(non)SENSE!

(non)SENSE! is an experimental work for voice and ensemble (or piano), which explores the colors, sounds and shapes of nonce words through music. The piece calls for a wide variety of vocal timbres and techniques inspired by the phonemes of the individual words. It combines art song, melodrama and performance art to create a dramatic experience for both the listener and performer. The text is based on Lewis Carroll’s poem “Jabberwocky” from “Alice Through the Looking Glass” “dadafied” by the Dada Poem Generator of La Salle University. By stripping the poem of its meter, rhyme, syntax and narrative I was able to explore the whimsical sounds of Carroll’s neologisms and create musical gestures which express their vivid strangeness.

The score may be treated as an open map of empathic potentialities rather than a specific list of technical instructions. The performers may therefore feel free to use the tonal information notated in the score as a guide to shape their own ornamentations and expansions. The singer should use as wide a palette of vocal timbres as possible to communicate the array of colors in the text. Extended piano techniques may be varied or altered according to the pianist’s fantasy and the physical disposition of the instrument.

(non)SENSE! is dedicated to my dear friend and colleague Tara Venditti with whom I worked closely to develop all aspects of this piece. Our collaboration was funded by a generous grant from the Künstlerisch-Wissenschaftliche Doktoratschule of the Kunstuniversität in Graz.