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  • Dedication to the Forest:Composition for the Sounds of Forest, Cluster of Trombones and Recorded Tape
  • Danius Valionis

Is it possible to coordinate technological sound and living, natural sounds in such a way that their sounding would form a mode and not an acoustic conflict? Can such sounds be joined with a particular musical tradition that is recognizable to the audience? I have tried to answer these questions as well as others in the composition Dedication to the Forest.

In this composition there are three different acoustic spaces: the space of nature and forest sounds, the space of technological/electronic sounds and the acoustic space of tempered sound. I have developed a style of graphical notation similar to a Cartesian system of coordinates to score these spaces, as described herein (see Fig. 1).

The sound-sequence of the melody and the melody itself are written down horizontally and vertically, respectively (at a right angle), on graph paper. Every tone of the mode is given a separate line, as in the use of staves. One cell in the graph paper denotes the smallest rhythmic unit. As the space is plotted, common tones are brought together. For example, "fis1 vertical" with "fis1 horizontal," "g1 vertical" with "g1 horizontal," and so on [1]. Melodies written using such notation refer to ornaments that can be linked to various forms of nature, e.g. trees, plants, etc. The forest, where the composition is performed, can also be considered a symbolic spatial-graphical score.

The sounds of the forest are marked with a tree symbol in the graphical notation. Technological sound is created using tape-recorder effects and is marked with an appropriate symbol. Recordings of other musicians can be used during the concert. A cluster of trombones and the tape-recorded sounds are performed together, interrupted by pauses every few minutes. During these pauses, one hears the sounds of the forest, creating an unreal, dreamlike atmosphere. The acoustic conflict between technological sound and the sounds of nature is resolved by artistic means. The performance of the composition is similar to the Renaissance genre of performance and concert in the wild.


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Fig. 1.

Danius Valionis, graphical score for the composition Dedication to the Forest, including photocopy of photo by Antanas Levickas, sounds of the forest, cluster of trombones and recorded tape (technological sound), 2002.

© Danius Valionis

Danius Valionis
Alejos 27A, LT-5420, Šiauliu raj., Kuršėnai, Lithuania.
Received 8 May 2002. Accepted for publication by Roger F. Malina.

Note

1. In English, fis = f-sharp. [End Page 47]

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