Talking Board Scores

Talking Board style scores are a non-linear type of score that consists of a large background image that moves across the screen randomly in two dimensions. Above this, up to six planchettes move around the screen (sometimes moving outside of it to indicate periods of silence). Players improvise based on the textures within their assigned planchette. Sometimes these move randomly, other times they move in formation, and occasionally one increases in size to indicate that that player should play more soloistically than the others. To create such a score, any image larger than the screen size of the iPad (1024x768 in landscape mode) can be used. No image scaling occurs, so bigger dimensions offer the chance to include a greater variety of textures. For reference, the original Talking Board scores were 6006x3606. The preview window shows how much of the image can be seen at any one time, and you can scroll around freely to explore the score. The planchettes are shown, but not animated as they would be in the ScorePlayer.

Preferences for Talking Board Scores

The Talking Board Preferences Window

The advanced preferences window for Talking Board style scores.

Number of Planchettes

This sets the number of planchettes to be displayed when playing the score. It can be anywhere between 1 and 6 (defaulting to 4). The adjustable checkbox sets whether the number of planchettes can be changed by the ensemble for a performance of the work. If set, an options button appears in the top right of the screen in the ScorePlayer, and the number of planchettes can be adjusted in the window that this displays. If not set, then the number of planchettes remains fixed.

The Talking Board

The Talking Board, by Cat Hope and Lindsay Vickery. The selected number of planchettes is reflected in the preview window. (All six are displayed here.)

Preference File Name

The name to be used for the additional preferences file contained within the score. The default value here is fine, and there is no real reason to change it. It can be named anything except for opus.xml, which is reserved for the main score preferences file.

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