9 mins. – solo voice-overs/stereo tape

This, the second piece in the Do It Yourself series, was inspired by works by Michel Butor’s 6 810 000 litres d’eau par seconde : étude stéréophonique (translated into English as Niagara: a stereophonic novel). This masterpiece of intertextual writing involves text samples of all sorts which led to this composition’s approach.

Working with vocalist, Elise Lorraine a score was devised starting with the DIY score, a graphic (lettriste) page of a collage of texts, the samples appearing by type and then the devised score for the performer and stereo recording. Unlike its predecessor where the composer stepped away and had any performer make what they like, in this case a devising scheme was evolved and the result is the studio recording below and its score that follows.

Elise Lorraine performing Do It Yourself (ii)

The devised score for the performance including the original score