Ballo XXXX is an aleatoric work which is as much visual art as it is sonic. Musicians are to use their instruments to mimic the truncated speech they see on the page, with paint splatters dictating what range of their instrument they are to use. In the work, there are three main sections: a poem “read” aloud by the whole chamber ensemble; a nebula of paint, chord symbols, and word fragments; and a coda I call “the Body.” The conductor cues members to play and as they start making their way down to the bottom, more performers are cued. This piece continues my work on active reading: as soon as your eyes register a part of the score, you are obligated to read it, forcing players to come up with on-the-spot, subconscious associations to what they are seeing (a kind of musical Rorschach test). Every so often, the conductor can call what a HONK, where everyone creates violent noise on their instruments for a brief period of time. After the last HONK, which comprises the whole of the coda, is called, the piece ends.