When you've got one of the Musical Squares in your hands, move the squares around until you find an order you like. Play the music with a clef appropriate to your instrument / voice or as directed. Try playing at a different octave. Where transposing instruments are indicated play the music as written - do not transpose. You can treat the 'space' as a bar rest.
As well as playing the music from left to right, attempt other directions, or change the order as you play. Experiment with tempo, dynamic, phrasing, articulation, repeats and 'mood'. In an ensemble try starting at different times or allocating solos. Try combining / overlapping different pieces to build a larger structure. © Paul Burnell
Click here for an mp3 excerpt - a combination of Musical Squares on my CD 'Leaving the Party on Pluto'.
I have presented the Musical Squares on these web pages and in my printed leaflet in such a way that it should be possible to perform them as a round or canon.
Below is the text of a letter written to the conductor of an adult contemporary music ensemble who had requested some more information about how Musical Squares could be used in a workshop situation.
i) At first you may want everyone to have the same square. Obviously there may not be enough of the same piece to go around. Also, you may at first want everyone to have the same permutation in front of them - so you could photocopy a single arrangement and distribute it and perform in unison. (You can get at least 6 pieces on to one sheet of A4 - perhaps even 9). Once everyone is comfortable with the material then you could introduce theidea of permutation - again, if there are not enough squares to go around people could still work from the photocopy but randomise the bits by reading backwards, forwards, etc. In a workshop situation I imagine that starting with say 'Stamp Clap Snap' might introduce the general idea of the squares with quite simple material - and I must admit that I had imagined this piece being performed with a regular pulse. I think this one is more fun when people at first aren't quite able to coordinate their hands and legs - perhaps you could try it at a few different tempos.
ii) I think it becomes interesting when more than one piece is played at the same time - perhaps you could work up to this - depending on what instruments/voices you have available?
iii) I think it is simpler to play the conventionally notated pieces with a pulse and to read each of them as a continuous line, going back to the 'beginning' and repeating a set number of times. Then perhaps playing as a two or three part 'round' and then as a randomised free for all. I think it might also be an idea to state at the outset whether or not the 'hole' is to be treated as a 'bar rest'. 'Going like...' and 'Stamp Clap Snap' lend themselves to this way of working and might be useful as constantly pulsed pieces - perhaps forming a rhythmic background against which other pieces can be overlaid.
iv) Those with lots of blanks - well, this I think can be decided by you or the performers. 'Sustain all - let decay' - the blanks do not have to be rests - the note could, for example, be sustained across the blanks - either until the next note, or gradually building up to form a chord. Perhaps, there might be other ideas taken from the title (this of course applies to all the pieces) - perhaps each note has a decay, or once the full chord has built up there could be a gradual dim. In terms of a pulse - you could decide that each square lasts a set number of beats, or that there is a proportionally slower pulse, etc. This piece might be useful as a very slowly changing 'harmonic' background haze for more straightforward melodic/rhythmic material.
v) All your ideas sound good here ['Is This?' from Set 3]. I think the idea of texture can be easily introduced here - spoken, whispered, shouted, with feeling etc. This of course is important overall if you decide to build up a larger performance by combining the different pieces - how to combine different textures. And - how to structure the combinations.
Please come back to me if anything I've said is unclear or if you have other questions."