What are Tutorial Diversions?
'Tutorial Diversions are composed listenings for you to perform at home. Each Tutorial is a specifically scored “way of hearing” – listening while moving, through specific media, with particular loudspeaker setups. Any recorded sound or piece of music can be “listened” with a particular Tutorial, but must first be “profiled” via a “profiling software” written to adjust a given sound to the structure of the given Tutorial. How exactly a “profiled” sound source is to be performed (listened) in a given Tutorial is described in detail in an accompanying manual (score).' -- Bill Dietz
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Teasers
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from The Possibility of Improvisation/The Impossibility of Music
by Bill Dietz
The possibility of improvisation seems assumed—the possibility of a composerless, free music. & perhaps the possibility of it is ours: possibility being a condition affirming the state of things now—that is, if improvisation is the acceptance of one’s mind’s & body’s limits (how they can move, how they can know [an instrument]) & the sociality that defines both: possibility is always of a given (no matter how far in semblance a sound is from norms). When an improviser wants to contest or test or expand, doesn’t it then have to internalize the role of the composer—taking the state of division (critique), of thinking-doing-acting & acting-doing, of self-consciousness, into oneself—& then once again encountering the limit of the self (the other)? —& thus encountering the limits of (but not necessarily accepting) the possible, this always limitedness of improvisation? [so it’s an issue of ‘the composer’s’ location?]
Is the strength of what we call improvisation then a strength of metaphor? —its possible clarity of representing something we, composers & improvisers alike, are always facing, our “situation”?—of interaction w/ an other?
It may be—but insofar as this is recognized, it seems important to emphasize the confused, mystifiedness that seems to surround much of the talk about improvisation.
So then these comments serve to stand as something like a position of extremity (from which “jazz”, what’s possible for me to say about it, and “Tony Conrad,” are fixed in liberalism)—& to remind us that music, the impossible audible, as we know it (no matter how it sounds or appears), only reaches us when there is an us—whether the us of a single player (& sound) or the us of a composer & a page—a something that’s not just 2 (1 & an other, division)—a something, authorless (but not necessarily composerless), of neither, a 3rd—of interaction, togetherness, oscillation, audition—of always hearing some-thing (else), an else.
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This is perhaps why at the current moment Morton Feldman is so much closer to us than Cage. The Morton Feldman who said in 1972: “The closer I came, on my own terms, to a really autonomous situation, the more I felt the first warning that a new dichotomy was about to take place...Something is being made. And to make something is to constrain it”—the Morton Feldman who insisted that we not give ourselves over to the blind belief that we could hear, that we could assume sounds, that the metaphor of music was its reality.
Put this way, in music, in composition, the metaphor of music (of a free space, sound itself, the object, nothing—the “music” of poets & painters & philosophers & politicians) is always and necessarily deferred: is always performed: put off: produced: delayed—that even in music, the metaphor of music remains metaphor: something that musicians themselves must also use, something to keep pushing, always, so that the metaphor is not the thing, & only the thing insofar as the metaphor.
Which is not in any way meant to suggest we (try to) abandon this metaphoricity. Sounds. Music. On the contrary, it seems the only way left to us to more than ever search for this space of sounding, ‘to pass over articulation without falling into the censorship of desire or the sublimation of the unspeakable” (says Barthes)—to more than ever affirm the power of the metaphor of music. But in its denial. In recognizing the effort of music. In realizing that the metaphor is this always-beyond, never something itself—by leaving no privileged ground mythologized—by realizing, saying, that this is not it and also always at the same time that it is: that, it will be.
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Tutorial #1 (evidence): "22 Consonants for Andrew Smith" (2002-2003)
Performance by Andrew Smith
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Tutorial #2: "Das Lird vom Wein" (to Peter Ablinger)
'In this Tutorial, you’re instructed to move back and forth at particular times between two listening positions with a particular loudspeaker setup. You’ll need to download the manual and profiling software, and you’ll need 2 moveable loudspeakers. “Das Lied vom Wein” cannot be performed with a laptop, boombox, or other stereo system with fixed loudspeakers.' -- Bill Dietz
DasLiedvomWeinManual
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Tutorial #3: "Let the User Speak" (2012)
August 23rd, 2012 - September 2nd, 2012
'Let the User Speak examines the Berlin Corbusierhaus and the nearly identically constructed Cité radieuse in Marseille – two emblematic modernist buildings realized in the 40s and 50s by Le Corbusier.
