tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84582695528134930202024-03-14T07:22:54.117-04:00Extended Violin DiaryI am a violinist/composer working on extended technique Subharmonics and interactive computer systems, sometime with robots, and most recently, with sensors. I aim to document my activities as much as possible, since I maybe leading quite a different career path than other classically trained violinists.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.comBlogger109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-56009513966422352842013-03-30T04:28:00.001-04:002013-04-02T19:47:59.948-04:00Future Music Lab!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJciyABvt5xwFEdtGjdKSZNQ612IGxlTZ4cvdF9XFlxm4RD-It-gAZpFXwKauvcomLZN9eXavzwHqtDbhidXUwu69tB6vLEaD81nysZAankFRbhK8Ud2HoPF__aYm_liDlLrO-GTHmlEE/s1600/amfpic.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJciyABvt5xwFEdtGjdKSZNQ612IGxlTZ4cvdF9XFlxm4RD-It-gAZpFXwKauvcomLZN9eXavzwHqtDbhidXUwu69tB6vLEaD81nysZAankFRbhK8Ud2HoPF__aYm_liDlLrO-GTHmlEE/s200/amfpic.tiff" title="https://atlanticmusicfestival.org/the-institute/programs/future-music-lab" width="200" /></a></div>
Since last year, <a href="http://subharmonics.blogspot.com/2012/07/onward-and-upward-for-young-violinists.html">I have hinted about a summer program</a>. Now it is officially announced: starting this year, I am directing <a href="https://atlanticmusicfestival.org/the-institute/programs/future-music-lab">Future Music Lab at Atlantic Music Festival</a> (AMF) in Maine. We are also an official collaborator of <a href="http://www.ircam.fr/">IRCAM</a> in Paris, and the participants are invited to join <a href="http://forumnet.ircam.fr/?lang=en">IRCAM Forum</a> for free as well as have access to using IRCAM's newest motion sensor system "MO" (<a href="http://interlude.ircam.fr/wordpress/?p=229">Modular Musical Objects</a>), which I use for the <a href="http://imtr.ircam.fr/imtr/Augmented_Violin">Augmented Violin System</a>. "MO" can be used for other instruments, dance or theater. AMF is hosted by Colby College, situated in a beautiful part of the state (<a href="https://atlanticmusicfestival.org/the-festival/directions-to-amf">directions</a>).<br />
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In this blog, I have been writing occasionally <a href="http://subharmonics.blogspot.com/2010/12/rehearsing-interactive-computer-music.html">about rehearsing interactive compositions</a> and <a href="http://subharmonics.blogspot.com/2011/01/rehearsal-scenarios-and-anti-click.html">working with computers and performers.</a> More importantly, I have also written my thoughts about <a href="http://subharmonics.blogspot.com/2010/11/art-of-tool-making-art-of-art-making.html">creating tools vs. creating art</a>, relating to electronic and computer music and who are active in these fields. I thought that I would write about the background and my thoughts why I wanted to start the Future Music Lab.<br />
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Computer music mainly originated from science and research labs in places like the Bell Labs, universities such as Princeton/Columbia studios. Main tools for the most advanced software for interactive computer music today, such as <a href="http://cycling74.com/">MaxMSP</a> was originally created by mathematicians and scientists. Some of these pioneers are musicians or composers themselves (whether they are making their living as artists or not.) However, there are very few musicians whose vocation is mainly classical performance, who involved themselves in the early stages of the development of computer music. And that trend has not changed much.<br />
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My first encounter with computer music was at the first summer workshop I attended that wasn't for chamber music or orchestra, held at <a href="https://ccrma.stanford.edu/">CCRMA at Stanford University</a>. Until then, I did the usual; I went to summer music camps like Tanglewood. At CCRMA, I was probably one of very few with an instrument, let alone from Juilliard; other students were composers, acousticians and other science majors (and this is off topic but I don't remember any woman in the course; this was early 1990s.) I felt like a 'foreigner' listening to lectures I had no idea what the language was spoken in, trying to understand numbers and programming in computers. The concept of using numbers for music felt so foreign to me since 'music' was about sound and physicality that plays the instrument. 'Music' done in numbers was strange to me.<br />
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However, at the same time, computer music intrigued me as I immediately started to try translating musical flow into numbers. Since the early 1990s when I started to work with computers in music, my focus doesn't seem to have changed. It maybe intrinsically a performer's approach, since those trained as composers might approach computer music more from structural or theoretical point of view. My approach to computer music has always been the 'flow'. Such attempts continues to this day; more recently I made an alternative to 'score following' (a tradition in computer music for the computers to follow the score to either accompany or interact with live performers) and tried <a href="http://subharmonics.blogspot.com/2010/12/flow-following-not-score-following.html">creating a 'flow following</a>'. I would create a kind of musical common-sense agreements between a performer and computer, avoiding 'master and slave' or 'trigger and obey' mechanisms between human and the machine. I wanted to play <i>WITH</i> computers.<br />
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Since 1998, I have been teaching a small class at Juilliard, a class of interactive computer music performance. I have encountered many excellent musicians who were new to the concept of interactive performance. With their mature musical sensibility and already-professional level of performance skills, some created their first interactive composition using their own instruments within a semester starting from zero. At Juilliard, many students are already performing professionally outside of school, and it is very difficult for them to manage their time. I also think that one of the reasons for the relative lack of professional performers working in interactive computer music is simply the time management problem. It takes a lot to maintain your instrumental skills, learning and building interactive systems, advancing your career, making a living, and maybe have a personal life all at the same time.<br />
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Over the years, I learned so much from working with performers at Juilliard. We share the similar approach to computer music, and I wanted to promote this performance-oriented computer music more. I thought that performers can dive into computer music in more concentrated time-frame, and I could at least help jump-start them. I also thought that performers could expand their own creativity. Some of us can move 'back to the future', gaining back the traditional performer/composer role, rather than being only interpreters, using the technology available in our lifetime. My ultimate hope is that these classical/jazz professional performers would help nurture the field of computer music as well (and myself :) <br />
<br />
