Sphere

Composed by Sam Harrold

With words by Participant 9, Participant 4, Participant 3, 

The Dying Artist, and Participant 6

“And you open your ventriloquist mouth

And the words are wrong but in the right order.”

Everything Everything 

Let’s try something. 

                                                                                                                               With one hand

                                                                pull the heaviest book from your 

                                                                       bookshelf

              allow it to fall 

    onto your 

                                                                         other

                hand

from a height

                                                                           of one metre

listen to

          the first hand

                                                                         shatter 

and watch

                                                                                                                                         the second 

                                                                                                                            hand

                                                                                 continue to move. 

Performance Notes

General notes on score and performance

This piece is written for 10 performers of any gender. 

Performers should only use their voices, tongues, and fingertips. No other instrumentation or environmental sounds should be used. 

There is no direction regarding dynamics or phrasing. 

Time signatures are only included when absolutely necessary. 

Each performer should work to a tempo of their choosing. This may be the same or different to other members of the ensemble. 

It is recommended (in the first instance, at least) that the performers read from the top of the page and work their way towards the bottom of the page. However, this is not essential. 

All performers should begin the piece at the same time. A musical director is not necessary, but one performer should be elected by the rest of the ensemble to start the performance. During the performance, each performer must decide how many times they would like to repeat each cell, bar or phrase. As such, the piece should start in chorus and then gradually develop into a piece in which 10 separate voices can be heard. 

Each performer will finish at a different time. However, all performers must remain within the performance space until the final voice has finished the performance. Performers that have already finished are asked to listen carefully to the remaining voices in silence. This period of silence is a vital part of the ensemble. 

Words

In places where spoken words are used, the placement of the words upon the staff bear no indication to pitch or rhythm, and the performer should aim to speak the words with a natural fluency. The performer may take as long or as little time over each spoken word as is desired. In the event of a recording, the same voice may be used on different tracks. 

Clock

This sound should be made by clicking the tongue to the roof of the mouth. Teeth are beside the point. There should be two audible pitches, a <TICK> (higher pitch), and a <TOCK> (lower pitch). The tick can be achieved by clicking the tongue with an open mouth. The tock can be achieved by clicking the tongue with the mouth in an ‘ooh’ shape. 

Fingers and Bells 

To achieve this sound, fingers should tap onto the pages of a large, open book. 

It is possible that you may hear a bell ringing. I do not know why this is.