Living Scores Learn

Improving the practice and performance of contemporary music

Assimilation and adaptation of the different techniques and combinations

Sounding bowls
General principle
  • Impulse: the bowls are hit together as you would hit two coconuts against each other. When the bowl is marked in white, you should hold this bowl loosely so there is some resonance; when it is marked black it should be held firmly and should sound dry. In the picture above you see the different contact points: the top position means the two bowls are to be played open with minimal contact (higher sound). The lower position means the bowls are to be played closed with maximal contact.
  • Drumming or trembling: in this technique the left bowl is held steady and the right bowl is played as if you would perform a one-handed roll on a marimba or the movement you make when playing a cabasa. The sounding result is a fast tremolo that can shift in pitch when the position of the bowls is altered.
  • Speed circles: the speed circles use the same positioning as the Impulse: the small bow in the score means the contact between the bowls is minimal; the large bow means the contact is maximal. The technique sounds as it looks: rotational, as a slow-motion helicopter sound that varies in pitch.
  • Slow movement a to b: here the action is very slow and with a lot of pressure. Just move the bowl from position a to b. The sound resembles slow grinding of teeth.
  • Circular movement: the big circle means you make a full circle, the smaller circle only asks for half or a 3/4 circle.
  • Back and forth (hin und her): scratch the right bowl back and forth while you move the same right bowl from an open to a more closed position. It sounds like a tremolo in a pitch-shifter.
  • Against each other: hit the two sounding bowls against each other while they rest loosely on both palms.
Single beat actions
  • Beat: similar to the impulse actions described above. Here both bowls are to be held firmly and thus dampened. Both bowls are moved towards each other in the hitting action, not one bowl hitting the other. This technique is only applied when asked for fortissimo dynamics.
  • Drumming: with glissando. The right bowl is being moved up and down while performing the drumming action. This results in an up- and downward glissando.
  • Rubbing: this drawing explains in more in detail what happens in the “speed circles” action described above.
  • Stroking: this technique is similar to the “rubbing” technique. Here the right bowl is held in different angles that provide different amounts of overtones. The contact between the two bowls is minimal: only one side of the bowl touches the other. The larger the angle between the two bowls, the more overtones come out.
  • Rubbing pp: this drawing explains in more detail what happens in the “slow movement” action described above.
  • Rubbing circles: this drawing explains in more detail what happens in the “circular movement” action described above.
  • Rubbing back and forth: this drawing explains in more detail what happens in the back and forth action described above.
  • Against each other: for this technique, when the bowls are ringing, it is very important that the contact with the hands should be as minimal as possible. There are four different sub-techniques used: 1. Fully open, 2. Fully opened and dampened after a certain amount of time, 3. Fully open followed by gradually dampening one of the bowls until the other bowls stays ringing alone 4. Played against each other fully dampened. The picture displays very clearly these four different playing types.
China opera gong
Vertical contact
  • The first stroke is the stop-stroke. For the stop-stroke, which occurs both vertically and horizontally in the piece, it is important to make the stroke as dry as possible. To achieve this, the sounding bowl has to be held firmly and the China opera gong is muted with the abdomen. Of course for the resonating stroke the technique is exactly the opposite: the sounding bowl is held loosely and the contact between abdomen and China opera gong is minimal.
  • The second stroke is drawing vertically with the bowls. Drawing “a” asks for secco vertical strokes from one bowl after the other, a bit like a stretched out “flam”. Drawing “b” asks for the two bowls to be struck simultaneously.
  • The third stroke describes the technique where at first the vertically held bowls both make a circle on the surface of the China opera gong (a). When this circle is complete, the two bowls are struck together (b), still touching the surface of the gong with its bottom side. There will always be a small crescendo at the end of this movement.
  • The fourth stroke is a glissando. The glissando technique is illustrated quite well in the performance notes. (a) The left bowl is struck vertically in a dead stroke on the surface of the gong and stays there; (b) the right bowl hits the top of the left bowl vertically; (c) while performing action “b”, the left bowl is being dragged across the surface of the China opera gong, resulting in a glissando. The contact between gong and abdomen should be minimal here.
  • The fifth stroke describes a circular movement. The circular movement technique is actually the same as action “a” of the third box: the two loosely held sounding bowls are dragged in circles over the surface of the China opera gong. The size of the circles reflects the size of the movement you make on the surface. The contact between gong and abdomen should be minimal here to have as many overtones as possible.
  • The sixth stroke asks for the two loosely held bowls to be dragged in a straight line towards the edges of the China opera gong. The contact between gong and abdomen should also be minimal here to have as many overtones as possible.
Horizontal and diagonal
  • The first technique asks for a very fast action in a down and up movement using the whole length of the surface of the China opera gong. The gong should be quite muted when performing this technique and the up movement should be stopped abruptly at the end.
  • The second technique is clearly explained in the image. Make sure that movements b, c and d are significantly shorter than movement a, and that the difference in position and grip of the bowl is very clear. The gong should be resonating at the end of this technique, so minimal contact with the abdomen is required at the end.
  • The circular movement at the edge of the China opera gong is quite clear. It’s up to the player to decide in what moment there is contact with the abdomen executing this technique. Both options are possible. When this technique is repeated several in succession, it is important to change the direction of the circle in order to make the separate movements and actions clear.
  • For the next circular movement technique the length of the note defines the speed of the movement as illustrated clearly on the picture. This movement is always performed at the edge of the gong. It is very important to let resonate the gong resonate as much as possible in this technique to obtain the “breathing sound” Billone asks for.
