I thought that it might be helpful to present some of the scores (still evolving) User's Manual. The passage below refers to 3 pages of the score, marked with rehearsal A (pages 1 and 2) and B (page 3). Since the sounding of these pages overlaps temporally, i refer to the time in performance during which material from these two sections of the score is performed as AxB (read "A cross B").
The section marked A is collection of passages (referred to as "strophes" below) which will be performed in the designated order. The section marked B is a set of strophes with no performance order implied - their numerical indicators are merely organizational aids.There follows numerous details on the mechanisms by which these jumps happen. As i've mentioned on this site, Study for Etude is an mobile form in the classic sense; the order and duration of material varies from performance to performance; in fact some material may not be performed at all in certain performances. The work doesn't really "cede compositional control" to the performers to the extent that some composers have explored.More than bridging composition and improvisation, I'm interested in expanding the job of performers, and doing it in such a way that the decision making process involved in these performances is made more visible and audible to the audience. As we'll see in future conversations, the structures i've generated in this work don't really alter the nature of "the work" (as all works are always open, and always were), but they do foreground the cracks in our language for talking about 'work' and 'performance' and 'material.'As the performers play through A, they will, at the end of each strophe jump to a strophe from B; this choice should (ideally) happen in real time during the course of a performance. After a particular jump, both performers should be playing the same Bn; the mechanism by which these jumps should be governed is discussed below
The result of this process should a continuous passage of music (which we can refer to as AxB). Given the similarity of material in A, and the dissimilarity of material in B (both to A and between the various strophes of B) the impact should we one of pattern establishment, interruption and return. A graphical representation of the possible paths through the score might look something like this:
A particular performance would have the following structure:
Note that there is no rule which prevents the repetition of a particular B. For rehearsal purposes, it might be beneficial to play through AxB with a limited set of B strophes to chose from. Performers should always be careful to begin A strophes together, and to jump to the same B strophe.
