IncreasingthemobilityofStockhausen’sMobileScores

LindsayVickeryLecturerinMusic,

WAAPA,EdithCowanUniversity2010

IncreasingthemobilityofStockhausen’sMobileScores

Stockhausen composi0ons pioneered a wide range of the innova0ve techniques that

have come to be associate with the Avant Garde Period. In the explora0on of formal

structureandthemeansofpresen0ngworktoperformersvianovelmedia,Stockhausen

wasoneofthekeycontributorsduringthis0me.

Theseinnova0onsincluded:

• The“mobile”score

• The“transforma0ve”score

• Intui0vemusic

DespitethefactthatStockhausenlivedwellintothefirstdecadeofthe21stcentury,allof

hisworksrelyonthetradi0onalno0onofaprintedpaperscore.

This discussion explores the technical and prac0cal possibili0es of adap0ng the

innova0veprintedscoresbyStockhausenthroughtheuseofcomputertechnology.The

technological recas0ng of these works is considered in light of Stockhausen’s own

aesthe0cstatementsconcerningthenecessitytocomprehendthe“uniqueness”ofworks

whichwereborntoapar0cularhistoricalmoment.

The Mobile Score TheMobilescoreaimedtoliberatethemusicscorefromthemanaclesofleL‐right/up‐downorienta0on.Theideaevolved,bothinmusicandacrossarangeofartformsinthemid‐twen0ethcentury,allsharingacommonimpetustogeneratetheopportunityformul0plereadingsdefinedbytheindividual.

TheelementthatismobileinamobilescoreandliberatedisthePerformersInthemobilescore,thefinalorderinganddistribu0onofnotatedmusicaleventsisdeferredbythecomposerun0ltheperformance.

TheMobileScore:Precursors(HenryCowell’sMosaicStringQuartet1935)wasanearlyexampleoftheflexibleform.(Rischitelli2005p.102‐3)

ThefirstMobilescoreMortonFeldman:Intermission6(1953).(Right)

Stockhausen’s first work in this medium wasKlavierstückXI(1956).HedevelopedtheseideastoencompasstwodifferentkindsofMobileScore.Histermforthisstructurewas“PolyvalentMusic”.

(Coenen1994p.218).

SinglePageMobileScore:NotatedElementsareseparatedbyspaceanddistributedacrossthepage.

MulIplePageMobileScore:NotatedElementsseparatedbypageandassembledintoanorder–usuallypriortotheconcert.

MomentFormStockhausenproposedanovelformalstructuretoaccountforthisapproachwhichhecalledMomentForm.

AMomentisa formal unit in a par0cular composi0on that is recognizable by a personal andunmistakablecharacter.Dependingontheircharacteris0cs,theycanbeaslongorasshortasyoulike"(Stockhausen1963p.200)

A related technique he developed simultaneously was the “Einschub” (Insert): theinterpola0on of material that has already been heard (memory) or of what will beheard(premoni0on).

ThewholeEinschub'insert'techniqueisbaseddirectlyontheoverwhelmingexperienceofinnersoundvisionswhicharestrongerthanyourownwill...Ontheotherhand,youareanengineer,youdomentalwork,andthereissome0mesaconflictbetweenthetwo:youhaveoverallvisions,imageswhichmakedemandsofakindyoucannotyetrealize,andtheyleadtotheinven0onofnewtechnicalprocesses,butthenthetechnicalprocessesgotheirownwayandbecomethestar0ngpointforothertechniqueswhichinturnprovokenewinven0onsandyoufindyourselfbombardedwithimagesagain.”

(StockhausenandMaconie1988pp.135‐6)

Stockhausen’sMomente(1962‐69)Stockhausenexpects theperformer tovary theorderofmovementsatwill, andevenprovides forpassages fromonemovement tobe inserted into itsneighbors. Foreachconcert the score may be re‐arranged, in accordance with certain instruc0ons; theextractsor"inserts"maybegluedintocertainslitsinthescore,andtheirdura0onandvolumearevarieddependingonthecontext,asindicatedbyalonglistofrulesoneachsheet. Then the parts are prepared in whatever order has been selected for thepar0cularconcert.(McElheran1965p.37)

TheTransformaIveScoreInthetransforma0vescorestablematerialsare“actedupon”bymobiletransforma0veprocedures.Stockhausenreferredtothisapproachas“Variable”Form.(Coenen1994p.218).

Stockhausen’s first (and only) workexploring this technique was Refrain(1959). In the score the staves are laidout in a circular arrangement and atransparentplas0c“refrain”‐comprisinga range of ornaments andmodifica0onsthat “act upon” the materials that theyoverlay‐ ispinnedintothecentreofthepage allowing it to be swung intodifferent orienta0ons in rely0on to thepage.

TheTransformaIveScoreStockhausenalsocreatedtransforma0vescoresthatarenotvariableinform‐theso‐called“plus‐minus”composi0ons.Intheseworksratherthanstablematerialsthatareacteduponbymobiletransforma0on,hereitsisthetransforma0onthatisstableandthematerialsthatarevariable–providedeitherbychance(fromashortwaveradioforexample)orimpulsesthatareimprovisedbytheperformer.

