Excerpt from the score Tautologos III.  Would you like to tautologize with me?

… “the tautologians can amplify their instruments, either by contact microphones, or traditional microphones, or by any other electroacoustic means of simple amplification or complex transformation.

Each instrumentalist should choose an Action « A » of a relatively short duration compared to the Silence « S » which supplements the action.

A                       S                      A                    S                    A

The Action-Silence unit is always repeated again and again becoming a loop of a duration that in theory should not change…”

… “Each performer thus chooses, according to his instrument and to the group, an action which could be a combination of following criteria;

. Duration

. Register

. Dynamics

. Character (or mode of play, e.g.: tremolo or flattzg.)

. Timbre (e.g.: brassy or sul pont.)

. Evolution (of one or more criteria).

. Speed (depending on the evolution)…”

“… If the performance could be done without conductor, a person in charge, all in all a character who directs the discussion and the rehearsal and leads the organization of the performance, that would be only better…”

“… We’d not want to delay on the subject of handling, because this is the point where must enter the most intimate reaction. The point of the greatest attention of the individual towards the group…”

“… One must feel the duration and treatment. The ideal execution would be a not mechanical one, but where each musician, by extreme concentration, manages to create his own time, that, by this concentration, he reaches the instinct of communication.

That state of concentration-communication is the only way to create a meaningful climate and which will illustrate the tautological phenomenon as a phenomenon resulting from life; and tautologically yours…”

… Chapter 6

Appendix to “how to tautologize? ”

Whereas Chapter 5 is intended for professional musicians, that does not mean that only those having a musical knowledge would understand these indications, because they are simple. However let us summarize the few basic principles that one should keep in mind:

— constant repetition of a short action followed by a silence, with the notion of individual or independent time.

— superimposition of this Action – Silence by a given group.

— transformation (handling) of the action according to the encounters due to tautological mechanics (of the repetitions).

We should add some words concerning the scenic achievements and the mixtures of means. Those should lead to a kind of hypnotism produced by the laws of repetition… so there would be such a number of tautological elements in the most various fields and with the most varied means; that for one moment crumble down the absurd walls that “civilization” imposes on us…”

Amiens, 1969