by Hei-Yeung (John) Lai
Track 6 from Hugo Zemp’s 1969-70 field recordings, released on Disques Vogue as Flutes De Pan Mélanésiennes. This track is a recording of the ‘Au Tahana ensemble, a panpipe quartet. From the liner notes: Uusuusuha (Drop-by-drop). “Raindrops falling, one by one, from a house roof onto a leaf on the ground. This piece was inspired by the sound of these drops.”
John Lai’s annotated transcription of Uusuusuha
Observations
- Both voices keep repeating a 9-quarter-note sub-cycle throughout the recording. Each supercycle consists of four sub-cycles.
- Each semi-cycle (E.g., Cycle 1.1–1.2, Cycle 1.3–1.4) is related by a transposition of thirds. Each sub-cycle arppeggiate a triad. An introduction of a foreign pitch—D4—in Cycle 1.2 and 2.2 may have signaled the transpositional change to the next semi-cycle.
- The use of the same pitch-rhythmic gesture between the boundaries of a supercycle (E.g., the ending of Cycle 1.4 and the beginning of Cycle 2.1) may blur the formal boundaries.