Chambers: Scores by Alvin Lucier

2. Vespers

VESPERS VESPERS (1969) for any number of players who would like to pay their respects to all living creatures who inhabit dark places and who, over the years, have developed acuity in the art of echolocation, i.e., sounds used as messengers which, when sent out into the environment, return as echoes carrying information asto the shape, size, and substanceof that environment and the objects in it. Play in dark places, indoors, outdoors, or underwater; in dimly lit spaces wear dark glasses and in lighted spaces wear blindfolds. In empty spaces objects such as stacked chairs, large plants, or human beings may be deployed. Equip yourselves with Sondols (sonar-do/phin), hand-held echolocation devices which emit fast, sharp, narrow-beamed clicks whose repetition rate can be varied manually. Accept and perform the task of acoustic orientation by scanningthe environment and monitoring the changing relationships between the outgoing and returning clicks. By changingthe repetition rate of the outgoing clicks, using as a reference point a speed at which the returning clicks are halfway between the outgoing clicks, distances can be measured, surfaces can be made to sound, and clear signaturesof the environment can be made. By changing the angle of reflection of the outgoing clicks against surfaces, multiple echoes of different pitches can be produced and moved to different geographical locations in the space. Scanning patterns should be slow, continuous, and non-repetitive. Move as non-human migrators, artificial gatherers of information, or slow ceremonial dancers. Discover routes to goals, find clear pathwaysto center points or outer limits, and avoid obstacles. Decisions as to speed and direction of outgoing clicks must be made only on the basis of usefulness in the process of echolocating. Any situations that arise from personal preferencesbased on ideas of texture, density , improvisation, or composition that do not directly serve to articulate 16 the sound personality of the environment should be considered deviations from the task of echolocation. Silences may occur when echolocation is made impossible by the masking effect on the players' returning echoes due to the saturation of the space by both the outgoing and returning clicks, by interferences due to audience participation, or by unexpected ambient sound events. Players should stop and wait for clear situations, or stop to make clear situations for other players. Endings may occur when goals are reached, patterns traced, or further movement made impossible. For performances in which Sondols are not available, develop natural means of echolocation such as tongue-clicks, finger-snaps, or footsteps, or obtain other man-made devices such as hand-held foghorns, toy crickets , portable generators of pulsed sounds, thermal noise, or 10 kHz pure tones. Dive with whales, fly with certain nocturnal birds or bats (particularly the common bat of Europe and North America of the family Vespertilionidae ), or seek the help of other experts in the art of echolocation. Activities such as billiards, squash, and water-skimming may be considered kindred performances of this work. Based on the work of Donald R. Griffin. 17 This page intentionally left blank When was Vesoers written? Let's see, I got the idea for it in 1967, and like most of my pieces I thought about it for a long time before I actually made the final realization . I thought it was final, but the other day as I was resting in the middle of the gym, I started listening to the footsteps of a runner as he ran around the oval track. At first you'd hear a single echo, but then as he circled and got in a different place, the echo would begin to multiply —not really multiply but add—so that there would be three echoes for every step. This gave me the idea that perhaps I should keep the idea of the piece open. That's a funny thing for me to say because in the original version, you know, the one with the Sondols, I don't care about the speed at which the players play. I'm not interested in what goes out, I'm only interested in what comes back. But if I ever made a version of Vespers using runners, I would want to have runners of different styles and speeds—long distance runners, milers, sprinters. Whereas the Sondol version is for anyone to play, I'm beginning to feel that I...