"Lines" - For two Tenor Recorders.

Live recording here: YouTube - "Lines" For two tenor recoders.

UPDATE: Actually finished the score!

This piece started as a simple request, which was to fill a gap in a small concert of around 3 minutes between other pieces (including something else of mine.)

I had recently gone to a concert where I heard experimental/modern recorder music, and I was inspired to work a little more with the sound possibilities of the instrument.

The piece itself is split into three sections, the first and last consisting of inexact/graphic notation for the purpose of accomplishing an effect I wanted. These sections are the ones that use a little of the extended technique the instrument is capable of.

I worked closely with players in order to properly understand how these techniques could be executed with no real strain or excessive difficulty.

The middle part is a contrast consisting of a counterpoint-like segment where the main focus is on melody lines and the intervals between both instruments.

I'm currently writing the explanations for the symbols in the score, as this is a pretty recent piece. I'll explain a little here.

The central line of the score (which has a small "h'" infront") means B in english, it is the central "reference note" in this score, from which one must graphically assess where to place the other tones. The small 1 and 2 in the score mean which flute plays what, as in flute 1 and 2. The score is timed in inexact sections of 5 seconds, written out because I thought it looked nice.

The dynamic and crescendo diminuendo markings are of typical standard notation type, with F for forte and P for piano, and so forth.

The small doted line is a visual aid for the players, so they can see clearly where they continue and how the jumps end. The small dot and arrow means the use of a technique which uses the flute's harmonics. This effect can be used in various ways, and the arrow means that this is a crescendo effect from a single tone to this multi-sounding harmonic effect.

Later (page 3) I mix systems, in order to have tone-precision and at the same time slightly controlled randomness.

The recorder has a nice ability to make quarter-tone notes glissandi which I use in this piece extensively.

Overall, it's a lot easier to get the score and listen to it, since probably it will be hard to know what it sounds like just by seeing the score.

Thanks for listening and enjoy~ :D

Very nice! I must admit, I was already positively prejudiced when I read the title and instrumentation. Recorders are sadly much too neglected as instruments, but I love their very straightforward, direct sound. Using them for a piece featuring "lines" makes a lot of sense. (Or making "lines" the subject of a recorder piece for that matter.)

The different degrees of randomness worked quite well in my opinion. The first and third part were clearly different from the middle part, yet they were well jointed and seemed to follow each other naturally. When I saw the score I was at first sceptical whether the combination of notation and randomness in the third part would work, or whether the randomness of the second recorder would blur the notes of the first recorder so much that no order would be recognizable. The predominance of certain main notes made it work out very well though (h/b and f mainly, but also c and d. I didn't really hear the c at the end of this phrase in the first recorder. Maybe that's because it became a multiphonic too fast, or I just didn't hear it.)

That way there's a nice mixture of harmonical randomness and audibly ordered intervallic relationships and dominant notes, and between spontaneity and structure. Congratulations!

What program did you use to write this by the way?

P.s. I love the multiphonics

Thanks, it's nice to hear that you enjoyed it. Honestly I wrote this also because I thought the recorder can so a lot of things, and there isn't that much modern literature for it.

And yeah I really like the harmonics/multiphonics too, they're so neat, almost cluster-like yet it's "just" a recorder ;D

I really enjoy aleatory music and such things, IE, John Cage, Crumb, etc. I tried to grab a little from all the stuff I like and do something that join them in a way I thought was not only balanced from the materials used but without resorting to "effects" for their own sake.

For programs, well. It took me almost two weeks to write it since I had to write it by hand (pen and paper!) first, then write it in photoshop with layers and all that nonsense, then grab stuff I wrote in sibelius and import it. It was a headache, but I believe the end result is satisfactory.

Anyways, thank you!

Originally Posted by SSC

For programs, well. It took me almost two weeks to write it since I had to write it by hand (pen and paper!) first, then write it in photoshop with layers and all that nonsense, then grab stuff I wrote in sibelius and import it. It was a headache, but I believe the end result is satisfactory.

Ouch. Whenever I write something that involves space notation, aleatoric elements or anything else that isn't easily doable in Finale I usually just write it by hand without ever touching the computer. It's nice to see you made the effort to make a nice-looking, easily readable digital version of it. I've never seen a program able to do such things easily, but I was hoping you had found one.

I would write stuff by hand, but it's a lot more comfortable to work with computer's undo-save, etc features. So I don't know what is better, and besides, after a while you just get the "hang" of using different programs to write graphic notation. :>

by the way, you have a nice hair(un)cut

HA! I KNEW someone would notice. Isn't grand? In the other video I posted for my other piece I was still cutting it four minutes before the concert. Hah.. I cut my hair every time there's a concert, and people need to see my face more than my hair.

Nice piece. Rather original and the usage of the recorders IS grand! Excellent stuff!

I love the differnet textures, and the break in page 2 (the whole page, as in the break between pages 1 and 3) also worked very well imo. I also enjoyed pages 1 and 3 actually. Especially the multimphonics and all extended techniques really! Hmmm... I enjoyed the whole piece then.

I must say that the score reminds me of older times, to be honest, with those really "low resolution" lines in pages 1 and 3 and the time proportioned rather than normal bars. I was wondering if the 5" every bar was needed. Sure there is no time signature in the first and third page, but in effect every barline oncloses 5". So a note, or something could work maybe better? Just an idea.

As for scores, I always right stuff in Finale, AFTER I'm done with the manuscript (since I compose in pencil and paper). I find that the ending is very satisfying... (and I never ever use photoshop really).

At last! First it was Gardener and now SSC! Two people I had great interest in listening to their music have posted! YAY!

Thanks for listening and I'm glad you liked it. This score isn't complete yet. It misses a page with the explanations for the symbols and a such. I'm working on that right now, too.

I'm sort of a fan of jarring contrasts with no preparation, though the middle section actually does have stuff in common with the beginning-end. It's perhaps a little hard to see when the techniques used are so different.

And both our threads (Gardner's and mine) here are not really new. Hahaha, there's also a piece I posted on the piano forum if you're interested in something entirely different from me.

OMG! not new? December Jannis? woah!

Will check the piano thread soon.