The Furies: A Laptopera - "Don't Sh Stop Please"

Anne Hege, Camille Noufi, Elena Georgieva, and and Ge Wang

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

“Don’t Sh Stop Please” is an excerpt of The Furies: A Laptopera, an adaptation of the Electra story. In this scene, the Furies, gods of vengeance, attach tether lines to Orestia and Electra's wrists and chest, a manifestation of the Furies’ hold on them through the guilt that they feel as punishment for their crime, matricide. Here, the tethers play a sonic, visual, and dramatic role. The instrument is designed to create a dramatic task for the Furies chorus. They must pull their tethers, on cue, to change the pitch of their station and thus create the musical texture that supports the vocal line. Simultaneously, they physically pull Electra and Orestia closer and closer to the ground, ready to devour them. Each laptop station independently controls one note of a six-note chord. The instrument is designed so that the right tether determines pitch. The pitch changes are pre-programmed so that a change in velocity triggered by a strong tug on the tether cues the next pitch. The left tether controls volume (z axis) and vibrato (x axis). The tones are kept simple, plain sine tones with reverb. Vibrato creates a warm and living sound, while volume emphasizes pitch change. Specifically, the players were instructed to place an accent at the moment of pitch change. Pitch changes are rhythmic and intended to happen on the downbeat. In support of the embodied metaphor of guilt as weight, both the vocal lines and the tether pitches descend over the course of the duet, collapsing at the end into a low cluster chord. Electra and Orestia physically reinforce this descent with the descent of their bodies, dictated by the pull of each tether. In this way, the instrument design unifies sonic, visual, character, and choreographic elements to support the underlying themes of the narrative.

Citation

Anne Hege, Camille Noufi, Elena Georgieva, and and Ge Wang. 2022. The Furies: A Laptopera - "Don't Sh Stop Please". Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.21428/92fbeb44.d91afcee [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{nime2022_music_11,
 abstract = {“Don’t Sh Stop Please” is an excerpt of The Furies: A Laptopera, an adaptation of the Electra story. In this scene, the Furies, gods of vengeance, attach tether lines to Orestia and Electra's wrists and chest, a manifestation of the Furies’ hold on them through the guilt that they feel as punishment for their crime, matricide. Here, the tethers play a sonic, visual, and dramatic role. The instrument is designed to create a dramatic task for the Furies chorus. They must pull their tethers, on cue, to change the pitch of their station and thus create the musical texture that supports the vocal line. Simultaneously, they physically pull Electra and Orestia closer and closer to the ground, ready to devour them. Each laptop station independently controls one note of a six-note chord. The instrument is designed so that the right tether determines pitch. The pitch changes are pre-programmed so that a change in velocity triggered by a strong tug on the tether cues the next pitch. The left tether controls volume (z axis) and vibrato (x axis). The tones are kept simple, plain sine tones with reverb. Vibrato creates a warm and living sound, while volume emphasizes pitch change. Specifically, the players were instructed to place an accent at the moment of pitch change. Pitch changes are rhythmic and intended to happen on the downbeat. In support of the embodied metaphor of guilt as weight, both the vocal lines and the tether pitches descend over the course of the duet, collapsing at the end into a low cluster chord. Electra and Orestia physically reinforce this descent with the descent of their bodies, dictated by the pull of each tether. In this way, the instrument design unifies sonic, visual, character, and choreographic elements to support the underlying themes of the narrative.},
 address = {Auckland, New Zealand},
 articleno = {11},
 author = {Anne Hege and Camille Noufi and Elena Georgieva and and Ge Wang},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.21428/92fbeb44.d91afcee},
 editor = {Raul Masu},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {jun},
 title = {The Furies: A Laptopera - "Don't Sh Stop Please"},
 track = {Music},
 url = {https://doi.org/10.21428/92fbeb44.d91afcee},
 year = {2022}
}