Life after death?

Graphic score for solo indeterminate instrument.  This version is realized for solo double bass.

Program Notes:

"A question:

Who is to blame?!

A series of answers:

1. Politics?

II. Culture?

III. Religion?

IV. Science?

Defining terms:

To make an afterlife:

1. Transcribe a David Bowie hit single of the 1970s by ear

2. Translate it into an aleatoric, almost neumatic notation

3. Divide this transcription into 8 parts

4. Scramble those parts into varying orders based on a mathematical system of pentagons and rotated around an axis of symmetry, wherein the 1st, 5th, and 8th phrase

occur three times, and all other phrases twice each

5. Introduce the dependent variable of 5 spectrograms (imaging of Venus' atmospheric deposit of phosphine, a potential sign of organic matter), 1 per page

6. To reinforce the pentagonal structure, create a hierarchy of suggested filters and reading methods, enacting a 5-part arc to the sonic experience of the piece

7a. "Live-process" the visual information acoustically through this series of 20 potential filters applied to the instrument and the instrumentalist's improvisatory reading of

the content

7b. Decide from a dictated list of filters in real time, so as to produce a highly variable, "sampling" effect on the instrument

8. Add a high-wire balancing act, via a razor-thin margin

9. Introduce the threat of punishment and the promise of reward, as well as sow division through implicit superiority paradigms

10. Wait 5000 years and see what happens

-Maya Miro Johnson

November 26th, 2020

Written for and premiered by Markus Lang, Fall 2020."