Solidarity

Solidarity A Quilt for Christian Wolff for two or (many) more players

The piece is made up of 79 individually numbered sections/instructions/suggestions. Some of these may exist in isolation, while others must be played simultaneously. Others, while not requiring simultaneity, may be played simultaneously by one player; that is, they may be merged - happening simultaneously - making up one cohesive bit. Some of these instructions may abruptly arise during a section and disappear just as suddenly, like subatomic particles in a vacuum. Each player must play at least two different sections, not including simultaneities. Transitions from one section to another should happen as quickly as possible. In some cases players may coordinate (though they never must) while at other times coordination may be impossible. Players may start on any section and move from any one to another freely. Only sections that indicate so may be repeated without first moving on to another section. However, once one section has been played, it may be played again, so long as a different section has been played in between (except for sections in which only a single occurrence is specified). Each section must be completed before moving on to another. The piece may end when all players come to a collective decision to stop, or a situation arises where all players are at an impasse.

If singing, use vowel sounds, noises or a selection from the text below (also allowing translations of the text): 1. All the world that's owned by idle drones is ours and ours alone. 2. It is ours, not to slave in, but to master and to own. 3. We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old. These three lines may be altered at any time in the same manner as the musical notes from section 30, each line acting like a single system.

Joseph Kudirka 2007

1. play in time with another player, or players, who seem to be using a discernible tempo 2. if playing in time with other performers, slightly speed up or slow down

3. play an ascending series of tones wherein each interval is smaller than the last 4. play a bass tone, or series of bass tones, to establish, or reinforce, what you hear to be a harmony

5. choose one other player who is playing (producing sound) - sustain one sound until they stop playing. 6. choose one other player who is playing (producing sound) - don't play until they stop playing.

7. the shortest sound that you can make 8. repeat one sound followed by a rest of fixed duration, making the sound shorter each time.

9. loop the last five sounds you've played. rests may be placed between repetitions of this loop. 10. as long as it takes

11. play a recording of a birdsong 12. use a bird call or bird calls

13. change instruments 14. clap for 9 beats, then rest for 5, or clap for 5 and rest for 9. repeat as desired

15. go to the darkest place that you can find (alone) and do whatever it is that you want to do there. 16. play five sounds (any) after nine heard (any). repeat, if desired.

17. one thousand nine hundred and thirty-four 18. fireworks (only once per player)

19. play a glissando, up or down, slow enough that, in isolation, the change of pitch would not be noticeable. 20. repeat one sound of a fixed duration followed by a rest, the duration of the rest being longer each time.

21

The unstemmed notes are of free duration. Wedges are pauses of free duration. Transposition by the octave is possible, as each instrument should play the entire system in their lowest possible octave.

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22

two different dynamics, one after the other in every other aspect, the same sound (as much as possible) each as itself

23

Choose 9 percussive sounds. Number them 1-9. Play these in order, each being played after the sound from the previous one has fully decayed. After a brief pause, play a subset of 5 of the 9 sounds, in their respective order, in the same manner as the 9. Repetition of this section is possible. When repeating, a different subset of 5 of the 9 sounds may be used.

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24

For any number of players capable of performing the required tasks Each letter spelling out the name "Christian Wolff" is a constellation of notes. One series of constellations for the first name followed by another series making up a second - two systems.

L L LL LL LL L L L L L L L L L L L L

L L

LL LL L L L L L

L L

L L L L L L L L L

L L L L LL LL LL LL LLL L L L L

Circles are notes, while lines indicate the coordination between these notes. Vertical lines represent coordination of attack and decay, vertical lines on the left of a constellation being a coordination of when notes begin and vertical lines on the right of a constellation being a coordination of when notes end. Horizontal lines are ties. Diagonal lines represent a melodic connection (same sound/player). Placement of a note within a constellation from top to bottom is indicative of pitch. High is high, low is low with various points in between - these ranges are for each player, not an ensemble range. As multiple players may produce a constellation (only one player per note, though a player may play multiple notes), perhaps a tuba's high note will be lower than the low note of a piccolo, etc. Duration is free, but general rules of proportional notation may be used as a reference (space being a rest).

25

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repeat as desired

26 play any

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repeat freely

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28

Notes are written at sounding pitch. A player chooses one or more pitches from each chord and plays them, rhythm being free. Repetition is possible. If repeating, the notes and rhythms played should be the same, with the exception of the rests, the duration of which is free each time.

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29

Make nine simultaneous sounds followed by one sound (not included in the group of nine) five times, spaced evenly. or Play one sound nine times, spaced evenly, followed by five simultaneous sounds.

30 From the music below, play one of the staves one to four times, or each one once. Clef and transposition are free, but should be consistent for each performer. Apart from this, the notes are read as normal. While playing, new phrases may be made, to be extracted from the printed music in this way: a player may go back to a previous note at any time, and proceed from that point on, at least up to the last note they reached, but possibly going further on. After going back to a note, later regressions may go no further back. Unpitched percussion may be used. If so, each note-position on the staff should be taken to represent a different percussive sound.

