Silences, points et lignes

This piece attempts to grasp the notion of lines and dots in music, all contained within different levels of silence. There are two types of silence here: complete silence where the performer must produce no sound at all, and musical noises placed sporadically throughout the piece. These noises should be understood as an intermediate state between complete silence and a note (the dot). It is important that they are played "Indifferently," meaning without distinction of intensity. To extend the metaphor: silence would be the blank canvas; the key noises, a uniform, gray background; short notes, dots; and long notes, lines. This piece is constructed in an arch form, beginning and inevitably ending in silence. The high E-flat found at the center of the piece is intended to be the culmination of what is called a "line"; this passage should be sustained because at this precise point, one can hope to return to a certain form of silence: the cessation of movement, disturbances. However, the work also explores the continuum between dots and lines; when does a series of dots claim to become a line? Do several short lines together become a series of dots? These questions and explanations are posed here only to stimulate the performer's creative vision of a musical ensemble that aims to be coherent and independent of any extrinsic figure.

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