Future Music Lab is therefore, designed mainly for performers, as there are many workshops for composers already in existence. We plan on more musical approach, focusing more on performance aspect of computer music and how to build an interactive performance than simply going over programming tutorials. (although Jazz pianist friend <a href="http://www.vijay-iyer.com/">Vijay Iyer</a> warned me that I would be a 'walking MSP Tutorial' by the end of the summer! :) <br />
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Please visit the <a href="https://atlanticmusicfestival.org/the-institute/programs/future-music-lab">Future Music Lab</a> site, and if you are interested in applying, the deadline is April 20th. <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-82444002428553435862013-03-17T11:18:00.000-04:002013-03-21T22:53:05.835-04:00Continuing on 'Utopia'I got much reactions from my previous post, <a href="http://subharmonics.blogspot.jp/2013/03/what-it-means-to-be-japanese-expat-today.html">"What it means to be a Japanese expat today".</a> In the conclusion of the post, I mentioned that John Cage, in his rare talkative mood, came to talk to a small group of us students at Juilliard. He predicted, "Money, Borders [between countries] and Politics will disappear" from the world. I just heard this rather Utopic prediction this week again, from none other than my own father.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6N6jotcPyn1OpeFptrRsDRXyNPY_9d5WK0a43VdxTFyapw2Tvg9nVhLAPzEi5zO7Zu2I20z3mAZCKxF9cdgDLfD3qVPtpNi7Vq-oBP2qlr3TKtdsDFUOlM2hU8ZHGIBdxlYuTWu4gBfo/s1600/kkimura80th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6N6jotcPyn1OpeFptrRsDRXyNPY_9d5WK0a43VdxTFyapw2Tvg9nVhLAPzEi5zO7Zu2I20z3mAZCKxF9cdgDLfD3qVPtpNi7Vq-oBP2qlr3TKtdsDFUOlM2hU8ZHGIBdxlYuTWu4gBfo/s200/kkimura80th.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIk456p43OMIewSJkecbwfnyoK7TJen9ZJxybuC9QLCf_9LHQqps5YQXpNylAVhb0sdvgg74UFnWjOSQGgB8k_Gl7siVF1nfjl-4cl7vT09nF6YkcTan-O0mlqm8QF6U5l7hV_BpmQVI4/s1600/kimurasolar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIk456p43OMIewSJkecbwfnyoK7TJen9ZJxybuC9QLCf_9LHQqps5YQXpNylAVhb0sdvgg74UFnWjOSQGgB8k_Gl7siVF1nfjl-4cl7vT09nF6YkcTan-O0mlqm8QF6U5l7hV_BpmQVI4/s200/kimurasolar.jpg" width="200" /></a>On Friday, I played at the 80th birthday celebration of my father, Ken-Ichi Kimura. The gathering was held at the <a href="http://www.aij.or.jp/aijhome.htm">Architectural Institute of Japan 日本建築会館</a>, attended by 170+ former students, former colleagues, long-time associates both personal and professional, who occupy the top tiers of Japanese architectural engineering, design, construction industry and academia. My father is one of Japan's foremost pioneers in solar energy, and a Prof. Emeritus in Architecture at Waseda University, or the "MIT of Japan". He also had a long history of association with TEPCO (Tokyo Electronic and Power Company), who is responsible for the Fukushima nuclear incident. TEPCO and my father both promoted alternative energy to gas and oil in Japan. He designed one of the first experimental solar houses in Japan, where I grew up. During the oil crises of the 1970s, he became well-known, and as a child I remember TV cameras descending upon our home shooting a footage of my mother washing dishes with hot water that was heated by the sun. At this very moment I'm sitting in this solar house, inside its 'half-basement', typing my last post from Japan as I'm leaving to NYC tomorrow. [my father pointed out that I said I am 'going back' to NYC :)]<br />
<br />
During the 3+ hr event at the Architectural Institute of Japan, my father gave two speeches, both 1+ hr long. The first talk was about his childhood and how his family's lives were turned up-side-down in the aftermath of WWII, returning from former Manchuria, which the Imperial Japan occupied. I didn't know that 220,000+ Japanese citizens in Manchuria, many worked for the Manchurian Railroad, were effectively abandoned by their own government, more or less left to their own devices in the chaotic time while poorly educated Soviet soldiers roamed in China and Korea (Soviets had unilaterally broke a treaty and advanced to Manchuria). These Japanese left in China were called "Ki-min" 「棄民」or 'discarded people'. A son of a pediatrician, my father was about 12 years old at the end of the war, unaware of the atrocities Japanese military had inflicted upon other Asian countries. He said his playmates were Chinese and Koreans. One day in 1945, when Emperor Hirohito made the radio announcement ending the war, his Korean friend said, "Hey, YOU guys lost, WE won!". The 12yr old boy had no idea that there was a divide between 'we' nor 'they' with his friends, which left a strong impression on him. Many of these returning, 'pulling back' people, or "Hiki-age" 「引き揚げ」Japanese children from China, were to become pillars of the Japanese post-war society, producing CEOs, professors, politicians and major artists: those include Seiji Ozawa (son of a dentist in Manchuria) and Hanae Mori (fashion designer). When they returned to Japan, they had to start up from zero with nothing but the clothes on their backs, and even fight discrimination against these 'discarded' people; they had the <i>chutzpah</i> to climb back up in society. In fact my father was one of more fortunate children since his father was a doctor; many poorer families had to leave a young child or two behind, who were left abandoned and adopted by Chinese families who took pity on them. (just imagine the humanity of these Chinese parents, who picked up and took in these children of their 'enemy') These toddlers were raised by their adoptive Chinese parents, grew up and married as Chinese; they started to come back in the 1980s to Japan, in search for their original families. They pleaded to their families to come look for them, talking on TV wearing Mao suits describing smallest of memories, scars on their bodies, clothing they were found with. Many Japanese families were guilt-ridden for abandoning the children and remained silent, or they simply had already passed away. It was quite tragic to watch, but I couldn't really look away since one of those people could have been my father. (many did find each other and their tearful reunions were shown on TV. Some went back to China, some decided to come to Japan and restarted their lives) In his lecture, he did discuss what he thought of the Emperor's responsibilities in WWII. He questions why the Emperor didn't end the war sooner, before the atomic bombs were dropped and Tokyo was flattened. He told how the young Japanese boys like himself those days were made to blindly follow and worship the Emperor, brainwashed and taught to live and die for him. It was probably the same in Germany with "Hitler Jugend." These stories are told and retold, but the young Japanese are getting increasingly oblivious of it; he said he decided to tell his first-hand experience again, for us to remember what war does to people's lives, and to preventing the history repeating itself. So, I retold his stories here on my blog again.<br />
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The second talk of my father this day was about the environment, his solar house, vernacular houses around the world adapting to each climate and environment. Towards the end, he talked about the future of energy including the Fukushima nuclear accident. I understand there were my father's long-time associates and even childhood friends who became CEOs of gas or nuclear/electric companies in the audience. Even the former Vice President of TEPCO was there, who is in fact, my father's classmate from his middle school. I thought my father did the best he could, simply to show two options; whether to continue using nuclear energy, or to stop it. He said there is no middle ground such as 'gradual decrease'. He showed the environmental and economic consequences of both options and choices Japan had to make in either cases. Then he went on to end the lectures by talking about his visions and thoughts for the future.<br />
