Flute Extended

MASTER'S THESIS

The Vocal Flute Creative Uses of the Flutist's Voice in a Collaborative Context

Marina Pereira Cyrino 2013

Master of Fine Arts Music Performance

Luleå University of Technology Department of Arts, Communication and Education

The Vocal Flute: Creative Uses of the Flutist's Voice in a Collaborative Context Marina Pereira Cyrino May 2013 Supervisors: Professor Sverker Jullander and Professor Sven-‐Erik Sandlund A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the Master Program in Music Performance Department of Arts, Communication and Education Luleå University of Technology

Abstract The Vocal Flute: Creative Uses of the Flutist's Voice in a Collaborative Context is a piece of artistic research that discusses the use of the flutist’s voice combined with flute playing, through performer-composer collaboration and through composition. This thesis focuses on a specific extended technique, consolidated in the 20th century. The use of the flutist’s voice is characterized by a richness of possibilities and appears in the classical repertoire, but also in improvised music: the classical avant-garde, traditional and new jazz, popular styles. The aims of the research are to explore the use of the flutist voice combined with flute playing through collaboration performer-composer and through composition, to clarify in which way collaboration can help us to understand the use of the flutist’s voice and to develop practices that facilitate the learning process of this technique. My own practice and my collaboration with two different composers are in the center of the discussion. As result of the collaborative process, three new pieces were written, performed and recorded: Floating Embers (for flute and soprano) by Olle Sundström, Keep the Night from Coming In (for solo flute) by Lisa Stenberg and Old Game (for solo flute), written by me. My own practice, rehearsals and experimentations with composers inspired me to compose Old Game, an etude for flute and flutist’s voice. The findings of the research indicate that great benefits can result from the practice of new techniques such as using the voice while playing, especially when combined with creative processes, such as collaboration or composition. The topics that emerged during the process are: analyses of the uses of the flutist’s voice while playing through literature and in each new piece based on the performer’s practice; patterns in each collaboration; impact of each collaboration on the development of flute techniques and flute practices. The artistic outcomes of this research are three new compositions for flute and recordings of the same. Keywords: flute, flutist’s voice, extended flute techniques, singing and playing, speaking and playing, collaborative performance practice, artistic research.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude towards: Olle Sundström and Lisa Stenberg, without their talent and time this project wouldn’t have such a creative strength. My thesis supervisor, Sverker Jullander and my flute teachers Sven-Erik Sandlund and Sara Hammarström. The sound engineers that worked with me during this project: Joel Löf, Mattias Wessel and Bernardo Brandão. Josephine Gellwar Madsen, for her talent and for taking part of this project. My dear friends Natalya Ivanova, Tiina Kaikkonen and Ana Val, for the friendship, the support and for sharing joys and challenges during these two years in Sweden. Mikael Mannberg, for the great and intense musical partnership. I would like to thank my mother, Vilma Maurer, my family and friends from across the ocean, for their love and support despite the distance. Finally, without the special help and support of Bernardo Brandão, finishing this thesis on time wouldn’t have been possible. I specially thank my father for making this winter journey possible.

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Contents

Abstract

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Acknowledgements

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Contents

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1 Introduction

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1. The restless flute

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2. Aspects of collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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2.1. Flutists in collaboration

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2.2. Collaboration in contemporary composition and performance . . . . . . .

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2.3. Creative artistic collaboration

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2.4. Collaboration between composer and performer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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2.5. Collaboration in the context of this research

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3. Methodological approaches

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3.1. Central issues of the project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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3.2. Action research

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3.3. Research strategies

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4. Overview of different parts of the research

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4.1. The projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 4.2. Audio recording 4.3. Written thesis

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2 The flutist’s voice 1. Introduction

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2. Singing and playing

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2.1. A general overview

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2.2. Singing and playing: Pierre-Yves Artaud’s four categories

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2.2.1. Voice pedal with flute playing: The voice sustains one note while fingers moves 2.2.2. Flute pedal with voice moving: The flute sustains one note while the voice moves

2.2.3. Voice singing and flute playing, in parallel movement

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Illustrating singing and playing, speaking and playing, and in between . . . .

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2.2.4. Voice singing and flute playing: independent lines 3. Speaking and playing 4. Musical examples: 4.1. Speaking without instrument on lips

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4.2. Speaking or whispering with instrument on lips 4.3. Speaking or whispering into the instrument

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4.4. Singing into the instrument

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4.5. Singing in unison or octave

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4.6. Singing and playing alternately 4.7. Glissando with voice 4.8. Singing different vowels

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5. Throat Tuning 6. Reflections

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3 Floating Embers 1. Introduction

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4.9. Some random funny examples

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2. Floating Embers: a walk around extended flute techniques

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2.1. First Section: EDGY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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2.2. Second Section: MYSTERIOSO

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2.3. Third Section: INTENSE

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3. Floating Embers and the use of the flutist’s voice

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4. Practicing Floating Embers: Challenges and solutions

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4.1. Passage from bar 19 to 26: Voice glissando with flute pedal 4.2. Bar 37

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4.3. Passage from bar 47 to 52: Singing “ta ke te” in different tones . . . . . . 31 4.4. Passage from bar 55 to 66: Sing “Ta ke te” in octaves with the flute line

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4.5. Passage from bar 67 from 72: Flute pedal with moving voice

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4.6. Passage from bar 67 to 89: The complexity of singing and playing distinct lines 4.7. Passage from bar 89 to 96 5. Collaboration

5.1. Introduction

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5.2. Collaborative patterns

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5.3. Examples of negotiation: focus on the flutist’s voice 6. Reflections

1. Introduction

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2. Keep the Night from Coming In: an overview 2.1. An open score

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2.2. Open, half open, and closed embouchure 2.3. Extended flute techniques 2.4. The use of the flutist’s voice 2.4.1. The melting points

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2.4.2. Consonants, vowels, syllables

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3. Keep the Night from Coming In: the seven sections

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3.1. Section A

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3.2. Section B

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3.3. Section C and Section F 3.4. Section D and Section G 3.5. Section E

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4 Keep the Night from Coming In

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4. Collaboration

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4.1 Introduction

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4.2. Patters of collaborations

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4.3. Examples of negotiation during the collaboration 5. Reflections

5 Old Game 1. Introduction

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2. Old Game – The text

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3. The use of the flutist’s voice: Speaking/ whispering and playing 4. The use of the flutist’s voice: Singing and playing 5. Other extended flute techniques

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5.1. Whistle tones: “Is someone calling or it is just imagination?”

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5.3. Timbral Trills: Disturb the sound kindly

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5.4. Discovering new effects: a tone appears!

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5.5. From sh to s: don’t speak, don’t sing, venture into strange sounds . . . .

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5.2. Key clicks sounds: Let’s do something with the flute when it’s not on the lips

6. Practicing Old Game: Challenges and solutions through practice 6.1. Whisper and playing with air attack

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6.2. Speaking without instrument on the lips 6.3. Singing one tone octave

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6.4. Whispering and playing in rhythmical passages

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6.5. Singing in parallel movement with the flute line

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6.6. Singing different intervals: from singing to groaning 6.7. Singing and playing: the last passage ‘it’s finished?’ 7. Reflections

6 Discussion 1. Introduction

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2. The use of the flutist voice: the outcomes 2.1. Floating Embers and the singing voice 2.2. Keep the Night from Coming In:

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transitions, boundaries, impermanence 2.3. Old Game and the speaking voice

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2.4. Practicing my own voice while playing 3. Collaboration: the outcomes

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3.1. The special agencies in musical collaboration 3.2. Collaboration across generation

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3.3. The musical collaboration composer-performer: ............

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What is in between ‘Collaborative’ and ‘Integrative’? 4. Final reflections

Reference List

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Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Musical Scores

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CD Recordings

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YouTube Links

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Appendix

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Introduction

1. The restless flute The stimulating interaction [between a flutist and a composer] is often responsible for the emergence of positive and powerful creations. Indeed, how could one dispense with it if one has the imperious desire to go beyond admissible limits, to violate comfortable territory, to shatter this into pieces in order to recreate the instrument and its language completely? In this conquest, the flute has indeed proved the driving instrument of this century [...] (Artaud, 1994, p.141)

The main focus of this research will be a specific extended technique, consolidated in the 20th century: the use of the voice while playing the flute. This technique is characterized by a richness of possibilities and appears in many pieces of the classical repertoire, but also in improvised music: the classical avant-garde, traditional and new jazz, popular styles. In the second half of the 20th century the flute became a major vehicle for experimental composers, resulting in a repertoire that made extensive use of techniques outside the instrument’s traditional performance lexicon. In order for composers to write effectively and idiomatically for the flute, collaboration with performers was often essential. (Macgregor, 2012, p.3)

Edgard Varèse, in 1936, started a new period for the flute repertoire with Density 21.5 (1936). In just three minutes three centuries of tradition in which the flute was perceived as a garrulous, pastoral instrument, avowedly its principal distinguishing features from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, are called into question. In just three minutes a new instrument is revealed and an unprecedented trend among composers in which the flute is rapidly raised to the privileged rank of leader in musical creation is set. (Artaud 1994, p. 141–142)

Another important work that opened the flute world to different sound perspectives is Luciano Berio’s Sequenza 1 (1958). These works were pioneers in Western art music in introducing extended flute techniques. One interesting point concerning this research is that none of the two pieces uses the voice of the flutist. The first major work that confirmed the voice of the flutist as an extended technique rich in possibilities is Voice by Toro Takemitsu (1971). The title of the piece points to a new direction where the voice of the flutist has an important role, equal to that of

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other effects and techniques. Voice followed the 1970 World Exposition in Osaka, Japan, where Takemitsu had served as music director along with Stravinsky and Stockhausen. During this period, Takemitsu became extremely interested in European experimental techniques. Bruno Bartolozzi’s handbook New Sounds for Woodwinds had an influence on Voice. By incorporating the spoken word, Takemitsu displayed not only new aural possibilities for the flute, but attempted to capture certain gestures and articulations of traditional Japanese flutes. (Robinson, 2011, p.52) In Voice, the composer sought to unite the performer with the instrument. The performer must deliver a spoken text, speak into the instrument, hum, shout, sing, growl, and click the tongue, blending the voice and the sound of the flute. At other times, Takemitsu sought to create a distinction between the sound of the voice and the sound of the flute, separating spoken syllables and traditional flute sounds. This was combined with conventional extended flute techniques such as key tapping and a wide variety of articulations, in order to create a wide range of sounds and textures all related to the single source. (Robinson, 2011, p.52)

2. Aspects of collaboration 2.1. Flutists in collaboration Important partnerships between flutist and composer led to the main solo pieces in the modern flute repertoire. As examples we have the Italian flutist Severino Gazzelloni, a major figure in the postwar experimental music scene, and his contributions to the creation of two works: Sequenza I per flauto solo by Luciano Berio and Mei for solo flute by Kazuo Fukushima; moreover, the flutist Robert Aitken and his contributions to the genesis of Ryoanji for flute by John Cage, and Scrivo in Vento for solo flute by Elliot Carter. The instrument’s ability to produce a large and diverse arsenal of sounds not only expanded its sonic canvas to hitherto uncharted territory but could also evoke the sound worlds of other musical cultures. What resulted was a prolific repertoire that rejected the notion of the flute as a vehicle for bucolic whimsy. An instrument that was virtually ignored in the 19th century (at least in a soloist capacity) was now being embraced by key musical figures of the 20th century. With a handful of exceptions (most notably Brian Ferneyhough, who was a flutist in his student years) the development of this repertoire was, and continues to be, the result of intimate collaborations between composer and performer. (Macgregor, 2012, p.2)

Macgregor (2012, p.3) details some of the prolific partnerships between flutists and composers: Salvatore Sciarrino has composed more than a dozen pieces for Roberto Fabbriciani and Mario Caroli; Karlheinz Stockhausen wrote extensively for the Dutch flutist Kathinka Pasveer; and Kaija Saariaho continues a fruitful relationship with the American flutist Camilla Hoitenga. In fact, the author argues that many of these composers owe much of their international reputations to an early compositional foundation that significantly featured works for solo flute. The strength of these pieces, from their employment of extended techniques to the graphic layouts of the scores, was largely due to dialogue with sympathetic and talented performers. Macgregor (2012, p.3)

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2.2. Collaboration in contemporary composition and performance According to Roe (2007, p.80), research into collaboration is a recent phenomenon with many areas yet to be explored. Detailed investigation into the process of collaboration between composer and performer are still scarce. In spite of this lack of investigation in the field of creative collaboration between composers and performers mentioned by Roe, many musicians have been focusing their research on collaboration in contemporary music in the last few years: Linda Merrik (2004), Paul Roe (2007), Stefan Östersjö (2008), Marta Castello Branco (2012), Mark Macgregor (2012), Charles Martin (2012), Gisli Grétarsson (2012), Sebastián Caldas Zeballos (2012). It’s noteworthy that the three last examples named are master’s theses published by Luleå University of Technology, in the context of the same program where I’m taking part: Master in Music Performance. An overview will be presented to help understand the function of the musical collaboration in this research. Although the focus of this research is the use of the flutist’s voice, the collaboration between performer and composers plays an important role, as a method used to explore and understand an extended flute technique. I will present briefly the subject based on literature review. 2.3. Creative artistic collaboration A number of authors have addressed particular aspects of artistic collaboration. Two categorizations of collaborative artistic practices have proved to be relevant for this research. The first is the patterns of artistic collaboration by Vera John-Steiner (2000) and the second is the patterns of collaboration between composer and performer by Hayden and Windsor (2007). John-Steiner has undertaken some of the most important theoretical work on artistic collaboration. Building on the work of Lev Vygotsky, she challenges the individualistic focus on human behaviour that has been predominant in Western culture. She argues that the possibilities for stretching the individual’s potential through collaborative works make for a strong argument to reconsider the fundamentals of our practice (Östersjö, 2008, p.20). John-Steiner’s model of artistic collaboration is also discussed in Roe (2007) and Martin (2012). John-Steiner divides general artistic collaboration into four categories. Distributed collaboration: A widespread practice that can take place in informal or organized contexts. Artists with common interests share and explore ideas that can lead to personal insights. Complementary collaboration: A widely used format of artistic collaboration based on complementary knowledge. Each artist has a clear role based on his or her expertise. Family collaboration: A format of artistic collaboration of groups that develop relationship and work very close together. In this pattern “roles are flexible and may

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change over time. Levels of independence, dependence or interdependence shift and develop depending on skills levels and experience.” (Roe, 2007, p.27) Integrative collaboration: A format of artistic collaboration based on the desire to transform knowledge and that can result in new practices and concepts. “These relationships require prolonged periods of committed activity and thrive on risktaking, dialogue and shared vision” (Roe, 2007, p.27). “This unions transform both artistic work and personal life” (John-Steiner, 2000, p.96). 2.4. Collaboration between composer and performer Patterns of artistic collaboration specifically applied in a musical context are discussed in Hayden and Windsor (2007) based on the work Theory in Practice: Increasing Professional Effectiveness by Argyris and Schön (1974). They propose the following distinct categories to understand relationships between composer and performer. Directive: The composer determines the performance through score/notation. The collaboration is limited to issues in the realisation of the score. Interactive: Involves negotiation between composer and performer, but the composer is still the author of the piece. Collaborative: “The music is developed through collective decision-making. There is no hierarchy of roles”(Roe, 2007, p.28).“The structure and context of the composition is decided through group decision making and live improvisation” (Martin, 2012, p.10). 2.5. Collaboration in the context of this research Collaborating with composers has been a part of my musician’s life for many years. In 2004 I participated in the creation of a student experimental chamber group in the town of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. During four years we worked with improvisation and collaboration with composers, focusing on classical contemporary music. These years reinforced my passion for new music and showed me the importance and benefits of working directly with composers. Since that first student chamber group, I have been working regularly with composers. I’ve premièred many pieces of Brazilian composers and participated in concerts and recordings of contemporary music almost my whole ‘flute life’. It was very natural for me to prioritize collaboration with composers when I developed the idea of this project. The flutist Mark Takeshi Macgregor, in Of Instrumental Value: Flutist-Composer Collaboration in new music (2012), shares my passion for collaboration: As a classically trained flutist I have performed music of many styles and periods, but my experiences playing the music of our time stand out as being among my career’s most thrilling highlights. Over the years these experiences have led to an interest in collaborating with composers in the creation of new pieces for my instrument. For composers this dialogue can ensure that their pieces are playable and idiomatic, while as

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performers we have the unique and rewarding opportunity to become directly involved in the creation of new works. Performer-composer collaboration is the primary reason why I find my career as a musician so vital and exciting, to the point where the commissioning and performance of new music has become something of a mission for me. (Macgregor, p.1)

