Patterns, repetitions, and variations will arise and disappear.

However, rhythm is durations of any length

coexisting in any states of succession and synchronicity. The latter is liveliest, most unpredictably
changing, when the parts are not fixed by a score but left independent of one another, no two
performances yielding the same resultant durations. The former, succession, liveliest when (as in Morton
Feldmans Intersections) it is not fixed but presented in situation-form, entrances being at any point
within a given period of time.Notation of durations in space, read as corresponding to time, needing no
reading in the case of magnetic tape.
-

Silence, pg. 15

Structure division of the whole into parts

Method note-to-note procedure
Form expressive content, morphology of the continuity
Materials sounds and silences of the composition
In connection with the physical space of the performance, where that performance involves several
players (two or more), it is advisable for several reasons to separate the performers from the other, as
much as is convenient and in accord with the action and the architectural situation. This separation allows
the sounds to issue from their own centers and to interpenetrate in a way which is not obstructed by the
conventions of European harmony and theory about relationships and interferences of sounds There is
the possibility when people are crowded together that they will act like sheep rather than nobly. That is
why separation in space is spoken of as facilitating independent action on the part of each performer.
Sounds will then arise from actions, which will then arise from their own centers rather than as motor or
psychological effects of other actions and sounds in the environment.
In connection with the physical time of the performance, where that performance involves several
players (two or more), it is advisable for several reasons to give the conductor another function than that
of beating time Beating time is not necessary. All that is necessary is a slight suggestion of time,
obtained either from glancing at a watch or at a conductor who, by his actions, represents a watch. Where
an actual watch is used, it becomes possible to foresee the time, by reason of the steady progress from
second to second of the second hand. Where, however, a conductor is present, who by his actions
represents a watch which moves not mechanically but variably, it is not possible to foresee the time, by
reason of the changing progress from second to second of the conductors indications. Where this
conductor, who by his actions represents a watch, does so in relation to a part rather than a scoreto, in
fact, his own part, not that of anotherhis actions will interpenetrate with those of the players of the
ensemble in a way which will not obstruct their actions

Silence, pg. 39-40

Brainstorming
-

Staggered passacaglia

Mobile form

Mobility within movements/pieces

Drones

Glissandi

Concerto grosso?

Soloists as activation of parts?

Lines, asynchronous, happening at once, in rough counterpoint?

Series of mobiles? Mobiles as intermezzi?

Smear, blur

Circular bowing, electronic sounds

Echo

Spatial element

Simple materials, gleaming triads, glissandi

Klangfarbenmelodien

Variations on a simple chord progression

Calder

Mobile

Simultaneities

Indeterminacy of the instant

Coherence of form

Borges
o

Maze

Infinite sets of possibilities

Garden of forking paths

Indeterminacy in performance
o

Feldman

Graphic notation

Use of a grid

Suggestions of pitches/gestures by register

Dynamics, articulation

Recursion, palindromic isorhythm w/nonmatching pitches

Sections with use of chronometers?

Passacaglia ground as a center, from with other things spring

Lutoslawski model rondo w/extremely short motto like ritornello movement

References to music of the past? Quotation? (a la Schnittke)

Start solo quartet, orchestra joins in unison gesture

Motives as symbols? Major triad as a theme, a la Gubaidulina?

Use of a metronome?

Calder mobile
-

Structure: determinate

Method: partially determinate

Determinate in position, along a set path

Indeterminate in direction, speed

Form: partially determinate

o

Determinate in overall impression, gestalt, cohesive whole

Indeterminate from instant to instant, specific appearance

Materials: determinate

Piece
-

Structure: determinate
o

Music divided into functional sections

Method: partially determinate

o

Determinate in pitch selection, in note-to-note procedure

Indeterminate in speed (direction?)

Form: partially determinate

o

Determinate in overall impression, gestalt, cohesive whole

Indeterminate from instant to instant, specific appearance

Materials: determinate
o

Timbre, harmony (vertical sonority), melody

This particular inspiration came to me when I visited the Los Angeles County Museum of
Art at the end of March. There was an exhibition of works by the sculptor, Alexander Calder;
mostly the colorful mobile sculptures he was famous for inventing, which he claimed took after

antique models of the planets and stars. I was very struck by how whimsical, lyrical, even
human, some of the sculptures were; it was like watching paintings leap into the air and dance. I
drew an immediate connection between the flexibility of these sculptures and the works of John
Cage, Morton Feldman, and Witold Lutoslawski, each of whom employed elements of
indeterminacy in their music (albeit to very different effect, from Calder, and from each other).
My idea is to write a piece that is something of a musical mobile a work that has large
aspects of it that are flexible, while still retaining some sense of cohesion and continuity. I would
like to use aleatoric devices on a structural level, to create, perhaps, a spontaneous form with
movable parts (which themselves might be sections with textures created by chance operations).
To this end, the trajectory of the piece might not follow a traditional path: the focus of the piece
would not be to reach the climax and finish (not that I definitely wont have one!), but instead to
drift through a sequence of connected events, leaving the listener with a lingering impression
instead of telling a straightforward story.
I imagine a work that, at turns, waves, shimmers, dances, and rests; my hope is to capture
the same wonder, poetry, and buoyancy I found in Calders beautiful steel constellations.