'In 2012 and 2013, the American composer Bill Dietz (Ensemble Zwischentöne) and the German stage designer and director Janina Janke (Oper Dynamo West) explore these two massive “machines for living.”
'They collect sound and images in and around the buildings and interview inhabitants about their liveswithin them. Collected sound materials are restructured according to proportions of Le Corbusier’s“modulor” measurement system and are sent wandering throughout the architecture via a sounding network of inhabitants’ linked home stereos. Groups of visitors individually receive personal stereo systems forming a second audible network. Both networks describe the possibility of sonic community.
'Framing these sound pathways, two video installations contrast the individual narratives of residents with the buildings’ immediate urban surroundings: a triptych of video projections mirrors the Unités’ historical and topographical exteriors in Berlin and Marseille, a multi-monitor construction rolls through transcriptions of interviews with inhabitants.
'In August 2012, audiences will be led in small groups on guided tours through the various installationson site at the Berlin Corbusierhaus. These guided tours are accompanied by appearances by Ensemble Zwischentöne, encounters between inhabitants of the German and French Unités, introductory presentations by students from the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences, and an evening in the Deutschen Architektur Zentrum – DAZ.
'In a lecture performance and panel discussion around the Y-table at the DAZ, “performed architecture,” an extension of Le Corbusier’s own “promenade architecturale,” is the topic of interdisciplinary discussion for guests from the arts, architecture, music, and inhabitants of the Corbusierhaus. How can we re-function, intervene in, and stage architecture?
'In Fall 2013, presented by Marseille-Provence 2013 – European Capital of Culture, the French version of the project will take place at the Cité radieuse. In 2014, the German and French versions will be brought together in an exhibition and publication.' -- Deutsches Architektur Zentrum DAZ
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Tutorials #4 - 7 (evidence)
"Stereo Pacing (Torn Curtain)" (2006-2010)
"3-Part Dances" (2009-2010)
"Rhythms Around the Chair" (2008-2010)
"Ma Première Claque" (2007)
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Further
Tutorial Diversions Website
Bill Dietz 'Peter Ablinger sings Whitney Houston'
Bill Dietz 'Paragraph 7'
Bill Dietz 'After the Interval'
7hours HAUS 19 2010/1
PETER ABLINGER - english texts
Conversation: Bill Dietz / Maryanne Amacher
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Bio
Bill Dietz, born in 1983 near in the US/Mexican border in Bisbee, Arizona, studied composition at the New England Conservatory (Boston) and Cultural Studies at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis). He has lived and worked since 2003 in Berlin, initially as Peter Ablinger’s student and assistant. He has worked regularly with Christian von Borries, Catherine Christer Hennix, Chris Newman, and, through 2009, with Maryanne Amacher. Since 2007 he is the artistic director of Ensemble Zwischentöne.
His compositions have been presented by Happy Days Sound Festival (Oslo), MaerzMusik (Berlin), Incubator Arts (New York), the “Romanischen Nacht” (WDR),“Tbilisi 6. Never on a Sunday” (Tbilisi), and many others. As an interpreter of others’ music he appears regularly (Documenta XII, “Musikprotokoll” des Steirischen Herbsts, Tate Modern, Hamburger Bahnhof).
In recent years Dietz’ work has focused on the genealogy of the concert and the performance of listening. These concerns extend into his curatorial work with Ensemble Zwischentöne. Projects include: DAS WORT HABEN DIE BENÜTZER / LA PAROLE EST AUX USAGERS mit Janina Janke, Corbusierhaus, Berlin (2012) and Cite radieuse, Marseille (2013, presented by Marseille-Provence 2013 – European Capital of Culture); L’auditeur s’appelle Emma, 7hours Haus 19, Berlin (2010).
