Markov's Thesaurus

Score (.pdf)
Performance Notes (.pdf)

Markov's Thesaurus was written with Juxtavoices (see biography) in mind as a way of providing a framework of words for us to sing, within a strict structure. The structure of the piece is a Markov Chain*, decision tree or 'drunkard's walk' through the thesaurus. Starting together on 'Song' with each move through the score, the word splits into 2 synonyms getting further and further away from the original word. To make it work as a piece and introduce a symmetrical structure I cheated a bit and brought the ensemble back to the one word, song. The performance notes were developed with the group and feature the hallmarks of Juxtavoices 'antichoir' practice.

*it probably doesn't meet a strict mathematically accurate definition