Stockhausen’sPoles(1969)

IntuiIveMusic

"It is no longer sufficient to expand the musical work - the opus - to a process, to a growing, self-transforming thing which unfolds at every moment, in the Here and Now; we have realized instead that the multitude of discoverable processes also leads to yet more basic, higher powers of formation that are in fact superrational, intuitive in origin.”

Stockhausen described this approach as: Opening one's mind in order to receive more vibrations from the universe than one normally does. (Coenen1994pp.210‐211)

There’s a story of a second violin player who said, “Herr Stockhausen, how will I know when I am playing in the rhythm of the universe?” Stockhausen said, with a smile, “I will tell you.”

(Anthony Pay in Bailey 1992 p. 72)

IntuiIveMusic

"It is no longer sufficient to expand the musical work - the opus - to a process, to a growing, self-transforming thing which unfolds at every moment, in the Here and Now; we have realized instead that the multitude of discoverable processes also leads to yet more basic, higher powers of formation that are in fact superrational, intuitive in origin.”

“From the Seven Days” (1969)

Stockhausen’sAdieu(1966)wasoneofthestepsonthepathtoIntui0vemusic.ItisunusualinStockhausen’soutputforseveralreasons:itcontainsnotatedtonal

fragmentsinaquasi‐”Classical”style,it juxtaposesthesefragmentswith text‐basedinstruc0onsthatcreate “sound‐mass”styleimprovisa0ons fromtheperformers.

MobileScore TransformaIve ScrollingScore TextScore

Polyvalent/Moment Variable Transforma0on Intui0ve

1956 KLAVIERSTÜCKXI

1958 KONTAKTE

1959 ZYKLUS REFRAIN

1962‐4 MOMENTE

1963 PLUS‐MINUS

1964MIXTURand

MIKROPHONIEI

1965 MIKROPHONIEII

1965 STOP

1966 SOLO ADIEU

1967 PROZESSION

1968 STIMMUNG SPIRAL

1969 POLEandEXPO

Actually Mobile Mobile Scores

The implementation of mobile scores in a computer-based hypertextual medium may provide a more “natural” vehicle for their performance by:

• creating a more practical, pragmatic medium for presenting information to the performer;

• preventing performers from preparing a fixed order of the work’s materials;

• allowing the choice of nonlinear materials based on aleatoric or other procedures;

• reducing the need for unnecessary cues that create a non-musical distraction to the performers and/or the performance.

Technology and ideology are inextricably intertwined… what we are dealing with here is yet another example of the well-known phenomenon of the old artistic forms pushing against their own boundaries and using procedures which, at least from our retrospective view, seem to point towards a new technology that will be able to serve as a more “natural” and appropriate “objective correlative” to the life-experience the old forms endeavoured to render by means of their “excessive” experiments.

Zizek, S., 2000. The Art of the Ridiculous Sublime. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 39

KarlheinzStockhausen:KlavierstückXIAttheendofthefirstgroup,theperformerreadsthetempo, dynamic and aoacks indica0ons that follow,and looks at random to any other group, which hethenplaysinaccordancewiththelaoerindica0ons.

Asa result theaverage lengthof performances of this workisnormallybetween20and39segments. The number ofrecordings required to makecomputer versionof theworkis192(361).

In the case of a paper score however, involuntary choice is the most pragmatic solution for achieving an aleatoric order of groups. Stockhausen’s stated motivation for this instruction is ‘that the performer will never link up expressly chosen groups or intentionally leave out others. Each group can be joined to any of the other eighteen’

Karlheinz Stockhausen: Klavierstück XI Scoreplayer

Stockhausen’sMIXTUR(1964)

