Karlheinz Essl Sequitur XIII for extended iano and live-electronics (two layers) 2009 Dedicated to Tzenka Dianova 2009 by Karlheinz Essl www.essl.at
Karlheinz Essl Sequitur XIII for extended iano & live-electronics (two layers) 2009 Remarks In this iece for two layers (a ianist and and electronic musician), various resonances henomenons of the iano are investigated. At the beginning, muted keys in the highest and lowest register are used to excite diffuse resonances. Later on, an EBow comes into lay in order to focus those resonances towards the middle c which is more or less always resent to certain degrees. This itch is also the anchor oint of three different harmonic scales based on odd-numbered overtone series: Deriving from this harmonic rincile, flageolets (always odd-numbered with 3rd or 5th overtones) will be introduced later.
Furthermore, I am also using all three edals of the iano and certain keys which are deressed silently in order to create symathetic resonances. The virtuosity of this iece is not found in the olyhony of voices, but in the olyhony of structural comonents which by interacting with each other form a common "sound" together. The electronics create a comlex canonic structure from the live inut of the iano which includes random rocedures in order to subvert the determination of the canon, and also modifications of the harmonic structure: either by amlifiying or distorting certain sectral comonents, but also in creating microtonal itch shiftings. This is organised in a sequence of re-comosed cues that the a second layer evokes by hitting the sace bar of the comuter at certain times, as notated in the score. The second musician also takes care of controlling the inut levels of the microhones (notated in the score by red crescendo / decrescendo signs) and the outut levels of the comuter-generated electronic sounds which are notated by green crescendo / decrescendo signs. Requirements Grand iano with 3 edals EBow (see: htt://www.ebow.com) Tuning wedges made of rubber or felt Hairs from a violin bow (alternatively: a very thin nylon fishing roe) A iece of soft colohonium Ale comuter (recommended: MacBook or MacBook Pro) Audio interface with Hi-Z inut (recommended: Edirol UA-25 or FA-66) Two sensitive and high-quality cardiod microhones (recommended: Neumann KM 184) A USB MIDI controller (recommended: Evolution UC-33 or KORG nanokontrol) Stereo PA system
Piano Prearation 1) Mute the three lowest and the three highest keys of the iano by inserting rubber wedges (which are normally used for iano tuning) between the strings. In order to muffle the sound comletely, you robably need to use several wedges er key. 2) In order to roduce so-called Drones, tie a single hair from a violin bow on a iano string (in this iece, on Contra-A flat and Great-A natural). Sliding along the stretched hair with a iece of soft colohonium will yield a sustained sound which can be modulated by ressure and seed of bowing. For a demonstration, watch the video on: htt://khz96.org/mov/pianodrone_small.m4 3) Place an EBow over the strings of middle-c so that they can vibrate freely. Note that the two adjacent strings are muffled by the guide grooves of this device. Switch on the EBow ("normal" osition). If you deress the sustain edal, you will hear a soft sinusoidal tone that softly increases in dynamics. Now move the EBow between damers and inblock until you find a osition where it sounds best. On age 2, the EBow is switched on silently and stays activated until the end of the iece. 4) Flageolets are roduced on the keys of Contra-A-flat, Contra-B-natural and Contra-C-natural (see ages 4 & 5). With one hand, touch the string at the resective flageolet oints and hit the key with the other hand. It is recommended to mark the flageolet ositions with chalk or a felt-ti marker on the strings. At one assage, a gradual transition from a normal flageolet towards a muted sound is required: Finger the harmonics with the fingerti on the string and and hit the key reeatedly. Then gradually tilt the finger towards the string so that it becomes gradually damed. In the end, the first (and robably also the second) segment of the finger will rest on the string (age 5).
Notation symbols sustain edal HP half-deressed sustain edal S.P. sostenuto edal U.C. una corda edal ord. mute gradually transition from normal flageolet to mute sound (see descrition above) slowly deressing and lifting of the edal deress key silently lift key slowly
strike the string inside the iano with the fingerti (. 5 & 6) luck the string inside the iano with the fingers (. 7) lay an extended trill by randomly ermutating the given notes (. 7) More information htt://www.essl.at/works/sequitur/sequitur-13.html Here you can watch a video of the remier erformed by Tzenka Dianova (iano) and Karlheinz Essl (live-electronics) on June 9th, 2010 at the Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg (A).
Electronics 1) Connect an audio interface and the USB MIDI controller to your Ale comuter. 2) Plug the two microhones (like Neuman KM 184) into the two channels of the audio interface and mount them on microhone stands. Now osition the mics that one is caturing the low range of the iano, and the other the mid and high region. 3) Start the Sequitur XIII rogram on an Ale comuter. Choose "Audio..." from the "Settings" menu and select your interface at "Driver". Afterward, switch Audio to On. 4) The inut level of the microhones sent into the comuter rogramm (notated as red crescendo / decrescendo signs) is controlled by a MIDI fader (controller # 7 or 2 on channel #1). The outut level of the electronics (notated as green crescendo / decrescendo signs) is controlled by another MIDI fader (controller # 7 on channel #2 or controller #3 on channel #1). 6) The bottom field is dedicated to the "FX Control" which is organized as a sequence of re-defined resets and controlled by the second musician. In order to switch to the next reset notated as a number within a box just ress the sace bar. 7) When hitting the <return> key on the comuter keyboard, the next age of the score is dislayed.
Sequitur XIII for extended iano & live-electronics 2009 udated: 18 Aril 2012 q=56 1 Karlheinz Essl (*1960) (muted keys) sfffz sffz sfz f fff 9 () ff q=80 rit. q=40 mf sfz mf sfz (senza ) 16 q=80 rit. oco a oco in q=40 (muted keys) 3 ff f f ff sfz f f f
2 23 q=80 (muted keys) sffz f sffz f sffz f sffz f f f sffz f sffz f () (muted keys) sfffz (muted keys) sfffz sffz sfz () 30 sffz E-Bow: ON senza temo 8 " 10 " 8" cue 2 cue q=56 3 35 4 5 5" 5" 3" 5" 3" EBow sfz semre ff senza temo r.h. l.h. cue
42 q=56 3 3 5 5 5 5 m f 6 6 6 6 3 3 3 mf 3 3 sfz mf sfffz sfz sffz f (muted) (half-muted) 3 6 50 senza temo cue cue E-Bow q=40 7 () accel. oco a oco in 57 5:6 5:6 6:4 6:4 mf m f
4 63 accel. 6:4 f m f q=80 rit. molto q=72 6 6 6 6 6 6 mf () () 67 q=56 8 mf mf q=80 rit. q=40 9 " Drone" m U.C. q=56 75 Flag. " " mf f mf m mf f ff " Drone" r.h. L.H. U.C. mf ff mf HP
82 10 (HP) q=40 accel. q=80 Flag. 11 ord. ff mute 5 87 q=56 strike with finger m mf f ord. U.C. 96 12 Flag. 13 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 mf " Drone" m
6 104 mf 14 mf U.C. ord. 113 3 5 6 m S.P. ord. 3 3 3 3 3 mf 120 4:5 4:5 mf 15 S.P. 3:5 6:5 7:5 m mf
128 S.P. U.C. rit. 3 3 a temo ( q=56) 16 " Drone" mf 7 17 134 (lucked) () S.P. 18 " Drone" m 142 " " cue () fff ff f mf m ()