for Michael Nicolellagrey angelfor electric guitar and prerecorded sound in a reverberant space								segment 1				pChristopher DeLaurenti 2002

10 to 20 seconds

ffp

CD player plays a 10, 15, or 20 second track of silence; use the volume pedal to fade in and out noise from the guitar’s pickups and pedals. Experiment with wiggling the e-bow over the pickups and playing
the dials and/or buttons of the pedals. Exhume as much system noise
as possible: amplified phaser pedals, compressors, and distortion pedals should yield interesting results.

segment 2							instruments
any six string electric guitar (standard tuning)
multiple effects pedals (some of these should be noisy) reverb, distortion, etc.
volume pedale-bow
thin pick
CD player + CD (calibrate with track 2, play loud and EQ for the room)
stereo PA of passable to excellent quality
guitar and CD should go through the PA together (do not use a separate guitar amp)

45 seconds

segment 3				

10 to 20 seconds

26 secondsp
middle C
CD player plays track 2 (above); at 26 seconds, apply the e-bow to the second string andgradually sound middle C, ppp, which should gradually increase to p into segment 3.
Optionally, the system noise from segment 1 can carry over into segment 2 but should
soon be masked by track 2.

segment 4			CD player plays track 3, which can be programmed with a 10, 15, or
20 second track of silence. In segment 3, the C should rise in volume
very slowly. The timbre should be searing distortion, a yowling arc
with glimmers of reverberation and/or echo no longer than 3 seconds.
Any excess decay can carry over into segment 4.

segment 529 seconds

fff				

about 10 seconds

10 seconds
pany A
CD player plays track 4 (above); at 10 seconds, apply the e-bow to any string and gradually sound any A, ppp, which should gradually increase to p into segment 5.

1fff

CD player plays track 5, a 10 second track of silence. In segment 5 theA should rise in volume slowly. The timbre should be milder than theC in segment 3 with little reverberation and/or echo.

grey angelsegment 6															1 minute 22 seconds

mid-section

any Cany A

CD player plays track 6 (above); immediately apply the e-bow to any string, gradually sound any C and build to ff. Strive for a plain singing tone and impart a roiling, nervous, almost spastic sound. The note may decay in the mid-section, but should not impinge upon it. After the mid-section, apply the e-bow to any string, gradually soundany A. The timbre and application of the A should mimic but not duplicate the previous note.

segment 7						segment 8

38 seconds

the low E				

about 10 seconds

CD player plays track 8, a quiet (and not worth depicting) 7 second
coda. Fade the volume pedal to silence during the coda. Remain still
and keep your body silent until the final sound of the coda.

CD player plays track 7 (above); immediately apply the e-bow and graduallysound the low E. Once you hear the low E, apply a thin pick to the fret one octave
above the low E and slide down the E string, accompanying track 7 until it ends
or you run out of frets and hit the nut.The guitar sound can seep into segment 8
but not much, and should allow enough time for that segment’s volume pedal
fade.

2