Brass Bulletin 12, III / 1975 (page 48–53) · 4 min. read
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Indeterminate instrumentation

A Way of Extending Instrumental Technic

Can technique go beyond notation? James Fulkerson explores new instrumental possibilities and argues that improvisation is key to expanding both technique and musical thinking.

In the area of new music, composers have sought new possibilities for instruments and instrumentalists — yet seldom have they really achieved them. This gap between available skills and those required by composers is due in part to the difficulties of notation. It is difficult to notate many of the newer techniques such as whistle tones, multiphonics, singing and playing, sometimes controlling the number of beats per second between the sung and played tones, or exact mutes and mute positions which make great timbral differences and thus significant musical differences. Part of my own musical interests lie in this area of extending instrumental resources and therefore, the present paper is a result of my compositional and performance activity.

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