Il Settimo-cervello (the Septi-Brain) Sweep Quarter Trap, Part III By Dave Ruder, 2005 for two trombones, two strings, two electronic glissando producers, and one human voice materials: instructions, individual parts, individual “These Three Things” This piece grew out of the concept of a gamut of glissandi. I had previously composed two fully-scored quartets wherein glissandi were the basis of all sonorities. After writing these pieces, I came to the conclusion that decisions of how to balance and order these sonorities would be more interesting if left to the performers, rather than if I made all determinations. I selected seven glissing instruments: two trombones, two non-fretted strings, two electronic instruments that are able to slide pitches, and one human voice in any range (notated T1, T2, S1, S2, E1, E2, V, respectively). With these instruments in mind, I created a range of interactions based on the size of the group playing at a given moment and the net direction of each player’s glissando. For each interaction or “event”, I added some level of specificity, often narrow and often broad, in order to give the players an understand of the wide range of sounds I was trying to cultivate. Below are the basic rules of the piece, the roadmap for the interactions. Beginning: The beginning bears little relation to the body of the piece. The E2 player starts on any pitch and slides up to a new pitch, holding it indefinitely. Going around clockwise, the next player starts on any pitch, slides up to the pitch of the previous player, pauses, and then continues on, a sixth (major or minor) above the previous player’s pitch. This final pitch is held. This process continues on until all players are holding a pitch (dynamic level for all should be forte), and after a short pause, the vocalist cuts everyone off. From here, the body of the piece begins. Body: Using the 150 glissando events, players freely interact with one another. There is no order to the events, and events may be repeated as desired. To initiate an event with another player, a player makes eye contact and holds up the number of fingers that corresponds to the number of musicians to be in the event (trios are 3 fingers, septets are 7). Responses to an invitation to play should be given with a nod of the head. Players may only assemble groupings that exist on the score – for example, there is no quartet consisting of both trombone and electronics players, so this sub-group may not be assembled. Solo may be initiated freely. Once all of the players to be involved in the event are in agreement that they will play together, they select the number of the corresponding event, again by holding up the corresponding number of fingers (this is not necessary if there’s only one possible event for the given instrumentation). Once the specific event is agreed upon and all players are prepared to play it, the player who initiated the event gives a downbeat or a nod, and the event begins. The event is over when the last player fulfills every detail specified about the event, and no player involved in the event may move on before every detail is satisfied. Players must become accustomed to the pace of events; a minute of waiting and deliberation may elapse before any actions are taken. It is acceptable for players to remain inactive for short periods of time between events; in fact this is necessary for players to be available to one another to form groupings in the first place. The nature of the piece is for several unrelated things to be happening at once, and hence sextets and septets will take some effort to put together. Refusals At any point, a player may refuse another player’s offer to initiate an event. A player may nod his or her head “no” to an offer for either a specific grouping or a specific event within a specific grouping. When this happens, the player who was trying to initiate the event must cease, and as soon as possible, he or she must hold a constant, steady drone on any pitch. The refusing player joins in, also droning on any pitch. When any player hears a drone (which should be clear given that all other sounds will be glissandi), he or she must cease all current action, be it an event, negotiations for a new event, or resting, and begin a drone on any pitch. Once all players have ceased previous action and begun a drone, they hold it for several seconds together and the player who was refused cuts them off with a hand or a head nod. At this point, normal interactions resume. These Three Things & moving to the ending After a refusal, the environment is slightly changed. The player who refused another player’s event must turn to his or her list entitled “These Three Things”. This list contains a set of individual condition that will supercede all other actions. The condition should be obeyed at all times, even if this makes a specific event instruction impossible. If the condition listed on “These Three Things” tells the player to only play pianissimo, this overrides the command of a specific event to, for example, play forte. The only way one condition can be overruled is if another condition negates it, or if the condition has a time limit built into it (e.g. a condition lasting until the next refusal or a condition that lasts for the next five minutes). After the first refusal, the first condition of “These Three Things” is enacted. After the second refusal, the second condition is enacted, etc. The piece is designed to be performed with three conditions per player (hence the name of the list), but this number may be adjusted higher or lower based on the length of the desired performance. The length of the piece hinges on the number of refusals allowed per player. Once a player has enacted all of his or her conditions, that player may no longer refuse an event. Moreover, when an event is refused, that player no longer plays a drone, but rather sits as still as possible and makes eye contact with all other players, nodding his or her head “yes” to show that they are aware of what’s happening but cannot play. Since at least one of the two players involved in any refusal will be able to produce a drone, every refusal will be audible. When, after a refusal, there is only one player droning, the body of the piece has ended, and after the drone is cut off, regular interaction ceases. Ending: The ending that has been used is for a person not previously involved in the preceding piece to arise from the audience after the last drone. This new person will conduct the players, who will simply following along with the conductor’s movements in any consistent way that seems appropriate. This should last for about fifteen seconds. Other short endings are possible, based on the specific performance, but they should not rely too heavily on the material from the body of the piece. Sample “These Three Things” conditions: T1 #1 – for the next two events, reposition your slide so that only half of it connects with the body of the instrument T2 #1 – do not sit down until your next refusal S1 #2 – refuse the next offer S2 #3 – put a nice little trill/tremolo decorative flourish on the end of all events, like a little tag E1 #1 – Try to barter (silently) with a string player for a bow. If you succeed, you have to use it. E2 #1 – don’t smile V #2 – while singing, often begin to count, using your fingers