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Dark Colors / Birds of Prey (2011)
for soprano and optional electronics
Composed for Fifteen Minutes of Fame: written for Beth Griffith, a competition which required one-minute pieces, preferably
with extended techniques. Experimental music for voice wasn't really something I ever considered before, and making a one-minute
entry into this world wasn't something I was interested in – at first. Then the idea hit me that I could make a long piece with
many different processes going on in different sections, and have the performer only select a one-minute time window. The other
ideas came very quickly afterwards.
The piece consists of sound sequences that the performer matches to rhythms. In the competition version only 13 consecutive bars
(i.e. one minute) are selected for performance; in the extended version, the performer selects one of the sequences and performs that
in full. Optional electronic effects are used in the extended version only: some sounds may be enhanced with distortion or delay. The
version for synthesizer omits certain parts of the score and adds others.
A companion piece, Birds of Prey, is a set of tiny songs for amplified voice. The notation was inspired by certain sections of
Dark Colors. Any type of voice is suitable. All songs use the microphone as a percussion instrument. There are three versions of the
cycle: a version for men, a version for women, and an LGBT version; the performer obviously selects the version that corresponds to
their gender.
PDF scores:
– Dark Colors (extended version)
– Dark Colors (competition version)