Analysis of Pauline Oliveros’ - Bye Bye Butterfly

Bye Bye Butterfly was recorded by Pauline Oliveros in 1965 and was made using; 2 oscillators, 2 tape
recorders. In relation to the piece Pauline Oliveros commented that "[It] bids farewell not only to the
music of the 19th century but also to the system of polite morality of that age and its attendant
institutionalized oppression of the female sex." - Pauline Oliveros

Through various other quotes you can determine that that previous quote sums up the reasons for
creation of the piece. But what can see from listening to it is the deconstruction of the sampling used
through the frequency drones used throughout the piece as well as the augmentation of the original
audio recording from Madame Butterfly. This augmentation and dissecting out the tangible elements
of the music relates back to her impetus for the piece and the diverting the assumptions of the
listener.

As a whole the piece can be broken up into three sections. 0–200, 200-380, 380-480 (Seconds). In
the first section all you hear is Oliveros’ improvisation in the two oscillators in the piece, then as
marked below in greater depth (A & B) the first and second sections are bridged by these needle
skips which begin the playing of the extract from madam butterfly, with improvisation underneath
which contrasts the music played on top. Then in the final section of the extract fades out and
replaced by much more harsh and extreme sounding synthesis played by Oliveros and it acts as
almost a reflection on the music of madam butterfly.

At this point in the music (Image A, both images are snapshots of a few seconds of audio from the
piece) The piece has become more paired back compared to around the 2.25 mark where heavy low
frequency drones are included and shows what is a relatively static image of the frequency makeup
of this part of the piece. This brief period of pause acts like the period between a music in western
art music where it leaves a brief pause solidifying the previous idea and making it clear to the
audience that and new idea is about to be encapsulated (03.05 – 03.16).

After this pause we hear the new idea come in and is this a full bodied clicking sound peaking at the
5.5 KHz mark, while the majority of the sound object can be estimated to be at the 80 Hz Mark (As
seen in Image B). This regularly repeated clicking sound signifies the start of a musical extract from
Puccini's madam Butterfly. This clicking sound is unpitched and through each iteration of the sound’s
appearance it adds a rhythm to what up until that point had been made up of a spectral plane of
floating frequencies without much of a sense of flow. This complex sound cuts through the
established harmonicity of the piece. As you can see, at this point in the piece the variance of
frequencies and the prominence that they have on the larger canvas are much lower than in the rest
of the piece, this is seen in the full timeline (pictured above)
 In the above timeline you can see that the B section has such a dense sction of similar frequencies
with little amounts of high transients coming in on top of this. This could be a decision made
purposefully in order to provide a sense of being overwhelmed to the listener as a reflection on the
oppressive nature the extract from Madam Butterfly is presented as.

A B