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p.s. Hey. If not for an introduction to Bill Dietz's work from d.l. Allesfliesst, this post wouldn't exist, so big thanks to him. ** Bollo, We got lots of snow, more than has ever fallen in Paris since I've lived here, and more is on the way, they say, so, yeah, pretty great. The show's on the 15th? Give all the scoop on that, obviously. Thanks a lot for the Melgaard/Vimeo link. I didn't know of that. Useful, cool. David J. White, or anybody else out there who's interested, Bollo hooked us up with this Vimeo thing about Bjarme Melgaard, if you want to check it out. I will be in a bit. Really glad you're feeling better. ** Un Cœur Blanc, Hi! Oh, good, I'm glad my recommendation on that Rimbaud translation has paid off. Hope your weekend of work went really well. 2013 has been fantastic for me so far, so your vibes seem to have reached me deep down. Oh, cool, I got to see you twice. Sunday is a nice name. If I had a kid, I might name him or her that. Okay, obviously I need to get Mike's new poetry book. I knew that already, but now, thanks to you and Grant, it's clearly destiny. And thank you for sharing your great read on it and on his poetry. Love to you. ** Changeling, Yep, back in Paris. Definitely didn't get heatstroke in Poitiers. That's where the snowfall that has consumed most of the recent days started for me. Every French snowboarder I've ever seen or met seemed angry. Interesting. Yeah, your 'Hogg' reaction sounds kind of like my first reaction. I suppose I'm still not entirely sure. Delaney is a super smart guy, so there's definitely some assuming that the book is more meta than it can seem at first. I think maybe I decided that it's kind of singular in its transgressiveness, and that its odd tone plus relentlessness/ sameyness is very curious, and it became a book I admired, albeit from afar or something? I don't know. ** David Ehrenstein, I didn't know about The Joyce Society Ladies, and that's really interesting, so thanks, D. ** Cobaltfram, Hi, John. Okay, I'll give you a heads up once my next trip to LA is timed and figured out. Wow, that was a really awful night Chad had. Scary, interesting, ugh, etc. Mainly glad he's okay and presumably rested up by now. Even more reasons not to see 'Zero Dark Thirty'. Interesting. Yeah, I think that film has moved into the 'rainy distant day maybe' column. ** Scunnard, Hey. No, the snow has been dreamy so far. So far, its natural charms combined with its rarity is pretty sweet. I owe you an email. Soon. Thanks, J. ** Billy Lloyd, If you put that track up somewhere, let me know. I am surprised that the HP thing is that booked up. I mean, a zillion people are always wanting to go up the Eiffel Tower, and they always get to go. I want to see the 'Stranger' video. Your Google+ page, okay. I think I have a page there, but I don't think I've ever actually been inside Google+. I don't know what it looks like. Anyway, you'll devirginize me. Our city snow hasn't turned nasty yet, but it only just stopped falling, at least temporarily, in the middle of last night, so today might be the end of the love affair. Me, up to? Getting slowly back into working on my novel. Working on the new theater piece. Hanging out a lot and planning out adventures with my great friend Zac. Things are really good right now. And, now that you're hopefully no longer in danger of dying from a hangover, what's your life full of? ** Misanthrope, A week, or, well, less by now. Not bad. I don't pray, but I'm praying for you anyway. Discussing politics emotionally is the worst, and I can hardly remember the last time that I or anybody discussed politics without lots of emotional guitar soloing. Snow, yes! Haven't slipped or fallen or anything yet. Did you have the fun you thought you would? Were the band's covers excitingly chosen and loyally recreated? I'm so sorry to hear that about David K.'s mom. That's very sad, that's harsh. Poor David. Tell him if he wants a super warm group hug, to just drop back into his old home DC's. ** Sypha, I think it's safe to say that 'Dubliners' is the easiest or at least the 'easiest'. ** Bill, Thank you, Bill. Obviously, I hope that *little* time is enough. Oh, that is really great about the Schroeter retrospective. When I did the Huppert post and was reminded about 'Malina', it made me really want to watch a bunch of his films. I should check the Cinematheque schedule. Sometimes these retrospective things happen in communal waves. ** Alan, Hi. I got your email, and I wrote back to you this morning, and hopefully you got it. ** 5STRINGS, I tried the Dreamachine twice. I didn't do a thing for me. Same with Absinthe. It just gave me a headache. When I see Emos, I always wish I was their friend more than wanting to fuck them. I'm weird. Except