Sound Patterns is a musical piece

Piece

Piece or pieces may refer to:* A single unit of something* An informative or creative work, such as a work of art, journalism, academic research, etc.** Musical piece, a work of music, sometimes called an opus* Chess piece* Jigsaw puzzle piece...

 or composition

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

 for a cappella

A cappella

A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...

 mixed chorus

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

 by Pauline Oliveros

Pauline Oliveros

Pauline Oliveros is an American accordionist and composer who is a central figure in the development of post-war electronic art music....

. Oliveros won the Gaudeamus International Composers Award

Gaudeamus International Composers Award

The Gaudeamus International Composers Award is a European award issued by the Music Center the Netherlands...

 in 1962 with this work.

Rather than a traditional text, the work is constructed of phonetic sounds chosen on the basis of their timbre

Timbre

In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...

. The piece is entirely notated, lasts about four minutes, and features an exposition

Exposition (music)

In musical form and analysis, exposition is the initial presentation of the thematic material of a musical composition, movement, or section. The use of the term generally implies that the material will be developed or varied....

 (measures 1-12), development

Musical development

In European classical music, musical development is a process by which a musical idea is communicated in the course of a composition. It refers to the transformation and restatement of initial material, and is often contrasted with musical variation, which is a slightly different means to the same...

 (12-46), and recapitulation

Recapitulation (music)

In music theory, the recapitulation is one of the sections of a movement written in sonata form. The recapitulation occurs after the movement's development section, and typically presents once more the musical themes from the movement's exposition...

 (47-59).

The sounds may be understood to reflect Oliveros' interest in electronic music

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

, which she recently had begun to work with. Heidi Van Gunden (1983) illustrates this point by highlighting four types of sounds that correspond to basic electronic music techniques:

1. white noise
   White noise
   White noise is a random signal with a flat power spectral density. In other words, the signal contains equal power within a fixed bandwidth at any center frequency...
   
   
2. ring-modulated
   Ring modulation
   Ring modulation is a signal-processing effect in electronics, an implementation of amplitude modulation or frequency mixing, performed by multiplying two signals, where one is typically a sine-wave or another simple waveform. It is referred to as "ring" modulation because the analog circuit of...
   
    sounds
3. percussive envelopes
   Envelope (disambiguation)
   An envelope is the paper container used to hold a letter being sent by post.Envelope may also refer to:In mathematics:* Envelope , a curve, surface, or higher dimensional object defined as being tangent to a given family of lines or curves In science:* Viral envelope, the membranal covering...
   
   
4. filtered
   Audio filter
   An audio filter is a frequency dependent amplifier circuit, working in the audio frequency range, 0 Hz to beyond 20 kHz. Many types of filters exist for applications including graphic equalizers, synthesizers, sound effects, CD players and virtual reality systems.Being a frequency dependent...
   
    techniques

White noise is created vocally through the initial consonant

Consonant

In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...

 "sh" and variations such as s, z, wh, p, t, h, ct, d, ch, th, k, and sw. Ring modulation is imitated through rapidly changing the vowel content, percussive envelopes through "lip pops," "tongue clicks," "snap fingers," and "flutter lips", and filtering through muting

Mute (music)

A mute is a device fitted to a musical instrument to alter the sound produced: by affecting the timbre, reducing the volume, or most commonly both.- Musical directions for muting :...

 such as by covering the mouth with one's hand, sounding the consonant "M" through tightly closed lips, or singing through clenched teeth. (ibid, p.26-28)

It is Oliveros' "most carefully composed piece" and features only one measure of controlled improvisation

Improvisation

Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...

 linking the development to the recapitulation. The piece also predates similar compositions by György Ligeti

György Ligeti

György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...

 and Karlheinz Stockhausen

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...

 (Moment

Moment

- Science, engineering, and mathematics :* Moment , used in probability theory and statistics* Moment , several related concepts, including:** Angular momentum or moment of momentum, the rotational analog of momentum...

1961-1962, revised 1965). Ligeti was actually one of the judges for the Gaudeamus competition and featured unusual vocal sounds in his Aventures (1962) and Nouvelles Aventures (1962-65). These works are all featured in Erhard Karkoschka

Erhard Karkoschka

Erhard Karkoschka , is a German composer, scholar and conductor. Karkoschka was born in the German linguistic enclave of Moravská Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, and subsequent to World War II became a violinist for the Bayreuth Symphony Orchestra, whereupon he studied composition, musicology and...

's Notation in New Music (1966/English 1972). (ibid, p.29-30)

Available on

• Extended Voices (Odyssey 32 16 0156)
• 20th Century Choral Music (Ars Nova AN-1005)