The concept of sloth____

When one succumbs to chronic laziness, this is often not an immediate transformation but
rather something that occurs gradually to the extent that one doesn’t notice the transition.
In this piece, I have recreated that sense by writing in such a way that the changes in tempo
are barely noticeable to the listener….

The piece is composed through the eyes of one who succumbs to sloth rather than the
observer as it is far easier for another person to notice changes in the way one acts than it is
for the person in question to pick up on.

The piece, as with the whole set of works, requires a very specific layout otherwise the
spatial writing becomes moot and the effects are rendered inexecutable. Having the strings
spread out helps create an acoustic representation of surround sound audio without the
need for any kind of digital technology. As there are more string instruments used in this
piece than any other kind of instrument, I decided to have these as the basis for creating an
immersive sound scape. The violins at the front of the audience on either side and the celli
behind the audience, in what could be seen as an A-B configuration, allow for the timbral
nuances of the stringed instruments to be exploited as an ensemble and as individual
sounds and sound locations. The positioning of the percussion further back on the stage
floor with a large orchestral bass drum in the middle allows for both a focal point and
almost how a subwoofer would act in a 5.1 surround sound setup. Percussive “thumps” will
keep people’s eyes towards the front and thereby enhance the spatial and immersive
phenomenon created by the strings and brass – the effect is almost lost if audience
members keep moving to turn their heads. This is a major issue with this type of music as
even a turn of the head can result in missing certain effects as the sound isn’t appearing in
one’s mental map where it should be.

I am not a fan of site specific pieces due to their very nature; one must be in a specific space
to experience the music. This can result in people missing out on great works due to their
social or economic status at any given time and that is not something that I am wanting to
recreate. I want to write spatial music that can be performed at any venue with little, or
ideal no, modification to the space. When writing for elevated or hidden performers, this
can prove extremely difficult as not every venue has the facilities to cope with such music.
Pieces that call for say, a performer to be suspended from the celing, are very impractical
when one considers even outside factors such as health and safety. Due to this, I have
attempted to ensure that all of the spatial effects will work at the majority of venues. In
particular in this piece, the effects created by the relationhip and placement of the two
trumpets will work if the second trumpet is elevated by 5 meters or is simply stood on a box
or ladder behind the audience.

The opening section is scored primarily for the two trumpets and is a direct representation
of how one may be depicted in life; full of energy, in good shape and able to achieve the
taxing nature of life that is shown in the virtuosic execution of the written material. Whilst
remarkably difficult and even leading professionals would have to take a lot of time to
rehearse, the material is indeed playable and shows how even a person of exeptional ability
can gradually lose their edge and become a victim of sloth. In terms of spatial writing, my
intention in this opening section is to have fast lines passing fluidly between one performer
on the stage floor in clear sight and the other hidden away on a raised location such as a
lighting box. The difference in height helps to create a feeling of depth for the audience with
sound moving from somewhere clearly visible to an unseen location.

The motif, if one could label it as such, at figure A is the first depiction of sloth that we hear.
Both trumpets play a single pitch in both harmonic and rhythmic unison until bar 38 where
we see a hocketed effect with the instruments ending up out of sync by a quaver, thus
creating both a feeling of delay and one of spatiality. This idiom returns at figure C at an
ever so slightly slower tempo which would be practically inconceivable to your average
listener, especially given the faster material used at figure B.

Figure D is where we really begin to hear the detriation of material and a depiction of sloth
through the use of spatialized glissandi and slightly out of sync microtonal glides from the
celli. As the celli are located behind the audience, listners have to rely on our innate sound
localisation ability to place these sounds in a spatial mind map. Given that the parts are
slightly out of sync, one can easily hear the sound passing from side to side in a crude
acoustic reconstruction of digital panning. When combined with the unstable writing in the
violin parts, the audience is surrounded by constantly moving and sliding sound which of
course, adds to the general feeling of instability felt by those who become victims of sloth.

People who are affected by sloth, whilst the degradation is a slow process, may suffer
periods of instantly noticeable sluggishness and lack of any sort of structure and this is
depicted at figure E. This section is free from the constraints of pulse and lasts around 15
seconds. The reason for not having a fixed duration is one related to auditory
aesthetics;_____
The violins have a choice of pitches to execute whilst the celli perom asynchronous
harmonics which echoes the effect heard at figure D. Following this, the trumpets play a
phrase in unison before splitting off to play the same rhythmic figure, only not in unison.
The general idea is that the players will listen to each other and be able to play out of sync
whilst still executing the same rhythm.

The final section begins with a structured and well thought out harmonic structure but very
quickly dissipates back into the ______. The focus of the pitches and the methods used to
attain these diads stems from the lack of ambition to create new material; the chords have
been created from random dice rolls as used previously with the exception that the
assigned numbers don’t correspond to the scale going from tonic to tonic. As an example,
the first time this method is used, G=1, A#=3 etc whereas in this second pitch pool, G=7,
A#=2, B=6 and so on.