“a vocal project dedicated to mining the expressive potential of the human voice.”

1. “a vocal project dedicated to mining the expressive potential of the human voice.” General Music 6 “Partita" inspired by the art of Sol Lewitt

2. Who is carolineshaw? Caroline Adelaide Shaw (born 1982) is a New York City-based musician and a Pulitzer-prize-winning American composer. Caroline was born in Greenville, North Carolina and began playing the violin when she was two years old. Her mother was her first teacher. She began writing music when she was ten years old, however, her main focus was on violin performance.

3. What is a composer?a person who writes music WHAT IS THE PULITZER PRIZE IN MUSIC? For distinguished musical composition by an American that has had its first performance or recording in the United States during the year, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

4. WHO WAS PULITZER? In the latter years of the 19th century, Joseph Pulitzer stood out as the very embodiment of American journalism. Hungarian-born, an intense indomitable figure, Pulitzer was the most skillful of newspaper publishers, a passionate crusader against dishonest government, a fierce, hawk-like competitor who did not shrink from sensationalism in circulation struggles, and a visionary who richly endowed his profession.

5. the pulitzer prizes throughout history…… The Pulitzer Prize Board, has increased the number of awards to 21 and introduced poetry, music, and photography as subjects, while adhering to the spirit of the founder's will and its intent.

6. back tocarolineshaw……. • She was walking in Hudson River Park when she began getting e-mails and calls from friends telling her that she had gotten a Pulitzer. She finally called her father, who went on the Internet and told her that she had actually won. • The award citation praised “Partita” as “a highly polished and inventive a cappella work uniquely embracing speech, whispers, sighs, murmurs, wordless melodies and novel vocal effects.”

7. What is a partita? • The word is used to designate "Music in parts, or sections." Basically, a suite of shorter pieces. Originally, the word started to be used in the Baroque era and is associated with the composer J.S. Bach (1685-1750). 

8. What inspired shawto compose this partita? Shaw told us that she had written this vocal suite for Roomful of Teeth over the course of several summers, during the group's residency at the art museum MASS MoCA in Massachussetts. "Each summer," Shaw recalled, "I would write a little bit more. I was inspired by texts from Sol LeWitt's Wall Drawings [which is on exhibit at MASS MoCA through 2033].

9. SHAW'S "PARTITA" ON YOU TUBEWhat does the “partita” sound like? • "highly polished and inventive a cappella work uniquely embracing speech, whispers, sighs, murmurs, wordless melodies and novel vocal effects." ROOMFUL OF TEETH SHAW SINGS IN THE GROUP

10. What do sol lewitt’sinstructed wall drawings look like? “Each wall drawing begins as a set of instructions or simple diagram to be followed in executing the work. As the exhibition makes clear, these straightforward instructions yield an astonishing—and stunningly beautiful—variety of work that is at once simple and highly complex, rigorous and sensual. 

11. Sol LeWitt (1928 – 2007) “On a wall surface, any continuous stretch of wall, using a hard pencil, place fifty points at random. The points should be evenly distributed over the area of the wall. All of the points should be connected by straight lines. “

12. 9a, general music 6 Pointless in 5 Directions I. Antwan II. Olydingle III. ?Question IV. Confusion V. KrustyKrab in the City

13. 10a, general music 6 “Expression of Lines” I. Mixed II. Up and across III. Sound effects IV.L points V. Staccato VI. The bark

14. 9b, general music 6 PENTATABLES I. Surrounding Directions II. 35THpoint III. Watermelön IV. Words and Numbers V. BSTc

15. 10b, general music 6 Gebrauchsanweisung I. Ich bin eine Frau II. Anstrum III. Meinefreunde IV. Linie Rap V. Verschmelzung

16. Graphic notation is the representation of music through the use of visual symbols outside the realm of traditional music notation.

17. “The idea of trying to create something that kind of visually suggests what it is, but also it’s a code for something, just a symbol,” she explained was akin to a web designer writing CSS code laying out the description for what should visually be displayed on the screen. A composer is bound only by the shared common notation, and often in contemporary music, composers reach for more descriptive tools to communicate their intent with performers. In Partita, Caroline went as far as creating her own notational tools in Adobe Illustrator that visually represented the sounds she wanted the singers to make. “Just the colored in dot, the open dot and x aren’t quite enough.”