Modes of Perceptible Motion for soprano/marimbist (or two players)
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Zeno's first paradox: Achilles and the Tortoise compete in a race. The Tortoise has a head start. Despite Achilles running faster than the Tortoise, he is unable to catch up. Every advance Achilles makes, the Tortoise also makes an advance, albeit a smaller one. The space between the two grow smaller and smaller. If that space is cut in half over and over, there will always continue to be space to cut in half. Therein lies the paradox.
The singer vaguely describes this in her first-person, predatory song of pursuit. She performs asymptotic rhythms that resemble the space-time anomaly in the race. Meanwhile, the voicing of the pitch material idiomatically forces the performer to contort her body in such a way that her motions 'paint' the text. |