She Was A Visitor Performers, A speaker: repeat the phrase “she was a visitor.” periodically and ‘without variation for the duration of the performance. Use a normal tone of voice. This isnot the main event. oy yee Leaders (any number): choose a phoneme ofthe speaker’ phrase and speak that phoneme as quietly as possible simultaneously with its ‘occurrence inthe speaker's phrase letting the speaker's sound mask ‘tho beginning ofthis event. Sustain the sound for one breath. (All of the phonemes can be sustained, except forthe t sound in visitor; this sound remains short, and simply occurs with the speaker's sound). Do this at your own voice-pitch level. Continue to choose and sustain sounds as long asthe speaker keeps repeating the phrase. Ddoprds, POD goneesne (she) (eve) (foot) (sofa) (z0d)(accou- nt) shee She. (victor) (il) (zed) (charity) (tom) (maker) visitor Robert Ashley Chorus groups (the chorus divided equally among the leaders}: sus- tain the phonemes that are sounded by the group leader. In this, ‘though the group reflects the phoneme choices of the leader, ‘members of the group act as individuals; that is, as each person perceives the leader's cKoice, he sounds that phoneme at his own voice-pitch level, x quietly as possible, for one breath. (The t sound, of visitor, may follow at any time soon after it is spoken by the leader) Audience: If, when chorus groups are situated among the audience, members of the audience indicate a desire to join in the performance, they should be verbally instructed — during the course of the perfor- mance, but briefly and as quietly as possible ~ individually or in ‘small groups, by members of the chorus. (Group leaders should not, stop their activity to make these instructions.) ‘The Performance In conventional performance situations arrangements should be such that the group leaders clearly can hear and see the speaker and, in turn, be heard and seen by their chorus groups, Copyright © 1967 by Robert Ashley. Used by permission.When chorus groups are among the audience, group leaders should hear the speaker, privately, through electronic systems (speaker- microphone to leader-headphones). It should be noted that these conditions contradict the notion of the speaker's sounds masking the ‘beginnings of the sounds made by the group leaders. In fact, the ‘greater the distance between the speaker and the group leader, the ‘more the group leader's sound will tend to anticipate the sound made by the speaker. Thus, the greater the distance, the more quietly the ‘group leader will have to begin his sounds. ‘When chorus groups are among the audience, the speaker should be alert to those situations where members of the audience are being instructed in order to participate. He should continue speaking until all of these potential participants have had an opportunity to join the chorus. A group leader may choose a successive phoneme while members of his group are still sounding a previously selected one. Note: She was a visitor may be performed simultaneously with The En- ‘trance (p00). On that oecasion, te two compositions should have approx ‘mately the same duration,