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Caroline Shaw's
Partita for 8 Voices
Born 1982 in Greenville, North Carolina
Composer, Singer, Violinist
Started Composing at Age 10
Teaches at NYU and Julliard
Yale University
2007
1992
Currently...
2010
1982
2004
Princeton University
Birth: North Carolina
Rice University
"By engaging collaboratively with artists, thinkers, and community leaders from around the world, we seek to uplift and amplify voices old and new while creating and performing meaningful and adventurous music."
Shaw claims three major inspirations for this work, which pulls text from five sources, and uses a variety of extended vocal techniques.
Inspiration #1
Johann Sebastian Bach's Partita No. II in D minor
Inspiration #2
Bustling, chaotic urban environments
Inspiration #3
Sol LeWitt's Wall Drawing 305
1. New York City
2. North Adams, Massachusetts
These locations, with their busyess and their fusion of old and new styles inspired Shaw to take all of the stimuli she was experiencing and try to organize/encapsulate it.
Sol LeWitt's artwork is a set of instructions for placing 100 points on a wall. As artists place points, they write a description (based on LeWitt's instructions) as to how they arrived at that place. More on this in the planet topic of this bubble!
As a violinist, Shaw was very familiar with Bach's work. She loved his Partita No. II in D minor and played it on her Senior Recital at Rice University. She liked how it was simple, yet pushed the boundaries of tradition.Her Partita parallels Bach's in multiple ways. Here are 2 examples:
1. Bach ends his Partita with a chaconne instead of a typical gigue. Shaw ends hers with a passacaglia.
2. Bach's Partita drew on influences from Italy, France, and Germany. Shaw looked beyond Western singing traditions to include vocal techniques like Inuit throat singing, yodeling, Gregorian pitch stretching, and more.
Shaw saw this drawing when she was at MASS MoCA and was inspired by how it attempted to give some structure to random, seemingly chaotic points on a wall. Not only does she quote some of his instructional texts in her composition, but she tries to reflect his process in her Partita- to organize chaos. An example of this can be seen in "Allemande" as she begins writing overlapping, spoken text for the 8 performers which develops into an organized, homophonic harmony.
Example: m. 9 "through the mid-point of the line drawn from the left side" (Drawing 104)
Example: m.1, "to the side and around through the middle and to the side".
Example: m.14-30 [a] [o] [ ]These vowel changes result in desired changes in tone color.
Example: m. 55 "#thedetailofthepatternismovement"
Shaw says this line inspired her to listen to find details/patterns in things and to listen more carefully to her surroundings.
Examples: m.63 "Find a way" and m.66 "Fall away". This text was influenced by stimuli Shaw encountered on a daily basis in a bustling city, in the modern world, on the internet, etc.
While in residency at MASS MoCA, Roomful of Teeth studied with performers and teachers experienced in styles and techniques beyond Western traditions. Just as a Baroque dance suite may have used ornamentation for emphasis and style, Shaw incorporated these techniques into Partita for 8 Voices. See chart below for some examples in "I. Allemande" and zoom on pictures to the left for notes on Shaw's notation of these styles.
Brief Description
Technique
Measure/Voice(s)
Inuit throat singing
Based on throat singing games. Emphasis on inhalation and exhalation. Use of voiced and unvoiced sounds. Gutteral.
m.34
Voices 1,2,3,4
m.67
Voice 1, 2
Korean P'ansori
Expressive, "harsher" tone quality, tense vocal folds
Tuvan practices:
xöömei, kargyraa, sygyt
Overtones/throat singing. More on each practice here: http://www.fotuva.org/music/emory.html
m.102 (xöömei)
Voices 5,6,7,8
m. 20
Voices 1-8
Gregorian pitch stretching
Free,Gregorian chant intonation, pitches stretched in ascending/descending directions.
m.25
Voices 2, 3, 4
Yodeling
Exaggerated register breaks (head voice vs. chest voice)
Of all 4 movements, this was written last although it is to be the first performed in the work. Shaw was able to use it to introduce the content/techniques used thorughout the entire Partita. It is the only movement that uses all extended vocal techniques used throughout the work in one movement.
These texts (Shaw, Elliot) communicate an idea of looking ahead and beyond. As we "find a way" "time and time again" to look for "details" and "patterns", we may even "fall away" from reality, deeper into our thoughts.
Example 1
Example 2
Inspired by LeWitt's example, a diverse array of musical experts, and everyday commotion, Shaw creatively captures a multitude of intersections of life and art in her Partita for 8 Voices. Using old and new material, she designs fresh textures that both rely on and defy structure.