Miguelángel Clerc

parameters, such as dynamics and pitch. I used this graphic as a structural aid
when making the score; but the graphic on its own is a much better visual rep-
resentation of what the performers are meant to do.
A final illustration [Fig. 5] is a score that gives only time and space instructions,
so the overall result, visually, will only be discovered when the group rehearses
and performs. The notation is conceived horizontally and is read always mov-
ing towards the right as time passes. But below the staves, the arrows pointing
left indicate physical movements to the left, even though the temporal dimen-
sion of the score continues to move right. So in this case, also, a visual gesture
is blurred by the logic that regulates how a music score is supposed to be read.
The final score of What about Woof? [Fig. 5] actually looks like a conventional music
score. But, as for most percussion scores, it is important to know the instrumen-
tation assigned to each line before trying to imagine the sound that will result
from the symbols. In this case the score provides instructions for movement
rather than representing sounds. The instrument is always the same—the coin
on the table—with a few variations in the surface treatment and movement in
the air (silence). The homogeneous sound colour was intended to create a char-
acteristic substance within which movement can easily be recognised. I imagine
the sound colour in this piece to be like drawing figures rapidly on the sand;
one sees always the same texture, and though it is possible to see the trace of
a gesture, this gesture cannot be sharply defined. The gesture blends with the
substance. Hence this score is a bit of an illusion. It looks like a music score, but
it is actually giving instructions for physical actions from which sounds result.
These underlying, imagined movements and their resulting sounds are almost
invisible in the final score. This makes my score like a list of instructions that

Fig. 5

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Figure 5. Miguelángel Clerc, What about Woof?, score excerpt.