Compose Your Words

Two historical examples …

FILIPO TOMMASO MARINETTI. In 1912, founder of Futurism in Italy, published Zang Tumb Tumb, partly prose, words, phonemes that suggest the sounds of the impending First World War.

Zang Tumb Tumb

URSONATE. Among the early examples of sound poetry by Dadaist artists, in the years before and after 1920, was Ursonate by painter and collage artist Kurt Schwitters.

Kurt Schwitters, London 1944, 9 portraits

There had been several forays into sound poetry by Dadaist artists in the years before and after 1920, but the major work of the time was Ursonate, “composed”, one might say, by painter and collage artist Kurt Schwitters.

In 1922, Schwitters began writing a sonata for the voice based on abstract vocal sounds organized as musical phrases and motives. Between 1926 and 1932, he performed it many times and polished it into its present form. He wrote, “The sonata is in four movements, an introduction, an end, and a cadenza in the 4th movement. The first movement is a rondo with four motives, which are identified as such in the text of the sonata. The rhythm is easily felt, strong and weak, loud and soft, tight and relaxed …” The sonata was written in script to be pronounced in German.

Schwitters also wrote: “Listening to my sonata is better than reading it. This is why I like to perform my sonata in public. But since it is not possible to give performances everywhere, I intend to make a gramophone recording of the sonata …”

Jaap Blonk performs it here in 2005 with an added touch of electronics to extend his performance into a new medium called Ursonography.

Blonk’s superb recitation of the Ursonate is accompanied by Golan Levin‘s ‘intelligent subtitles’. It’s an excellent example of using technology to enhance the presentation of the vocal message. In fact, as the result of Levin’s timbral-sensing software, the subtitles follow Blonk’s recitation in real time, locking onto the timing and timbral nuance of Blonk’s voice. And the typography of the subtitles illuminates the poem’s structure. Altogether it’s a wonderful example of the human voice extended by electronics.

Leigh Landy is a composer, author, and educator. His works, including video, dance and theatre works, have been performed throughout the world. He directs the Music, Technology and Innovation — Institute for Sonic Creativity at De Montfort University in Leicester, UK.

Compose Your Words is about making music with the spoken word. As Landy writes: “Think of the wide range of vocal sounds, including words, that we can use in a spoken poem. Imagine what we can do with our voice as an instrument of performance.”

He takes you through the process of composition in a simple progressive sequence of 26 steps labelled from A to Z, some of which he created, many of which are based on works by well-known artists. He starts with simple rhythmic patterns and ends with technology and space. He writes: “I don’t want to put words in your mouths, take my words for it. I do want you to enjoy this and create.”

And here is a sequential overview of the book, chapter by chapter.

Just a few words,
rhyme sequences with syncopated rhythms,
alphabet soup,
back to the future,
the art of repetition,
working with Gertrude Stein’s almost repetitive texts,
interpreting words,
expansion/contraction of texts,
replacement,
juggling words,
modular approach,
take a (musical) structure,
music of words,
music of objects,
other found objects,
foreign languages,
recorded vocal samples,
the odd one out,
phonemes,
non-linguistic utterances,
the ‘vocal’ orchestra,
montage of vocal recordings,
sound (voice) manipulation,
voice synthesis and granulation,
spatialisation, and
site-specific performance.

Listen to the examples on the left and right of this page.

Send us what you do. We look forward to hearing it.

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Some recent examples …

GEORGIA SPIROPOULOS in Paris, 2014, asked friends around the world to read bits of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass in their native languages. She then created Vocalscapes.

Vocalscapes

MICHAEL KUPIETZ. In New York, he wrote “this is my contribution to blurring the line between speech and music. I made it back in 2011.”

Yikidūsō (A Dream)

HEMANI SHUMAILA. Built on the idea of “sonic photographs,” Forgotten Ways of Thinking is a soundscape piece, composed in 2009, that communicates to the listener the sonic expressions of Islamic beliefs as the author experiences it.