Oliver Pickup Y1478870

Discomposure I Commentary

Discomposure I is a piece of acoustic spatial music for 8 performers with a

duration of approximately 10 minutes. My original thoughts behind this

work were to create a piece of non-site specific music in which the

placement of the performers in the physical space directly correlates to

the written material. Whilst researching different spatial techniques I

came across a scale referred to as the synthetic minor scale in David

Copes Techniques of the Contemporary Composer1. I have not been able

to find a definite reason as to why this scale is named as such but I have

my own idea as to why the name Synthetic Minor is appropriate. A

regular heptatonic scale can only have one interval of a third from the root

note and this scale contains a major third from C to E. The D# could be

spelled enharmonically Eb, thus giving us an enharmonic minor third. As

this interval is intended as an augmented second and not as a minor third,

but still sounds the same, it could be viewed as being made minor in that

sense containing a fake or false minor third interval. As a scale not

commonly found in Western music, trying to create harmony and melodies

that worked within the constraints of Western music whilst still having a

unique flavour proved difficult. To combat this setback, I decided to avoid

trying to stick to convention and tried to see what could be created from

the uniqueness of this particular scale. The scale itself, on C, consists of

the notes C, D#, E, F#, G#, A and B. The augmented second interval

between the first and second degrees allows for a fresh and almost exotic

1 David Cope, Techniques of the Contemporary Composer (London:

Thomson Learning, 1997): 27.

1
Oliver Pickup Y1478870

taste to a Western listener which also happens again when the semitone

gap between the second and third degrees are taken into consideration.

Another main focal point of this piece is that the singers at no point

sing real words and instead are restricted to syllables and whispering. The

lack of meaning behind what is sung allows the listener to focus on the

spatial elements of what is happening rather than attempting to find

meaning in words and neglecting the auditory phenomenon. One of my

largest concerns while writing this piece was that the techniques I used

and the techniques that I have tried to replicate would not work in an

acoustic setting. Due to this, I have been careful to workshop anything

that may not have worked and to much success, everything written did

result in the desired acoustic effects. The use of so-called spatial

channels was a large factor when composing this piece and these

Piano Percussion Vibraphone

Violin Cello

Soprano I Soprano II Soprano III

channels with the respective relationship possibilities from instrument to

instrument can be seen in the diagram below.

2
Oliver Pickup Y1478870

Beginning at bar 9, the synthetic minor scale is introduced in the Violin

and Cello parts but each instrument plays the notes in an order that was

randomly selected. This is to introduce the listener to the flavours of the

scale without giving everything away at the start. The relationship of the

slightly overlapping notes in both parts also gives a brief hint at what sort

of harmony can actually be derived from the scale. The short periods of

overlap between the Violin and Cello notes allows the sound to be passed

between the instruments without periods of silence. This is complimented

by the opposing dynamics in both parts such as in bar 9 when the Violin

plays a D# harmonic which gradually increases in volume and is then

taken over by the A in the Cello which then falls in volume. All of this

happens over a steady Tam-tam roll which adds atmosphere to the section

and makes use of the unique ambience in every performance space. The

central location of the Tam-tam also acts as a focal point for the ears while

the sound from the strings appears to pan from left to right.

Beginning at bar 37, we are introduced to flautando strings under a

harmonically confusing piano phrase. The string triplets are based on

chords derived from the synthetic minor scale and are as follows: B7,

Cmaj7(#11), G#m7, F#m7b5, Am(maj7) and Emaj7. The cello plays the

same figures as a call and response. This progression is used again at bar

40 in the right hand of the piano for two bars.

This section of the piece makes extensive use of very low cluster

chords, this notation is specified in the score, to create a low-pitched wall

3
Oliver Pickup Y1478870

of sound to contrast with the delicate melody in the right hand and the

ornamental figures in the vibraphone. As we approach bar 42 the piano

plays some very crunchy and dissonant chords in rhythmic unison with the

left-hand clusters. These chords are an example of what type of harmony

can be drawn from creating chords from various degrees of the synthetic

minor scale. As an example, the chord at bar 42 beat 4 is a

Cmaj7(#11#5), which would be an altered chord in say a jazz context, but

in this context, all of the notes are found within the synthetic minor scale.