For this project I had the privilege to find two very interested and committed composers, who accepted the challenge of writing a new composition in a context of collaboration, even if it had no payment involved. They participated in this project only because of their interest in music and in exploring new sound possibilities. As result of the collaborative process, two new pieces were written, performed and recorded: Floating Embers by Olle Sundström and Keep the Night from Coming In by Lisa Stenberg. I’ve met both composers in the Music School of Piteå. The collaboration with Olle Sundström will be presented and discussed in Chapter 3 and the collaboration with Lisa Stenberg in Chapter 4. A comparison and synthesis of both and a reflection around the whole process will be presented in Chapter 6. Collaboration between performer and composer will be used in this research as a method to explore and understand an extended flute technique. The models presented in this chapter will be discussed in the context of each specific collaboration. 3. Methodological approaches This research emerged in the context of artistic research, a kind of practice-based research, based on non-academic professional artistic practice. In this case, my practice as a musician, and especially as a flutist, is the heart of the thesis. The purpos of artistic research is to bring an equal status of practical knowledge within the academy, developing the artistic profession and articulating tacit knowledge. It is characterized by a methodological pluralism. The research questions are born in the artistic practice and the results intended to be applied in practice. 3.1. Central issues of the project The principal aim of the research will be to shed light on and to explore the use of the flutist’s voice combined with flute playing, through performer-composer collaboration and through composition. The main questions guiding the research are: How can the use of the flutist voice combined with flute playing be explored through collaboration? In which way can collaboration with composers help us understand the use of the flutist’s voice? How can the musician’s practice clarify the use and the learning process of this technique? Different methodologies were used to approach the research subject. In order to understand and contextualize the use of the flutist’s voice while playing, an extensive literature study using scores, flute methods, articles, dissertations, audio and video recordings was made. After contextualizing the use of the flutist’s voice while playing, I started two projects of collaboration with composers. The first project (September 2012 to May 2013)

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with the composer Olle Sundström resulted in the piece Floating Embers. The second, with the composer Lisa Stenberg, resulted in the piece Keep the Night from Coming In (November 2012 to May 2013). 3.2. Action research The concept of action research was introduced in the early 1940’s by the social psychologist Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) in the context of the social sciences. Roe (2007, p.87) identifies the characteristics of action research according to Denscombe (2003). It’s an effective form of practice-based research characterized by dealing with ‘real world’ problems and issues; researchers have an active participation in the process; work through cyclical processes; change is an integral part of the process. This project can be understood as action research in the way that my artistic practice is a methodological tool that is used to deal with practical problems and issues. I have an active participation in the process, and I intend to introduce changes in the existing practice. According to Östersjö (2008,p.12), there are two fundamental kinds of action research, practitioner research, in which the practitioner is also the researcher, as opposed to emancipatory action research, in which the researcher takes part as researcher/subject and participators are objects. Similarly to Östersjö’s project SHUT UP ‘N’ PLAY! (2008), this research can be considered practitioner research since the project only involves a performer and composers, with no external researchers observing the project. 3.3. Research strategies The method of collaboration in both projects started in a similar way. During the process, each collaboration initiative took a different direction. The process in each project was, generally speaking: first I presented the general idea of the research project and introduced to the composers some of the material that I had gathered during the literature study. With some ideas in mind, the composers started to write sketches. During this period I introduced what I called ‘Experimentation Sessions’ (that happened more systematically with Lisa Stenberg and in a more informal way with Olle Sundström). In these sessions, I exchanged ideas and experimented with some of the composer’s sound ideas, or scores from the flute repertoire, or just improvised. This material was intended to serve as an input for the composer. After the pieces were finished, the period of practicing the piece began, which in the case of Floating Embers included rehearsals with others musicians. During the whole process I kept a reflective journal or practice journal, where I developed ideas about the practice of the pieces, the collaboration process and the composition process. Video or audio recording of rehearsals, experimentation sessions, performances and studio recordings were used to discuss and reflect upon the outcomes of the collaborations. Figure 1 shows the main methodological steps followed in this research project.

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Literature Study -‐ Tracing the use of the voice of while playing

Meeting Olle Sundtröm Exchange of ideas, scores, audio recordings Flute experimentation, trying Virst sketches Video / Audio documentation ReVlective Journal

Meeting Lisa Stendberg Exchange of ideas, scores, audio recordings Flute experimentation,trying Virst sketches Video/ Audio documentation ReVlective Journal

Floating Embers -‐ Practice, Rehearsals, Performance, Recording

Keep the Night from Coming In -‐ Practice, Rehearsals, Performance, Recording

ReVlections around the collaboration Figure 1. Research strategies during the collaboration

When comparing the literature studies with the material used by Olle Sundström and Lisa Stenberg, I was inspired to express musically other aspects of the technique. More specifically, I had the curiosity to try to systematise different possibilities that I discovered during these two years of research. My own practice, rehearsals and experimentations with composers led me to the desire to express ideas through music. I composed the etude Old Game (2013), for flute and flutist’s voice that will be presented and discussed in Chapter 5, using a creative method.

Collaboration with Olle Sundström and Lisa Stenberg Literature Study

Practicing, experimenting and improvising on the use of the Vlutist's voice

Composing the Etude Old Game

Figure 2. Creative method: research strategies during composition

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A comparative method has been used for different parts of the research: between the two collaborations performer-composer; between the aspects of exploring the use of the flutist’s voice while playing; between the different approaches to the practice of the three pieces resulting from this research.

Different patterns of collaborations Lisa Stenberg Olle Sundström

Different Practice Challenges Floating Embers Keep The Night from Coming In Old Game

Comparative method

Different approches of using the voice of the Vlutist Floating Embers Keep The Night from Coming In Old Game

Figure 3. Collaborative method in the research

The structure of this research corresponds to case study process. Case study research involves the experience of real people, in real situations and provides a rich source of data. It provides detailed, authentic accounts of the phenomena in context (Roe, 2007, p.89). This research presents three different projects that can be considered three different case studies: the collaboration with Olle Sundström, the collaboration with Lisa Stenberg and my process of composing an etude. Data serving as a basis for this research include • • • • • •

Reflective journal or practice journal Audio or video recordings from the rehearsals and experimental sessions Compositional sketches Supplementary documentation: emails, informal conversations Three new compositions - scores (see Appendix) Three new compositions - recordings (see Appendix)

The audio/video material was collected and analysed basing on the methodology adopted by Östersjö (2008, p.13): by means of musical interpretation and analysis (focus on the flute technique, analysis of the musical material); and by coding and analysis according to qualitative researches procedures (focus on the modes of collaboration). I adopted the same strategy of making the analysis directly from the recorded audio and video.

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The artistic outcomes of this research are three new compositions for flute and recordings of the same (see Appendix). 3. Overview of different parts of the research 3.1.The projects - Floating Embers by Olle Sundström, Chapter 3. - Keep the Night from Coming In by Lisa Stenberg, Chapter 4. - Old Game by Marina Pereira Cyrino, Chapter 5. 3.2. Audio recordings The audio recordings, with the score of each piece (see appendix), represent the main artistic result of this research. Floating Embers: Recorded in LTU’s School of Music - Piteå, Sweden / March 2013. Sound engineer: Mattias Wessel. Old Game: Recorded in LTU’s School of Music - Piteå, Sweden / May 2013. Sound engineer: Mattias Wessel. Keep the Night from Coming In: Recorded in Fundação de Educação Artística - Belo Horizonte, Brazil / August 2013. Sound engineer: Bernardo Brandão. 3.3. Written thesis The written text should not be understood as the only focus of this research but a part of the larger artistic research process. The function of the text is to connect the different projects and to clarify the practical knowledge of the whole process of collaborating, composing and performing.

9

2

The flutist’s voice

1. Introduction Extended techniques can be understood as the result of a research process where new sound possibilities were systematized and widespread (Castello Branco, 2012, p.21). The new flute techniques are not in conflict with the traditional technique, but present themselves as a continuous process of exploring new possibilities of the instrument. According to the flutist Robert Dick: Many composers and instrumentalists worldwide are becoming increasingly interested in the discovery and development of new instrumental sonorities, and all indications are that this trend is growing into a major branch of composition and performance. This is especially true for music for flute. Even in relatively conservative compositions written today, it is a rare piece that is not influenced by new sonorities and techniques, colors and articulations. (Dick, 1986, p.7)

All the major flute methods of new techniques introduce us to the use of the flutist’s voice while playing, although most of the time this technique is explained very briefly. And although an enormous part of the flute repertoire includes different kinds of new techniques, and many flute methods are nowadays only dedicated to the extended technique of the flute, these resources are not a priority in the flute education. Many flutists go through their education without being in contact with it. Researches focusing on the practice of new techniques and the practice of new music are even less common. In this artistic research project for the degree of Master in music performance, the use of the flutist’s voice while playing will be discussed in the context of my own practice and my collaboration with two different composers. In spite of great efforts that have been put into the study of historic performance practice during a great part of the 20th Century this has no equivalent in the research into performance of new music. There exists handbooks in contemporary playing techniques, especially for wind instruments, and there are also a number of books on contemporary notation practice. Little research has been devoted however, to the performance conventions of Art Music since modernism. (Östersjö, 2008, p. 4)

10

2. Singing and playing 2.1. A general overview Singing and playing simultaneously is one of the most popular uses of the flutist’s voice. In the flute method The Techniques of the Flute Playing, Levine (2002) explains that this effect can be produced when the vocal cords rub against one another (as speaking), while simultaneously exhaling, so that air flows out through the larynx into the flute. Levine (2002, p.20) illustrates the technique with the following figure:

Figure 4. Levine´s illustration for singing and playing the flute It is possible to produce any pitch while singing and playing; the only limitations are the natural vocal register and the tonal range of the flute. (Levine, 2002, p.20)

Another flute method, The Other Flute (1989), by Robert Dick, describe more deeply the results produced by using the voice while playing. According to Dick, almost all flutists can, in some degree, create multiple sonorities by humming while playing single pitches. The intervals formed and the timbre of these multiples sonorities depends, of course on the pitch and timbre both of the note played and of the flutist’s voice. (Dick, 1989, p.143)

Pierre-Yves Artaud (1995) describes four possibilities of using the voice and playing simultaneously: Flute pedal with voice singing; Voice pedal with flute playing; Voice singing and flute playing in parallel movement (it is easier to control unisons or octaves); and Voice singing and flute playing, both completely independent lines. About this last category, he says: This is extremely tricky and needs perfect control. The sound obtained can be modified using different vowels or syllables. (Artaud, 1995, p. 119)

Here we have two musical examples of singing and playing, both found in Levine (2002, p.129). In Example 1, the flutist sings an Eb while playing the written notes (According to Artaud’s categories, voice pedal with flute playing):

11

Example 1. Gilbert Amy, Trois Études No. 2.

In Example 2, the flutist plays a chromatic descending scale and sings in unison with the flute line. At the same time, the flutist should sing glissando to the next note of the scale (the singing line is here written with squares; according to Artaud’s categories, flute playing and voice singing in parallel movement):

Example 2. Michaël Lévinas, Arsis et Thésis, 1980.

2.2. Singing and playing: Pierre-Yves Artaud’s four categories As I mentioned before in this chapter, Artaud (1995) describes four possibilities of singing and playing simultaneously: 2.2.1. Voice pedal with flute playing: The voice sustains one note while the fingers move

Example 3. Kajsa Saariaho, Laconisme de l’Aile (1982).

12

2.2.2. Flute pedal with voice moving: the flute sustains one note while the voice moves

)

,'

"

(2013). Example 4. Olle Sundström, Rimfrost

-+.

*

2.2.3. Voice singing and flute playing, in parallel movement:

*

.

,' .

+

.

+

Example 5. Marina Cyrino, Old Game (2013).

+

)

" #! $ %&'(&

2.2.4. Voice singing and flute playing: independent lines

#

the bass line (with square

6, the flutist plays the top line, while singing In Example note heads):

#

Example

Embers (2012). 6. Olle Sundström, Floating

3. Speaking and playing # One question comes when we start to investigate deeply all the possibilities of using the voice while playing: where are the boundaries between singing and playing and

playing? and singing

can very The limits between speaking be foggy speaking and

only in this kind of research, but also in a general sense. Most of the flute not methods classify the use of the flutist voice as “singing and playing”. Levine (2002 p.37) suggests a different category than singing and playing: speaking and playing.

#

13

/

$ #

He describes speaking and playing as a popular technique where the flutist speaks words or text sequences over the embouchure hole or directly into the flute, with audible voice as well as unvoiced (whispering). In Kaija Saariaho’s piece, for flute solo and optional electronics, Laconisme de l’Aile (1982), we have an example of different possibilities for speaking and playing. The piece starts with the flutist reciting a text with audible voice with the instrument down, and slowly moves the instrument towards the lips, but also changes from audible voice to whispering voice. In the first bar of the piece (Example 3) we have an example of speaking without the instrument on the lips, with audible voice.

Example 7. Kaija Saariaho, Laconisme de l’Aile (1982).

In bar 19 (Example 8), we have another example of speaking and playing, where the flutist should whisper into the instrument:

Example 8. Kaija Saariaho, Laconisme de l’Aile (1982).

4. Musical examples: Illustrating singing and playing, speaking and playing, and in between. Even if we can assemble the use of the flutist’s voice in two main categories: speaking and playing or singing and playing, the great variety that appears in the flute repertoire is underexplored by the main flute methods. In the following examples from musical works, the flutist has to use the voice in very different ways. My intention is not to establish rigid categories, but to illustrate the large variety of technical possibilities.

14

4.1. Speaking without instrument on lips: In the Examples 9 and 10, the flutist speaks in a normal, audible voice, with the lips off the instrument


Example 10. Toru Takemitsu, Voice (1971).

4.2. Speaking or whispering with instrument on lips: This technique adds a color to the voice, produced by the air sound that comes from speaking with the lips in the traditional playing position. The composer can specify the pitch or not. In this technique the voice will produce a flute air sound that will always have a pitch corresponding to the fingering position for the first octave in the flute. In Phillipe Hurel’s Eólia, for flute solo (Example 11), the flutist should speak a sequence of syllables “cha-ba-le-ge-de” in an ascendant line, but the exact pitches are not specified.

15

Example 11. Philippe Hurel, Eólia (1984).

Example 12 is an excellent example of blurred boundaries between speaking and singing. In Terrestre (2002), by Saariaho, the flutist should speak/sing with the lips in the instrument, and the pitch is determined in the score (in unison or octave with the flute). Even if the flutist uses the vocal cords as when singing, the resulting sound is very close to the spoken voice.

Example 12. Kajsa Saariaho, Terrestre (2002).

4.3. Speaking or whispering into the instrument: In the two following examples, the flutist should speak with audible voice or whispering voice with the mouth covering completely the embouchure hole. As result, we have a muffled, distant sound.


16

œo œ œ œ œ #˙ µ˙ nO o 3

2

KEEP THE NIGHT FROM COMING IN Composed for Marina Cyriano Example 14. Toru Takemitsu, Commissioned by Marina Cyriano Voice (1971).

mp

Key clicks

Voice

SOLO FLUTE

4.4. Whispering into the instrument Performing notes

ï ñ j j ∑ ‚ ‚ ‚ >‚ > No paus between the sections should bepmade. General

Unvoiced sound

K ‚> ‚ ‚r ‚ ‚ > > > >

The piece consists out of 7 sections named A-G wich are free for the performer to play in any order. All sections has to be played at least once. All sections shall be performed from start to the end. Sections may be repeated at a maximum of three times, but shall never be played more than once in a row.

ho

Flute wo!

>‚

Kr >‚ >‚ >‚

>‚

cho

to

to

j >œ

>‚

>‚

cho

>‚

cho

∑

‚ ‚

‰

œ œ

‰ ‰

Accidentals is valid only for the specific note notated at. If nothing else i specified, the notated dynamic is valid for both flute and voice system.

to

ñ

wo!

œ œ

p - to

p - to

Œ

pp

ï

‚™ ‚.

s

Gradually shift from unvoiced whispering “ch” to voiced “o”

-

o

to

w.t b œ ™Singing œo inn wunison or octave is considered the easiest possibility of singing while playing b‚ by the main flute methods. pp

fz

ó #˙˙ o mp

Œ

closed embouchure.

Only air sound

Œ

Unvoiced whispering “Ch” as in Bach

t - ko

All trills shall be performed as timbral trills All glissandos shall be performed as lip glissandos if possible

4.5. Singing in unison or octave

b˙

œ bœ

Œ

By closed embouchure, the composer means that the embouchure hole must be j Œ ‰ ‚ ‚ The broken (dashed) indicates a gradual shift covered witharrow the lips. >‚ from technique to another.

Œ

cho

w.t

‚ b‚

ñ ï ï ‚ ‚ ‚Keep j half open embouchure ‚ ‚Stenberg, Œ The‚Night ‚From Coming Example b‚ n‚ 15.‚ Lisa ‚ ‰ In (2013). > open embouchure pp p

b‚ ‚ >‚ > >

j >œ

‰

Shiftmf graudally from only air sound to full tone

Whistle tone w.t

o Example 16. Kajsa Saariaho, Terrestre (2002).

LISA STENBERG

Voiced sound (sing)

17

4.6. Singing and playing alternately In the following example the flutist should sing the following pitch with a breath tone. The fingering is used to produce the marked pitch; however, the flutist does not produce the normal tone but just blows air through the instrument.

Example 17. Kajsa Saariaho, Mirrors for Flute and Cello (1997).

4.7. Glissando with voice: One resource used very often by composers is to sing a slow glissando. In Example 18, the flutist goes from a B to an Eb with the voice, through a slow glissando. The flutist should also change the vowel sung, while the flute plays another distinct line. A great example (in a single bar!) of a complex combination shows us the fantastic diversity that this technique allows.


4.8. Singing different vowels: Singing different vowels changes the timbre and gives movement to the voice line but also affects the color of the flute sound.

18


4.9. Some random funny examples:

Example 20. Fredrik Högberg, Flight of the Dragonfly (1996).