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My father is a scientist, and as scientists usually are, he is rational; his reasoning is based on gathering scientific facts and data. After retiring from teaching, he has been continuing to gather data from his solar house where he lives, constantly improving the heating/cooling systems and documenting his processes including the efficiency and cost-effectiveness. His thoughts are usually well organized and he speaks of 'cold hard' facts. As he neared his retirement, he started to speak more about abstract things; his 'retirement lecture' held at Waseda University more than a decade ago, was attended by hundreds, as he was a celebrated professor there. His thesis in that lecture was what 'happiness' means, and what he thinks and hopes the world will be in the future. However it wasn't any kind of a 'poetic' or artistic prose or imagination, but rather a result deducted from the years of experiences and gathering knowledge as a scientist.<br />
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Towards the end of his second talk this Friday at his 80th birthday celebration, my father surprised me. He said: "I predict COUNTRIES WILL DISAPPEAR in the future", the same thing John Cage said at Juilliard. I have now heard an artist and a scientist, from two different points of view, coming to that same conclusion. <br />
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John Cage said, "Borders, Politics, and Money" will disappear. As we know, borders are often disputed because of religion, and politics. But is it <i>really</i> so... would it be possible that there are forces that be, directing people to disputing borders, using religion and politics? And that of course, has to be the Money.... If we let money disappear, will there be no borders? Utopic? Oh yes :)<br />
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My father's last words in the lecture was to suggesting people to THINK more, rather than to KNOW more. Gathering knowledge is important, but he argued that we are now too busy gathering knowledge and barely have time to think. In my opinion, that also goes to music creation and art in general.<br />
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By the way, as I mentioned my father's 80th birthday celebration was attended by many of his former students. I knew many of them since I was little, and remember them as skiny, scruffy grad students. They would come over for a home party every Xmas, and it seems I have treated them quite roughly, forcing them to play boardgames with me :) I was probably 9-10 years old. Now I organize home parties every Xmas, inviting friends and more importantly my students so they get to meet the professionals in the field in a relax setting. I perhaps inherited that tradition from my parents. It was quite impressive to see this Friday, that many of these former skinny grad students are now CEOs, professors and some even Presidents of universities. <br />
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In my previous post, I talked about being an expat and that started from coming back from Ottawa, Canada as a child. An old friend of my father said to me at the party following the lecture, "I saw you when you just came back from Canada [I was about 6 or 7 years old]. You said to me, 'I don't know where I belong, I don't know which nationality I am!'". I guess that never changed!!!<br />
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And just so this long post (thank you for those who read it :) fits into my "Extended Violin Diary", I would mentioned that while I performed between my father's two lectures, I have inflicted some serious Subharmonics at the Japanese architects, playing a short version of my "Caprice for Subharmonics". But that was only after I decided to be good and obeyed my mother's orders, and played "Thaïs meditation":)<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-58761099534222611612013-03-13T06:00:00.001-04:002013-03-13T17:41:44.837-04:00What it means to be a Japanese expat todayAs I grow older, the question of my national identity or where I belong, is coming into question. Where do I feel the most at home? In Japanese we have a saying, "Where you live, is the capital" (or <i>THE</i> place, meaning you are comfortable anywhere you live). 「住めば都」<br />
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By now, I have lived outside of my 'native' Japan longer than the years I spent in Japan. I live in NYC, undoubtedly where I feel the most comfortable. The Japanese saying above however, isn't true for me; I grew up in Japan always feeling like an outsider. I never liked the conformism. As a child, having to come back to Japan after spending two years in Ottawa, Canada (my father, a solar energy specialist, worked at the Canadian National Research Council) probably didn't help either. I remember my Japanese grammar was funny and I got teased by my classmates. I grew up thinking all my teen years, that I cannot wait to leave Japan. This week, I'm visiting Japan, feeling nostalgic about my childhood in my house and having to miss the later years of my parents. It seems they got old all of the sudden, which makes me sad. The question seems more immediate; where do I belong, or do I even have a country? I'm married to a Frenchman, having two children of mixed nationalities. What does it mean to 'belong' to a country? Is that where you live and pay taxes? Do I feel any 'allegiance' to any particular country?<br />
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There is something else now. Since March 11, 2011 Fukushima nuclear incident, I hear from other Japanese expats in NYC that their sensibilities became quite different from their families back home in Japan. We see things and think about things differently, looking in from outside. And once you are back inside, you are confused. It is very strange. Now that I am back inside the country, seeing the streets and people seemingly well going about their business, despite the continuing leakage of nuclear radiation, my feeling is complex.<br />
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Japanese media seems to keep threatening the population with the inevitable great earthquake that could destroy Japan. Recently there was another report of a huge earth-plate, which could mean the 'end of Japan' or could swallow the entire Pacific coast of Japan, if it moves. There is the ominous threat of North Korea, that they are now getting ready for war (with South Korea, or Japan, or what...). In Japan, journalism, in the true sense of the word, doesn't seem to quite exist except in the fringes of internet where majority of older generations, the voting public, don't access. Mainstream media occupies daily lives of many people, and they seem to be told what to say.<br />
