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A Branch in the Path

  • the Shadanga Duo
  • alto flute (voice), bass clarinet, mobile devices
  • c. 12–18′

  • 2016

The piece consists of 36 sections, each in the form of a page on this website. Each page/section is an overtone node in tree of tones with a central stem and four side branches. It is possible to change from one branch to another at common node points, just as one might with a subway system.

The audience contributes to the piece by playing, on their mobile phones, the sound-files found on each page of the particular path that they choose. Small texts also appear randomly along the way. The public is free to move about the performance space.

The flautist and clarinet player are stationary and preferably situated in the middle of the performance space. They follow their own set of parallel paths that include fragments of musical notation:

The flautist plays quasi-melodic figurations that trace possible paths through the network at a higher speed. These are interspersed with texts that are spoken out loud.

The clarinetist plays multiphonics, single tones, and slow tones in Euclidian rhythms.

The piece ends with both musicians playing a slow Euclidian section together.

The clarinet starts here, the flute here, and the audience here.