Example 21. François Rossé, Kotoko uha! Questions de Tempéraments (1997).

5. Throat Tuning In the flute method Tone Development through Extended Techniques (1989), Robert Dick1 introduces us to the Throat Tuning: The tone begins when the air is blown across the edge of the embouchure hole, setting up an oscillation of the air stream in and out of the flute, causing the air inside the instrument to vibrate. But the vibrations pass not only forward from the embouchure into the flute, but back through the mouth, neck and chest of the flutist as well. (Dick, 1989, p. 9)

1 Robert Dick, composer and flutist, is a leading proponent of contemporary music and is know worldwide for his command of extended techniques for flute.

19

According to him, the tone of the flute is a complex combination of the flutist and the flute. The sound of the air vibrating within the flute is resonating also within the body of the flutist. Throat tuning is when the throat of the flutist is in position to resonate best. It happens when the vocal cords are brought to the correct position to sing a pitch. When the vocal cords are held in position to sing a given pitch, the throat is in position to resonate that pitch best. (Dick, 1989, p. 9)

Throat tune should be an important part of the flutist’s practice and can be achieved by only singing, or by singing and playing simultaneously. Mastery of throat tune is achieved by practice of singing and simultaneously singing and playing the flute. (Dick, 1989, p. 9)

6. Reflections Why sing if you’re not a singer? Even today, extended techniques are seen as an optional appendix to the traditional technique. But by going deep into the new flute methods, we began to observe that the systematic study of new techniques brings great benefits. Instead of regarding new sonorities as “strange effects that composers write”, we could recognize the importance of introducing these techniques in the daily practice. Robert Dick (1986) maintains that working with new sonorities will greatly benefit traditional flute playing. The benefits can be the development of the strength, flexibility and sensitivity of the embouchure and breath support. The practice of new techniques can also increase the player’s range of color, dynamics and projection. Another very interesting benefit suggested by Dick is sharpening the musician’s ear. One must hear the desired pitch clearly before playing it when familiar fingerings are not used, and quartertones and smaller microtones sharpen the sense of pitch as well. (Dick, 1986, p. 7)

If we take the singing while playing as an example of a new technique, the development of the inner ear is one of the most important benefits that the flutist can get through practice. To be able to sing and play different voices, the flutist needs to work with memory and inner audition, which can have great effects on traditional playing as well, such as improving the intonation, and strengthening the air support. It should be emphasized that unless the flutist is a trained singer, the vocal cords can be easily strained when singing and playing simultaneously. This specific technique of using the voice should be slowly introduced into the daily practice, always paying attention to the comfort of the vocal chords and the tension of the outside neck muscles. We’ll discuss the challenges of learning and practicing this technique in the next chapter. This will build up over time with daily work, and while caution is important, do not avoid this work – it is too important. (Dick, 1986 p. 9)

20

3

Floating Embers

1. Introduction Floating Embers, by the Swedish composer Olle Sundström2, was written in 2012. The piece, a duo for flute and voice (soprano), was commissioned for my Master’s project, to explore the possibilities of using the voice of the flute player. I will present in this chapter an overview of the piece and discuss the use of the flutist’s voice in this context and my collaboration with the composer. My collaboration with Olle Sundström started in the context of this research. As a current student the same school, he heard through a friend about my project and Spark of of Imagination Flute took the initiative to contact me. From the beginning, Olle Sundström had in his mind o œ A œ œ b œ using œo œ bœ a strong idea: of the flutist. He had already composed other œ œ œ theŒ singing œ ‰ œJvoice ∑ ‰ œ Œ b˙ææ & 44 ∑ pieces using this specific flute technique (for example in Spark of Imagination, written for NEO3 in 2011) and he was interested in continuing to explore it. nœ Olle Sundström

enrgetic

q = 90

f

œ

6

& Œ

p

bœ œ bœ œ œ œ Œ Ó œ ≈bœR Œ

œ

bœ œ Œ œ bœ ‰ Ó

œnœbœ Œ

In the following excerpt of the flute part of Spark of Imagination, composed before the beginning of our collaboration, the flutist should sing in unison with the written bœ œ . œ œ œ b œ œ œ b œ œbœ œ n œ J œn œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ nœ œ œ œbœ œ œ œ ≈æJ ≈æJ ‰ Ó line: & f

3

10

3

3

3

f

mp

bœ œ æœ bœ æ & ‰ æJ ‰ J ‰ æJ ‰ J

2

13

˙ & œ

21

p

˙ & œ

27

p

U & w

33

pp

f

2

B

mysterious tranquil sing

Ó

p

b˙

˙

mf

Œ œ œ b˙

Œ

p

mf

œ œ Œ œ œ œ ˙

Œ

Œ œ œ b˙

Œ

œ œ Œ œ œ œ ˙

Œ bœ ˙ bœ bœ Œ œ bœ bœ ˙

Œ

mf

mf

p

p

C Slightly faster

mf

mf

9

Ó

p

p

q = 100

b˙

˙

mf

mf

45

p

mf

p

∑

44

2

Example 22. Olle Sundström, Spark of Imagination (2011). © Olle Sundström 2011

2 Olle

Sundström was born in 1989 in Stockholm, Sweden. He has studied musicology, music psychology and composition at the University of Uppsala, and is currently studying composition with Professor Jan Sandström at Musikhögskolan / the School of Music, in Piteå. He has composed for different chamber music ensembles, choir, orchestra, and film.

3

NEO - Norrbotten NEO is a Swedish ensemble, being charged with promoting contemporary art music on a national basis. The ensemble consists of seven musicians employed full-time and has Studio Acusticum in Piteå as its home base. One of my flute teachers, Sara Hammarström, is part of the ensemble.

21

One of the main characteristics that will run through the whole collaboration between Olle Sundström and myself is his interest in the singing voice of the flutist. In Floating Embers, he explores it in many different ways.

Figure 5. Olle Sundström and Marina Cyrino in an “Experimentation Session”, Piteå, 2012.

2. Floating Embers: a walk around extended flute techniques Floating Embers, written for flute and voice (soprano) can be considered a tripartite composition, each part with a different character: - First section: Edgy, bar 1 to 38 - Second section: Mysterioso, bar 39 to 58 - Third section: Intense, bar 59 to 104 Floating Embers requires from the flutist the use of other extended techniques besides singing and playing. These techniques will be mentioned briefly. 2.1. First Section: EDGY In the first section of Floating Embers, the voice of the flutist has no major role. The technique is used but the composer emphasises other effects. Edgy starts with flute air sounds and flutter tongue while the singer has a soft line mixing different vowels and phonemes, creating a delicate airy atmosphere. This first part of the piece explores several effects that require knowledge of extended techniques, both in the flute and the singer’s part.

22

!"

!"

# The use of the flutist’s voice begins as singing voice. More precisely, it’s a flute pedal with singing line. The flutist should sing a melodic make a line that goes from Eb, Eb. glissando to F# and back to the Eb,while the fingers sustain an

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#

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Example 23. Floating Embers, bar 18 to 24.

- . /

$ # # Edgy (bar 1 – 38) starts with flute air sounds and

flutter tongue while the singer has a )* +,+ $$ * soft line mixing different vowels and phonemes, creating a delicate airy atmosphere. This firstpart

of the piece explores several effects that require knowledge of extended techniques,!"both in the flute and the singer’s part. The extended flute techniques

will

be described with examples from the score. # Frulatti or Flutter Tongue

p. 12) flutter Levine (2002 the as one of the most popular techniques classifies tongue

in new music. According to him, this technique has achieved the status of “classical

new technique” because of its widespread use. The flutter tongue can be obtained in two different ways, by tongue or by throat: “By wagging the tongue or by vibration of the throat” Artaud (1995, p. 19). #

In Floating Embers both tongue and throat techniques can be used. The flutter tongue is also combined with aeolian or air sound, for example in the first bar of the piece.

' (

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)* +,+

Example 24. Floating Embers, bar 1.

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One special characteristic of this piece is the combination of the flute flutter tongue (written as “uvular R” in bar flutter in a mysterious and the singer tongue 5), resulting

flutesound and the singer’s voice.

fusion # between the

23

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Tongue Ram (Percussive Effect)

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Example25. Floating Embers, bar 1 to 6. #

According to Artaud

p.117), to produce this effect (1995, the flutist must close the hole of the mouthpiece with the tongue in a forceful way, without expiring any air. $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ ' ( in This effect results a tone a major seventh lower than the original finger position notated in the score. The for example in bar

effect is used 38 of Floating Embers.

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$Floating $ $ $Embers, Example 26. to 38. $ $ bar $36 $ $ $

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Slap tongue or tongue pizzicato (Percussive Effect) 0

# #

Levine (2002) pizzicato is produced normal the

the tongue by modifying

# of the tongue. articulation “The tip of the tongue lies firmly on the roof of the mouth )* +,+ $$ * air stream, to the bottom” by a strong and then, supported is explosively thrown

(2002, p. 25). In Floating Embers, the slap tongue is used for example in the first Eb of the

!"

bar 19.

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ %& %& %& %& # explains that

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1

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Jet Whistle !" !" semi-pitched resonances of Robert Dick (1989 p. 142) defines jet whistles as breathy, $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ %& hole between the lips and flute’s the embouchure tube, produced by placing

the

effect.

into the flute. It results blowing in a very directly loud and aggressive

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)* +,+ $ $ $ $ $ Example$28. $Floating $ $ Embers, $ $ $ 28. $ $ bar$27

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!" embouchure

Trumpet

Levine (2002, p.18) defines trumpet embouchure 3 as a tone created through a # combination of lip tension, air pressure and resonating spaces. The lips are pressed together and vibrate a strong exhaling pressure.

through tightly #

combination between Floating Embers, the the trumpet embouchure, produced on In

the embouchure hole, and the fingers moving in a fast trill, creates a very innovative $ %&

and fun texture.

+ % - .

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Example 29. Floating Embers, bar 29-30. $$ *

2.2. Second Section:

MYSTERIOSO

second In the Embers, part of Floating a melodic character replaces the effects of the melodic line, which is disturbed by the first part. The flute has a calm cantabile introduction of the flutist’s voice in bar 48: &' &' &' #

2 2

Example 30. Floating Embers, bar 48-49.

/

/

25

Here the flutist should sing the phoneme ta-ke-te in the notated pitch, different from the pitch of the flute sound, creating multiple sonorities. The flutter tongue is the only effect introduced in the first part that is also used in the Mysterioso (except for singing and playing).

2.3. Third Section: INTENSE

1

1

1

1

1

The Intense part starts with a canonical duet between the flute and the singer. This final part of the piece can be subdivided in two, according to the different uses of the singing

and playing technique. First, in bars 59 to 67, the singing and playing is explored as in the Mysterioso, through technique the thematic phonemes “ta-ke-te”. The difference is that in this the flutist sings only in octaves with the flute 1 1 third part 1 line.


Singing in unison or octaves with the note played is fairly easy to perform and produces little or no modulation. Singing in others intervals with played note is more difficult […]. (Dick, 1989, p. 143)

bar end, and gives 67 A new material last is presented from to the to this # thematic part

flutist’s

voice its main character. The use of the reaches its maximum complexity in this section. Here the flutist has to sing a melodic bass line, and simultaneously play a

flute. 1 melodic line The intervals created by the two lines give the harmonic in the progression.

#

1

Embers, Example # 32. Floating bar 73 to78.

here to invert the typical of The

roles the flute andthe singer. The composer wanted flute creates chords and a melodic bass line, and the soprano sings in a very high

register, the typical register of the flute, imitating a flute. As result, we have a melting the between the voice of the flutist and the voice of the singer. It can be tricky for

audience to distinguish the singer. flutist

is singing,

or the # who

1

26

#

This is the most difficult part for the flutist when it comes to the use of the voice. The challenges and solutions found through practice will be discussed in more detail later in this chapter. One last interesting detail of this piece concerns the singer’s part. The composer explores a very high register of the voice, culminating on g3:

#

# Embers and the use of the flutist’s voice 3. Floating


Floating Embers is an innovative piece, since it combines flute sound not only with

the flutist’s voice butalso with the voice now, of a singer. Until in my research about

other pieces that use the voice of the flutist, I found only one written for this kind of

setting.

“… como regatos e árvores” (2006) by Rafael Nassif, a Brazilian composer, is writtenfor flute and voice (baritone). In this piece the flutist has to sing while playing. pedal and Here we have an flutist’s voice singing: excerptwith flute #

#

Example 34. Rafael Nassif, “…como regatos e árvores” (2006).

In Floating is used in a traditional established way (if Embers, the voice of the flutist voice of the “normal” and “traditional” can be used in this kind of context…). The

flutist is always explored as a singing voice, but mainly in two different ways. Most

/

$ #

#

27

3

of the time, the composer uses the voice to create a counterpoint of distinct melodic lines, exploring the polyphonic facet of the flute. An excerpt of the third part of the piece shows us an example of flute pedal with moving voice. While the flute sound sustains a C, the flutist sings a melodic line.

#

bar 67 to71. Example 35. Floating Embers, #

Another excerpt from the third part (Example 36) shows us again an example of

singing voice while playing, butthis time in its maximum complexity and difficulty

#


voice Each bar can an of pedal separately example

with flute be considered amoving #

part, but in a larger context, the bass line that the flutist should sing is also moving. Here, the singing line is not only a color added to the flute sound, but it has an

important harmonic role, creating chords through a bass line. Thisuse of the voice is

very tricky and requires a lot of practice so that the flutist is able to

remember to sing voice the right pitch with a good intonation between intervals create by the flutist’s and the flute. It’s also necessary/

$ # to find a good balance between the voice and the flute sound and keep the continuityof both lines.

#

The other kind of using the singing voiceof theflutist, not as a second melodic line, 3 articulation was to use the voice as a color to produce a different kind result in the

sound. The flutist has to

play repeated notes while singing

“ta – ke– te”.

28

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#

1

1

1

1

1

$

1

1

1

1 1


of combined syllables (ta-ka-ta / te-ke-te/ du-gu-du) appears in most of the This #kind 1for the tongue flute methods, but usually the syllables are used just as reference position, to produce different tongue attacks. It meansthat imagines the flutist only and tries to the syllables keep the mouth’s shape, but doesn’t use the vocal cords. In this piece, the composer asks the flutist to sing while playing, so the articulation 1 becomes noisy, rough, even grotesque. The challenge here was to produce a clear staccato sound. The composertakes advantage one aspect be seen as a that could of limitation. #

sonorities 1 Unless the flutist has an exceptionally clear voice, however, the multiple created by singing and playing simultaneously are usually of a rather coarse, often noisy timbre. (Dick, 1989, p. 143)

We can find this kind of articulation in Eólia (1984) by Philippe Hurel. The sounds 1 “te-ke-te” are spoken, without simultaneous flute playing, and not sung in a specific pitch as in Floating Embers. #

1

Hurel, Eólia Example 38. Philippe (1984).

#

1

1

4. Practicing Floating Embers: challengesand solutions In this section, specific passages in Floating Embers where the flutist’s voice is requiredwill be discussed. The focus will be the challenges I’ve faced and practice tips that I’ve found during my practice of the piece to solve those challenges.

Floating Embers was the first collaboration in my Master project. Even if I had some previous experience of extended flute techniques, the use of the voice while playing was a new technique for me. Levine (2002) suggest a simple practice tip for flutists that are starting to learn singing and playing: The flutist should produce a vocalized sound while exhaling without the flute, then move the flute slowly towards the mouth and increase the intensity of the air until a flute tone appears. One important point to

29

focus on is that the outside neck muscles should be relaxed. The air pressure must be strong enough to overcome the resistance presented by the vocal cords. (Levine, 2002, p.20) One of the first challenges I faced practicing Floating Embers was that of finding a good balance between the melodic line produce by the flute and that produced by my voice. When I started practicing the piece, I could sing quite loud but then I lost the focus of the flute tone, or I could produce a great flute tone but then my voice was too soft. Finding a balance has to do with the relation between the lines. For example, if the voice is used to add a color in the flute line then the flutist can sing softly. If the singing line has an important polyphonic role, then the flutist can aim for an equal balance between the lines. Or, if the flutist has to speak a clear text, then the voice can be more prominent than the flute sound. The flutist should develop through practice the ability to perform with all these different kinds of balance. Another challenge is one that is directly related to singing: to remember the right pitch. As a flutist, I didn’t have so much training in that, just normal solfeggio education. And it was really hard to sing a tone while the fingers press another tonekey in the flute. In the beginning, the voice automatically sang in unison with the flute. It took some time to separate the movement of the fingers from the voice. One strategy I used was to sing the melodic line without blowing in the flute, but just moving the finger positions, so I could separate the two melodic lines in my mind. Through practice I found some solutions that helped me a lot. I had great help from Robert Dick’s Tone Development through Extended Techniques. Robert Dick’s “Throat Tune” technique was introduced in the previous chapter. Here I’ll mention one of the exercises he proposes that proved very helpful in my own practice.

Example 39. Robert Dick (1986, p.10), Throat Tune Exercise.

