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SUMMER MUSIC 1970

Belgian journalist and composer Jacques Bekaert was born May 11, 1940.

Around 1965, Bekaert studied with Henri Pousseur and, in 1968,

worked at Pousseur’s Studio for Electronic Music in Brussels

He settled in New York City in 1968,

earning his life writing articles on US politics for a Belgian newspaper.

His scores combine instructions and poetic imagery

toward interactive and spontaneous creation.

MUSICIANS

E. Jedidiah Denman, bass

Phil Harmonic, piano, accordion and harmonica

Anne Klingensmith, cello

George Lewis, trombone and bowed trombone

Frankie Mann, electric bass and flute

Maggi Payne, flute and psalter

David Rosenboom, violin and viola

Joel Ryan, stereo rotation

John Sackett, clarinets

Mimi Shevitz, voice

Tony Truhang, piano

"Blue" Gene Tyranny, piano

TRACK TITLES

11 for Shirley Johnson

Each person has an instrument.

Sing one sound for as long as possible, then play one sound on your instrument.

Try to have the instrumental sound resemble the sung sound as much as possible.

Do this again and again, little by little coming into unison.

9 for Jean and Virgie Toche

One performer or one singer plays or sings a single sound,

repeating it through the entire performance.

The others play or sing the shortest possible sounds at any time during the performance.

Do not play a melody, just very short sounds.

7 for Sari Dienes

Play or sing one sound as long as you can.

If there is more than one performer, it is not necessary to start together.

Try to lay or sing a beautiful sound.

You may repeat the sound, changing one aspect of it.

6 for Hilde Wood

For one singer and chorus and/or instruments.

The soloist sings one sound as long as possible.

Then the chorus and/or the instruments sing or play one sound as long as possible.

During that time the soloist is free to sing or do whatever he or she wants

(use instruments, machines, walk or dance, etc. ...).

Decide how many times you will repeat it through chance operations.

19 for Alvin & Mary Lucier

Ask Alvin Lucier for one or more tapes of his voice

(Alvin Lucier reading a text about new music, for instance).

Play the tape using a tape recorder and headphones.

The public should not hear the sound of the tape.

The performers try to play the sound of Alvin’s voice.

Eventually several performers can listen to the same tape or loops or different parts of it.

10 for Jean Dupuy

Each performer throws two dice one time.

The number that comes up tells him how many sounds he has to play.

Timing, dynamics, etc., are up to the performers.

The piece is over when everybody has played all his sounds.

The sounds can be produced by any means.

2 for Ariel Ginsbourg

Listen to the clouds in the sky and dream the music,

or play it, considering the form of the clouds.

You can also use photos or pictures of clouds.

(For several live performances we have used sky postcards by Geoff Hendricks as a score.)

17 for George Cacioppo

Copy short fragments of Cassiopeia by George Cacioppo on a transparent plastic sheet.

(Use chance operations to decide how many fragments you will use.)

Put the plastic music score on blank music paper — and play!

20 for Gordon Mumma

Cigar Music

The conductor chooses a cigar (Havanas are the best) and starts to smoke it.

He gives some kind of musical stimulus

(a word, a tune, a few notes, an indication for a musical action, etc. ...).

There are four performers (or groups of performers).

Performer 1 tries to imitate and develop the initial stimulus.

Performer 2 imitates performer 1 but always pp and as slowly as possible.

Performer 3 imitates performer 1 but as fast as possible and mf-ff.

Performer 4 tries to play the contrary of performer 1 (at least in spirit).

From time to time the smoker can feed the musical machine again.

As soon as he starts to do something, performer 1 stops playing.

Then he plays (or sings or dances) according to the new stimulus.

Performers 2, 3, and 4 follow performer 1.

The piece is over when the cigar is smoked.

23 for David Tudor

Card game piece

Take a pack of cards and give several cards to each player

(decide how many cards you give through chance operations.)

Each card represents a certain musical action:

The numbers tell you how many sounds you have to play

(Jack = 11, Queen = 12 and King = 13 sounds).

One ace means one single sound, repeated if necessary

to fill the determined length of time.

The colors indicated the pitch:

a black card = high sounds, more or less

a red card = low sounds, more or less

diamonds = pp

hearts = mf

clubs = ff

spades = mp

If you receive the Joker, you are free to play whatever you want

(in the given length of time).

The King tells you to play in a rather classical style,

the Queen in a romantic fashion, and the Jack indicates a burlesque style.

24 A & B for Jasper Johns

Flag piece

Get one or several recordings of Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa.

If necessary, play and record the march yourself.

a) Make a lot of loops using fragments of the taped Stars and Stripes.

Use one channel for each loop.

The original sound can be transformed by any means

(filters, ring modulators, echo chambers, etc.).

b) The sound of the loops is sent directly into headphones.

The performer plays what he hears (or sings it).

The audience does not hear the sound of the loops.

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