The combination of all the indications completely changed my understanding of how to interpret the work. The extreme detail of the notation does not depict the sound that will be reproduced. The pitch might be the basis, but it is all the attributes of each sounding event, with its specific time-space relation, that in fact determine the character and quality of the sound. In a way, the notation is a map for hand gestures, and the destination – the sounding result – is partially unknown.

The thought of Freeman Etudes being the progenitor of movement-based, left- and right-hand individually treated piece is not so far-fetched. A possible re-notation of an excerpt to separate left- and right-hand actions can be seen in figure 1.2.3.1. Here, the very top system is a tablature staff containing all the actions of the right hand, and the lower system contains all the actions of the left hand. Figure 1.2.3.2 further focuses on the actions of the right hand, using colour-coding for faster recognition of changes between points of contact with the string, and differently filled-in rectangles for dynamic indications.

Figure 1.2.3.1: Reimagined excerpt from line eight of Etude XVIII with left- and right-hand actions separated

Figure 1.2.3.2: Focus on the right-hand actions from line eight of Etude XVIII

Re-imagining the score with all agents regrouped into left-hand and right-hand aggregates, and then written out separating the actions into two separate system layers, might seem redundant at first. However, the intention in my process was not to introduce more complications to an already demanding score, but rather to find a way to get closer to the state of ‘liberating the sound’ between the score and the actions I must enact.^[1] The parameters of each note were not to be linked among each other into forming layers of “right-hand aggregates” or “left-hand aggregates”. Rather, each note is an individual sound event determined by multiple agents: pitch, duration, sound character (bow stroke), volume (dynamics), or sound-quality- and timbre-related (all the previously mentioned). What comes out from this perspective and perception is the level of separation of the two hands and their actions. The facility of the score would in no way increase if it had been written this way; indeed, this kind of notation might have even rendered the piece more complicated. But this kind of overview was helpful for me in understanding all the layers of happenings and actions. The purpose this example aims to serve is to add to, and aid, the process of physical preparation, and guide the performer’s thinking towards possible differences in ‘musical continuity’,^[2] interpretation, and expression.

Although working on successfully connecting one complete sound event to another must be practised, this representation can serve as an intermediary step in practising, for isolating a specific line of movement for the left or right hand. Lines may then be practised individually at first, and then in groupings, until, in simultaneously playing all the lines, the interpretation becomes that of the original score. Through this process an enhanced awareness of movements and of their place and influence on the overall structure is built, and more conscious manipulation of these movements becomes possible.

• ^[1]Cage, Chorals and Cheap Imitations, liner notes.
• ^[1]David Tudor and Victor Schonfeld, ‘From Piano to Electronics’, Music and Musicians, 20 (1972), p.24.

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