It is also important to point out that the chord is not intended to function

as one might expect an extended major seventh chord to work, but

functions to create dissonance and to provide a point for the vibraphone

quavers in the same bar to bounce off of. This passage provides a contrast

to the proceeding section which is dynamically softer and less hectic

Section B begins with the first entry from the singers, the first of whom

takes her note from the violin harmonic in the preceding bar, and again

uses how the singers are placed in the room to create a horizontal spatial

channel. The singers at first have very little melodic variation and stay on

the same note for an extended period of time as the focal point here is not

what they are singing, but how that sound is manipulated and passed

around the three singers. The underlying Piano part provides a dissonant

and static accompaniment and sounds almost harmonically dead. This is

due to the chord containing both augmented fourth and major seventh

degrees from the tonic of the scale. This motif changes pitches at bar 55

to provide another dead and dissonant tonality before the motif is taken

4
Oliver Pickup Y1478870

over by the Vibraphone at bar 56. The reasoning for choosing the

vibraphone to take over the motif is because the instrument is located at

the opposite end of the layout to the piano and creates another spatial

channel to exploit the antiphony.

Section C introduces the previously mentioned whispering in the soprano

parts and begins with a soft accented tuh sound which proceeds to be

passed around from left to right with varying accent placement to allow

for a greater degree of rhythmic interest. Bar 84 sees the introduction of a

very breathy ha sound which is passed from far left to far right and then

repeated at bar 86 over rapid semiquaver whispering in the middle part.

Originally I chose to change the soprano staves at section D to a single

line stave largely as an engraving factor; the score looks far neater having

only three lines. However for ease of reading to an average singer, I

decided to change this back to a regular five line stave. The violin in this

section introduces the first discernible melody of the piece and due to the

nature of the scale used, produces a melody that at first can seem

unstable and somewhat uncomfortable to listen to. The melody is

complimented by fragmented echoes of the melodic material in the cello

part at the same pitch. When writing this section I had some concerns

about using the cello and contemplated replacing the whole part with a

new second violin part. I decided not to change the cello to a second violin

part as although the cello is playing in the upper register, the timbral

5
Oliver Pickup Y1478870

variations were too valuable to sacrifice for an exact replication of the

violin sound.

The final section utilises the singers for the first time singing in some form

of recognisable idiom, although definitely not definitively western

sounding. The short melodic figures at bars 111 and 112 serve as a new

spatial channel firstly along a Y axis with soprano I and violin, then again

along the same axis with soprano III and cello. Referring back to when I

said I had to workshop a lot of this work in order to make sure everything

worked as expected, the string figure at bar 114 was a large concern.

Trying to get both instruments to play at exactly the right time is one of

the most difficult moments of this piece but does work, especially with the

piano and voices providing the focal points and the strings mainly keeping

the implied Cmaj7(#5) and B7 chords firmly rooted. These bars whilst

difficult, serve their purpose very well and this work is not intended to be

easy to perform. This figure continues as the intertwining triplet figures in

the piano and vibraphone begin, eventually fading out to nothing.

Bar 132 uses the seemingly random order of pitches from the violin and

cello at the start of the piece firstly as triplets from the piano and

vibraphone and then the same pitches but in retrograde. From bar 128 the

two instruments take notes that were selected from the synthetic minor

scale and play triplets throughout which overlap and interject with each

other whilst seeming to pass from side to side in the physical space. This

section develops a recurring motif that is first heard in bar 133 beat 4 in

6
Oliver Pickup Y1478870

the piano and gets passed between the piano and the vibraphone allowing

for some exciting interplay. It is this motif that leads the work to its

conclusion. The piano motif from section C returns at bar 140 in a higher

octave with some pitch alterations in the right hand which provides a

crunchy but softer sound than when the motif was first heard. The piece

finally ends with a heavy and short low C on piano and a huge strike of the

Tam-tam which is left to die out naturally, again to appreciate the

individual acoustic nuances of the performance space.

References:

Cope, David. Techniques of the Contemporary Composer. London:

Thomson Learning, 1997.