This exercise (Example 39) can be adapted to specific passages in a piece and is a great tool for memorizing the singing part; at the same time it also helps improving the traditional flute technique (as we discussed previously in Chapter 2, section 5, throat tune allows the flutist to achieve maximum resonance of the flute sound). Now the passages of Floating Embers that require the use of the flutist’s voice will be presented with my systematization of the learning process:

30

$ $ $ $ $ $4.1. $Passage $ $ from $ ((

bar 19 $ to $ 26: $Voice $ $glissando $ $ $with $flute $ pedal


In this example we have flute pedal with moving voice. The flutist starts to Challenge:

$ $ $ $ $ $sing in %& unison

difficulty here is to sing with the flute. The major a clear glissando and keep the dynamics required by the composer.

- . Practice Tips:

the glissando from the Eb to the F# with the dynamics written /

$ # Practice in the score only voice. When it’s comfortable, just sing and play. The main with 3

the

voices. singer to blend idea is to work with the the two

$$ *

4.2. Bar 37 %

2

+ %

1

# % Example 41. Floating Embers, bar 37.

*$# In this example the flutist has to sing an F and play a C#. Challenge:

%&

%&

%

2 2 Example 42. Floating Embers, bar 49 to 51.

1

1

.

/

31

2

2

/

%

The F from the

so the in the previous bar;it is the final note of the singer’sphrase, voice can be heard

flutist should pay attention and take &' the tone from&'there. The difficulty here is the &' &' dynamics indicated, in the pp dynamics, the natural tendency is to play the C# in the flute an octave lower.

of the

Imagine Practice Tips: the sound of the C# in the second octave flute, %

just

singing. helped find the “right” imagination before playingand This memory me to 2 2 C#.

4.3. Passage from bar 47 to 52: Singing “ta ke te” in different tones / /

%&

.

/

Challenge: The passage has been discussed previously in the section 3 of this chapter. Here I took the example of bar 49 to 51, but it’s valid for the whole passage from bar 47 to 52. The challenges are: to remember the right pitch and find a good staccato articulation. Practice Tips: For the voice memory training I found good results following these steps. a) Play the voice line with the flute:

Example 43. Practice Journal.

b) Play the flute and sing alternately (don’t play the flute part during the singing part)


c) Play the flute and sing alternately (don’t play the flute part but move the fingers)


d) Play and sing as written

32

4.4. Passage from bar 55 to 66: Sing “Ta-ke-te” in octaves with the flute line

#

1

1

1

1

Example 46. FloatingEmbers, bar 55 to 56.

it’s much more simple to sing in octaves with the flute line, the Challenge: Although $ 1 1 1 challenge of singing and playing a staccato articulation is still the main focus.

1

Practice Tips: Practice slowly, singing and playing simultaneously as written until it’s possible to produce a short and clear articulation.

#

4.5. Passage from bar 67 from 72: Flute pedal with moving voice.

#

1

1

#

Challenge: In this passage the major challenges are to find a balance between the Example 47. Floating Embers, bar 67 to 72.

flutist’s voice and the flute line and to sing the tone G from bar 72 (since it’s a difficult interval to sing and play simultaneously). # Practice Tips:

1

to practice the two the passage a) For the balance between starting I recommend lines

with a good tone in the voice and an air sound in the flute line, then slowly increasing

1 the pressure of the air to find a focus sound on the flute. After several times it becomes natural for the lips to sing and find a good C tone directly.

#

#

Example 48. Practice Journal. 1

#

33

#

b) During the practice, playing the voice line with the flute proved to be the best way for memorizing the voice part.


c) To solve the difficulty of singing the tone G while playing an A in the flute (bar 72), I practiced starting to sing the G a little bit earlier, in unison with the flute. It worked very well and it allowed me to be confident of the tone I had to sing.

Example

50. Practice

Journal.

d) Play and sing as written

#

89: 4.6. from bar 67to The complexity distinct lines Passage of singing and playing

#

Embers, Example 51. bar 73 to 78. Floating

The specific difficulty Challenge: here is to memorize the vocal part and to find a good balance between the voice and the flute part. In this part the voice line has line; harmonic significance a bass to find a good tone it’s therefore in being important

# and continuity during the whole section.

I found

results good following these Practice Tips: steps.

a) Play only the flute part, with a natural open sound, legato and a very continuous air stream.

#

34

/

$ #

#


b) Play the voice line with the flute (an octave higher, because of the flute range) to memorize it % !

Journal. Example 53. Practice

voice to memorize sing find a continuous

in octave

the c) Play and and air line, to

%

flow

%

Example 54.Practice Journal

d) Sing the whole voice line and only move the fingers from the flute part

% e) Sing and play as written

Passage 4.7. from bar89 to 96

%

Example

55.

Embers, bar 89 to96.

Floating

0

4

%

%

35

4

Challenge: The only difficulty is to find the tone D with the voice, as it has not appeared before. Practice Tips: I have no specific recommendation. It’s a question of memory training, and it requires from the flutist to practice their inner ear. I used the tone C, played in bar 88, to find the tone D.

5. Collaboration 5.1. Introduction The collaboration with Olle Sundström started when I was looking for composers interested in this research project and available for participating in it. As described in the introduction to this chapter, he took the initiative to contact me and he had a strong interest for using the singing voice of the flutist. When he first contacted me, he had already in mind the setting of the piece: a duo for flute and soprano. The singer that would participate in the project was also chosen: Josefine Gellwar Madsen, a soprano with whom he had already collaborated in other compositions of his. The first contact we had was in May 2012, through an informal conversation. The actual collaborative work started in September 2012. At this point, we had our first meeting with defined roles as composer and performer, where I played for him some extended techniques presented is this chapter as trumpet sound, tongue ram, slap tongue and some possibilities of using the flutists voice. After that first meeting, the composer showed me some sketches and soon after that we started the rehearsals of the first version of the piece with the singer. The process of composing the piece was from September 2012 to November 2012. After that, only small adjustments were made to the score. The piece was premiered in December 2012. Most of the collaboration consisted in rehearsals with me and the singer and discussions on the realization of the score. Even if the piece was mainly finished in November 2012 the collaboration remained until April 2013. A studio recording of Floating Embers was made in March 2013. The composer remained very active and interested in all rehearsals, recording sessions and performances. 5.2. Collaborative patterns One of the aims of this research is to explore the use of the flutist’s voice through collaboration. Here I’ll try to describe the impact I had as a performer during the collaboration process. I’ll look to the interaction and changes made to the piece during the process of composition of Floating Embers. Returning to the patterns of collaboration presented in Chapter One, two models of collaboration proved relevant to this research: John-Steiner (2000) and Hayden and Windsor (2007). It’s always difficult to categorize such a complex process as an artistic collaboration. My intent is to conduct a dialogue with these theoretical models, not to downplay the role of the experience.

36

John-Steiner presents four patterns of work collaboration: Distributed, Complementary, Family and Integrative. My collaboration with Olle Sundström was mainly of the ‘Complementary’ kind, with small traces of ‘Integrative’ collaboration. The reason for classifying the collaboration as complementary was based on the respective roles: the composer did the writing and I did the playing and gave feedback on flute notation; we discussed how to translate his ideas on sound into flute notation and the possibilities of using my voice. Our conversations served as inspiration and material for his compositional ideas. I also found a pattern of Integrative collaboration in our work. We shared a desire to explore new possibilities of music. Even if a simple detail such as using the voice while playing doesn’t seem so revolutionary, I believe it was the beginning of an integrative pattern. I cannot say, however, that it was a fully ‘Integrative collaboration’, for two reasons. First, the composer already had a passion for the singing voice before starting to exchange ideas with me. Second, Integrative collaboration requires prolonged periods of committed activity and we didn’t had enough time to develop this kind of relationship.

2

Hayden and Windsor (2007) discuss patterns of artistic collaboration specifically applied to a musical and propose three distinct categories: ‘Directive’,

context

‘Interactive’ and ‘Collaborative’. with Olle Sundström can be My

collaboration considered ‘Interactive’, mainly because

it included negotiation

between composer andperformer, but the composer is still the author of the piece.

5.3. Examples *$#

of negotiation: focus on the flutist’s voice

As the piece was commissioned for this project, the main impact that I had in this case

is connected to my own voice. The process of collaboration was centered in details around the possibilities and limits of my own voice. This discussion will be reintroduced in Chapter 6.

The and timbre. When it came to the question piece was written tofit to my register whether it could be played by another flutist with a low voice, the composer

2 In one of the versions of Floating Embers the composer wrote a tone, f , that was have the grotesque effect, so we decided to quite high for my voice and also didn’t it by one

octave lower

%&

that it was possible but would result in a different piece. commented

%&

%&

1 1

Example 56. Floating Embers, bar 47, earlier version.

.

.

37

&'

&'

&'

($#

2 2

Floating final version. bar 47 and 48, Embers, 57. Example

to the One of the changes piece that the composer made during the rehearsals was

passage in the piece I had to sing at a pitch for / At / related to memorizing a pitch. one which I had no previous reference, so we agreed to change it to one that I had just In bar 48 played and could easily remember. the tone A (in the flutist´s voice line) (Example 56, bar 48). This made it

by thetone was replaced F in the final

version for other easier

for me and flutists that will play this piece but didn’t affect the ofthe sound. %& idea %&

composer’s main

%&

2

2

/

/ / /

Example 58. Floating Embers, bar 47 - 48, earlier version.

/

6. Reflections ,

,

One aspect of thecollaboration that was not discussed until now is the role of the singer in the She was involved partnership. in this project only as a performer and she didn’t have a thesis oracomposition to write. Naturally, she wasn’t as much involved in the for several / discussions as we / were reasons such as shortage of time or lack of remuneration for her work. Still, the singer was a very committed performer and / interested in the piece. She also had a great influence on the piece and we should have found a way to exchange and integrate more our ideas about the collaboration.

The informal part of the collaboration with Olle, short conversations in the corridor,

break, for example, had a positive impact on the process. or during a coffee ,sessions $ and $ rehearsals $ $ $ $ be a little uncomfortable or rigid in the Experimentation can beginning, when you don’t know the composer in advance. Small informal moments, including after a concert, are extremely e-mails, phone calls and short conversations important to create a more spontaneous bond that will be reflected in the actual collaboration work. Something that I believe to be part of my strongest input in the process of the composition of Floating Embers started with a question asked by the composer in the corridor of the school: “What can you sing?” The special agency of my voice in the process of collaboration will be discussed in Chapter 6.

,

$ $

$

composer and involved The in the project were satisfied with the piece, the musicians , $ $ $ , $ $ the final score, the first performance and the studio recording. The composer’s

38

interest in the singing voice allowed him to explore deeply that aspect of the technique. Even if my input consists in small details, these details shouldn’t be underestimated. In these small exchanges, great creative ideas can grow. The collaboration worked marvellously, also with the deadlines, a very important detail in a project linked to a thesis.

Figure 6. Olle Sundström, Marina Cyrino, Mattias Wessel and Josefine Gellwar Madsen recording Floating Embers, Piteå, 2013.

39

4

Keep the Night from Coming In

1. Introduction This chapter presents and discusses the piece Keep the Night from Coming In (2013) for solo flute, the result of my collaboration with the Swedish composer Lisa Stenberg4. The piece was also commissioned for my Master’s project, to explore the possibilities of using the voice of the flute player. I will present an overview of the piece and discuss the use of the flutist’s voice in this context and my collaboration with the composer, which will be compared to that described in the previous chapter. The collaboration with Lisa Stenberg started in November 2012, in the context of this research. She was suggested by one of my flute teachers, Sara Hammarström, as a possible composer that would have an interest in participating in a collaboration project. Lisa had also studied in Piteå, but when I started my project she had already moved to Stockholm. An important difference from the previous collaboration is related to the distance. We met in person only four times. The greater part of the process was thus conducted through e-mails and Skype meetings. Our collaboration started with an e-mail, where I explained my research project and asked if she was interested in joining it. Luckily, she showed great interest, and we developed a rich collaboration. Another strong contrast to the collaboration with Olle Sundström was the duration of the compositional process. Lisa Stenberg and I started to exchange ideas in November 2012 but the piece was not finished until April 2013, exactly two weeks before I started writing this chapter. The process of experimentation was very long and 4 Lisa Stenberg: Composer,

Performer, Sweden. In, 2007 she began her studies at the Bachelor Program in Music, Composition at the department for Arts, Communication and Education, Luleå University of Technology under the guidance of Professor Jan Sandström. In 2010, she entered the Master Program in Music Performance, Composition. As a composer, she embraces ensembles of various sizes and constellations, ranging from symphony orchestra to solo musicians. She is working with acoustic music, electro acoustic music and combinations of those expressions. Non-musical ideas and the sounds themselves are often at the center and the starting point for her work in which the ideas are explored and molded into a sonic shape. During the years she has also collaborated with dancers and performance artists, created sound design for theater and composed for documentary film and art film. As a performer she appears with sound works and improvisations based on real-time processing of different sound sources, solo as well as in different constellations with other musicians or dancers.

40

interesting and the time to practice the final version of the piece was very short. The piece has not yet been performed in public. A studio recording has been made for the purpose of this research. All these factors will affect the structure of this chapter. One very important remark is that the collaboration with Lisa Stenberg is still in progress. Even if the piece is mainly finished, small changes in the score are still possible. Even if Keep the Night From Coming In just got out of the oven, I feel comfortable in presenting the several aspects of the flutist’s voice. I have a lot of material to discuss in this chapter due to the amount of sketches that the composer produced. A large part of the material for the piece was already present in the sketches that I tested and discussed, beginning in February 2013.

Figure 7. Lisa Stenberg and Marina Cyrino in an ‘Experimentation Session’, Piteå, 2012.

2. Keep the Night From Coming In: an overview 2.1. An open score One of the most interesting outcomes of this collaboration regards the form of the piece. Keep the Night from Coming In consists out of seven sections, which are free for the performer to play in any order. The requirements of the composer are the following: all sections shall be played at least once; all sections shall be performed from start to end; sections may be repeated at a maximum of three times but never be played more than twice in a row. I understand the form of the piece as a direct outcome of our collaboration and I will discuss this subject in depth in section 4 of this chapter. The open nature of the score will also affect the structure of this chapter, in contrast to the structure of Chapters 3 and 5. Rather than presenting linearly all the specific uses of the flutist’s voice and then discussing the challenges and solutions arrived at through practice, each section of the piece will be presented separately. In each section the focus will be the description and discussion of the use of the flutist’s voice and relevant comments.

41

KEEP THE NIGHT FROM COMING IN Composed for Marina Cyriano

Commissioned byclosed Marinaembouchure Cyriano 2.2. Open, half open, and

One of the distinctive features of the piece is that it explores a very interesting aspect SOLO FLUTE of the flute: the closed embouchure.

Performing notes In the score Lisa Stenberg indicates a range of degrees of openness of the mouthpiece: open, half-open and closed. Open embouchure is the traditional position of the lips. In General the closed embouchure, the flute player produces sounds by sending breath through piece consists out ofp.1). 7 sections A-Gshould wich arecover free for completely the performer to in any order. the fluteThe (Manabe, 2008, Thenamed flutist theplayembouchure All sections has to be played at least once. with theAlllips and air from sounds sounds. In chapter 2, musical sections shallproduce be performed start toor thevoiced end. examples usingmay thebeclosed were 13,more 14 than andonce 15).in a row. Sections repeatedembouchure at a maximum of threeintroduced times, but shall(Examples never be played No paus between the sections should be made. A peculiarity of the closed embouchure is that is not possible to produce a regular Accidentals is valid only for the specific note notated at. flute tone with thisi specified, technique. Blowing inside hole doesn’t produce If nothing else the notated dynamic is validthe for embouchure both flute and voice system. the friction needed for producing a flute tone. The possibilities of using closed Flute embouchure are air sounds, singing or whispering. All trills shall be performed as timbral trills All glissandos shall be performed as lip glissandos if possible closed embouchure. half open embouchure open embouchure

Example 59. Keep The Night from Coming In, performance notes. The broken (dashed) arrow indicates a gradual shift from technique to another.

The transitions between half and closed embouchures allow the exploration of different colors for the air sounds. Flutists can play with many shades of air sounds and whispering voice. The closed embouchure results in a hollow, stifled sound. Only air sound 2.3. Extended flute techniques

Keep The Night from Coming In contains numerous relevant extended flute techniques: multiphonics, key clicks sounds, air sounds, flutter tongue, embouchure glissando, whistle tones. The techniques that weren’t mentioned in the previous chapters will be described briefly. Shift graudally from only air sound to full tone

Whistle tone w.t

42

ñ O Ó

Œ

mf

Œ

ï j ‚> ‰

ï j ‚> ‰ >‚ >‚

j >‚

j ‰ >‚ >‚ >‚

to

ñ O Œ

ï j Œ ‚>

p

j >‚

Œ

ñ flz. brato æ ‚ÍÍÍÍÍ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ˙æ Œ ˙ œ

p

to

to

Multiphonics

˙mf

j >‚

gliss.

mf

j bœ p

‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ t - t - t - t - t - t - t - t

to j The flute’s ‚ capacity œ ˙ produce from two to five pitches simultaneouslythhas been clearly and has historical >‚ established, o roots that go back as far as the early 19 century. (Dick, chi - o

LISA to STENBERG

to

1989, p. 83)

œ™

mf gliss.

j bœb œ

Acquiring a fluid multiphonic technique is a long-term process, and a major challenge.

flz. wealth of the flute’s multiphonic capacity is extraordinary, and each player will glissThe .

bœ

mf

æ

undoubtedly find the types of sonorities Œ that most speak to him or her. (Dick, 1986, p.36) p #œ œ ≈ #œ œ ˙

˙

gliss.

bœ

f mf In Keep The Night from Coming In threemfmultiphonics are used, and they are one of gliss. piece, the bœmost difficult technical challenges if the flutist is not familiar with ˙ gliss. œ of ˙ the bœ the technique: o p

mf

o

œ bœ

mf

˙

Example 60. Keep the Night from Coming In, section A. flz.

