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Hannah Kendall

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Tuxedo: Dust Bowl #3

for Massed Ensemble of Harmonicas and Optional SATB Voices 2022

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Partitur

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master processed on 17.09.2024 Sy. 9297/01 ISMN 979-0-2042-9297-4

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Instrumentation

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6 playing harmonicas in C and D (Group 1) 6 playing harmonicas in D and E (Group 2) 6 playing harmonicas in Bb and C (Group 3) + SATB voices (optional).

A minimum of 18 performers:

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There is no maximum number of performers.

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Duration c.10'

The ﬁelds are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the olive oil fails

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Despair, you farmers, wail you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley becasue the harvest of the field is destroyed. The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree-all the trees of the field--are dried up. Surely the people' s joy is withered away. (Joel 1:10-12)

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Tuxedo: Dust Bowl #3 can be performed in any location: inside, outside, or virtually. Ideally the performance should not be in a concert setting, but if this is the case, ‘mix up’ the performing space as much as possible to subvert expectations.

Harmonicas

Performance Directions

Performers should be dispersed throughout the performance space. They should not be able to see one another. Ideally the audience should not be able to see the performers. Everyone should blend discreetly into the environment as much as possible.

If a breath away from the harmonica is required, diminuendo to silence before doing so, and re-enter with a crescendo from silence afterwards. Such breaths should be staggered between the harmonica players as much as possible.

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Tuxedo: Dust Bowl #3 lasts just over 10 minutes. The piece can be performed by harmonicas, or a mix of harmonicas and voices. If singers are involved, they may also play harmonicas. Singers should be allocated evenly among the harmonica groups to keep them of roughly equal size. They should diminuendo to silence in time for their respective vocal entries.

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Performers are divided into three groups each with three sub-groups (a, b & c). Each sub-group should have a minimum of two performers; all the groups should be of roughly equal size.

To play two harmonicas simultaneously, take a harmonica in each hand, or two in one hand, place vertically against mouth to blow/ draw for as long as each exhale/ inhale allows, as slow as possible. The notated pitches are guidelines only: blow or draw in the given general range (low, medium, high). Ensure never to get into a regular breathing pattern.

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Each performer needs a timer. They begin by moving into their performing positions discreetly. Once ready, each performer should start their timer. (These do not need to be exactly synchronised.)

Each performer plays during the times given for their sub-group, and rests silently at all other times.

Performers in Group 3a, who begin, do not need to start exactly together: each should start when comfortable, shortly after having taken position.

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The piece ﬁnishes in one of two ways, depending on the forces involved. Either i) once every harmonica player from Group 1c completes a high draw breath after their timer reaches 10 minutes, or ii) once every soprano and alto has completed the phrase at Figure 1 after their timer reaches 10 minutes.

Suitable harmonicas can be source from online platforms, including Amazon. Voices • Cup mouths with one hand throughout, ensuring there are no gaps between ﬁngers. The sound should be audibly restricted. • Singers should use tuning forks or some other inconspicuous device to pitch their notes; do not use an instrument outside the sound world of the piece. • Singers can group together to aid pitching, but ideally they should not be close enough to see one another. • Singers should stagger breaths to ensure continuous sound for their stated time frames.

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Composer’s Note

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Tuxedo: Dust Bowl #3 is a meditative lamentation; a communal expression of grief, loss, displacement and despair; of being in the wilderness, the desert, a dust bowl, where all is dried up and destroyed.

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The harmonica, an instrument associated with Afro-diasporic sorrow, creates a brutal and harsh sound world symbolic of the plantations. It might seem that this does not allow for any hope, but the light comes through in other works in the Dust Bowl tryptic, or indeed the Tuxedo series more widely. Such as in Tuxedo: Hot Summer No Water and Tuxedo: Dust Bowl #1: ‘Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.’ (Isaiah 25). Also, with Mr Nelson’s peonies in Tuxedo: Dust Bowl #2: ‘Copious Rains Gave Him a Good Wheat Acreage It Also Gave Him an Acre and a Half of Gorgeous Peonies’, and Tuxedo: Between Carnival and Lent: ‘Dust Bowl Staging Come Back… .Life Renewed in Dust Bowl’. HK

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Tuxedo: Dust Bowl #3 Free time

1a: c.5.10 – 6.25 1b: c.6.10 – 7.25 1c: c.7.10 – 8.25

1a: c.3.00 – 5.10 1b: c.4.00 – 6.10 1c: c.5.00 – 7.10

#w w w ww w

2a: c.1.15 – 3.15 2b: c.1.45 – 3.45 2c: c.2.15 – 4.15

w ###w w ww w

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draw

nw w w ww w

™™

slow gliss.

mp meditative

MEDIUM blow

w w ww w ™™ #w

draw w nw w ww w

™™

draw

w w #nw ww w

™™

w bw w ww w

™™

slow gliss.

2a: c.3.15 – 7.00 2b: c.3.45 – 8.00 2c: c.4.15 – 9.00 MEDIUM blow

w w ww w ™™ ## w

3a: c.2.00 – 4.00 3b: c.2.30 – 4.30 3c: c.3.00 – 5.00

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™ ¢& ™ b w w w ww w

Group 3 Harmonicas in Bb & C

slow gliss.

mp meditative

™™

w & ™™ ##w w ww w LOW blow

3a: 0.00 – c.2.00 3b: c.0.30 – 2.30 3c: c.1.00 – 3.00

slow gliss.

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mp meditative

LOW blow

™™

draw

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° ™ Group 1 ™ #w w w Harmonicas in C & D & ww w LOW blow

Group 2 Harmonicas in D & E

Hannah Kendall

for CoMA

SY 9297/01

MEDIUM blow

w w ™™ b w ww w

draw

slow gliss.

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1 q = c.60 (independently)

VOICES (optional)

Alto

c.5.30 – 6.30 o p still

c.6.30 – 7.30

% & %#w

% & %w ‹ ah

c.8.30 – 9.00

c.7.30 – 8.30 o p still

% ? %w

% o

w bw w w ww w

draw

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w w ww bw w

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U ∑

™™

U ∑

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.R HIGH blow

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3a: 4.00 – 6.00 3b: 4.30 – 7.00 3c: 5.00 – 8.00

∑

& ™™

draw

G. 3

& ™™

w nw w ww w

w #w w ww w

G. 2

c.7.30 – 9.00

Bass

HIGH blow

G. 1

c.7.00 – 7.30 o p still

c.8.30 – 9.00

c.7.30 – 8.30

1a: c.6.25 – 8.30 1b: c.7.25 – 9.30 1c: c.8.25 – 10.00

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Tenor

3 4 í ™™ #˙ ™

SY 9297/01

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repeat until 1 0.00, finish iteration, and stop mp p

3 4 í ™™<#>œ #˙

repeat until 1 0.00, finish iteration, and stop p mp

c.8.00 – 9.00

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% #w % & %

c.7.00 – 8.00

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Soprano

c.6.00 – 7.00

c.5.00 – 6.00 o p still

ì ˙™

ì˙

U ∑

j ™ œ ‰™