TItle: Martha’s Chance

Premiere: ca. 1975, McMillin Theater, Columbia University, NYC

Duration: 6 min.

Performers: Jessica Fogel, Martha Wiseman

Music: Ross Rhodes

Description:

This work included an electronic music score by Ross Rhodes, as well as live spoken text by Martha Wiseman.  It was developed in a composition course with Janet Soares. It was performed at the McMillin Theatre (now the Miller Theatre) at Columbia University for a new music concert.  Ross Rhodes was a music theory major at Columbia. At one point, Martha stood on a cube and I directed her to speak in a Southern accent—about anything. I also asked her to switch to talking in a Russian American Jewish accent, and she obliged. While Martha spoke, I attached myself to her cube and danced around it. Throughout, I directed when Martha was to speak and when to be silent, and when Ross’s score was to be heard and when not heard, and this may or may not have been determined by chance structures.  I recall Janet mentioning to me after we presented in class that she thought Ross was going to bite my head off when I asked him at one point to turn off his music.