œ œ œR˙ #˙ ææ≈ ≈ ˙˙ Œ ˙ ˙˙gliss. bœ µ˙ o ppp mf o ppp o pp mf

˙

p

to

ñ ˙˙ó # ‚ ‚™ ó ˙ . ‚ ‚ ‚ . ‚ ‚ ‚ o ‚mp p ‚‚ ‰ œ . b‚. n‚. ‚. ‚. . . ‚‰ o p

œ™

flz.

A multiphonic is an extended technique in óinstrumental music in which a monophonic ˙˙ one note at a time) is made to produce j j instrumentO (one which˙ generally ‚™produces ‚ #only ‚> >‚ several notes at once. (Robinson, 2011,.p. 9) o mp p

to

‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ t - t - t - t - t - t - t œ

‰

ñ æ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ˙æ ï

œ

˙

o p

gliss.

bœ

mp

mf

Example 61. Keep the Night from Coming In, section C.

Key click without flute sound: Key clicks without sound are purely percussive events, which depend on the resonance volume of the body of the flute. When the embouchure hole is covered by the lips, the key clicks will sound a major seventh lower. (Levine, 2002 p.27)

Key clicks

Example 62. Keep the Night from Coming In, performance notes. Voice

In Keep the Night From Coming In the key click sounds are used as percussive effects with open and closed embouchure, but also in between. Unvoiced sound


Voiced sound (sing)

43

‰ œ™ œ > >

& Œ

mf

¢&

™ >œ >œ s

to

Ó

œ gliss.bœ ˙˙ o

˙

mf

˙

˙

o p

mf

ï ó ° & œ œœ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ‰ Œ

œ gliss. bœ

ñ

Œ ppp

œ #œ œ

œ nœ

p

mf

3

mf

ó wide vibrato C extremely ˙ ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ° Œ ˙˙ & Embouchure glissando ‚. . . .gliss. . . . . bœ o mf pp

ñ

ó #˙˙ n˙˙ o mp o o

Ÿ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ‚ ‚ ‚ . ‚. . . ‚. ‚ ¿¿¿¿¿ ∑ . ‚. b‚. ‚ ‚ ‚b‚ œ œ œnœ ˙

¢&

œ

œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ nœ

‚ b‚. n‚. ‚. .

ppp

mf

wo

Example 63. Keep the Night from Coming In, section B.

‚. . . .gliss. . . . . bœ

ppp

mf

œ

Œ

pp

mf

Ó ˙˙ o

œ Œ J ‰ ppp

˙˙ o

mf

Glissandi in flute literature can be understood as seamless transitions from one tone to & ¢ another. They can be Embouchure or Fingering glissando. Keep The Night From Coming In uses embouchure or lip glissando. The technique is produced by changing Copyright © 2013 LISA STENBERG the lip tension or by turning the instrument inward (to produce a descending glissando) or outward (to produce an ascending glissando) (Levine, 2002, p.45).

œo œ œgliss. œ œ #˙ µ˙ O o

3

Œ œglisbs.œ ˙

œ

p

mp

œ

œ Œ

gliss.

˙

bœ bœ œ o œ œ œ œ œ #˙ µ˙ nO o 3

œ ≈R ≈ ppp

mf

mp

o

ï j j ‚> >‚


Œ

j ‚>

‰ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ‰ >‚ b>‚Timbral trills

cha

>‚

j >‚

Œ

cha

‚ ‰ b‚ rK ‚ ‚> >‚ > ‚ > > > >‚ >‚

Œ

Œ

#œ ææ

ñ ‚ ‚ p

‰ Œ j ∑ fingerings Timbral trills are between two notes‰of the same Krpitch. Trillingœj alternative œ œ œ >‚ >‚ >‚ >‚ >‚ >‚ >‚ >‚ >‚ > > of this same tone produces the variations of the same tone. This technique produces a

cha

cho

cho

cho

cho

cho

to

to

to

woh!

ñ

coloristic effect in a same tone.

Œ

∑

ï j ‚>

‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Œ b‚ n‚ ‚ ‚

‰Whistle j ‚j Œ ‚> >tones

>‚

j j slow j ‰ ‰extremely Œ j focused Œ Œ but air ‚stream across the edge of the embouchure holeŒ >‚ >‚ > >‚ >‚ >‚ >œ

cho

œ™ fz

n˙ ‰ ææ

cho

>‚

cho

œ. w.t˙ J

pp

bœ ææ #æœ œ ææ mf

j ‰ ‚>

mf

b‚ ‚ >‚ > >

Œ

The flute whistle tone, also known as the flageolet, is produced by blowing an Whisper over the edge of the blowing wall cho chotones are woh!the sound of the cho air breaking cho cho cho without exciting the air in the flute’s tube into vibration. (Dick, 1986, p.26) Any standard fingering can be used, but low-octave fingerings enable the flutist to produce the harmonic throughout the flute range. w.t . series

w.t œ b˙ b œ ™ œo bw.t˙ b œ ™ œo nw tones are echo of a loud Œ In Keep TheJ Night from#˙˙Coming In, whistle Œ used as abdelicate b‚ ‚ flute sound. pp fz pp o mp o fz mf pp fz mf

œ™

‰ #æœ æ

Œ

œ œ bœ n œ

p

œ a

œ bœ

œ

ï

n˙ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ Œ ‚™ ‚. 44

n˙

ó #˙˙ o mp

o

‚ ‚

‰

‰

œ œ

‰

p - to

>‚ b>‚ ‚ > f >‚

Œ

woh!

‰

p - to

ï ‚

ñ ‚

ï j ‚>

‚

‚

j >‚

pp

s

p

-

o

to

mf

Œ

‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚

o - to - to - to - to - to

ó œ™ F

œ. w.t˙ J

ubato

cho

fz

t and gentle

>‚

cho

j >‚

‰

>‚

cho

j >‚

cho

œ. w.t˙ J

œ™

Œ

pp

= 55) fz

>‚

pp

j >œ

cho

j >‚

Œ

woh!

‰

cho

>‚

>‚

cho

Œ

>‚

cho

Œ

cho

w.t œ. b ˙ b œ ™ œo bw.t˙ b œ ™ œo COMING IN JKEEP THE #˙˙ NIGHT FROM Œ b‚ b‚ pp pp o mp o fz mf fz mf

œ™

Œ

Œ

fz

nw w.t

pp

Aï ñ ñ ñ ï ñ ï ï ï ï ï j Œ j Ó O j j j j j j Ó ‰ Ó ∑ ‰ ‰ Ó Œ ‰ O O O O O O O ‚> ‚> ‚> >‚ ‚> ‚> ‚> ‚> ‰ >‚ >‚ ó pp 2.4.p The use mf of the flutist’s pp p mf pp p pp mf ï voice Gmf flz. b œ j æŒ œ j œ j j ‰ j ‰ œ ˙˙ó Œ # Œ Œ ‚ ‚> œæ æ >‚ æ œ œ œ #œ n˙ ‰ ‚> #œ œ ‰ #œ ‚ ‚ ‚™ æ œ . > > >‚ >‚ æ b œ n ˙ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ 2.4.1. The melting points æ æ æ æ æ æ œ æ æ n œ to p to æ to to to to to æ ææ æ æ o mp o æ p 3 ï Keep The mfNightñ From Coming In plays around limits and boundaries. The piece ñ ï ï flz. explores the melting point œbetween flutist’s and the flute sound, between œ bœ œthe n˙ j Œ voice ææ ‚ ‚ ‚ j j j Œ j j ‰ Œ O O O gliss.(open ‚ ‚ ‚spaces ‚ ‚ ‚inside ‚ ‚ and ˙ outside œ thea œflute bœ and>‚ closed >‚embouchure), ‚> ‚> >‚ between whispered KEEP THE NIGHT FROM COMING IN 3 Example 65. Keep the Night from Coming In, section E.

p

and voiced sounds, mf between the p air and the flute tone. pp p Copyright © 2013 LISA STENBERG

j ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Composed ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ for Marinaœ Cyriano œ gliss. bœ Commissioned by Marina Cyriano t - t -

‰ œ™ œ > > mf

™ >œ >œ s

to

j ‚

‰

j ‚

Œ

j ‚

Œ

Key clicks

j ‚

>with the >flute sound. Whisper sounds > andto> tThe - t - tvoice - t - t -of t the flutist o is always blended to to to Voice singing in octaves with the flute line are the two main modes of using the voice while SOLO FLUTE playing. extremely wide vibrato

j >‚

ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ The following example showsŒ us exactly œ œ nœofœ blending œ œthat permeates œ #œ the œ feeling Œ thegliss. bœ gliss.bœ ˙˙ ˙ piece.œThe whole flute line starts with air sound, then the singing voiceœof the flutist˙ is mf 3 mf combined in octaves owithppp the air sound, and subsequently the air sound of the flute p mf Performing notes

Ó ˙

o p

General

Unvoiced sound

The piece consists out of 7 sections named A-G wich are free for the performer to play in any order. All sections has to be played at least once. All sections shall be performed from start to the end. Sections may be repeated at a maximum of three times, but shall never be played more than once in a row.


‚

chi

to

Voiced sound (sing)

bœ

‚

p

‚

œ

- o

#œ œ ≈

f

mf

line In one musical gesture the composer explores the incertitude ˙ becomesœ a tone. bœ œ ˙ ofgliss. bœ ‘is it voice?’, ‘is it air?’, ‘is it flute sound?’ o No paus between the sections gliss. should be made. Accidentals is valid only for the specific note notated at. If nothing else i specified, the notated dynamic is valid for both flute and voice system.

ñ

mfFlute

ï œœ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ‰ Œ

ó #˙˙ n˙˙ o mp o o

All trills shall be performed as timbral trills All glissandos shall be performed as lip glissandos if possible

Ÿ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ‚. ‚. ‚. ‚. ‚. ‚ ¿¿¿¿¿ ∑ . ‚. b‚. ‚ ‚ ‚b‚ œ œ œnœ ˙ closed embouchure.

half open embouchure

mf

open embouchure

œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ nœ

ñ

p

mf

ó ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ . ‚ ‚‰ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‰ œ b‚. n‚. ‚. . . . .

Gradually shift from unvoiced whispering “ch” to voiced “o”

ppp

mf

œ

bœ

The broken (dashed) arrow indicates a gradual shift wo from technique to another.

wide vibrato ˙xtremely ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ Œ ˙˙ ‚. . . .gliss. . . . . bœ o mf pp

‚. . . . . . . . bœ gliss.

Only air sound

ppp

mf

Œ

pp

œ mf

Ó ˙˙ o


œ Œ J ‰ ppp

mf

˙˙ o

ppp

œ ≈ R ≈ ˙˙ o mf

ppp

Shift graudally from only air sound to full tone

2.4.2. Consonants, vowels, syllables

Copyright © 2013 LISA STENBERG

Keep The Night from Coming In is full of different consonants, vowels and syllables indications in the voice line (‘t’, ‘wo’, ‘s’, ‘cho’, ‘a’…). These nuances create a delicate variety in the timbre and articulation of the musical gestures. Whistle tone w.t

45

˙˙ o

ppp

#˙ µ˙ o

mp

° ‚ ‚ & ‚ ‚ ¢&

mf

æ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ˙æ

3

p

mf

‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ t - t - t - t - t - t - t - t

B ° & Œ

œ

gliss.

œ

œ

gliss.

p

o

j ‰ j Œ bœ >‚ j bœ

j >‚

‰

j >‚

pp

j >‚

Œ

to

O Œ

O

p

to

ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ œ œ #œ œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ extremely wide vibrato

‰ œ™ œ > >

Ó

mf

¢&

œ

™ >œ >œ

œ gliss.bœ ˙˙ o

˙

mf

˙

˙

œ gliss. bœ

Œ ppp

p

mf

3

ñ In, section B. Example 67. Keep the Night from Coming ï

ñ óD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ÿ ó ° gliss. #˙˙ o n˙˙ ‰Œ ‚ ‚ ‚. ‚. ‚. ‚for whispering ‚ &different œ œœ¿ ˙ ¿ ¿ œ¿ ¿ ¿ b∑œ b œ œ The . œ œ. ‚. b‚. ‚ ‚ ‚b‚ œ œ œnœvoice and singing voice. When œ œ œo ¿ indications œ¿ ¿œ¿gli¿ss¿.œ¿µ¿œ areœo used œ .œgl. issboth œ œ œ œ #˙b‚. n‚. ‚. . # ˙ ° are sung unvoiced, the timbre is richerglthan o mp o o ppp mf vowels In addition, Œ O Œ œ isbs.œ ˙inmfnormal Œ œ œ singing. & µ ˙ µ˙ O whispered singing through the flute produces clear distinctions of timbre (Manabe,nO o mp ¢& p.9).3In the following example, nœ 3 œ œ œpbœ œ œ œ between 2008, the ‘cho’ and ‘cha’ became 3 p o difference mf mp wo very because the small ˙ ¢&clearó because of the use of the whispering voice but also osensitive to details. changes that occur throughout the piece make the listener more wide vibrato C extremely ˙ ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ œ œ œ ° J ‰ ˙˙ R ≈ ˙ ˙ Œ ˙ Œ Ó ˙ Œ ≈ & gliss. gliss. ‚ bœ ‚ bœ . . . . . . . . Eï o ppp mf. . . . . . . pp. o ppp mf o ppp mf mf pp mf ° Kr Œ j >‚ ‰ ‰ ‚ ‰ j ‰ & ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ b>‚ b>‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚> ‚> ‚> b>‚ >‚ ‚> >‚ > ¢& > > > >

¢&

s

mf

j >‚

‰

cho

to

>‚

o p

>‚

cho

cho

° ‚ & ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚

mf

j >‚

Œ

>‚

cho

>‚

cha

cha

>‚

‰

Œ

cha

cho

Example 68. Keep the Night from Coming In, section E.

>‚ b>‚ ‚ ‰ ‚j ‚j Œ > > 3. Keep the Night from Comingf In: the>seven sections 3.1.¢& Section ‚ ‚ A ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚

Œ Œ

to - to - to - to - to - to

>‚

cho

>‚

cho

‰

>‚

cho

Kr ‰ ‚>Copyright ‚> © 2013 ‚> STENBERG ‚> >‚ >‚ >‚ LISA

>‚

j >‚

cho

j >‚

Œ

cho

ï j ‚>

cho

cho

Œ

cho

Œ

woh!

j >‚

>‚

‰

cho

In the first section of Keep the Night from Coming In, the flutist’s voice is first used as whispered or unvoiced, always mixed with the air sound of the flute. In the first w.t gesture ofó the . piece whisper the. syllable “to” with closed w.t œ™ œ w.t˙ the flutist œ™ œ. should ˙ œ™ œ b ˙ ™ œo F b œsound. embouchure (inside the embouchure hole), creating an articulated but muffled J mixed with #˙˙ the air sound The°& result is an Jexplosive Œbut veryJdelicate whispered sound, Œ b‚ of the flute. pp fz fz pp fz pp

¢&

Rubato

>‚

cho

Œ

cho

bw.t˙

bœ

Œ

pp

mf

Œ

fz

(q = 55)

ó G A flz. ° ° ææ ï œ & œ jæ Œ Flute & p

>‚

mf

¢ ¢& >‚j Œ

& Voice

to

ï

ñ bœ ñ ï ï œ œ ææ ææœjæœ æÓ æœ #æœO næ˙ ‰ O ææÓ#æœ œ ‰j#æœ‰ j Œ Óœ O œ bœ n œO æ ææ ‚ ‚ ‚æ æ æ æ > > p 3> pp

j >‚

to

p

mf

mf

pp

j >‚

œ

to

ñ flz. 46 æ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ˙

Example 69. Keep the Night fromï Coming In, section A.

