Produced at Open Studio in Rhinebeck, N.Y., a non-profit facility for individual artists & independent publishers, funded in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts & the New York State Council on the Arts.

Copyright © 1981 by Richard C. Higgins. All rights reserved.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

ISBN 0-914162-55-1 applies to this book.

2

Instructions for Performance

This piece is to be played on violin and harp-

sichord; an organ or chimes could be substituted

for the harpsichord, but if an organ is used, only

short sounds should be produced and these in a

variety of timbres.

There are ten movements, each lasting eighty

seconds. Instructions for playing the harpsichord

part are printed on page 15.

The rules for playing the violin part (printed

on pages 5 through 14) are as follows:

1) Note that each movement is printed on a

separate page, each consists of ten staves printed

over a photograph, and each has an array of notes

listed at the top of the page.

3

2) This array is a gamut. Each movement uses

only the tones given in its gamut; these may be

transposed up or down an octave, but usually are

played as written. The tones may be played in any

order, any sequence. Patterns may be developed —

one per line— or they may be avoided. Any

number of notes may be played in each line, but —

3) only as suggested by the photograph. The

violinist produces timbres, densities, and so on,

according to any consistent and personal criteria.

Volumes are determined in the same way, as are

the use of mutes, special bowing techniques and

the degrees or absence of vibrato. Each line lasts

about eight seconds, and the lines and movements

are played in the sequence given.

4) Each movement should sound quite different

from each other movement, bounded only by what

is suggested by the photograph. One movement

might be quite dense and fast, another quite slow

and solemn, another quite light. Each movement

should employ its own system. Thus the degree of

darkness in one photograph might determine lots of

bow action in one movement, deep pitches in

another, and soft rich timbres in a third, etc. Or

loudness might be determined in some movement

by subject matter, such as the distance in a given

line to the male figure as the violinist's eye travels

left to right along each line— maximum volume

4

when playing over the figure, minimum when

playing at the ends of the line away from the

figure. However, the systems may be repeated from

performance to performance; there is no need to

work up a new set of systems for each separate

performance situation.

There should be about ten seconds of silence

between each movement.

Barrytown, New York

August 18, 1980

First Movement

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Fourth Movement

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15

Harpsichord Instructions

The harpsichord part is to vary from movement to

movement, performance to performance.

The harpsichordist plays twenty sounds in each of the ten

movements. These may come together or they may come

quite separately, though this latter is mostly preferable. They

should surprise the violinist, both in timbre, in harmonic

texture and in timing. They may be diatonic, chromatic or

dissonant, they may or may not form patterns, progressions,

melodies or rhythms. Most of the sounds should be relatively

loud. But they should be inconsistent. The sounds should be

sounds associated with traditional music, i.e., the musician

should not slap or scrape the side of the instrument, for

example.

If another instrument than a harpsichord is used, maximum

variety should be a prime objective. For instance, a piano,

organ, percussion, carillon or synthesizer would all be suitable

substitutes, whereas a clarinet would not.

$10.00 ISBN 0-914162-55-1

Other musical publications by Dick Higgins

include:

Piano Album: Short Piano Pieces, 1962-

1984; $10.00

TWenty-Six Mountains for Mewing the

Sunset From

(for three dancers, four singers, two

percussionists, piano, prepared

piano, two violins and cello), $12.00

Please write for our complete catalog:

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Barrytown, New York 12507