Open instrumentation (preferably solo wind instrument)

Ah… this piece has troubled me. I wanted to write a piece where I would develop a multi-timbral soundscape. A piece using only 1 note, G and playing with many different sound colour (timbre) combinations before finishing the piece on a lovely Fa. But I couldn’t decide on some crucial things like the form, which colour is going to come first; what is the musical path to go from G to F. So I made it into a game. I give you the beginning and ending of the piece, and options for the middle. You have to arrange the illustrations representing different sound qualities in the order you want to create a musical piece. 

This game is about timbre, sound colour, and experimenting and developing the performer’s arsenal of contemporary techniques and sounds and getting accustomed to playing them, hearing them, developing, researching and generally experimenting with these sounds. It is designed in a way to also give the performer artistic freedom to design their own piece based on the set of elements provided. Mostly aimed for children students (as you will see from the illustrations) it can definitely be used by any older performers, students or even professionals. I am not going to stop you! 

What you will get:

A digital set of small illustrations each representing a sound quality, and a board where you will place the illustrations on. 

How it works

Getting started:

Printable

Once you download the bundle and open the folder, you can immediately print them all, cut-out the individual illustrations – no need to be neat, just  around the overall shape – and place them on the board in any order you like. You can start experimenting with the sounds and your composition. You can use a little bit of Multipurpose Reusable Adhesive to make the illustrations stick on the paper so they don’t fall if you use your paper up straight to play.

Or you can go fully digitally (recommended):

Download the bundle and open the folder. 
Open a drawing programme on your computer such as Google Drawings
Drag and drop the board picture and set to size
Drag and drop the illustrations on the board in your desired order and you can repeat the same illustration as often as you want to
Start playing and experimenting with your composition
You can save it to practise another day or make a new piece next time!

The Rules

No matter your instrument, you will start with a nice, comfortable G note, any range you like. Establish it, be confident with it, make it ring. And then you will play what you have designed. Each illustration can be for as long as you want it to be, maybe you can come up with your own way to notate that. Create a story, a path, with your sounds. Remember, with this exercise you are creating different sound qualities. You will focus on the note G. It is encouraged to use the entire range of your instrument. Play all the Gs simultaneously, successively, focus on a specific range, do as you please by playing G. When it comes to multiphonics and singing while playing, it is up to you how you want to use this rule. You may want to explore multiphonics created by using G fingerings, or which fingerings produce multiphonics with Gs, and so on. You can play G and sing anything you like, or you may have a different approach.