For two Bb woodwinds, one high string and one low string instrument, four Card Holders, and a Prompter/Conductor.

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Notes from the Composer

R.O.T.A. is an game piece that I wrote sometime around 1997 or 1998 and revised through 2002. A new music ensemble with which I was working at that time played it quite a few times in 2001-2004, though I can’t recall all the times and places.

It involves four Instrumentalists, four “Card turners,” and a Prompter/conductor. It uses the cards of a tarot deck in several different ways. Unlike my later “magickal” music works, I didn’t attempt to take or convey any meaning from the cards – they are just a organizing element for the game.

The minor arcana cards are divided between the card turners, and the major arcana are held by the prompter. The prompter starts the piece, and the card turners turn over their first card. Each card of the minor arcana specifies a pitch, a register in the instrument’s tessitura, a dynamic or special technique. The card turners turn over the cards in their hand at whatever rate they choose. The card turners can plan their decks before the game, but they cannot change the order once the game has begun. At any time, the prompter can play one of the major arcana cards, which correspond with short pre-composed music, which the prompter conducts. The game ends when the all minor arcana cards have been turned, and the instrumentalists choose to stop playing their final card.

The piece went through a few minor revisions when we started playing it. We also got better at playing it. For example, early on, I tended to play fewer major arcana cards, with longer sections of the minor arcana stuff. After we had played it two or three times, the feedback was that the major arcana sections were more interesting than the minor arcana sections, so I started playing a lot more cards. The card turners also started planning their decks, including conspiring before the game with one another.