° ‚ ‚ & ‚ ‚ ¢&

>‚

to

KEEP THE NIGHT FROM CO

Soft and gentle

o fz

mp

to

b‚ ‚ >‚ > >

cho

o

to

j ‰ ‚>

mf

j >œ

cho

mf

3

p

‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚

a

ñ ˙ó ï ï #˙ Œ ‚ ‚™ j j n˙∑ ¿ ¿ ‚¿ ¿ ¿‰ ¿ ¿‚¿ ‰ O . O O o mp o > >

p

œ bœ

mf

pp

p

pp

n˙

œ

ï j j Œ ‰ œ gliss. bœ ‚>

Copyright © 2013 LISA STENBERG

mf

œ œ

p

œ

gliss.

j bœ

‰

j >‚

Œ

j ‚> j >‚

O

pp

O

ñ O Ó

ï O

pp

ñ O

ï j j ‚> ‰ >‚ Ó O

p

mf

pp

ñ O

ï j ‰ j ‰ O >‚ >‚

∑

p

mf

pp

ñ O Ó

ï O

p

pp

ï j ‚> ‰

Œ

mf

ï

ï j ‚> ‰ >‚ >‚

‚‚‚‚‚‚‚

p

the j Later in the section the whisper voice became singing voice in octaves j with j flute Œ ‰ ‰ ‚> line. ‚> ‚> >‚ >‚

to

ñ flz. ï ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ï ‚ ‚ ˙ææ ï

jp ‰ >‚ ‚ ‚ ‚

>

gliss.

p

o

œ™

pp

>

to

ñ O Œ

O

p

œ

t - t - t - t - t - t - t - t

ï ñ j j Œ flz. j ‰ gliss . œ bœ ‚ >‚ æ>

to

to

‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚

to

t - t - t - t - t - t - t -

LISA STENBERG

æ ‚ œ‚ ‚ ‚bœj ‚ ‰‚ ‚‚j ‚Œ ˙ ‚j

œ

j ‰ mf ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ > ‚ ‚ ‚ > >

‚

ï

to

gliss.

p

mf

to

j bœ p

ï j Œ >‚

j j >‚ >‚

O

to

to

chi

j >‚

j >‚

Œ

j >‚

‚

to

˙

p

œ

˙

- o

Example 70. Keep the Night from Coming In, section A.

j ‰ j ‰ extremely wide vibrato ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ‚> ‚> ‚ >‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ flz. > b œ FROM COMING IN œ transition œ between oÓ - t Œ- talso - t - in In section, œt -the #tœ- twhole #œ œ ≈ #œ œ ˙ ˙˙ t and œ- t œ piece, œ nœ œthe Œ air˙sounds gliss. bœ to flute s.bœ to ˙ to œ glistothis œ æ mf

tone and whispering voice to singing voice will be recurrent. 3

˙

œ gliss. bœ

˙

j ‚>ñ O ‰Œ

o p

¿

pj

>‚

to

o

œ ˙ bœ ó ñ ï˙ ñ O ï‚ñ j ï ˙ ï ‚™ ‚. #˙ flz. ñ ææ j p‰ j ‰ ó j >O ‚ O Ó Œ Ÿ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ó ‚o ‚mp gliss. bœ ™ ˙ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ˙ œ #˙ n˙˙ ‚ ‚ œ œ ‚. ‚. . ‚. ‚. ‚ ¿> ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ∑> > ‚ ‚. ‚. . ‚. ‚‰ ‚ œ ˙> . ‚ ‚‚ ‰ ppp

p

mf

o p

mf

‚. ‚ ‚ b‚ œ œ nœ . ‚. bmf

pp j

‚

>‚

Œ

œ

mf

bœ œ œ-œ noœ œ œ œchi

to

j ‚>

o

˙

oj ‚> ‰ >‚ >‚

‰

to

to

ñ Œ Ó ïgliss. bœ flz. ‚ . . . . . . . . b œŒ mf j Œ pp jmf j O ppp œ œ ‚B≈ #œ œ‚ ˙‚ bœ 3.2.#Section > æ> >

to

mp

po

˙

gliss.

˙

gliss.

pp mf

œ

to

p

bœ

æ

extremely wide vibrato

‚‰ ‚

ó #˙˙ mp

ppp

‚‚ ‰

mf

˙

œ

Œ

bœ œ

ñ

o p

˙˙

gliss.

˙

gliss.

bœ

mf

bœ

˙ o

mf

mf

œ ˙˙ ≈ R ≈ ˙˙ o ˙ppp mf ‚™ o

gliss. p

f

flz.

‚.

bœ

#œ œ ≈ #œ œ ˙ ææ

ppp

bœ

œ

o p

mf

ó ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ . ‚ ‚‰ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‰ œ b‚. n‚. ‚. . . . .

ppp

ppp

#mf˙ µ˙ o

mp

Œ

mf


n˙˙ o ˙o

b‚. n‚. .

p

#˙ ˙˙ ó µ˙ ˙ o#˙ ppp o

o

mp

˙

gliss.

bœ

˙

gliss.

bœ

mfsinging voice, always in octaves with Inf this section voicej of the is used as mf j the j flutist Œ ˙ Copyright ©‚2013 LISA STENBERG the flute line. of œthis section is that it introduces for the >‚ One particular >‚ >‚ characteristic gliss. chi o œ the˙flute sound. bœ oThe only challenge is to to singing to first time the voiceto starting before sing the right pitch, but in all examples oin this piece, the note to be sung appears just p before in the flute line. mf

ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ œ ó œ œ œ‚ ‚ ‚ œœ mf

ŒO

ppp

mf

bœ

t - t - t - t - t - t - t - t

œ Œ J ‰

˙˙ o

ppp

æ

mf

‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚

Example 71. Keep the Night from Coming In, section A.

Œ ˙˙ .gliss. . . . . bœ o Opp

o

f

LISA STENBERG

gliss.

wo

rato

mf

œ

bœ

47

˙

mf

mf

mp

˙

o

j

>‚

a

3

cha

>‚

>‚

cho

3.3. Section C and Section F ï

‰

j Œ

j

‰

>‚

cho

>‚

cho

cho

Œ

Kr ‚> >‚ >‚

>‚

cho

to

to

j >œ

to

‰

woh!

ñ

Œ

j >œ

cho

cho

cho

woh!

cho

cho

cho

∑

œ

woh!

j ‚two sections‚are put together because j the flutist’s bvoice ‚ is‚ not used. But inb‚both, n‚ ‚>These ‚ ‚ > an extended technique > > is used in a way >to create a>sound effect > similar to the use of mf the flutist’s voice. In section C the multiphonics create a sound very close to singing and playing. The multiphonic’s sound result makes the listener asks ‘Is it flute or j j Œ In section j ‰has also a reminiscentŒ character of the j Œ whistle ‚tone F the ‚>voice>‚ sound?’ œ> > that could>‚ be produced >‚ >‚ with the lips. voice. It works like a very delicate whistle

‰

>‚

cho

Œ

cha

b>‚ ‚ > >‚

‰

>‚

p -

‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚

cho

3.4. Section D and Section G

The inw.t octaves with the flute. Different w.t œ™ voiceœ. appears bw.t˙ only once in eachbsection, ™ œoboth œo nw vowels are used for the voice, causing œ a small changeb ˙ in the timbre. b œ ™

˙

w.t

J

œ œgliss. œ œŒ#˙ pp µ˙

œ™

o

Œ fzœglisbs.œ ˙

#˙˙ œ gliss. b œ b œ b‚œ œo œ œ œ œŒ #˙ œ oŒ mp o fz mf nO pp µ˙

pp œ

˙ o

mf

j >‚

>‚

‰

>‚

cha

cha

œ

œ

glia

Œ

œ bœ

œ

bœ bœ œ

n˙

>‚

>‚

cho

‰

>‚

cho

>‚

cho

cho

ï j j ‚> >‚

Kr ‚> >‚ >‚

>‚

cho

to

to

œo œ œ œ œ #˙ ï Copyright © 2013 LISA STENBERG µ ˙ nO j Œo j ‰ mp ‚ ‚>3 ‚ b>‚ >‚

j œ>

to

woh!

ss. Example 74. Keep the Night from Coming In, section G.

œ œ Œ ‚> ‰ j ‚j Œ b>‚ ‚ 3.5. Section ‚ > > >E f ˙

>‚

>‚

cho

cho

cho

œ. ˙ J

Œ

pp

j Œ ‚>

j Œ n˙>‚ ‰

bœ

∑

j œ>

p

∑

œ œ

woh!

p - to

‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Œ b‚ n‚ ‚

Œ

Section E presents a variety of different articulations. Different syllables produce a

>‚

w.t

>

ñ

ñ ‚ ‚

j j Œ j ‰ to more explosive Œones. ‰richness j Œ ‚> of>‚ timbres, going ‚> œ> from very soft attacks >‚ >‚ >‚

o

¿ ¿ ¿ ¿

>

mf

pp

mf

mp

ó ˙ # œ # ˙ ‰‚ Œ Œ ‚™ ‚ K >æ b>‚ ‰ œ œ ¿bœ¿ n¿œ ¿ ‰n˙ ¿‚ ¿ ¿‚¿ ¿ ¿>‚ ¿ ¿‰ b>‚ ‚. ‚ro ‚ ‚ o > > > > >mp> p

cha

˙

fz

ï

Example 73. Keep the Night from Coming In, section D.

bœ ææ #‚æœj œ >æ ææ

o

3

p

mp

b‚

cho

ï j ‚> j #>œœ œ

woh!

cho

‚ ‰ rK b>‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚> >‚ > œ™ œ. bw.t˙ > > > >

‰

Œ

cho

>‚

>‚

cho

cho

>‚

cho

J

‰

Kr ‚> #˙ ‚ ˙> >‚ >‚

>‚

cho

cho

o

to

to

to

bœ™ o

ï j j ∑ ‚> >‚ w.t cho

œoj b>œ‚ woh!

mp fz mf ñ Example 75. Keep the Night from Coming In, section E.

‰ #œ

fz

Œ

pp

j ‰ ‚>

b‚ ‚ >‚ > >

j >‚

>‚

mf

Œ

Œ

‰

>‚

>‚

Œ Œ

48

cho

b˙ j

>œ

woh!

pp

∑

cho

ñ ‚ ‚

p

Œ

bœ™

œ œ

p - to

fz

‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Œ b‚ n‚ ‚ ‚

Œ

ï

‚

ó #˙˙

Œ

‰

œo ‰ b‚

‚ ‚

nw w.t

œ œ

p - to

pp

Œ

‰ ‰

œ bœ

t - ko

ï ‚

ñ ‚

ï j ‚>

‚

‚

j >‚

mf

pp

p

‚ b‚

‰ ‰

4. Collaboration 4.1 Introduction The physical distance marked the whole process of collaboration. We had to develop our own way of interacting: Lisa Stenberg, in Stockholm, and me, in Piteå. We met in person four times, the first in a cafeteria where we exchanged thoughts and ideas. The others three were very intense instrumental sessions (which I named ‘Experimentation Sessions’) where we exchanged many ideas and Lisa gathered sound samples from my playing. Recordings of these sessions were used by Lisa as compositional material. After these three sessions, the rest of our conversations took place by email in a cyclical process. She sent me sketches, I practiced and recorded myself playing, I sent back the material with comments and new ideas, and she sent feedback and more sketches. The focus in this section will be the discussion of the collaboration process from November 2012 to April 2013, making clear that the collaboration around Keep The Night from Coming In is still in progress. 4.2. Patterns of collaborations I will here return to the models of collaboration of John-Steiner (2000) and Hayden and Windsor (2007). As in the discussion around my collaboration with Olle Sundström, the intent here is only to dialogue with these theories, not reduce the experience. Looking back to John-Steiner’s four patterns of artistic collaboration: My collaboration with Lisa Stenberg was mainly a ‘Complementary’ collaboration but with strong elements of ‘Integrative’. It was mainly a ‘Complementary’ collaboration because, as in the collaboration with Olle Sundström, it was based on complementary knowledge. I still had the role of performer and she, of composer. But the process still involved ‘Integrative’ collaboration. Lisa Stenberg had not had any previous experience of writing for the flutist’s voice. She was very interested in discovering and experimenting with this technique. In the first experimentation session we had, she first asked me: “What do you like to do on the flute?” This question directed the partnership in a way that I became very active in providing compositional ideas. The strongest mark of the ‘Integrative’ mode is the form of the score: an open score. Keep The Night from Coming In allows any flutist, not only myself, to be active in the compositional process. Choosing different ways of combining the seven sections of the piece requires active reflections on musical form, meaning and direction. Each performance of Keep The Night from Coming In can be different and may involve a very personal way of playing it.

49

Using the categories proposed by Hayden and Windsor (2007), my collaboration with Lisa Stenberg can be considered a mix between ‘Interactive’ and ‘Collaborative’. ‘Interactive’ because it involved negotiation between composer and performer, but the composer is still the author of the piece. ‘Collaborative’ because the collaboration affected the structure of the score. The score is open; consequently the structure of the piece is decided through collective decision, as both composer and performer have a very active role in it. 4.3. Examples of negotiation during the collaboration Lisa Stenberg showed great interest in my personal ideas not only of using the flutist’s voice but also other effects that I liked to play. As the process of experimentation was long, I could trace more easily the direct influence I had on the piece. The first example of my contribution to the piece doesn’t concern the use of the voice. At the same time it is a very clear example of my input. I enjoy very much the whistle tone technique. To practice this technique I like to use one of Robert Dick’s exercises:

D œ œo œ œgliss.œ µ œ œo œ œgliss. œ œ #˙ ° Œ O & µ˙ O 3 3 p o mf ¢&

Œ œ bœ ˙ gliss.

mp

œ

œ Œ

œ

p

gliss.

˙

bœ bœ œ o œ œ œ œ œ #˙ µ˙ nO o 3

mp

o

ï j j >‚ >‚

Eï ° Kr Œ j >‚ b‚ ‰ ‚ ‰ b‚ & j ‰ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ‰ ‚ ‚> ‚> b>‚ >‚ ‚> >‚ > ‚> >‚ >‚ >‚ > > > Example 76. Whistle tone’s exercise (Dick, 1986, p.27). ¢&

mf

j >‚

‰

>‚

>‚

j >‚

Œ

>‚

>‚

>‚

‰

‰

>‚

>‚

‰

>‚

>‚

Kr >‚ >‚ >‚

>‚

j >œ

∑

j >œ

∑

ñ ‚ ‚ p

œ œ

In this exercise a loud normal tone is produced in the third octave of the flute, and just ñ after the same tone is played as whistle tone. ï I really like the contrasting effect, a ° ‚ ‚ echo. mysterious When Lisa asked me to play I liked, one of the‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Œ ‚ ‚ Œ j forŒ her things j ‰ that & ‚ ‚ >‚ b>‚ ‚ ‰ ‚j ‚j Œ b>‚ ‚ Œ b‚ n‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ > > > > that. We can see it > in the > piece, also combined f first effects I showed her was> exactly mf with harmonics, resulting in very contrasting colors for the same tone. Œ j j Œ j ‰ Œ ‰ j Œ Œ ¢&

° &

cho

cho

cho

cho

cha

‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚

>‚

to - to - to - to - to - to

ó F œ™ fz

œ. w.t˙ J

pp

cho

Œ

œ™ fz

cha

>‚

cho

œ. w.t˙ J

pp

cha

>‚

cho

>‚

cho

>‚

cho

Œ

wo!

w.t œ. b ˙ J

œ™ fz

¢&

cho

bœ™ o fz

cho

>‚

cho

#˙˙ o mp

pp

cho

>‚

>œ

cho

cho

>‚

cho

œo b‚

mf

to

¢&

mf

œ a

œ bœ

œ

to

wo!

wo!

cho

bw.t˙

Œ

pp

n˙ Copyright © 2013 LISA STENBERG

œ œ

p - to

bœ™

o

œo b‚

mf

nw w.t

pp

ñ ‚

ï ‚

pp

p

‚ s

fz

ó #˙˙ o mp

‰

p - to

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cho

Example ó 77. Keep The Night From Coming In, Section F. ï G flz. ° ææ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ n˙ ‰ b œ #œ œ ‰ #œ Œ Œ ‚™ ‚. & œ ææ æ æ æ æ æ æ æ bœ n œ n˙ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ æ ææ æ œ œ50 p ææ æ æ æ p 3

to

‚ ‚

‰

‚ -

o

ñ voice, Another example of my input, , thisï time related ñto ,theï use of the flutist’s ñ I’m ïconcerns the use ofï vowels. flz. very interested in using vowels to change the color of ææ subtle j ‰ sound. j Using jcombined ‰ Ó ‰ O or not the different vowels consonants, allows O O O with ‚>variations>‚ in tone ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ˙ œ and intensity >of the same note. We tested many different p mf combinations ofpp vowels pand consonants. pp

Rubato q = 55

Flute

Voice

&

j j Ó & ‚jIn ‰one‰ of‚the ‚ ‚ ‚of‚ articulation. ‚‚‚‚‚ sketches, the voice line > > > had a ‘t’ as indication

, ï ñ , ï j j‰ ‰ j O j j j & KEEP O COMING œ gliss.bœTHE n>‚ NIGHT ‚> FROM ‚> ‰ ‰ >‚ >‚ INO t

p

& œ

t

j bœ

t

j ‰ ‰ j n>‚ >‚

pp

p

j ‰ ‰ j j ‚> >‚ >‚

œ

ó ˙ # ˙ O™ O. o mp

t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t

˙

p

‚ ‚ œ

˙

o

ñ ï ñ ñ ï ï ï ï flz. ñ Example 78. Excerpt ïfrom a sketchó by ,Lisa Stenberg. ,jï‰ j ‰ j ‰ O j ‰ Ÿ‚~~~~~‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ˙ææ Ó Œ O O #˙˙O n ˙ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ are glis sung unvoiced, the ˙timbre is>richer >As ‚when >œœ>nœsinging œ. œb‚ than> in‚normal & p‰ ‚ Œ ‚mf ‚>‚bvowels ˙ or s. pp ‚ n œ bœ ‚ p with pp p mf sample with different ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ œ . n ‚ . . . . . . . . . normal flute playing, I recorded a sound vowels combined . > gliss.

