Karlheinz Essl

Sequitur XIII
for extended piano and live-electronics (two players)
2009

Dedicated to Tzenka Dianova

2009 by Karlheinz Essl

www.essl.at

Karlheinz Essl

Sequitur XIII
for extended piano & live-electronics (two players)
2009

Remarks
In this piece for two players (a pianist and and electronic musician), various resonances phenomenons of the piano are investigated. At
the beginning, muted keys in the highest and lowest register are used to excite diffuse resonances. Later on, an EBow comes into play
in order to focus those resonances towards the middle c which is more or less always present to certain degrees. This pitch is also the
anchor point of three different harmonic scales based on odd-numbered overtone series:

Deriving from this harmonic principle, flageolets (always odd-numbered with 3rd or 5th overtones) will be introduced later.

Furthermore, I am also using all three pedals of the piano and certain keys which are depressed silently in order to create sympathetic
resonances. The virtuosity of this piece is not found in the polyphony of voices, but in the polyphony of structural components which
by interacting with each other form a common "sound" together.
The electronics create a complex canonic structure from the live input of the piano which includes random procedures in order to
subvert the determination of the canon, and also modifications of the harmonic structure: either by amplifiying or distorting certain
spectral components, but also in creating microtonal pitch shiftings. This is organised in a sequence of pre-composed cues that the a
second player evokes by hitting the space bar of the computer at certain times, as notated in the score. The second musician also
takes care of controlling the input levels of the microphones (notated in the score by red crescendo / decrescendo signs) and the
output levels of the computer-generated electronic sounds which are notated by green crescendo / decrescendo signs.

Requirements
Grand piano with 3 pedals
EBow (see: http://www.ebow.com)
Tuning wedges made of rubber or felt
Hairs from a violin bow (alternatively: a very thin nylon fishing rope)
A piece of soft colophonium
Apple computer (recommended: MacBook or MacBook Pro)
Audio interface with Hi-Z input (recommended: Edirol UA-25 or FA-66)
Two sensitive and high-quality cardiod microphones (recommended: Neumann KM 184)
A USB MIDI controller (recommended: Evolution UC-33 or KORG nanoKontrol)
Stereo PA system

Piano Preparation
1) Mute the three lowest and the three highest keys of the piano by inserting rubber wedges (which are normally used for piano tuning)
between the strings. In order to muffle the sound completely, you probably need to use several wedges per key.
2) In order to produce so-called Drones, tie a single hair from a violin bow on a piano string (in this piece, on Contra-A flat and Great-A
natural). Sliding along the stretched hair with a piece of soft colophonium will yield a sustained sound which can be modulated by
pressure and speed of bowing. For a demonstration, watch the video on:
http://khz96.org/mov/PianoDrone_small.mp4

3) Place an EBow over the strings of middle-C so that they can vibrate freely. Note that the two adjacent strings are muffled by the
guide grooves of this device. Switch on the EBow ("normal" position). If you depress the sustain pedal, you will hear a soft sinusoidal
tone that softly increases in dynamics. Now move the EBow between dampers and pinblock until you find a position where it sounds
best. On page 2, the EBow is switched on silently and stays activated until the end of the piece.
4) Flageolets are produced on the keys of Contra-A-flat, Contra-B-natural and Contra-C-natural (see pages 4 & 5). With one hand,
touch the string at the respective flageolet points and hit the key with the other hand. It is recommended to mark the flageolet positions
with chalk or a felt-tip marker on the strings. At one passage, a gradual transition from a normal flageolet towards a muted sound is
required: Finger the harmonics with the fingertip on the string and and hit the key repeatedly. Then gradually tilt the finger towards the
string so that it becomes gradually damped. In the end, the first (and probably also the second) segment of the finger will rest on the
string (page 5).

Notation symbols
Ped.

sustain pedal

HP

half-depressed sustain pedal

S.P.

sostenuto pedal

U.C.

una corda pedal

ord. mute

gradually transition from normal flageolet to mute sound (see description above)

slowly depressing and lifting of the pedal

depress key silently

lift key slowly

strike the string inside the piano with the fingertip (p. 5 & 6)

pluck the string inside the piano with the fingers (p. 7)

play an extended trill by randomly permutating the given notes (p. 7)

More information
http://www.essl.at/works/sequitur/sequitur-13.html
Here you can watch a video of the premier performed by Tzenka Dianova (piano) and Karlheinz Essl (live-electronics) on June 9th,
2010 at the Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg (A).

