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In previous conference presentations and writings I have discussed Henry Brant’s process of “prose-report composition,” which became his primary working method in 1945. The process, which is heavily documented in his sketch manuscripts at the Paul Sacher Stiftung, consists of three stages. In stage one, Brant brainstorms on lined paper, organizing his thoughts into a series of text units, each of which contains the compositional parameters for a particular block of music. In stage two, Brant transfers abbreviated text units to individual cards, which allow him to mobilize text units and rearrange them in various orderings, stratifications, and overlapping juxtapositions, before defining a final configuration. In stage three, Brant spontaneously composes each block of music according to the parameters outlined in the previous two stages and compiles the manuscript blocks in full score according to his stage- two card configuration. This systematic approach allows Brant to rationalize and expedite the final compositional act, virtually eliminating the need for drafts and edits. In his subsequent “instant compositions,” Brant takes his quest for compositional efficiency a step further by completely removing the final compositional act from his creative process. Rather than spontaneously composing the specific notes and rhythms on manuscript paper, he summarizes and compiles his pre-compositional notes on a “cue score” and gives performers the freedom to improvise the specific details of the composition based on his “cue-score” instructions. For Brant, this new process of “instant composition” results in a monumental reduction in production time.
Brant defines “instant composition” as “planned improvisation without the aid of traditional notation.” (Everett, 1976) To compose an “instant composition,” he first summarizes musical elements for each player in written prose on a “cue score,” then describes the desired effect in rehearsal, and finally coordinates the performance by means of a variety of special gestures. Like the first two-stages of the “prose-report process,” Brants “cue-score” instructions specify foreground and background content and organization: tone, range, dynamic level, articulation, rhythmic character, order of entrances, succession of sections, structural articulations of form, cutoff points, and major points of ensemble synchronization. However, he does not define specific notes or rhythms. As such, Brant develops a detailed framework for improvisation that limits the possible musical result, but leaves many of the specifics of each performance to the discretion of the performer. Drawing on my research of Brant’s sketch manuscripts housed at the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel and at the Brant Estate in Santa Barbara, I will show how Brant’s compositional process of “prose report composition” transformed into his text-based improvisational “instant composition” technique.
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