Perception – for speaker, musician, and dancer

Description

Perception is a graphically notated piece that used a poem by writer Graham Marlowe as the inspiration and the foundation.  Below is a detailed description of performance directions that come with the piece and gives you insight into what it would be like to put a performance together.

 Performance Notes:

Graphic Notation: This piece is a collection of musical moments and dance movements that are inspired by several graphics.  These graphics are inspired, in their deepest roots, by a poem, which is to be read along with the performance of movement and music.  For the performance, the graphics are what inspire the movement and music.

 Visual Organization: Perception uses a visual organization system for the graphic notation that is the core inspiration for the music and movement.  The top section is for graphic notation that the dancer and musician will consult when performing, with signs involving timing and pauses indicated above the grid.  The horizontal section below the graphics includes dynamics and transition indications for the instrumentalist only, the bottom area is for the words of the poem for the narrator to read.

 Transitions: Dynamics, crescendos and decrescendos are given to indicate beginning and ending points in the composition’s form.  The performer should use these markings as points around which they can structure their creation.

Pauses: There are some spots where a pause is indicated by a fermata in between two graphic cells or between lines that are a visual extension of the graphic cell.  These fermatas have performance notes giving directions to “pause for speaker,” therefore the performance should stop at these points.

 Music and Movement: The dancer, musician, and narrator should work together during this project.  To maximize the potential of the final performance the performers should study the score and discuss the artistic moments and inspiration in order to make decisions regarding performance and/or improvisation.  They should still keep an open mind as to the indeterminate moments that are possible during performance.  Therefore, the time indications can be precisely followed, observed loosely, or completely ignored; whatever the case, the time indications should not interfere with the communication between the performers and the flow of the work.

Visual: Whenever possible graphics should be projected and synchronized with the performers’ realization of the score. This is intended to fully engage the audience in the performance.  The performers should memorize the score or use stands/monitors that are strategically placed so as to not interrupt the music or movement.