Home 1. Introduction 2. Markers 3. Archive 4. Audible Markers 5. Visible Markers 6. Notational Markers 7. Conclusion
3.1. Integrated Silences 3.2. Inherent Silences 3.3. Silent Discourse 3.4. Meta-Silences 3.5. Silencings
Russian composer Dmitri Kourliandski’s Surface is a graphic notation work on two pages, lasting sixty seconds in total. The performer may choose four areas of the piano case (the wooden cabinet) and then stroked with their fingertips to generate a high-pitched rubbing sound. There is an element of failure built-in to the piece, because it is very difficult to coax these sounds out of the piano case, and most of the strokes will be thus silent.
Figure: the first line of Surface (Kourliandski, 2009)
Attaining the stable result that Kourliandski hopes for is quite possible after an hour in the practice room, but difficult onstage with an unknown instrument. Hence, the work offers an affordance for silence to occur, independent of the performer’s will. Kourliandski is aware of the complexity of producing sound from the surface, but he also relishes the unusual technique that will potentially create excitement (squeaking or silence) onstage. It is a highly gestural piece. Because the filled squares represent gestures (not notes and not sounds) every black square on the page is embodied by the performer’s back, arms, hands, and fingertips. However, speaking of markers per se is difficult because the performer cannot predict which gestures will result in silence and which will result in squeaks.
The knot/not model works perfectly to describe these silences. They are disconnective “nots.” When a silence happens, it is because a sound is not happening. There is no connection, no knot, made between sounds or silences. The disconnections are attempted connections, a push-pull between gestural skill and embodied luck.