Revolving Door Notes

Each performer should be assigned a letter ahead of time.

During the performance, each player should sound when the conducting program running on the laptop displays the assigned letter, and be silent when it doesn't. The piece is over when the display flashes off.

It takes a lot of attention, both to the conducting display and to other performers, to produce a good performance of Revolving Door.

We will do three versions, each using a different category of sound.

  1. Unvoiced Sounds, Allegro

    Performers can make use of any sound that doesn't involve the vocal cords. Tongue clicks, throat pops, whispering, lip buzzes, unvoiced consonants, etc.

  2. Long Tones, Lento

    Before the piece starts, select a single pitch and a vowel from your given name, which you will use whenever you sound.

    Don't just sing at a constant volume — smooth changes of volume (crescendo, diminuendo) while you hold your pitch are mandatory. Loudness should be between mezzo piano and mezzo forte.

    Every vowel has a small range of acceptable timbres — smoothly changing timbre within that range is encouraged.

    You will have better volume control and suffer less fatigue if you pick a pitch near the middle of your range or slightly higher.

  3. Unison, Presto

    We will all agree on a single pitch before starting.

    When sounding, we will all use this pitch, with sustained timbres chosen freely. Choosing a different timbre for each entrance is OK. Evolving timbres (diphthongs and other changing vowels) are encouraged.