Electronics
1) Connect an audio interface and the USB MIDI controller to your Apple computer.
2) Plug the two microphones (like Neuman KM 184) into the two channels of the audio interface and mount them on microphone
stands. Now position the mics that one is capturing the low range of the piano, and the other the mid and high region.
3) Start the Sequitur XIII program on an Apple computer. Choose "Audio..." from the "Settings" menu and select your interface at
"Driver". Afterward, switch Audio to On.
4) The input level of the microphones sent into the computer programm (notated as red crescendo / decrescendo signs) is controlled by
a MIDI fader (controller # 7 or 2 on channel #1). The output level of the electronics (notated as green crescendo / decrescendo signs) is
controlled by another MIDI fader (controller # 7 on channel #2 or controller #3 on channel #1).
6) The bottom field is dedicated to the "FX Control" which is organized as a sequence of pre-defined presets and controlled by the
second musician. In order to switch to the next preset notated as a number within a box just press the space bar.
7) When hitting the <return> key on the computer keyboard, the next page of the score is displayed.

Sequitur XIII
for extended piano & live-electronics
2009
updated: 18 April 2012

q=56

(muted keys)

Karlheinz Essl (*1960)

sfffz

sfz

sffz

fff

Ped.

ff

mf

sfz

mf

Ped.

16

rit.

q=80

sfz

poco

ff

(senza Ped.)

poco

ff

(Ped.)

(muted keys)

q=40

q=80 rit.

sfz

in

q=40

Ped.

2
q=80
(muted keys)

23

sffz

(muted keys)

(Ped.)

sffz

sffz

sffz

sfffz

(muted keys)

sffz

sfz
sffz

sfffz

sffz

senza tempo

E-Bow: ON

2
8"

Ped.

sfz

ff

sempre

4
5"

5
5"

3"

EBow

r.H.

cue

senza tempo

35

cue
q=56

10 "

8"

(Ped.)

cue
30

sffz

l.H.

5"

3"

Ped.

3
q=56

42

ppp

ppp

mp

pp

mf

50

accel.

57

Ped.

ppp

cue

poco

ppp

pp

pp

pp

ppp

sfffz

sffz

Ped.

q=40

(muted)

mf

sfz

E-Bow

(Ped.)

sfz

cue

senza tempo

(half-muted)

Ped.

mp

poco

5:6

mf

ppp

in

5:6

pp

6:4 6:4

pp

6:4

63

accel.

q=80

molto

rit.

mf

mp

q=72

67

75

Ped.

"Drone"

Ped.

mp

Drone"
"

mf

mf

(Ped.)

q=40

mf

U.C.

q=56

q=80 rit.

mf

pp

(Ped.)

q=56

L.H.

p

Flag.

r.H.

ff

"

"

pp

U.C.

mf

pp

mp
mf
f
ff
f
mf

HP

82

10

ord.

87

q=56

pp

96

12

strike with finger

Flag.

mp

mf

Ped.

pp

mf

ff

ord.

pp

13

mute

11

pp
Ped.

(HP)

q=80

q=40 accel.
Flag.

U.C.
Ped.

pp

"Drone"

Ped.

mp

104

pp

pp

pp

mf

pp

mf

14

Ped.
U.C.

ord.

113

pp

mp

Ped.

120

ord.

3
3
3
3

pp
3

mf

S.P.

4:5

15

S.P.

ppp

4:5

pp

3:5

pp

6:5
mp

pp

mf

mf

7:5

pp

a tempo (q=56)

rit.

128

pp

pp

16

pp

S.P.
U.C.

134

(plucked)

17

"
"

(Ped.)

"

Drone"

mf

"

pppp

18

Drone"

pp

mp

pp

Ped.

142

S.P.

(Ped.)

Ped.

fff

ff

mf

cue

mp

pp
(Ped.)