Musique ludique at the FARR

In 1971, an experimental musician started working on a dice game in Montréal. Each of the six to eight die, in the order in which they are thrown, determines a different aspect of a musical improvisation. The number of musicians, how they interact, sound textures and melodic progression are set before the performers and provoke a number of unexpected games -- Simon says, a school of fish, or the parrot, the stutterer and the repeater being only a few.

Some of the parameters evoke visual textures, characters, or situations. What of using this game to map out a short video, a sentence, or a narrative drawing? In the Reading Room can be found six die and a few sheets of paper to start a page of aleatory nonsense.

RULES

1. A word;

2. Throw the die;

3. Write down the results in the proper order.

I shall pull the numbers through a grid and end up with a drawing. And once the grid is up, anyone can do the same, really. At the end of the residency I will collect the weekly drawings and bind them in a book during an open workshop.

Meanwhile, here is a shelf, with the die, the sheets, doodles and a book. The book changes every week or so and is usually quite nice to look at. Coming up in January is also the musician himself, Robert Marcel Lepage, who will give and artist talk about his practice and the game. Notice will be posted.