fo(u)r t(w)o play four experimental duos hans w.

koch 2010

commissioned by the machine project l.a. for the little william theater festival of new music

braille patterns for 2 accordions (120 buttons) ask the two audience members for their names and spell the names in braille on the buttons of the accordion. player 1 uses the first three columns of buttons (major 3rd note, root note, major chord). player 2 uses the next three columns. each player begins at the bottom and works up from there. the buttons are divided in groups of 6 (3 columns X 2 rows), which gives 10 possible letters (imagine the braille signes flipped 90 degrees clockwise). if a name contains more than 10 letters, start over from the bottom. the players divide the total duration of 2 minutes independently from each other, so that each letter has approximately the same duration on each accordion. begin together and play soft.

illustrations: braille: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Braille_alphabet.jpg accordion: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:120-button_Stradella_chart.svg

violin sumo for 2 violins find a postion, in which each player a can bow on the instrument of the other player. define together a set of actions for the left hand (on the strings or elswhere) that represent the actions of the game rock, paper, scissors. one sonic/gestural equivalent for each of the terms. in the performance, count 1-2-3 together by whipping the air with the bows synchronously (not counting with the voice) and by 4 bowing on the others violin while performing one of the agreed actions on the own instrument. the winner then plays an arpeggio across the strings of the others instrument, the other providing some sort of fingering. the counting should be made slow and ceremonioulsy, while the action should be fast and decidedly. the game may consist of several rounds with the winners arpeggio getting more and more elaborate.

illustrations: violin players: courtesy of heimo wallner http://www.hotelpupik.org/heimo/hosts.htm rock, paper, scissors: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Rock_paper_scissors.jpg

tubular cells for 2 tubas set your cellphones to - vibration alarm only. - no call diverts (so that no mobile box or call forwarding kicks in, when being called). insert the cellphones into the tubas. communicate your numbers to the audience and let them call your cellphone. (you may consider to have 2 spare cellphones in reserve for audience members which dont carry a cell). when the vibration alarm starts rattling inside the tuba, move the instrument gently to find positions where the rattling is transmitted differently through the metal. on the average cellphone, it takes around 40-60 seconds, before the machine gives up trying to connect. audience may repeat the call during the duration of two minutes.

illustrations: tuba: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Britannia_Tuba_Bombardon.png

canon cross for 2 clarinets in Bb player 1 starts with a disassembled clarinet and uses the smallest part to create a sound. then he adds another part, makes another sound. the piece is over, when the clarinet is fully assembled and the last sound played. player 2 operates in the opposite direction from fully assembled clarinet to the smallest part. the sounds produced on both instruments dont need to be the same. start simultaneously. proceed without haste, each in his own tempo.

illustrations: clarinet: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Morceaux_de_clarinette.jpg