4vois

voice and electronics

ca. 6-15 minutes

Premiered by Georgia Sweitzer and Matthew Bardin in Baton Rouge, LA on 12/2/19


The score is available for download here.

4Vois is a piece originally designed to show off a collection of motives and audio effects that also appear in …the paper, but quickly developed into a unique entity. In this piece the vocalist is given a series of short-to-medium length phrases and is allowed to jump around between them at their discretion, based on cues from the music. For example, after the first phrase the vocalist has the option to go to either phrase 2 or phase 3, and so on. This set-up could make the piece theoretically go on indefinitely, but it is the composer’s recommendation that a performance remain under 15 minutes, since most ideas should have been explored by that point. The form was inspired by the Goosebumps “Choose Your Own Adventure” I would read as a child. The reader was given a choice within the story, and would turn to specific pages to progress down that story line.

The lyrics of this piece are written out using IPA notation. With a focus on a flexible form, aleatoric vocal techniques techniques, and various audio effects happening at different times I didn’t want to to further complicate the scene with lyrics. Instead I spell out sound I am looking for to add character and a feeling of almost speech to the music.

Each of the effects can be found via this max patch. You should be able to run the program as long as you have Max8 or newer installed on your computer. All needed sub-patches are included in the compiled program. This work is intended to be performed with a second person controlling the electronics: mixing the effect levels and triggering file playback. Allt levels indicated in the score are approximate to allow the performer to better respond to the choices of the vocalist.

This work directly led to the composition Clar1net, which came about when a performer became ill and I had to adapt the work for a performance at the 2020 Electric LaTex festival. The work is funtionally the same, but with specific adaptions to fit the capabilities of the clarinet, and what I was able to practice in the short amount of time.

FEstival Acceptances and Performances

• Accepted to the 2020 Electric LaTex Festival in Denton, TX.

• Accepted to the 2020 New York Electroacoustic Music Festival in New York, NY (festival cancelled)