Abbie performing The River at the Munich Biennale in 1990.

1. General description

2. PDF score

3. The video of the work

4. Video score

1 General Description

The River is Part III of our Miriam Trilogy. 

Abbie Conant: performer, singer, trombonist

William Osborne: music, text, video

Premiere: Munich Biennale 1990

For performance-artist, and a recording of her voice, four trombones, and piano

Length: 17 minutes

Miriam was the older sister of Moses who watched from afar when he was placed in the Nile to float away and where he was eventually found by the Pharaoh's daughter. "The River" is derived from that story.

The work uses a trombone special effect.  The F-trigger tuning slide is removed thus allowing the sound to emerge from open tubing pointed behind the performer when the trigger is pressed.  This creates a muted, antiphonal sound.  The player can quickly change between the horn's normal sound and the effect by pressing the trigger.  (Part I of our Miriam Trilogy is here, and Part II here.) 

2. The PDF Score

Click here for a PDF copy of the score for The River. (Edit March 9, 2022)

3. The Video.

4. The Video Score:

5. Slide Show (click on the photos to enlarge and zoom down the image to fit your screen size.)