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I would go crazy with all the threats; who would want to live thinking that your world is about to collapse any minute, your children are being contaminated with radiation doomed for cancerous future, an earthquake of magnitude 8 or 9 can happen any minute, or Chinese or Koreans are going to bomb any minute? That's what the media - or the government- seems to telling people. Then the strange thing is, the infrastructures - at least some that's visible - are steadily getting improved, progresses are being made, foods getting more and more sophisticated, and even the government wants to invite 2020 Olympic games to Tokyo. There is the threat of the catastrophic demise of the country, and the promise of progress and bright future, co-existing side by side in people's psyche. In the meantime, they marry, have babies, graduate: life goes on.<br />
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Japan has the cleanest and the most high-tech toilets in the world, if that's any indication of a sophisticated civilization. Their recycling system is fierce; they separate plastic bottles and normal plastic, each assigned different days to put out. And of course the food, although somehow clouded in the fear of contamination, is superb. When you live here inside, it's a self-contained, seemingly almost-perfect world. When you go outside looking back in though, there is something strange; there is a disconnect. And it is quite impossible to explain this to Japanese people inside, when you are outside. My Japanese / New Yorker expat friends all say, they stopped talking about their concerns, since they would get into a fight, or their families end up feeling insulted. <br />
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Japan is strategically, geographically the front-line for the USA between China. Japan's fate very much depends on the whims of the superpowers = 'super-money'. I am not sure what to do, only to hope that no one (on all side) does or says stupid things, ending up fueling war mongers and merchants of death.<br />
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And now back to my identity; when I lived as a housewife, a newly-wed in the beautiful southern France, I was miserable. I was so isolated and the French countryside was too homogenous; I got tired of getting looked at as an 'asiatique', an asian, which I was accustomed to forget in NYC. When I would come back to NYC occasionally, I would catch a snippet of a song a hispanic delivery guy on a bicycle was singing, "....Corazón..." (heart), which made me cry. I think I am very certain now, that I feel at home in diversity, not homogeneity.<br />
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When I was a student at Juilliard, John Cage visited a class I was in, taught by Pia Gilbert about "music and dance". That day he was in a talkative mood; I was told sometimes he didn't feel like talking at all, even at a speaking engagement. He talked about 'living inside glass walls', where you can see everywhere. He said, almost as a prophecy, "There will be three things that will disappear from the world eventually: politics, borders and money." He went on to describe how his world was all over the map and borders between countries don't matter. This was in the early 1990s and since then we have seen so many wars and killings between borders, and money and politics have no signs of disappearing. <br />
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But I still like to believe in John.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-21686770761953330122013-03-10T08:45:00.001-04:002013-03-24T23:08:15.295-04:00Flying with a LEGO birdAs I am about to fly to Japan this morning, leaving to the Newark
airport in one hour, I have to write this. I had the most bizarre and
vivid dream :)<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
For some reason, I
decided to pick up my son's little LEGO bird which looks like a seagull -
white and gray with big wings, though small enough to fit on the palm
of my hand - which moved its wings big and fast enough to lift me up
and fly. I thought to myself, "Why don't I use this to fly to Japan,
instead of flying on a United Airline plane?" (in reality, I AM flying
on United today, and had spoken to my mother in Japan who is picking me
up at the airport)<br />
<br />
So, I stood here in New York city,
with a LEGO bird in my right hand; it started to move its wings lifting
me up, up, up. I started to fly pretty quickly and the strange thing
is I must have fallen asleep inside my dream. The next thing I noticed,
was a huge landscape below me, and for some reason, I saw that giant
statue of JESUS in Brazil standing in the middle of some mountains below
me. I thought to myself, "I should take a photo of this!". Then the
weird thing, the LEGO bird had a camera embedded near its neck, and all I
had to do was to push a little button to take a photo! But we were
flying very fast and moving away from the statue. The next thing I saw
was the huge ensemble of mountains, no doubt the Rocky Mountains. (in
reality I had marveled these mountains from the airplane about a week
ago when I flew over on the way to California)<br />
<br />
I took
more picture thinking "I'd better have that statue AND the mountain
together in the photo", so I did, but again I was moving too fast away.
Now I am in the coast of California, a big large ocean in front of me.
Suddenly the wind was getting strong and I thought to myself, well,
maybe I should break to Japan and land someplace. I picked a random
hill and landed, found a dirt road. There was some kind of a camp site,
although it seemed more like a homeless and drunk people making camp
fires. I didn't feel quite comfortable there as it was getting to be in
the mid afternoon. For some reason, there was a kiosk, or a little
shop which sold small things. I asked where I was, (can't remember her
answer now) and wanted to buy some extra AA batteries - oh yes, the LEGO
bird is battery-powered so I wanted some extra just in case. This
occurred to me for the first time in the dream.<br />
<br />
The
shop keeper wouldn't sell me the batteries unless it's in a 7-pack for
$7.99, (which is quite a good price) but I only wanted two batteries.
Although I demonstrated the homeless and drunks and the shop keeper, the
little LEGO bird does fly me and I was telling the truth, that I flew
there all the way from Manhattan, I started to get concerned where to
spend the night... Then magically, a long-time friend appeared, saying
"Mari, what are you doing here!" (in real life, she is the daughter and
the grand daughter of a family friend who lives in Montreal - I haven't
seen her for quite a while. I will call her 'A') We hugged and I
explained the situation. I asked the shop keeper, if there is some
decent camp ground around there, then she showed me on the map, that it
was about 20 minutes walk from there. While observing at our
encounter, the shop keeper who wouldn't sell me two batteries, took a
pity on me and called the camp site and talked to the lady there, who
was a friend of hers, to expect me coming to the camp site. It was
very nice of her so I thanked her and started to walk with 'A', <br />
<br />
We
walked and reached what seemed to resemble some kind of mall or a
station, where I could make a phone call. Everyone at the previous
place, including 'A', insisted that it is a really bad idea to fly over
the Pacific Ocean with a LEGO bird. It's too far, so I should fly
north, but then there is Alaska, Bering Strait and all that - am I going
to freeze to death?! (likely!) So I took out my iPhone (yes I did
have my cell in my pocket I suppose) and started to call United Airline,
to see if they could switch my NYC <-> Tokyo flight to either San
Francisco or Seattle -> Tokyo flight. I thought I should do
that before the departure time from NYC. It took me several tries
after having so much trouble connecting to the service representative.