I II1 Mixtur 1 or 5 1 High C 1 or 6

2 Percussion 2 2 Pizzicato 2

3 Blocks 3 or 15 3 Layers 3

4 Direction 4 4 Dialogue 4

5 Change 5 , 14/15 5 Steps 5

6 Calmness 6 6 Concert pitch 6, 18 or 1

7 Vertical 7 7 Brass 6, 16

8 Strings 8 8 Tutti 8

9 Points 9 9 Translation 9

10 Wood 10 10 Mirror 10, 5

11 Mirror 11 or 16 11 Wood 11

12 Translation 12 12 Points 12

13 Tutti 13 13 Strings 13

14 Brass 14 or 5 14 Vertical 14

15 Concert pitch 15 , 3 or 20 15 Calmness 15

16 Steps 16 16 Change 16, 7/6

17 Dialogue 17 17 Direction 17

18 Layers 18 18 Blocks 18, 6

19 Pizzicato 19 19 Percussion 19

20 High C 20 or 15 20 Mixtur 10 or 16

I II1 Mixtur 1 or 5 1 High C 1 or 6

2 Percussion 2 2 Pizzicato 2

3 Blocks 3 or 15 3 Layers 3

4 Direction 4 4 Dialogue 4

5 Change 5 , 14/15 5 Steps 5

6 Calmness 6 6 Concert pitch 6, 18 or 1

7 Vertical 7 7 Brass 6, 16

8 Strings 8 8 Tutti 8

9 Points 9 9 Translation 9

10 Wood 10 10 Mirror 10, 5

11 Mirror 11 or 16 11 Wood 11

12 Translation 12 12 Points 12

13 Tutti 13 13 Strings 13

14 Brass 14 or 5 14 Vertical 14

15 Concert pitch 15 , 3 or 20 15 Calmness 15

16 Steps 16 16 Change 16, 7/6

17 Dialogue 17 17 Direction 17

18 Layers 18 18 Blocks 18, 6

19 Pizzicato 19 19 Percussion 19

20 High C 20 or 15 20 Mixtur 10 or 16

PERC.I

CONDUCTOR

PERC.II PERC.IIII

Woodwind BrassStrings Pizz.Str

Screen1

Screen2 Screen3

Screen4

Screen7

Screen6

Screen5

Performance set‐up for MIXTUR using networked computers to project thescores synchronously on 6 screens. Such a method could also automate theelectronic component (Ring‐modula0on of the acous0c instruments) andperhapsalsotheconductorviaclick‐tracks.

Stockhausen’sAdieu(1966)ProporIons

InmanyofStockhausen’sworksheemploystheFibonacciseriestogovernthetemporalpropor0ons.

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FibonacciSeriesPropor0onsinStockhausen’sAdieu(DiagramfromKramer1988p.315)

KramerclaimsFibonaccipropor0onstobeperceivableandpredictable(Kramer1988p.315).In1990,ClarkeandKrumhansltestedthisclaimandindeedfoundthat“thelistenerswerequiteveridicalinjudgingtherela0vedura0onsofthesegments”(Clarke,E.F.,PerceivingMusicalTime,MusicPercep0on,7:3p.236).

Stockhausen’sAdieu(1966)ScorePlayer

Stockhausen’sRefrain(1959)Themanipula0onofatransforma0veoverlayisarela0velytrivialmaoerinthedigitaldomain.

Stockhausen’sRefrain(1959)

Stockhausen’sRefrain(1959)

Stockhausen’sRefrain(1959)

Stockhausen’sRefrain(1959)EventhoughthisopportunitywasavailableduringStockhausen’slife0me,hedidnottakeadvantageofithimself.Infact,in2003hereleasdeanewversionofthispiecewiththetheoverlayfixedinonlytwoposi0ons.

Stockhausen’sPoles(1969)

Oneoftheperforma0veissueswiththePlus‐minuscomposi0onsisthe“alien”qualityoftheirnota0on.ThescoreforPolesrequirestwopagesofexplanatorynotesandthenreferstheperformertoafurther11pagesofnotesandexemplarrealisa0onsoftheworkSpiral,inordertounderstandthenota0on.

Stockhausentooktheconserva0veview:It's extremely important to comprehend works, which were born to aparGcularhistoricalmoment,fortheiruniqueness…itismyexperienceofmusic thatevery instrument, every itemof equipment, every techniquecanproducesomethingunique,whichcanbeachievedinnootherway.Since that is thecase, thenwecanspeakofanoriginal technique,andthusdealwithanoriginalinstrument.

SimonEmmersontakesamorepragma0cview.But are we aiming at ‘authenGcity’? Once we embark on such anenterprise,theregress is infinite.Mustwedemandoriginal instrumentsandoriginalperformancepracGceontheseinstruments?Thecomposer’soriginal intenGonsmaynotbe inscribed inanysingledocument, inanymedium.The sameargumentsapplyhereas in theendlessdebateson‘earlymusicinterpretaGon’–exceptwe(may)havetherecordedmediumtohelpus.

The“authen0cinstruments”debateinelectronicmusic.

Proposedsolu0onstotherealisa0onofpaper‐basedmobilescores:

•Dynamic,mobile,screen‐basednonlinearorscrollingscore;

•Useofvisualsynchroniza0onmethodssuchason‐screen0mersormetronomes;

•Useofcomputercontrolledclick‐trackstosynchroniseandtransmitformalorothermusicalparameters;

•Thecentraliza0onofthescore,sound‐fileplayback,synchroniza0onandelectronicsoundprocessing.

•Thebundlingofperformancematerials,scoresound‐files,electronicsandmeansofsynchronisa0onintoasingleunit.

Proposedreasonsfortherealisa0onofpaper‐basedmobilescoresoncomputer:

• Convenienceandportability

• Beoerrealisa0onoftheComposer'sinten0on

• Realrandomness/explora0onofpermuta0on

• Performercan'tprepareinadvance(cheat)

• Representa0onofcon0nuoustransforma0on

• Coordina0ontemporalpropor0ons

• Avoidanceoffixityandrepe00on

• Scoreandrecordingsforteachingpurposes

Technological“upgrades”tomobileformworkscouldbeconsideredinthefollowingcircumstances:

•theworkcans0llbeperformedaccordingtothecomposer’sinten0ons

•theoriginalworkwouldoperatemore“naturally”withinacontemporarymediumthatwasnotavailableatthe0meofcomposi0on.

•the“upgrade”significantlyimprovestheperformingsitua0on,forexample:facilita0ngmoreaccurateperformanceorimprovingthelogis0calrequirementsforthework.