for conveying Turing's groundbreaking ideas and a symbolic representation of Turing himself. Through this vocal embodiment, "Turing" engages with Quine's thesis on the indeterminacy of translation, illustrating the challenges inherent in translating complex ideas from one domain (mathematics and logic) into another (musical notation and performance). This process is fraught with ambiguities and interpretative freedoms, yet it is precisely in these spaces of uncertainty that the score for "Turing" finds its expressive power.

The score delves into the recursive nature of logic and mathematical sequences, employing these as motifs that recur and evolve throughout the composition. This recursive structure mirrors the logical systems that Turing himself developed, serving as a musical analogue to Turing's computational theories. The score, therefore, can be seen as a kind of ontological inquiry, probing the relationships between symbols, their referents, and the systems of thought that underpin them.

In translating Turing's abstract concepts into the concrete form of a musical score, I confront the Quinean dilemma of ontological relativity...the idea that our understanding of the world, and the language we use to describe it, is always mediated by our conceptual framework. "Turing" thus becomes a reflection on the limits of representation and the perpetual quest for understanding that drives both scientific inquiry and artistic expression.

DECIDOPHY. >>>>. W.I.P. for Piano

 

"Trampled, Vintage Levels Above." The Score for Alto Flute, Bass Clarinet, Percussion, Piano, Violin & Cello.

"Trampled, Vintage Levels Above." 

The Score for Alto Flute, Bass Clarinet, Percussion, Piano, Violin & Cello.

Bil Smith Composer

Published by LNM Editions

(Laboratorie New Music)

PDF Link to Full Score (43 pages):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByXT8veODB_Tb0VWMlF2WHJXQU0/view?usp=sharing

At the core of this work lies an innovative notational device, an extended sub-optic notational archetype, inspired by the "extroflections" of Agostino Bonalumi. These shapes, emerging from the tension of canvas pressed into relief, serve as a profound metaphor for the composition's endeavor to transcend the flatness of traditional musical scores and enter a realm of multi-dimensional expression.

The extended sub-optic notation does not simply dictate the pitches and rhythms to be performed; it invites the musicians into a dialogue with the physicality of sound and the elasticity of time. In this sense, the score becomes a living, breathing entity, an extroflection of music itself, stretching beyond the confines of the page into the tactile domain of sonic architecture.