Finally I reached someone whom I could barely hear, and the man on the
line seem to think I was just confirming my flight to Tokyo, going ahead
with, "All set, Ma'am, have a good flight!" "No no!! I need my flight
switched..." but he hang up. I tried to dial again in hope to get
someone, but with no success.<!-----></-><br />
<br />
My mom is waiting in
Tokyo, I obviously was missing my flight from NYC, and I am in the
middle of somewhere between California and Seattle... that's when,
THANKFULLY I woke up :)<br />
-----<br />
<br />
The obvious
analysis maybe that I was afraid of missing my plane, and we are
switching to 'summer' time today. And I am getting picked up in 45
minutes going to Newark....Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-35221539492113052232013-03-09T06:04:00.000-05:002013-03-09T06:22:24.394-05:00"Japanese barbecue twang" and "Funeral parlor organ" :) <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/mlsFi-zLxMs?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
As I imagined from the very first time I heard <a href="http://michaelgatonska.com/">Michael Gatonska</a>'s work at <a href="http://www.theflea.org/page.php?page_type=2&page_id=12">Music with a View </a>festival organized by formidable pianist <a href="http://www.supove.com/">Kathy Supové</a>, Michael is one of those composers whose sound world is so crystal clear in his mind, that I could feel the sound is right in front of him; the only obstacle between him and the outside world is people like me to interpret it. I am working on creating processing for the violin that I try to get closer to his aural vision. Michael is also a painter as well as a composer, so his descriptions are very visual and very helpful for me, who is his interpreter as well as his programmer. This is his hand-written score, or the scheme of "Shin rin Yoku" (Forest bathing), which will be premiered at the <a href="http://roulette.org/events/mari-kimura-kyoko-kitamura-poly-monologue/">Roulette on April 10th. </a> This score looks like an art in itself!<br />
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Braving the snow storm in Manhattan, Michael arrived in excellent spirits. We worked together throughout the morning into the afternoon, punctuated by Indian food and Chianti (which I opened without telling my husband... hope it was ok... :)<br />
<br />
We went over his score which consists of three layers basically; my violin part, the background sound-world (sound of nature), and the real time processing of the violin. We spent most of the time figuring out what kind of processing he had in mind and how I can get close to it by trying out different signal processing. He was very patient as I was programming on the fly. For me, it was SUCH A TREAT, learning about hearing music and sound from a different set of ears; this is why I still remain an interpreter playing other composers' pieces. I don't want to become someone who <i>only</i> performs my own compositions, which tends to happen to many 'performer/composers'. I so treasure the experience of getting inside others' head-space, and I learn SO MUCH from the experience. With Michael, it was almost like a coaching or a lesson, learning the sound world I didn't know. Above is the video of us tweaking a section where he wanted me to compete with a woodpecker sound :)<br />
<br />
Michael's descriptions on the score are very colorful and vividly visual, but in person as well. "Can you make it with more of those Japanese barbecue TWANG?", or "You know that William Schatner singing '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6yRMrwA5Hk">You're gonna die', that 'Funeral-parlor organ' sounds</a>" (??!!) We actually listened to the Schatner song together :)<br />
<br />
After my kids came home from school, we even worked some more while my two children had an epic fight, yelling, screaming, banging doors and crying. Michael was so gracious and pretended it didn't faze him at all, but I'm totally embarrassed! Now that he is gone, my kids stopped fighting, quietly reading and doing their homework. Oh why oh why? Actually I know, most likely they just wanted my attention...<br />
<br />
Now I'm back to creating some patches for <a href="http://www.kyokokitamura.com/">Kyoko Kitamura</a>, for our "Poly-Monologue". Oh and I'd better pack, I'm leaving to Tokyo tomorrow :) <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-61239030404206302592013-03-08T06:50:00.001-05:002013-03-08T07:14:28.366-05:00Rain to Slush to Snow Storm in ManhattanAnd composer <a href="http://michaelgatonska.com/">Michael Gatonska</a> is braving the Metro North railroad in this weather condition! It remains to be seen if he makes it here! It has been a looooong winter here in the USA East Coast, but compared to the midwest, I'm sure this is completely wimpy! Last week in Orange County while visiting U.C. Irvine, a nice hotel clerk said, "Oh you are from New York, New York! How's the weather out there?" It was in the high 50s (20Cs) in Southern California. So Not Fair :)<br />
<br />
Yesterday I gave a quick introduction of MaxMSP to a young Juilliard student who is starting out. Instead of talking about the Tutorial first, I first showed him my recent work with <a href="https://www.ableton.com/en/live/max-for-live/">Max for LIVE</a>, and how I interact with my bowing motion sensor from IRCAM, "Augmented Violin". I also showed him my interactive audio/visual works. I find it more useful for those who is starting out, to see what can be done with these tools which may help them imagining something new of their own. I will never forget when I first heard <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suf7SQ84-RM">Mario Davidovky's Synchronisms NO. 6 for piano</a>, that first 'G" on the piano which gets taken over by a soft electronic sound of the same pitch. That piece got me into all this eventually, and I ended up studying with him. Davidovsky was in fact, creating the interactive electronics without today's technology, creating an auditory illusion using a fixed media, recorded tape.<br />