ñ , O ïj ∑

o

t

t

o

<Ÿ> ï & gliss. j ‰ j Œ œ bœ >‚ ad lib. t,k....

t

&

œ

t

chi

t

-

o

o

oo

o

pp I suggested mp ppp mf the ‘t’: ‘ta’, ‘te’,mf ‘ti’, ‘to’, ‘tu’. to the j ‰ to listen j ‰ the subtle changes Œ composer ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ of color and to use them in the piece. As ∑a reflection > of this discussion, > œ œ > œ the >nœ ‘t’ as‚‘to’ œ ‚ is‚ found ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚in‚Keep ‚ The Night from Coming In. to ‚ ‚ bœ œ to to to t t t - t - t - t - t - t œ œ œ

& ‰ ‚j Œ >

p

t

j bœ

‰

j ‚>

Œ

j ‚>

ñ O Œ

O

pp

j ‚> w.t

ï j Œ ‚>

p

j ‚>

Œ

t- t - t - t

ad lib. t,k....

j j ‚> >‚

O

j j ‚> >‚ molto to to

‚

p

œ

˙

chi - o , toœ™ œ. ˙to , œ™ œ. bw.t˙ to œ™ œ. ˙ Example vibrato vibrato o , 79. Keep The Night From Coming In, Section A. n œ œ œ œ ord. ˙˙ J J J wide vibrato#˙˙ # n˙˙ extremely & One strong characteristic of the final score is the richness O of combinations between ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ flz. pp vowels fz fz pp fz and consonants. pp b œ œ o mp o Œ mf 3gliss. p o mp#œ oœ ≈o#œpppœ ˙ œ #œ œ œ œ nœ œ œ Œ œ ˙ bœ Another important performer-composer dialogue centered on the differentæ

gliss.

w.t

&

mf 3 f (open, half-opened) their possibilities and how tomfclarify the p embouchure techniques mf

ppp

œ ˙ gliss. bœ w.t , w.t , o o bœ™ œ ˙ b œ ™ œ n ˙ op œo œ œgliss.œ œ #˙ molto vib. mf n ˙ 5. Reflections # ˙ n ˙ ˙ b‚ b‚ ñ & O µ˙ ó ˙ ˙ ˙œ Ÿ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ó pp pp The collaboration with Lisa Stenberg can be considered a rewarding that o o o o 3 ‚. ‚ ‚‰mp‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ppp ‰ œexperience mp fz #˙ mf fz mf p mf ˙ n ˙ ‚ ∑ ˙ ‚ œ . . ˙ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ‚ ‚ contributed a lot to my development as œnœ . The experimentation sessions b‚.an‚.performer. bœ and .. & ˙ into œ the practice of sketches and gave me confidence enough to venture o oinspired o notation.

mf

ppp

mf

o composition. Keep The Night from Coming In reflects the collaborative nature of its composition process, especially by its structure as an open score.

œ nœ

.gliss. . . . .

,

mp

Œ bœ

œ

Ó ˙˙

œ Œ J ‰

51

˙˙

œ ≈ R ≈ ˙˙

˙˙

#˙ µ˙

‚™ ‚.

˙ o

Œ œ

o p

The long process of experimentation led to a bigger exchange of ideas but prevented the project from being fulfilled according to schedule. The aspect of practicing Keep The Night from Coming In couldn’t be explored deeply for the simple reason that the piece was finished at the same time as this text was first written. But I don’t see it as a negative situation, rather as part of the collaboration process.

Example 80. Lisa Stenberg’s sketch with my notes.

52

5

Old Game

1. Introduction Old Game is an etude for flute and flutist’s voice written by me in the context of this research. Composing this etude was not my initial intention, but it grew as an idea during the process of collaborating with composers. Finally it became one of my methods of investigation, in order to explore more thoroughly and to better understand the use of the voice while playing. From a musician’s perspective, Roe (2007) discusses the benefits of collaboration in musician’s practice. I had the privilege to work during almost a year with two committed composers that stimulated and inspired me to explore the use of my voice while playing. During the rehearsals and experimentation sessions there were lots of possibilities and sound material that were not used by the composers; it is of course impossible to use everything we tried or discovered. In this chapter I will present Old Game, with its various aspects of using the flutist’s voice, and reflect on the creative process of writing this unusual type of etude. Old Game is written for flutists that have an interest in exploring their own voice while playing. The etude covers many of the possibilities mentioned in this thesis. It is a small example of creative audacity that I hope it can serve to inspire others to be more creative in their own performance. This experience points to an attempt to connect the distinct categories that are very well established in Western classical music: composer-researcher-performer. It also reveals that collaboration between composer and performer affects the practice of musicians and provides an important creative stimulus for the performer.

53

Figure 8. Marina Cyrino performing Old Game, Piteå, 2013.

2. Old Game – The text When I decided to write down some of my musical ideas, ‘speaking and playing’ was the first technique that I decided to explore. Pieces like Laconisme de l’aile and Terrestre by Saariaho, or Voice by Takemitsu, had a great impact on me. It’s amazing in those examples how the voice of the flutist integrates itself with the musical material and gives to the performer, or even to the listener, a strong visceral experience. During the collaboration with Olle Sundström and Lisa Stenberg I really missed that particular aspect of using the voice while playing. As the form of using the flutist’s voice was not pre-established and the composers were free to explore the techniques as they wished, this technique was missing in both of the pieces. As inspiration for using the speaking voice of the flutist I started to think about words or texts that could be expressive and have a connection with the flute sound. As this is a research context, I thought it would be a unique chance to use a famous text, that couldn’t be used in other circumstances. As an admirer of Samuel Beckett’s works, I started to read passages of his dramatic works and I found in Endgame a text that corresponded perfectly to my musical ideas. First, it is a play, which means that it is written to be acted, spoken in a loud voice. Also because it was written in the context of the “theatre of the absurd”, the text has a deep, strange, apparently chaotic nature that fits so well with new techniques, which are also seen as strange, apparently chaotic things that some flutists do. The text inspired me most of all, because the text turns around human bonding in the context of isolation. Discomfort permeates the whole play and it seemed to me that this general atmosphere has a strong connection with the experience I had had during these two last years far from home, dealing with a very different culture.

54

Endgame, by Samuel Beckett, is a one-act play with four characters, written in a style associated with the Theatre of the Absurd. It was originally written in French (original title: Fin de partie) and translated into English by Beckett himself. The play was first performed in a French-language production at the Royal Court Theatre in London, opening on 3 April 1957. It is commonly considered, along with such works as Waiting for Godot, to be among Beckett's most important works. The title alludes to the last part of a chess game, when there are very few pieces left. Beckett himself was an avid chess player. I chose three small excerpts from Beckett’s play, which seemed to me to have great musical and expressive potential. Later in this chapter, I’ll explain how I used the text as material for the etude. First excerpt (2006, p.93): Finished, it's finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished. (Pause.) Grain upon grain, one by one, and one day, suddenly, there's a heap, a little heap, the impossible heap. (Pause.) I can't be punished any more. (Pause.) I'll go now to my kitchen, ten feet by ten feet by ten feet, and wait for him to whistle me. (Pause.) Nice dimensions, nice proportions, I'll lean on the table, and look at the wall, and wait for him to whistle me.

Second excerpt, (2006, p.116) One! Silence! (Pause.) Where was I? (Pause. Gloomily.) It's finished, we're finished. (Pause.) Nearly finished. (Pause.) There'll be no more speech. (Pause.)

Third excerpt (2006, p.132) Old Endgame, lost of old, play and lose and have done with losing.

3. The use of the flutist’s voice: Speaking, whispering and playing Samuel Beckett’s text was the first inspiration for the Etude. The first word I used is the first spoken word of the play and it’s a very interesting and sarcastic way of beginning something: “finished”.

55

!! " # $% & ' !! " # $% & '

The “f” from the word “finished” has a great airy potential that makes this phoneme perfect for whispering voice. I tried different pitches and the Db2 turned out to be a good solution for making a powerful air attack:

Example 81. Old Game, bar 1.

I wanted to put an emphasis on speaking/whispering and playing, exploring technique with and without instrument on lips.

this

- Example without instrument on lips: of speaking/whispering $ $

$ $

! $ $ Example 82. Old Game, bar 3. ! - Example of speaking/whispering with instrument on lips " "

$ $ % #

"


#

"

In another part of the etude, I explore speaking and playing alternately. This passage requires The flute should be kept in the from the flutist focus on the embouchure.

playing position in order not to lose the continuity of the phrase.

' "

56

, +

*+

-


the rhythm The etude of the text is written down, as well as

has passages where passages where there is rhythmical freedom. The text can be spoken with different character and intensity, as an opportunity to explore the dramatic possibilities of each excerpt. The notation in the score is very simple and not detailed, since it was my intention to# leave several options open to$ other flutists.

of 4. The use the flutist’s voice: Singing and playing

As singing and playing was in Floating the explore main focus and beautifully

Embers, by Olle Sundström. I chose to use this technique with a different focus: the and flute lines. between voice different timbres and balances

First used this technique in its most simple singing one tone in $ $ $ $ ( way: and playing I octaves. Here the voice should blend with the flute sound, very softly, as a sweet perturbation.

(

& ' " $ $

$ Example 85. Old Game, bar 7. Later on, singing and playing in octaves return, and gradually go from one note to will

a whole phrase. Is this passages the voice should be very soft, a color blending with the flute sound. $ $

%

(


& ' "

57

)

Another way of exploring the singing voice is to sing in very close intervals with lots of power and air pressure. This technique results in very fast beatings between the voice and the flute sound and creates a very dramatic result. In the following passage I explore that tension in order to create a very intense passage where the flute line has $

repeated notes and the voice goes slowly from octave to unison to a minor second. Here the voice should increase in dynamics and the flutist should enjoy the dirty noisy sound that comes from the fast beatings.

#

*

Example 87. Old Game, bar 44 to 51.

extended flute techniques 5. Other

Extended flute techniques that appear in Old Game were briefly introduced in previous chapters. Here I will just illustrate and reflect around my choice to use them in the context of this etude.

5.1. Whistle tones: “Is someone calling or it is just imagination?”

* . (

The choice of using whistle tones came directly from Samuel Beckett’s text. The whistleand whistling are thematic in Endgame. This inspired me to play with the text and contrast the one most delicate sound that flute can produce the (whistle tone) with a very aggressive fast sound in the flute’s third octave. , ,

,

,

/

$

58

!

"

#

"

Example 88. Old Game, bar 4 – 5.

Once I used the whistle tone as a “whistle call” in the beginning of the etude, it became a thematic material that appears in other moments of the piece as reminiscence of the “whistle call”. Because of its very delicate and ethereal nature, the whistle tone can be represented in this etude by the idea of not being sure if someone is really whistling or if we are just imagining it. It relates to the psychological tension of Beckett’s Endgame. 5.2 Key click sounds: Let’s do something with the flute when it’s not on the lips In Old Game, key sounds appear only in one passage, to illustrate Samuel Beckett’s text: “Grain upon grain, one by one, and one day, suddenly, there's a heap, a little heap, the impossible heap.” (Beckett, 2006, p.93) The key sounds are used as “small grains” that, through accelerando and crescendo, help the flutist to increase the tension of the text. The first passage of the text in the beginning of the piece is quite long; it was fun for me to use these clichés illustrating sounds. 5.3 Timbral trills: Disturb the sound kindly In this etude, timbral trills and singing and playing softly a tone in unison resulted in a very similar sound. Both produce small changes in the intonation and fast vibrations of the air. Both create a confusing effect for the listener who is expecting a nice clean flute sound. In Old Game I wanted to use these effects as a surprising moan disturbing a common melodic flute line.

59

5.4. Discovering new effects: a tone appears! )

*

bar 36. Example 89. Old Game,

In this example, when I was practicing the voice glissando, I discovered that the octave) interval the voice (an between and the flute tone resulted in a three-voice chord (Eb – B – Eb). The tone colour of the resulting B is very strange, like a groan. This multiphonic exists in flute methods but with flute tone for all three sounds. The voice singing the ground note results in a very different colour.

Example 90. Multiphonic fingering (Levine, 2002, p. 76).

* . (

5.5. From sh to s: don’t speak, don’t sing, venture into strange sounds

,

,

,

,

/


This airy “sh”and “s” and other kinds of sounds that aren’t speaking or singing were detailed in Chapter 4. I used air sounds changing from sh to s for two main reasons. # First, sounds that are not described in flute methods can be very interesting: groans, whispers. sounds used to express the need to be grunts, “Sh” or “s” are common silent: shhh, silence. No more words. A cliché that I wanted to put in the etude to give it a certain pedantic character but also because unvoiced airy sounds work very well on the flute.

60

6. Practicing Old Game: Challenges and solutions through practice In this section, specific passages in Old Game where the flutist’s voice is required will be discussed. The focus here will be the challenges I’ve faced and the solutions that I !! " # $% & ' found during my practice of the piece. I already presented some of the passages from the point of view of compositional choices; now I’ll systematize the aspects of performing in practice tips.

6.1. Whisper and playing with air attack *


Challenge: To find a good in the f sound of the word “finished” and to air pressure make the word understandable even if it’s whispered.

Practice Tips: a lot of air pressure in the attack of the “f”, slowly take Exaggerate,put out the pressure until the balance sounds satisfactory. Also start practicing in a louder voice, almost speaking. The volume of the whispering voice will depend a lot on the room where or performing. theflutist is practicing

* . (

6.2. Speaking without instrument on the lips

!

,

,

,

,

"

/


Challenge: Here the great challenge for me was to speak a text with aclear

# articulation and expression. The flutist doesn’t need to act while speaking but the text

should be spoken with expressivity and direction. Another challenge, specific for me and for those #

" who don’t have English as native language, was to pronounce the words correctly. For example the word ‘heap’ was pretty difficult. When I had to speak fast it sounded like ‘hip’.

61

(

videos of Practice the staging of Endgame by Samuel Beckett and I watched Tips: learned the in order text by heart

to make it sound more spontaneous and natural.

6.3. Singing one tone octave

"

$

$ $

$ $

$ $


Challenge: In the case of this etude the voice should blend softly with the flute sound.

way of using the voice where the flutist should just It’sa comfortable Tips: Practice that has the flute tone. Don’t try to effect disturbing the voice enjoythe when it meets

finda “beautiful clean” tone. $ $ ) 6.4. Whispering and playing in rhythmical passages

%


Whisper the given words in the indicated rhythm. The fingering here is Challenge: used the marked pitch. Have

to produce

a natural

feeling of the continuity of the

(

words, with expression, not rigid. (Old Game, bar 8,10, 55, 56 and 57)

Practice Tips: The flutist should practice the synchronisation of the fingers with the & ' " whispering voice. Keep the continuity of the air stream.

62

$

#

*+

, +

-

6.5. Singing in parallel movement with the flute line

)


is the easiest way of singing and playing two distinct lines. Blend the Challenge: This

voice with the flute sound. Keep a nice flute legato. (Old Game, bar 35 and 36)

Practice Tips: Practice only the flute line first, and then add the voice softly.

#

$

6.6. Singing different intervals: from singing to groaning

*

Example 97. Old Game, bar 44 to 51.

Challenge: The peculiar challenge of this passage concerns the singing voice. The with softly a delicate flutist should voice and increase the air pressure in each bar start the until reaching the unison. When voice and the flute sound meet at the tone D, the flutist should sing as loudly as possible to create a maximum of vibration between the two sounds.

Practice between each bar, paying attention to the comfort of Tips: Take goodbreaths the vocal cords. Practice this passage in small doses. The flutist doesn’t need to focus * . ( so much on the intonation of each interval, but rather on producing a tense and groaning sound.

,

,

/

63

,

,

,

,

,

,

6.7. Singing and playing: the last passage ‘it’s finished?’

/

$

Example 98. Old Game, passage from bar 62 to the end.

Challenge: To find a focus for the flute tone in the low register and sing with a stronger voice than in the other passages in the etude. Here the melodic movement of the voice is important. The tones A and Bb should be well intoned. The focus should be on the balance between the flute sound and the voice. Practice Tips: To find the right pitch, focus on the tones A and Bb that come in the flute part in the previous bar. First concentrate on finding the tone with the voice (the flute has air sound, so the flutist can focus only on the voice); then it becomes easy to find a balance between the lines. Keep the airflow continuous even if there are strong beatings. Enjoy the last glissando when the voice meets the last unison. 7. Reflections This etude represents for me a concrete result of this research process. It synthesises the several different aspects of the use of the flutist's voice found in literature studies. It also represents my reflexion around the use of the voice after collaborating with two different composers. Old Game is the result of a creative artistic work, the findings of this research are applied in practice. It has an emphasis on the “speaking voice” of the flutist, because it was a technique not really explored by Lisa Stenberg or Olle Sundström. I strongly hope that this etude may serve as inspiration for other performers to experiment with new music and new technical possibilities for their instrument. The creative processes of systematising and writing down ideas had for me great benefits. It increased my motivation to explore new techniques and my intimacy with my own instrument, and it helped me develop a clear and consistent notation of a non-usual flute technique.

64

Figure 9. Old Game, sketch.

65

6

Discussion

1. Introduction This last chapter will return to the questions that guided this research and reflect around the path taken during the entire process. The point of departure was a very specific extended technique: the use of the flutist’s voice while playing. During the research the subject branched off into a diversity of subjects, such as other extended flute techniques, patterns of artistic collaborations and composition. One single technique was the start of a one-year journey in the life of a performer. It’s interesting to remember that I didn’t have a deep contact with using my voice while playing, although I was interested enough to suggest to composers the use of that technique as a central focus for new works. This research allowed me to be an active part of the compositional process of three new pieces for flute. I learned this new repertoire from a different perspective than the usual learning process, experimenting and participating in each step of the compositional process. As a performer and a researcher I gained insights into the creative process of collaborating with others musicians and my creative process of writing, which encouraged me to reflect on my own creative practice.

