Petal Sara Saario

• Artificial harmonic


  A harmonic produced on a stopped string on a stringed instrument.
• Double stopping


  Playing two notes at the same time on a string instrument.
• Electronic amplification


  Making a sound louder by electronic means.
• Fundamental


  The musical pitch of a note that is perceived as the lowest partial present.
• Glissando


  Slide from one note to another.
• Harmonics


  A very high note on a string instrument produced by placing a finger on a string very lightly before plucking or bowing.
• Harmoniser


  'Detunes' the input pitch be adding pitches a quarter tone above and below simultaneously.
• Partials


  Higher, much quieter sounds above the fundamental.
• Pizzicato


  Pluck the string.
• Reverberation


  A sustaining effect that creates the impression of being in a physical space.
• Signal processing


  Analysing, modifying, and synthesising sound signals.
• Trill


  A quavering or vibratory sound, especially a rapid alternation of sung or played notes.
• Atonal


  Music that does not belong to a particular key.
• Dyad


  A chord made up of two notes.
• Overtone


  A musical tone which is part of the harmonic series above a fundamental note, and may be heard with it.
• Spectral analysis


  Computer analysis of sound as the basis for composition.
• Accelerando


  Getting faster.
• Dectuplet


  10 notes in the time of 8.
• Pulseless


  No particular pulse. Free time.
• Quintuplet


  5 notes in the time of 4.
• Ritenuto


  Hold back the music for dramatic effect.
• Septuplet


  7 notes in the time of 4.
• Syncopation


  Emphasising beats of the bar that are normally unaccented.
• Chromatic


  Notes that do not belong to the key, or move by semitones.
• Microtone


  An interval smaller than a semitone.
• Quarter tone


  The tone between a semitone.
• Retrograde


  Play a melody backwards.
• Sequence


  The immediate repetition at a different pitch of a melody.
• Drone


  A type of pedal that usually consists of the tonic and dominant.
• Monophonic


  A single line which can be played or sung by several people.
• Pedal


  A sustained or repeated note sounded against changing harmonies.
• Saariaho was born in 1952
• She was born in Finland and Finnish
• She was inspired by french impressionist composers like Tristan Murail and Gerard Grisey
• She studied at the Institute de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musicale (IRCAM), in Paris
• Saariaho’s interests included computer-based sound spectrum analysis, electronic music, music combining live performance and electronics and the use of computers in the actual composition of music
• In 1984, Saariaho moved back to Helsinki where she began teaching at the Sibelius Academy
• Her first major work was “Graal théâtre” which premiered in 1994
• saariaho wrote for ochrestras and chamber music
• Petals is virtually identical to the last bars of the cello part in Nympheas