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At the <a href="http://music.arts.uci.edu/icit/symposium13/">Symposium at UC Irvine</a> last week, jazz pianist/composer <a href="http://www.vijay-iyer.com/">Vijay Iyer</a> asked me if I have published this demo how to <a href="http://subharmonics.blogspot.com/2010/12/flow-following-not-score-following.html">"flow follow" instead of 'score follow' </a>I first started in 2010, controlling 'agogig' using the bowing expression. I have made more improvements, especially after my collaborator formally at IRCAM, Nicolas Rasamimanana who now runs a company named <a href="http://www.phonotonic.org/">Phonotonic</a>, and I made progress in detecting bow direction last year (up and down bows). This is a demo which I also showed my student today. I haven't really published it except in passing, and I probably should. What I really should do before the summer is to somehow make this more configurable, usable in many different musical context, or at least make it easier for people to calibrate. I spend so much obsessive time redrawing this graph (the little graph on the bottom right, a black line that goes from top left somewhat down), which is the tempo-to-movement ratio :)<br />
<br />
Other than that I am preparing for my recording next week in Japan, polishing myself (that is, I need to get my sounds and intonation clean :) I foresee the long plane ride, seeing my family etc. so I'd better be prepared <i>before</i> I get there!<br />
<br />
Aside from this, I made a major upgrade of my system, namely 'pitch shifting' system. And it's <a href="http://www.kyokokitamura.com/">Kyoko</a> who forced my hands, as she is using the very latest of Max version, unlike me. I'm usually trailing <i>WAY</i> behind everyone on any version upgrades, for the fear that there maybe 'bugs' in new versions. I have been using (gasp!) the same 'pitch shifting' mechanisms since the 1990s!! but finally things have caught up with me. The new version of MaxMSP made my old mold impossible to continue working, so finally I was able to find a way to upgrade my core pitch shifting system which I have been dreading to do so. But necessity is the mother of invention, or upgrade, correct? :) Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-36974509522757668132013-03-07T06:53:00.000-05:002013-03-07T07:13:21.387-05:00Nitty-gritty :)So I spent the most of the afternoon "debugging" :) Is this still a popular term or am I of a previous generation? What I am doing is too boring and too unmusical, probably no one wants to hear about it, but as a programmer who performs and composes, these are as important as bringing your instrument to the violin tuner or 'rehairing' your bow. Besides, I need to get these procedure seamless and ready to go, before my summer program starts :)<br />
<br />
Below is a bit technical, but to give you an idea what the kind of things I have to do:<br />
I am trying to rehearse long distance (well, Brooklyn/Manhattan LOL!) with <a href="http://www.kyokokitamura.com/">Kyoko Kitamura</a>. I wanted her to test some Max patches to calibrate her voice quality leisurely so she doesn't have to come to my place, and can do this in her own time. We are both moms and our free times are limited and fragmented :) There is a part of MaxMSP, a collection of IRCAM objects called FTM, which requires license; I am using it for Kyoko, but in order for her to use it, I need to 'compile' them in a certain way, and this turned out not so simple.<br />
<br />
I had to email Paris and find out what I'm doing wrong, and <a href="http://imtr.ircam.fr/imtr/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Bevilacqua">Frédéric Bevilacqua</a>, the head of the <a href="http://imtr.ircam.fr/imtr/IRCAM_Real-Time_Musical_Interactions">Real Time Musical Interaction Team at IRCAM</a>, has been up at 2AM Paris time, trying to solve this problem for me. The 6-hour time difference between NYC and Paris isn't great; oh---just as I'm typing this (now 8:14PM on Tuesday night) Fred emailed me, "We will solve this, it will work!", "24/24 service!". With such a superb tech support, how am I allowed to fail!!? Pressure, pressure... :)<br />
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With <a href="http://michaelgatonska.com/">Michael Gatonska</a>, with whom I'm preparing the premiere of his new work <a href="http://roulette.org/events/mari-kimura-kyoko-kitamura-poly-monologue/">"Shin rin Yoku" (Forest bathing) on April 10th at the Roulette</a>, (BTW I requested that they modify the website to include this title too, so they will get to it soon I hope!) here are the days' email correspondences about the work, ahead of our face-to-face meeting tomorrow: (with his permission) <br />
<br />
Mari:<br />
Hi, Finally I'm going through your sound and have some questions:<br />
The following environmental sounds (?) have significant background noise, or sound, which I assume is intentional and you don't intend to get it filtered?<br />
Sound15_AmerCrow<br />
Sound15_werbler<br />
SS1_RedOakLeaves<br />
SS2_WhitePine<br />
SS12_Downey<br />
SS13_liveoak<br />
SS18_hemlocks<br />
The following instrumental sounds are pretty clean but a bit of background noise, maybe ignorable.<br />
SS3_Bowls_Part1, and Part2 <br />
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Micahel:<br />
Hi Mari,<br />
The environmental sounds are pretty raw, with
only minimal high pass filtering and some limiters in use. [...] these
environmental sounds were meant to 'sit' in the background, providing a
soft and moving sonic 'basso continuo' type of thing rather than being
at the forefront or overtaking or matching the violin/Max sounds (which
should be in the foreground). I was thinking that we may be able to work
these effects in as a subtle background fabric to the piece - I guess
we can see what sounds good or is flat out unusable and make our
decisions. I have been approaching what I have sent to you as a sort of
fluid music score, until we work out what we like and make it more
concrete.<br />
<br />
Mari:<br />
Great,<br />
Just
to get me going---the first page, when you said "Sound sample 1 rise
and fall in dynamics imitating violin sound envelop"<br />
I thought
that would be a bit tough, since it's PPP for me :) but I could
actually track the pitch which seems to match the < > sometimes,
or we could time it, etc. etc. Do you want the electronic sounds to
cresc. when I am NOT playing?<br />
I have filters and you can choose
what you like. I can actually control the filters in realtime as
well... I will have it handy in case you want to try.<br />
<br />
Michael:<br />
Hi Mari, <br />
Yes, I thought the crescendo sounds during the first
section should follow when you are not playing -- but they should also
interact (weave in and out) when you are playing the longer lines, or
phrases. Essentially, it is a section that should build in sound
levels, similar to a graded echo and crescendo over time. Does this
make any sense? :)<br />
<br />
Mari:<br />
Yes
I understand. I'm trying to see the ways to control the cresc.