  • The next technique, which results in a clear glissando, has to be performed on the inner circle of the China opera gong. You start at the edge of the inner circle and move the diagonally placed sounding bowl to the centre of the gong and sometimes even further to the other side edge of the inner circle. Make sure the gong can resonate freely for this event. You can also adjust the pressure you put on the sounding bowl to make this event as interesting as possible.
  • In the edge and full-contact technique in the following box, technique “b” is already described in the third box of this figure. The edge contact draws small circles on the surface of the muted China opera gong and is mostly used as a transition technique between other events.
  • These slow movements, or sequence of these slow movements, are to be executed with great pressure and great patience. In some of these events Billone doesn’t want any sound at all, but only the gesture. However, when sounds accidentally do come out, like the squeaking of metal on metal due to the pressure, this is no problem.
  • The penultimate technique in this figure describes a very fast up and down movement on the central area of the China opera gong. The gong needs to be hanging freely and the hand technique can be compared with a one-handed roll on a marimba. The sounding result is a very fast metal wah-wah glissando.
  • The last box describes a technique only used on the second line of page 4. The two firmly held sounding bowls are to be rubbed perpendicular at the edge of the China opera gong. The sounding result is a sort of metal grinding sound.
Bottom bowl
There are a few moments in the score where the China opera gong is to be played with the bottom of the sounding bowls:
  • The first technique describes circles and “figure-eights” to be executed on the central area of the gong. The speed of the circular movement depends, again, on the length of the note: the shorter the note, the faster the circle has to be played. Both figure-eights and circles need to be as overtone-rich as possible, so minimal contact between the gong and the abdomen is best for this techniques.
  • The second technique explains a downward movement. The downward movement should be extremely fast but the sounding result will not be very loud.
  • The occasional strokes in the middle of the gong can occur both with resonant bowls as with dampened bowls, depending on what the score asks for at that moment.
Thai gong
Rubbing
Rubbing on the gong’s surface can consist of several different movements:
  • When dynamics are loud and energetic, you can use circular movements on the entire surface of the Thai gong. When softer or when you don’t have the time to make a full circle, the smaller circles can be played on a small part of the surface of the gong. Always place the sounding bowl flat with the edges on the gong for maximal contact. These actions are often muted with the other arm or the forearm of the playing hand.
  • When the actions are more static, softer and longer, the rubbing is represented by a straight line in the score. Mostly this line functions as a transition between different actions.
  • When the rubbing is combined with sharp back and forth rhythms only half or one third of the gong is used. These actions are often muted with the other arm or the forearm of the playing hand.
  • The flageolet or whistle overtone can be obtained by putting extreme pressure on one sweet spot on the surface of the gong with the edge of the loosely held sounding bowl. It’s a bit comparable to the technique used on tam-tams to bring out the same kind of overtones with the point of a drumstick. On some gongs or some places on gongs it is not even necessary to apply extreme pressure. Some experimentation is needed to be able to play this technique adequately.
Rubbing on the edge appears in two ways: short and long. Basically the technique is the same for both: you rub the sounding bowls simultaneously or separately on the edge of the gong. Only the length differs. The sound is very earthy, grinding and quite machine-like. A lot of pressure is required to obtain this effect.
For playing on the cup of the gong, the sounding bowl’s edges should be facing up. There are two different places to rub the cup with the sounding bowl:
  • On the extreme top where the sound is delicate and airy (sometimes a kind of whistle tone even comes out the cup.)
  • More towards the surface of the gong. Here the sound is similar to the rubbing sound on the surface, but it is less powerful. Almost like a “piano” version of the surface rubbing.
Hitting
  • The first hitting technique shows a combination of hitting the edge of the Thai gong and the cup of the Thai gong. The picture is quite clear. When the sounding bowl pictogram is black, it is very important that the cup or the edge should be played with a dead stroke and very short. When the pictogram is white, the gong can resonate freely.
  • The second technique describes hitting the two sounding bowls on the edge alternately in dead strokes.
  • In some parts of the score, Billone asks to play the cup of the Thai gong with the edge of the sounding bowls. Here again when the pictogram is white, the gong resonates freely, when it is black, the gong is played with a dead stroke.
Plate bells
The techniques used on the bell plates are not very complex or difficult and most of it is very clear in the performance notes in the score. You can also find some very clear drawings of examples of the use of the bell plates in the performance notes. It is very important always to use both edges of the sounding bowl to hit the bell plate. For example, the three different stroke types as described in the first three boxes of the above figure:
  • Open resonating stroke: hit the bell plate with the two sounding bowls simultaneously on both flat sides of the bell plate and let ring. It’s like hitting the sounding bowls together but the plate happens to be in between them.
  • Stop stroke or dead stroke: The same movement as the open stroke, but the sounding bowls are played in a dead stroke and thus dampen the plate immediately.
  • Playing on the edge: Instead of hitting the flat side of the plate bell, the edge is struck with the sounding bowl. The sound is very pingy and high, almost like a flageolet.
Some practise is needed to fully master the last technique described. At first, both plates are hit with the sounding bowls in a dead stroke. Then the bowls are tilted until only one of the edges of the bowl touches the plate. At the same time, the pressure is raised on the plates and they start to move outside. When the pressure is maximal, the bowls are scraped to the bottom of the plates and the pressure is released. The sound is very loud and crying, metal-to-metal. For the last step there are two possibilities: or the plate is left to resonate freely, or the bowls catch it again and the pressure is raised to repeat the previous action. This technique works the best on the steel plates; it is less effective on the messing ones.
Voice
When Billone writes for the use of the voice in his pieces, the voice is always an extension of the instrument’s sound in the setup itself. It never stands alone or is meant as a dramatic tool. It’s meaning is to prolong the expression, sound and resonance of the played instruments. This implies that the dynamics of the voice will always be lower than the dynamics of the instruments.