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Additionally, at any point, notes of common pitch may be tied.

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31. Play (reference/starting pitch being free) a series of dyads, using each interval in one of the two following sets once: 1. an octave plus a major 7th, a minor 7th, a minor 3rd, an octave plus a major 3rd, a minor 6th or 2. two octaves, a minor 7th, an octave plus a minor 3rd, a minor 6th The intervals may be played in any order. After the first dyad is played, the next should include one of the pitches from the previous interval, and the third dyad one of the pitches from the second interval played, and so on. Between any two intervals, the pitch which remains the same may be rearticulated, or sustained. This may be performed by one player, or two players in consort. Repetition is possible. If repeating, the same interval set should be used, though the intervals may be differently ordered. Upon a repetition, one of the notes from the last dyad to be played in the previous run-through should serve as the basis of the first interval played. 32. Play a short melody, starting on any pitch, composed of the following intervals in this order: minor 2nd, major 2nd, minor 3rd, major 2nd, minor 2nd, minor 2nd, minor 3rd, major 3rd. Direction of movement for all intervals being free. This melody may be preceded and/or followed by a pause. 33. Sustain one sound through the next 8 attacks heard (stopping before the 9th), then rest through the next five. repeat as desired 34. Choose 2 short sounds. Play one after 8 attacks heard and the other after the next 4 attacks heard. repeat as desired 35. Play a series of notes, each interval between notes being smaller than the last, regardless of direction (up or down). 36. Sustain one pitch until you hear the same pitch (or the same note at a different octave) from another player, at which point you should quickly move to another section, or move on to another pitch, continuing as above. 37. Play one tone followed by a rest, both of the same length. Repeat. Upon each repetition, slightly alter the tone's pitch (1/4 tone or less).

38

Choose another player. Without looking (turning away if need be), listen to the next nine sounds that they make. Try to anticipate the next five that they will make after that, and play these in unison with them to the best of your abilities, repeating, if desired, following the same player.

39

Each dyad represents the outside limits of a range of possible pitches, only one of which is to be played for each pair of note-heads. when the range is accommodating, one pitch may be sustained through multiple dyads. Both rhythm and transposition by the octave are free for the phrase.

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40 Choose three unpitched percussion sounds. Accompany one person playing a pitched melodic instrument, playing one note for every note they play at about the same time. Use one sound when the note they play is higher in pitch than their previous note, a second if their pitch is lower, and the third when they repeat a pitch.

41. Read a text (silently) which you think relates to this piece, your actions in it, or something else with which you agree or just simply enjoy reading. When done reading the text, hit a bell, gong or other such object. 42. Read a text aloud which you feel relates to this piece, or to your performative role in it (excluding any part of this score, because that would be far too cheeky). 43. Produce a relatively static noise (white or non-white) for a time long enough for it to harmonise with sounds made by most, if not all, of the other players. 44. Choose another player to listen to. Listen to the next 9 sounds that they make. After they make another 5 sounds, try - to the best of your abilities - to replicate the first 9 and the way they were played. 45. Briefly produce a sound loud enough to cover-up all of the other sounds being made by all of the other players. only once per player (even if the attempt is unsuccessful) 46. Going through players in the group one-by-one, play one sound after you hear one sound from player 1, then two sounds after you hear two sounds from player 2, etc. until you have gone through the entire ensemble or tire of the process. Sounds you play may be different sounds or the same. Players need not be numbered in the same sequence for each member of the ensemble, nor even for a player returning to this section. 47. Choose a short and relatively soft sound. Play this sound once after 9 sounds heard, then once after 5 sounds heard. repeat if desired 48. Repeat one tone or sound a number of times, with each iteration of the tone having a longer duration than the last. 49. Play a tone immediately after another player's tone stops. If another player begins immediately after you stop your tone, play immediately after that tone stops, ad infinitum. 50. Choose a player who is not playing (making noise/performing some noticeable action). Don't play until they start playing, trying to start at the very moment that they start.

51

This two-line figure may be played by one or more players. Octave transposition is possible for both lines, but the bottom line should always be in a lower octave than the top. relatively slow and soft

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52 Play a sound so softly that it cannot be heard within the ensemble. Sustain this sound until it can be heard. If after your initial attack, you have played too loudly, cease making this sound as abruptly as possible and move on to another section of the piece.

53. strike 54. scratch 55. blow 56. whistle 57. hum 58. skip 59. stones 60. roll 61. pluck 62. play 63. light 64. beautiful 65. found 66. earth 67. ground 68. rest 69. translate 70. prepare 71. wooly 72. hard 73. spring 74. tune 75. interior 76. exterior 77. still

78

Notes are written at sounding pitch. Play a sort of melody using one note from each measure, rhythm being free.

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79 Play a recording (ideally on a portable turntable, though other devices may be used) of a song that has either been used in a piece by Christian Wolff, that Christian Wolff likes, or that you think he would like - softly. only once per performer