Detective Silence

by Arnau Brichs

This piece was written in 2020 for Olivia Palmer-Baker and is currently undergoing revision to make the electronics more straightforward. The piece can be obtained by contacting the composer at their website.

Setup

Necessary Equipment

Instructions

This piece uses two microphones, an audio interface, and two speakers. There are no MIDI controllers for this patch, although the patch could be modified to allow for this fairly easily. The setup diagram for this piece is shown below.

The patch requires the spat5 external that can be downloaded from the IRCAM forums, as well as the Jamoma external that can be installed from the Max Package Manager. The patch opens in presentation mode, but it is not helpful for performing the piece. So the patch operator should press the presentation mode button, which is the third button on the bottom toolbar. Then the patch will look like the screenshot. The big toggle button at the top should already be engaged when the patch launches. There are five toggle boxes on the left side of the patch. In the score there are several empty measures with instructions to "Play next sound when you hear silence. c. 5–10." Each of these form boundaries for the lettered sections referenced in the patch. The patch operator only needs to press these toggles at each change of sections. The sections are not lettered in the score, and it seems there is one more in the patch than using the empty measures as boundaries suggests.

Screenshots

Notation

Recordings

Difficulty

This piece is very difficult, and in some ways it feels like the performer has to learn a new instrument! There is a wide array of multiphonics, timbral trills, and manipulating the multiphonics with air pressure, the amount of reed in the mouth, and the amount of lip pressure. These all work together at various points to alter the sounds of the multiphonic and ordinary fingerings. Fortunately, every fingering is notated in the score, but it is a lot of notation to read for each note and to internalize to create the various sounds. It also takes a great deal of control over the reed and airstream to achieve the desired sounds. The electronics are relatively simple, as there are only four changes throughout the piece. This piece probably is not one to give to an undergraduate student.

Style

This piece fits into the avant-garde, experimental style. There are very few pure bassoon sounds; most of the material is multiphonics or timbral trills, with glissandi and other changes to those sounds. It would likely be a difficult piece for audiences unaccustomed to this style of music.