WOODEN DOMINOES

and OTHER HOMES

TECHNIQUE DEMONSTRATIONS

Real tree falling just for reference

General | voiceless scream

Shout, “Ahhhhhh!”, as if frightened that someone has just broken into your house. If you are not comfortable shouting, you are welcome to do a “voiceless” scream.

Strings | wood cracking “overpressure, unpitched, broken-up, very slow bow”

Drag the bow very slowly across the string with very high bow pressure. The resulting sound should be unpitched crackling (although some pitch may be audible at times). The bow will naturally stop and start at random due to the high static friction; this is intended. Vary the density and volume of these “crackles” with the dynamics.

Cello Solo | chewing, gnawing, moaning

NOTE: the above audio is not a performance of the notated material

The solo passage beginning in measure 62 involves significant detuning of the C string to an arbitrary extremely low pitch such that the string rattles against the fingerboard when playing stopped pitches. The soloist is welcome to tune to this configuration before the beginning of the piece if it is preferred (in this case avoiding the lowest string during tutti passages). The following material should be played entirely on the lowest two strings as parallel glissandi with the higher string producing perceptible pitch and the lower string producing rumbling and rattling, chewing, gnawing, moaning.

Basses | “hair roll”

This technique involves placing the hairs of your bow against the body of your instrument, typically underneath the strings (above the bridge), then pressing down and rolling the bow back and forth such that the hairs roll against the stick of the bow. Loosen your bow hairs for an optimal effect.

Basses | swishing

Swipe the bow up and down along the length of the string (rather than perpendicular to it) in order to create an unpitched noise, like animals rustling leaves.

Cellos | tumbling

Shake left hand against the back of your instrument; mute strings with right hand.