Chorus Series for Public Spaces

These pieces are meant to be performed by a medium to large group of people spread around a concentrated public space. They can be performed alone, or as a set, and may be superimposed upon each other in various ways, or juxtaposed with the performance of other un-related pieces. The members of the chorus need not have any musical experience.

- Jason Belcher (6/22/2010)

Chorus I - Warren

(for Warren Senders)

1 begins by singing or playing a note (always a held tone).

others come in one by one, each with a new note.

When the entire ensemble is actively singing, move around (in a circle, randomly, and if in a hall, moving about the audience).

The phonetic content to be sung is reflected by the title of this movement, and should be divided up as follows:

1.) Wa… (W attack only once then always on an open "ah" sound)

2.) rr… (closed, but held, and retaining pitch)

3.) e… (as within the word Warren)

4.) n… (closed, but held, and retaining pitch)

The morphing to the next syllable should not happen precisely together, but the performers should listen, and generally follow one another. Soft but frenetic improvised figures can pop out of the texture towards the middle of the piece, but should not happen too often.

This movement should last from 6-10 minutes.

II. She

She had this incredible urge to tell the whole story all the time.

- Anselm Hollo

The Hollo poem is broken up into cells (see below). The cells should be repeated - not too long, but long enough for the addition or subtraction of a word to be interesting. Also, the ensemble should move through the cells together.

The overall density of the ensemble should expand and contract with the addition or subtraction of words. When the ensemble reaches the word time, they should fade to nothing, and the movement is over

The words should be spoken and sung. There should be little sense of meter, and all performers should be conscious of the overall ensemble sound.

This movement should be anywhere from 4-6 minutes in length

II. She

1 - She

2 - She had

3 - She had this

4 - She had this incredible

5 - She had this incredible urge

6 - She had this incredible urge to

7 - She had this incredible urge to tell

8 - She had this incredible urge to tell the

9 - She had this incredible urge to tell the whole

10 - She had this incredible urge to tell the whole story

11 - She had this incredible urge to tell the whole story all

12 - She had this incredible urge to tell the whole story all 

13 - She had this incredible urge to tell the whole story all the

14 - She had this incredible urge to tell the whole story all the time

15 - Had this incredible urge to tell the whole story all the time

16 - This incredible urge to tell the whole story all the time

17 - Incredible urge to tell the whole story all the time

18 - Urge to tell the whole story all the time

19 - To tell the whole story all the time

20 - Tell the whole story all the time

21 - The whole story all the time

22 - Whole story all the time

23 - Story all the time

24 - All the time

25 - the time

26  - Time

III. C’mon

Take the title, and speak/sing it using different inflections/durations of sounds.

Performers should also isolate different sounds from within the title (C = hard “K” sound, m = closed M sound of any length etc.).

There may be different sounds happening at the same time, but there can also be coordination between performers and the sounds they are making (for example, the performers could all be making a short, hard K sound for a moment or two). Like the previous chorus, strict rhythm should be avoided).

This piece should not exceed the length of 4 minutes, and could be as short as 15 seconds.

IV. Tubacases

(for Beth)

This movement is similar to movement II in its construction and execution. The ensemble should treat each line like a cell that can be freely repeated until the ensemble is cued to move on (by the conductor or group leader).

Velocity and density should build from a soft dynamic and peak at cell 9, which should be a little longer than other cells.

This movement should be 3-5 minutes in length.

IV. Tubacases

1 - The

2 - To The

3 - The Tuba

4 - The Tubacase

5 - The Tubacase Can

6 - The Tubacase Cannot

7 - The Tubacase Cannot Cross

8 - The Tubacase Cannot Cross The Road

9 - The Road

10 - The Road On

11 - The Road On Its

12 - The Road On Its Own

13 - The Tubacase

14 - The Tubacase Cannot Cross The Road On Its Own

15 - Cross The Road On Its Own

16 – The Road On Its Own

17 – Road On Its Own

18 – On its own

19 – Its Own

20 - Own