Figure 10. Lisa Stenberg and Marina Cyrino, Piteå, 2012.

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2. The use of the flutist’s voice: the outcomes A general aspect that came out from this research is that the possibilities of using the flutist’s voice are as wide as the imagination. However, it was possible to organize patterns that can help to clarify the technique. It’s now time to return to the research questions: How can the use of the flutist’s voice combined with flute playing be explored through collaboration? In which way can collaborating with composers help us understand the use of the flautist voice? And how can the musician’s practice clarify the use and the learning process of this technique? The individual style of each composer played an important part in the partnership and working methods. One curious aspect of the research is that the only requirement I gave to the composers was to use the flutist’s voice. The way they could use it was left open to their style, taste and interaction with my own voice and me. As a result of this process, each piece took a direction that corresponds to what we can consider a distinct category for using the technique. The first category corresponds to the singing voice, and is directly related to Floating Embers, discussed in Chapter 3. The second category is the speaking voice, corresponding to Old Game, discussed Chapter 5. The third category corresponds to the whispering-groaning voice, related to Keep The Night from Coming In, discussed in Chapter 4. 2.1. Floating Embers and the singing voice The collaboration with Olle Sundström and its outcome, Floating Embers, explored many different flute techniques and produced a very special sounding result in combining the singing voice of a flutist with the singing voice of a singer. If we go back to the research question: ‘In which way can collaborating with composers help us understand the use of the flutist’s voice’, Floating Embers explores and clarifies the use of the singing voice of the flutist. By practicing Floating Embers, any flutist can develop the capacity to sing and play in a musical way. The composer had already used the technique in other pieces, but the collaboration resulting in Floating Embers allowed the development of the technique to a high level of complexity. In my literature studies I couldn’t find a piece that explores the singing voice as a second melodic line as much as in Floating Embers. The polyphonic nature of the flutist’s part requires from the performer a distinct kind of practice, focusing on the singing voice. In Chapter 3, I developed practice tips to facilitate the learning process of Floating Embers. These practice tips can be useful in any other piece that requires the use of the singing voice of the flutist. 2.2. Keep the Night From Coming In: transitions, boundaries, impermanence The use of the flutist’s voice in Keep the Night From Coming In helps us understand the possibilities of transitions. Transitions inside and outside the flute, between air and tone, flute and voice, voice and air… It also explores deeply an aspect not so commonly used: the closed embouchure. It’s difficult to classify the main technique

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used because the theme of the piece is precisely to explore the borderlands between one category and other. However, the whispered voice is the most recurrent. The singing voice of the flutist is also explored but always in parallel movement with the flute line, which doesn’t present the same complexity as in Floating Embers. Practicing Keep the Night From Coming In clarifies the use of the whispering voice, of the richness of timbres produced by different vowel combinations. It requires from the flutist to learn the transition between open, half-open, and closed in a very musical and delicate way. 2.3. Old Game and the speaking voice The process of writing the etude, Old Game, was grounded in two main goals. First, I had the curiosity to try to systematize my own ideas of using the flutist’s voice in ways that weren’t used in Floating Embers or Keep the Night From Coming In. Second, I had the idea that it could be a very interesting result for the thesis if the pieces resulting from the collaboration could give a general overview of the main possibilities of using the flutist’s voice. For this goal I wrote Old Game trying to fill small gaps, using aspects of the flutist’s voice that weren’t covered by the collaboration with Lisa Stenberg and Olle Sundström. The speaking voice was intentionally chosen as the main technique in Old Game for the reason that it wasn’t explored in the two collaborations. With the etude and the two other pieces, it was possible to cover the main aspects of the use of the flutist’s voice. The etude contains others possibilities, such as singing or whispering, but the speaking voice is the aspect that stands out. In Chapter 5, it is possible to find practice tips for all the different uses of the voice presented in the etude. 2.4. Practicing my own voice while playing In this section I will describe in an intuitive way the benefits and challenges that the practice of this technique have had on my musical development. It should be clear that these are impressions, because it’s impossible to separate the effects of practicing my voice while playing from all other techniques I use in my daily practice. The contact with my own voice while playing helped me to develop a large range of color, dynamics and projection. I think that this development is directly related to the effort that the inner ear has to make to be able to produce subtle nuances with the voice or polyphonic lines. Another point that I would like to discuss concerns the problems of practicing techniques that require the use of the voice simultaneously with playing. Unless the flutist is a trained singer, the vocal cords can be strained easily when singing and playing simultaneously. The air speed should be determined by the comfort of the vocal cords. This technique should be slowly introduced into the daily practice, always paying attention to the comfort of the vocal cords and the tension of the outside neck muscles. Practicing too much singing while playing can make the vocal chords really tired. Robert Dick (1986, p.10) recommends starting at first with one or two minutes a day.

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I’ve been practicing singing and playing daily for almost one year now and I haven’t experienced any side effect, only a feeling of tiredness in the vocal cords sometimes, if I practice too much. But of course this was my personal experience with the technique. Each flutist should be aware of the limits of his/her own body and respect them. It’s important to highlight that I had lessons with a classical singing teacher for one year and I learned many of the vocal warm up exercises. I’m used to warm up my voice almost everyday, and I would recommend this to other musicians. In general, great benefits can result from the practice of new techniques such as using the voice while playing, just through the fact that it takes us from our usual way of playing. Using the voice is entering a world totally different from that of just playing, and the friction caused by new elements always pushes us to discover new possibilities. 3. Collaboration: the outcomes 3.1. The special agencies in musical collaboration The development of musical notation has resulted in a division of the musician in two. The increasing division of labour has gradually increased the split into the distinct agencies of ‘composer’ and ‘performer’ (Östersjö, 2008, p. 51 and p. 375). In the context of Western art music, the agency of the composer involves the construction of musical works and the agency of the performer rests on highly developed skills in the performance of a certain instrument. Östersjö (2008, p.49) argues that the instrument is not a neutral tool in the projection of a musical idea. On the contrary, the instrument should be understood as a distinct agent in the creative process. This research and the three pieces forming its outcome reinforce this argument. The flute emerged as a separate agent and its specific quality of allowing the performer to use her / his voice was the point of departure of this project. Östersjö comments on Aden Even’s work (2005), where the interaction between the performer and his/her instrument is described in terms of the ‘resistance’ of the instrument. Castello Branco (2012, p.66) suggests another aspect of agency in performercomposer collaboration: the performer’s body. In the case of this research: the body as the voice. In the pieces written in the context of this research my voice distinguished itself as a separate agent: its color, range, technical limits, all its characteristics shaped Floating Embers, Keep The Night From Coming In and Old Game. This leads to a question: can a flutist with a low voice perform these pieces? Olle Sundström answered that it could be possible, but it would be a completely new piece. In Lisa Stenberg’s piece, a low voice would change the delicate atmosphere created by the unisons, and in Old Game, it would take away some of the musical tension from certain sections of the piece. As a result we have three pieces shaped to my voice, a female voice. It is still possible to make adjustments for a low voice in the score, and this subject can be a next step to continue my research into the use of the flutist’s voice through collaboration.

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In summary, besides the agencies of the composer and the performer, in this project we could distinguish two more in the creative process: those of the flute (the instrument) and the voice (the body). 3.2. Collaboration across generations John-Steiner (2000, p.151) considered the mode of collaboration ‘across generations’ especially common in music. This mode involves mentoring and transformation from mentorship to collegiality. John-Steiner refers for example to the chain bonds between Nadia Boulanger and Aaron Copland, then between Copland and Bernstein (2000, p. 159). Although John-Steiner considered ‘across generations’ a very common pattern of collaborative work in the musical field, my experience in collaboration with composers were only between members of my own generation. The reason can be that in a student context it is natural to develop partnership with other students but I also notice that young composers of my generation are very open and interested in what a performer can bring. I didn’t have this discussion with Lisa Stenberg or Olle Sundström, but with several composers I worked with. They are born in the computer editing programs era where, in theory, you don’t need a performer to test sketches or pieces because you have sound samples that make it possible to dispense real musicians. But many composers that collaborated with me had experienced the gap between the computer sounds and real instrumental possibilities, especially when it comes to explore new sonorities. A computer cannot collaborate. I believe that many young composers are looking forward to participate in projects like this. 3.3. The musical collaboration composer-performer: What is in between ‘Collaborative’ and ‘Integrative’? Roe (2007, p. 206), in his artistic research into collaboration with five different composers, concludes that his collaborations demonstrated characteristics of a ‘Complementary’ mode (collaboration based on complementary knowledge, clear roles, and willingness to engage collectivity) with traces of ‘Integrative’ patterns such as risk-taking, shared creative vision. His conclusion is that in order to achieve a true ‘Integrative’ collaboration, a longer and more intense period of activity will be required. According to Östersjö (2008, p. 378), it’s difficult to imagine a fully ‘Integrative’ mode of collaboration as proposed by John-Steiner in the case of a composer and a performer in Western music tradition. In order for the collaborative work between performer and composer to reach a level of integrated creative work, a serious reconsideration of the respective practices of the two agents is needed. The clarinettist Paul Roe (2007) and the guitarist Stefan Östersjö (2008) discuss the need of a specific framework for the analysis of collaborative work in field of music, as the results of their research into collaboration also lead to the field between ‘Complementary’ and ‘Integrative’ modes of work.

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Looking at my project through John-Steiner’s patterns of artistic collaboration, my collaborations with Olle Sundström and Lisa Stenberg were mostly ‘Complementary’ collaborations with aspects of ‘Integrative’ collaboration. My conclusions regarding collaboration point to the same direction. It seems to me that the ‘Integrative’ mode is a kind of goal that doesn’t really fit the collaboration between performer-composer nowadays. In all the works I have read about collaboration it seemed that the musicians were a little frustrated for not reaching a fully ‘Integrative’ collaboration. I understand and admire the effort of proposing working processes that go against the individualism of our society. On the other hand, I was educated as a performer in the Western tradition and in all my experience of collaborating with composers I never experienced the division of labour as a negative aspect as in the following quotation: Typically the composer is seen as ‘creator’, the performer as ‘interpreter’, and the audience as the ‘recipient’ of the music. This inherent hegemony creates division between these musicians, creating expressive barriers in the dissemination of new work. (Roe, 2007, p.2)

I also believe that new frameworks are needed in order capture the richness that exists in this in between collaborative and integrative, in the divided labour, the limited musician. During this project I realized that the input that a performer can have in a collaborative process is hard to catch. And even small exchanges of ideas can bloom into a marvellous new piece of music.

Figure 11. Marina Cyrino and Josefine Gellwar Madsen performing Floating Embers, Piteå, 2012.

4. Final reflections The outcomes of this research are many. The palpable ones are: three new pieces for the flute repertoire focusing on one very interesting technique, audio recordings of the pieces and a written thesis. In addition, during this two-year journey an enormous amount of intangible outcomes resulted from this process. As a musician I walked the path of practice, performance, composition and research. The technical advances that I incorporated in my flute playing are evident: I learned deeply a new technique not only in growing accustomed

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to using my voice while playing but also a theoretical knowledge that has enriched myself as a musician. I had the opportunity to be active and discuss one of my favorite aspects of being a musician: to collaborate with composers. In addition, I have experienced a great creative stimulus that resulted in my first piece for solo flute. But of course I believe that my gains can also be shared with the general community of flutists, musicians and all persons interested in new techniques for flute and collaboration as a working method. I hope that through my text and reflections I could express my gratitude to the composers, teachers and musicians that worked with me during this project.

Figure 12. Josefine Gellwar Madsen, Marina Cyrino and Olle Sundström’s arm. First rehearsal of Floating Embers. Learning how to be an action researcher: a little problem with the camera framing, Piteå, 2012.

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Reference List

Literature Artaud, P. (1994). “Aspects of the Flute in the Twentieth Century”. (C. Dale, Trans.) Contemporary Music Review, 8(2), 131–216, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07494469400640101 (accessed May 2, 2013) Artaud, P. (1995a). Present Day Flute. Paris: Billaudot. Beckett, S. (2006). The Complete Dramatic Works. London: Faber and Faber limited. Caldas Zeballos, S.(2012). Guitarra Negra, A journey through a Collaborative Creative Process. Master thesis, Department of Arts, Communication and Education, Luleå University of Technology. Castello Branco, M. (2012). Reflexões sobre Música e Técnica. Salvador: Editora da Universidade Federal da Bahia. Dick, B. (1993). You Want to Do an Action Research Thesis?: How to conduct and report action research). http://www. aral.com.au/resources/arthesis.html (accessed May 2, 2013). Dick, R. (1986). Tone Development through Extended Techniques. New York: The Multiple Breath Company. Dick, R. (1989). The Other Flute: A Performance Manual of Contemporary Techniques. New York, NY: The Multiple Breath Company. Grétarsson, G. (2012) Three in One: Composer's intentions and performer’s reflections. Master’s thesis, Department of Arts, Communication and Education, Luleå University of Technology. Hayden, S., & Windsor, L. (2007). “Collaboration and the Composer: Case studies from the end of the 20th century”. Tempo, 61(240), 28–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0040298207000113

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John-‐Steiner, V. (2000). Creative Collaboration. New York: Oxford University Press. Levine, C. & Mitropoulos-‐Bott, C. (2002). The Techniques of Flute Playing. Kassel: Bärenreiter. Macgregor, M. (2012). Of Instrumental Value: Flutist-Composer Collaboration in the Creation of New Music. Vancouver: University of British Columbia. Manabe, R. (2008). A Preliminary Manual of Phonetics in Flute Playing. Doctoral dissertation, UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations. http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3mb1w13c (accessed on May 2, 2013) Martin, C. (2012). Mobile Computer Music for Percussionists. Master thesis, Department of Arts, Communication and Education, Luleå University of Technology. Merrick, L. (2004). Collaboration Between Composers and Performers: Recent British Clarinet Concertos. Doctoral dissertation, University of Central England in Birmingham. Östersjö, S. (2008). SHUT UP ’N’ PLAY! Negotiating the Musical Work. Doctoral dissertation, Malmö School of Music, Lund University. Penny, J. (2009). The Extended Flautist: Techniques, technologies and performer perceptions in music for flute and electronics. Doctoral dissertation, Griffith University. Powell, A. (2002). The Flute. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Robinson E. (2011). Voice, Itinerant, and Air: A performance and analytical guide to the solo flute works of Toro Takemitsu. Doctoral dissertation, Ball State University. Roe, P. (2007). A Phenomenology of Collaboration in Contemporary Composition and Performance. Doctoral dissertation, Department of Music, University of York. Toff, N. (1985). The Flute Book. London, UK: David and Charles

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Musical Scores Cyrino, M. (2013). Old Game. (Unpublished) Ferneyhough, B. (1975). Cassandra’s Dream Song. London: Peters Edition Ltd Högberg, F. (1996). Flight of the Dragonfly. Stockholm: AB Carl Gehrmans Musikförlag. Hurel, P. (1984). Eólia. Paris: Gerard Billaudot. Saariaho, K. (1997). Mirrors. Chester Music Ltd. Saariaho, K. (1982). Laconisme de L’Aile. Helsinki: Editions Wilhem Hansen Saariaho, K. (2002). Terrestre. Chester Music Ltd. Stenberg, L. (2013). Keep The Night From Coming In. (unpublished) Sundström, O. (2011). Spark of Imagination. (Unpublished) Sundström, O. (2012). Floating Embers. (Unpublished) Sundström, O. (2013). Rimfrost. (Unpublished) Rossé, F. (1997). Kotoko uha! Bordeaux: Questions de Tempéraments. Takemitsu, T. (1971). Voice. Paris: Salabert Editions.

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CD Recordings Chase, Claire Flute Recital: SAARIAHO, K. / DONATONI, F. / CARTER, E. / BOULEZ, P. / FUJIKARA, D. (Terrestre). Label: New Focus Recordings Catalogue No.: FCR122 FERNEYHOUGH, B.: Flute Music (Bjarnason). Label: Bridge Records Catalogue No.: BCD9120 Möller, Mats, Flute Recital: - DEBUSSY, C. / VARESE, E. / JOLIVET, A. / BACK, S. -E. / SCELSI, G. / BERIO, L. / ROSENBERG, H. (Solo per Flauto). Label: SFZ Music Catalogue No.: SFZ2001 SAARIAHO, K.: Laconisme de l'aile / L'Aile du songe / PERSE, S.-J.: Oiseaux (Saraste). Label: Montaigne Catalogue No.: MO782154 SAARIAHO, K.: Verblendungen / Jardin secret I / NoaNoa. Label: BIS Catalogue No.: BIS-CD-307 SAARIAHO, K.: Cello Music (Descharmes). Label: aeon Catalogue No.: AECD0637 YouTube Links: Claire Chase (flutist from ICE – International Contemporary Ensemble) rehearsing Jason Eckard’s 16. (accessed May 3, 2013) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArK2EE1cHdc ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble) performs Saariaho’s Terrestre. (accessed May 3, 2013) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEnd0RecpGg&feature=endscreen&NR=1 Robert Dick’s Throat Tune Lesson. (accessed May 3, 2013) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCxXc5p96YA Samuel Beckett’s End Game, directed by Conor McPherson. Blue Angel films LTD. (accessed May 3, 2013) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB89e4VynP4

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Flute Extended

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