decresc. One way 'maybe' that I count the numbers of bow change (I can
do that :) which could control the electronics. (please don't mind
me, I'm thinking aloud :) BTW would it be OK if I publish these correspondences in my blog? I think it is very interesting :)<br />
<br />
Michael:<br />
Don't worry about thinking out loud, it gives me a sense of what you are doing. And please use anything in your blog that you feel appropriate or significant :)<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-33737837586178329032013-03-06T07:01:00.000-05:002013-03-06T07:07:41.260-05:00Multitasking<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5j4oe3FlwAgBogFGua8-XT_gy7fTFHr4cyP-b3C_uSGowOf_VC9yzesgT_KOYLZywSpvmfXmSzEljRX4BGLTPrzkxSCGvSbLhAAJzQxtZWU1l5eCMN83hPIaAaCshucDmL1zPo7NXkMA/s1600/kyokomari.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5j4oe3FlwAgBogFGua8-XT_gy7fTFHr4cyP-b3C_uSGowOf_VC9yzesgT_KOYLZywSpvmfXmSzEljRX4BGLTPrzkxSCGvSbLhAAJzQxtZWU1l5eCMN83hPIaAaCshucDmL1zPo7NXkMA/s200/kyokomari.tiff" width="200" /></a>As I mentioned yesterday, I decided to jot down what I'm doing preparing for my <a href="http://roulette.org/events/mari-kimura-kyoko-kitamura-poly-monologue/">April 10th concert. </a><br />
<br />
However, that is not the only thing I am doing--I usually have several kind of projects in parallel, but that is the same with any artist. In my case, as a "performer/composer", I have tasks that belong to different compartments of my life.<br />
<br />
Aside from my major two upcoming works; one as the performer/composer (<a href="http://roulette.org/events/mari-kimura-kyoko-kitamura-poly-monologue/">Poly-Monologue</a>) and as <a href="http://michaelgatonska.com/">Michael Gatonska</a>'s interpreter premiering his new work, "Shin rin Yoku" (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_bathing">Forest bathing</a>), the most immediate task I have is as a violinist for next week in Japan, recording Japanese composer <a href="http://www.imeb.net/IMEB_v2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=707&Itemid=223">Takayuki Rai</a>'s composition written for me entitled "Active Figurations" for Fontec Japan label. I know this piece, I premiered in 2009 at <a href="http://www.musicfromjapan.org/">Music from Japan </a>Festival 2009 which I curated, but this week I have to really be good (no wrong notes LOL!) for the recording. and I must keep my chops up to sound clean (scales, scales, believe or not! :) I also have a few other creative projects (commissions actually) that's not even on the back burner, but kind of on a side burner. More on that later.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.kyokokitamura.com/">Kyoko Kitamura </a>and I actually did one experimental concert back in December, and I'm deriving my ideas a lot from that experience. The picture above is from that concert, held at the <a href="http://www.spectrumnyc.com/">Spectrum</a> in downtown NYC. I'm imagining her voice follows herself, lingering thoughts, but not just a simple delay... then I imagine what harmony, what pitches she should choose, or let her choose... etc. etc. then which MaxMSP objects I should use, then how I should construct the patch. I'm sending her some Max patches that she needs to calibrate for her own voice, which she can only do, and she doesn't need me beside her (IF my Max patch is clean, and it is NOT so when I make patches for myself - Max users know what I mean :)<br />
<br />
For Michael Gatonska, I have his score, his visuals and his electronic sounds that we are going to combine together. Guessing from his score, he has very clear ideas to what the electronics and the general sound world he has in mind, which is helpful as I act as his programmer as well. The electronics are going to be in two layers: one which provides the background, another is the interactive processing I will do using various methods including "Augmented Violin", my bowing motion sensor from IRCAM. He is coming over on Friday, so I'm trying to organize myself and my thoughts about all this, which is like a puzzle. I love puzzles, my father loved puzzles and I did marry someone who loves puzzles :) <br />
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Going back to the 'multitasking' I need to order some maroon-colored sweatpants for my daughter... like that's the major priority!! :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-34165480595146421152013-03-05T14:35:00.000-05:002013-03-05T19:33:06.913-05:00Pop the hood; an experiment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I cannot believe my last blog entry is July 2012... I have been quite busy with various projects, and while doing so possibly neglected to document or share the process. I just came back from a Symposium held at U.C. Irvine, entitled "New Direction in Graduate Music Programs", organized by ICIT (<a href="http://music.arts.uci.edu/icit/">Integrated Composition Improvisation and Technology program at UC Irvine</a>). There I had the fortune to perform with Jazz pianist <a href="http://www.vijay-iyer.com/">Vijay Iyer</a> and get to know his amazing projects, and his wonderfully socially-conscious thought processes.<br />
<br />
In the previous post, I hinted about the 'announcement' I will be making; it is official now, that I will be inaugurating a summer program this year, which will be 'officially' announced to the press by the end of this month. It is designed for performers of highest caliber who use/want to use interactive system to perform as well as compose. So, a bit more patience :)<br />
<br />
Not just because of the summer program, but I decided that it is time I must start to share and to include people witness my own creative processes, or to 'pop the hood' so to speak. My interactive systems are very simple, but very user-specific. I probably have one of the most useful ways to track the violin pitches, and to handle oneself on stage, that might be helpful to others.<br />
<br />
I also decided to share more my compositional process in interactive works. On Wednesday, April 10th, I have a performance at <a href="http://roulette.org/events/mari-kimura-kyoko-kitamura-poly-monologue/">Roulette in Brooklyn</a>. The show is entitled "Poly-Monologue", premiering a work written for <a href="http://www.kyokokitamura.com/">Kyoko Kitamura</a>, a trilingual avant-garde and experimental singer (English, Japanese and French). "Poly-Monologue" is an interactive audio/visual work, a part of the larger-scale work entitled "ONE" which I will premiere in June 2013 (more on that later). The visuals of this work is done by Japanese movie maker and graphic artist, Tomoyuki Kato, who also created the visuals for my previous work "Eigenspace". Both "Poly-Monologue" and "Eigenspace" are parts of "ONE", which just received a generous support from Commissioning USA grant. At this very moment, I'm very much hard at work with "Poly-Monologue".<br />
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Aside for my own works, we just decided that I will be premiering a work written for me entitled "Shin Rin Yoku" (forest bathing) by American/Polish composer and painter, <a href="http://michaelgatonska.com/">Michael Gatonska</a>. Both works will use interactive graphics and IRCAM's motion sensor, "Augmented Violin".<br />
<br />
This Friday, Michael is coming over and we will have some composition, visuals and strategy-making session. I will upload or even video tape some of our meetings to share what we will discuss. <br />
<br />
From now until the concert, I will try to document our creative processes to share with you; please mark your calender for April 10th at 8PM!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-38857215459079313292012-07-28T14:01:00.003-04:002012-07-28T14:03:10.812-04:00Onward and upward, for young violinists of the future!As most of you who know about my work is aware, I haven't spent my energy trying to be "famous" in the traditional sense, performing all over the world. Early on, after I got a big push in<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/21/arts/review-recital-a-violinist-tests-limits-in-music-of-her-time.html"> New York Times about my NYC debut recital,</a> I made a decision that it is not the kind of life I want to have; win a competition (or a winning review like this), get a manager who would book me to perform Ravel's <i>Tzigane</i> (for example) 10,000 times a year in small colleges in small towns all over the world. That model: competition->manager->concert career still exists, but to me it presented a life too ordinary, too common, and too boring. Why would I want to do the same thing and follow the same paths which others have done for ages? Why would I want to drag myself in dirty airports constantly, just to make money for a manager? For crying out loud, it's the age of internet! But that's just me. I chose to have a family, children, and relative peace and quiet in my personal life.<br />
