My Cells (Part 2)

"Coming Full Circle" - a score by Sarah Ann Phillip's - http://myspace.com/pharasmusic

During the first group presentation at ACA, all of the residents across the various disciplines presented introductions to each other about ourselves, our work and processes.
Sarah Ann Phillips presented symbolic representations of her music compositions. Although I was already aware and curious about some of the variations of the traditional staff and music notes that some composers use for their notations, I had never seen any like Sarah's. She presented geometric shapes, colors, patterns, and non-linear, layered arrangements of sound.
I've had the opportunity to hear Sarah in a jam session, and have sat in on some of her rehearsals.  She plays with sonic extremes and improvisation in ways that recall some of the recent performances I've attended via programming by Dave Dove and Nameless Sound in Houston...non-pitch sounds such as key-clicks, string-plucks, striking instruments, and breathing sounds.  As she described her compositions, she also includes vocal elements and hand sounds, like clapping.
Sarah is a student of Wadada Leo Smith and his system of Ankhrasmation, a symbolic notation system.  One thing that stood out to me immediately in Sarah's notations was that there was an emphasis on allowing space and openness for improvisation and the performer's individual interpretations.  She mentioned elements such as "event lines," "rhythm units," and pathways.  Sections of bold color are used to provoke a response from the performers as they visualize what the color reminds them of and its properties (such as the squishiness of a yellow banana).
Sarah showed me the notation of a piece that she composed based on New Orleans, post Katrina.  She studied aerial photos of the city and its layout, and her resulting notations included colorful shapes and symbols alluding to broken levees, flooding, the Superdome, and other references.  The notation for this piece resonated with me not just because of my sensitivity to the events in New Orleans, but also because it opened me more to thinking about site-specific works and other ideas I've been waiting to pour some energy into.  More on this later.