maybe when they're escorts, in which case the friendship thing seems like a bridge too far. You're on your way to twinkdom? That's cool, congrats. Twinks run the world. They're the cabal behind the throne. And I guess they're draped all over it too. ** Grant maierhofer, Hi, Grant! The HTMLG thing was excellent. Is excellent. I still owe you an email. I will. I'm the world's slowest correspondent. There are email accounts all over the world full of tar and feathers with my name on them. Nice listening you had there. And, yeah, you're so nice about my stuff, thank you kindly. Right back at you. Thanks a lot for the link to 'A Cabana of the Mind'. Looks great. I've bookmarked it for steady attendance. And, obviously, it would be awesome and an honor if you wrote something about the Cycle. Thank you so much for wanting to do that. I haven't read Mike's new chapbook yet, no. I need to order that pronto. I see that the link that you provided has a sample, so I'll go pore over that to start with. Mike's great, so, yeah, I'm sure it must be awesome. Yeah, cool, thank you again, it's really great to have you here. ** Heliotrope, It was a good post, wasn't it? I'm luckiest blog-making guy ever, really. 'Secondhand Daylight', yum, that needs a spin on my end too. Been too long. For whatever unknown reason, I always kneejerk go back to the first album and to 'The Correct Use of Soap' the most often. Have no idea why. We saw that show together at the Whisky? Well, of course we did. I think John McGeoch was still in the band then, wasn't he? Man, he was a goodie. RIP. Romanticism, yes! Where would we be ..., etc.? As a nostalgia-phobe, I think I can assure you that was romanticism, because I glowed and didn't even consider wincing, man. Take a earthshaking heart beat/pound from me. And make some techno out of it. ** Jax, Hi, pal! The George book seems to be letting me dip my fingers back inside. I haven't grabbed it by the balls yet, but at least the balls are within my reach again. Snow everywhere, and a thick motherfucking blanket even, for the moment. I'd send you some, but, even by Fed Ex, I don't think it'd make it in time. Surely, you'll get your own natural turn. ** Steevee, Would be fantastic, obviously, if you and Chilly get to meet up! The Wakamatsu work I've seen is definitely tricky for the reason you suggest, yeah. But, yes, too, I'm with you about the refreshing thing. ** Unknown/Pascal, Hey! Man, what a gorgeous post that was. Really, really something. I'm so proud and grateful to you for it! Interesting about Cronenberg re: 'L'abbe C'. That never occurred to me, but, hm, you might really have something there. God knows Cronenberg must be more than quite familiar with Bataille's work. Yeah, thank you again, man, and, of course, thanks for talking to your d.l. fans. Love from me. ** Paul Curran, Hi, Paul. Back in Paris for a few days at least. I am way digging the snow. I should take photos. You snowed semi-under too? ** Rewritedept, Brain hurting busy? That's busy. Thanks, ha ha, for trying to clue in your mom re: my stuff's depths. That's awesome of you. Yeah, I kind of totally cut my work's own throat by working with the material that I do. Your mom's trepidation and reaction is the most common one. But, I don't know, it's not like I had a choice to work with that scary stuff or not. Either I wouldn't have been a writer at all, or I'm the writer I am. Anyway, yeah, I appreciate your attempt a bunch. Ah, I understand about why the dad thing bothered you, but, man, really, it's pretty sweet and meaningful that he wants you to finish it, you know? But, yeah, if keeping him in the dark helps your process, that's obviously the way to go. I'm back here, but I go to Strasbourg for one night on Thursday to do an event, and I'm going to do some at least daylong trip adventures with a friend soon. Haven't picked up the new Yo La. I will. 'A Bell is a Cup ...' is great, yeah. That 80s phase of Wire when they were kind of almost crossover big stars often seems to get overlooked, but there's some great stuff in there for sure. Is Reno cool? I've never been there. I've always imagined it wouldn't be so cool, I don't know why. Highly recommend that you hit the Winchester House, obviously. One of the world's great things. Hope you got all the sleep you needed. ** Armando, Hey. Wow, okay, I'll get that Neil Young. It's weird: the first reviews I read of it were really bad, but then it ended up being pretty high on a lot of critics' 'best of' lists, so I got confused. I'll just get it and find out for myself. Sorry for you about the DiCaprio hiatus, if that turns out to be. Maybe he just needs some months or so away to get the hunger back. Take care. ** Okay. I hope you enjoy discovering Bill Dietz's work like I did recently. In any case, see you tomorrow.