<br />
Of course, there are many ways of building a career, or starting a career: some starlets maybe desperate enough taking off their clothes playing Bach (!) but sure, you get the attention you need to stand out from those who don't take off their clothes (LOL!) You can have strange hair-do's, wearing strange clothing or whatever works, whatever makes people buy that 10,000th Bach album you want to sell. I would say, if that suits you, by all means go ahead and do so! :)<br />
<br />
My work using "Subharmonics" and interactive systems I have been working with and describing in my blog, aren't these kind of "attention-getting" efforts. Sure I did get some press and notoriety because of "Subharmonics", but my true aim is not to "become famous" because of it. As history proves (for example, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Tchaikovsky's</span></span> <i>Violin Concerto</i> was deemed "un-performable" when it was first written) when you do something new, those who are afraid, or those who can't do it, would brush it aside and criticize it. In fact "Subharmonics" is quite a difficult technique to master, probably as artificial harmonics must have been back in the times of Paganini. When unsuccessful, it sounds simply horrible!! :) But mark my words, as I am preparing a text-book and a possible events on "Subharmonics" in the near future, this will become a standard extended technique in the coming decades, as more and more composers will feel comfortable writing it in. <br />
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I will announce shortly, that I am starting a summer program in a music festival next year, for "future strings", in collaboration with the Real Time Musical Interaction Team at IRCAM and others. My aim is to open up the new sound world to violinists and other musicians, easily and ready to go forward with their creative projects. This maybe easier to embrace for younger violinists and musicians who grew up with digital media, but I am getting plenty of interests and inquiries from established composers and performers which made me think of opening up, sharing and pushing forward.<br />
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So, leave the "old models" to those who want to do it the "old way" constantly dragging themselves around the world doing the same-old same-old :) And let's step forward, onward and upward! This post maybe a bit cryptic :) but in the coming days and months, I intend to follow up on the specifics, and I will keep you posted!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-78188360142112614482012-04-15T05:22:00.001-04:002012-04-15T05:33:51.628-04:00Fukushima Today<div style="font-family: inherit;">It has been 4+ months I have written my blog. Things were quite hectic, but I have to report something today. </div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/LHJQGGTahJI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="font-family: inherit;">But first I would like to share with you that I recently composed and premiered a new work for Soprano, piano and electronics, entitled "My Life in Fukusima". The text was written by a Japanese (half Dutch) mother of a 6-years old daughter, Marika Yoshida. Marika works as a mental health therapist and manager at a clinic in Fukushima. I found her text in her Facebook "Note", contacted her and asked if I could set a music to it. It was done very fast and I might need to do some revisions, but an occasion presented itself that I could present it, so I did. It was performed by Japanese artists Kyoko OGAWA, soprano and Yumi SUEHIRO, piano at "Japan Perspectives: Composer's Voice Series" concert, organized by composer Douglas DaSilva at Jan Hus Church, NYC. on April 8th.</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">Today, Marika shared an entry by her friend named Akira Tamagawa, who just visited Fukushima site today. He wrote this note in Japanese, but I had to translate this to share with my English speaking friends. (please excuse my non-professional translation) I couldn't post this in my Facebook page (too long) so I am happy to share with you here. This is the most frightening, but realistic situation today in Japan. </div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">"Status update" from Mr. Akira Tamagawa's Facebook page, from Fukushima:</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><style>
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</style> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Today, I entered into the Fukushima Dai-ichi (no.1) nuclear plant. I am restricted not to give certain information, but I write what I can. We received the explanation at the "[Important] Vibration Prevention Ridge", and I got to see closely the No.3 and 4 reactors which is all but left with the skeletal iron frame works [from the explosions]. The highest radiation value today was 1,000sv/h. It is the world of unimaginable dimension. </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">My honest impression is that [the work] is progressing, and also not progressing. Inside the "Important Vibration Exempt Ridge", the dosage is lower, but if you go one step outside, the radiation dosage is high. In such an environment, it encouraged me enormously the fact that there are people at the forefront, such as Osamu [writer's friend], who are desperately trying to contain the situation doing their best as if that is their normal duty. </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">I can say with certainty, that if it weren't for the work and support [of the people of the Fukushima nuclear site], the eastern Japan would have been blown away without a doubt. There are still over 1000 Fuel Rods exposed in the fuel pool, and it is more dangerous than the "containment vessel". </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">The good news is this explosion only happened on the "surface". If the fuel itself reacted and dispersed, us, the team from Hachioji-shi [city of western Tokyo] would have become the immediately affected "party". </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">And it is important not to misunderstand, that this was not the worst accident. If the "[Important] Vibration Prevention Ridge" was not completed just in time 6 months before [MK: I am not sure if he means 6 mo. before the accident, or 6 mo. ago from today], it would have been impossible for the Fukushima nuclear site to be able to cope, and there is no doubt that today's Japan did not exist. It is important to realize and share the horrific fact, more than we do now, that we were fortunate to be able to escape the absolute worst case scenario.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">I am telling you, that it was really close, “paper-thin line” [to the worst catastrophe]. Current situation is that we are discussing how to address each issue from now on, but we are able to get to this point because the worst was prevented with a “paper-thin” line. Sumida, Hachioji, Hitachi, the entire Tokyo, and possibly western Japan would have been at a “paper-thin” line. And if we don’t address this issue properly, it will continue to be a “paper-thin” line.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">It is not the Fukushima’s issue; that is a very clear error. It is very clearly the all of Japan’s issue, although I could guess that it is hard to fully realize it. I might sound harsh, but I know that all of you must share this realization. Please remember the gravity [of the situation] in your heart.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Then, I would like all of you, affected parties [that is the entire Japan] to get involved, not as an outside supporter, and to re-examine your work and lifestyles. There is no choice but to re-think our lifestyle that depends on nuclear energy, consuming energy for work and lifestyle.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">I painfully realized again, looking at the skeletal iron frames, the gravity of the situation. It is so different from looking at it on the TV. And there are people who are working there with nothing but their bodies; some workers are victims of the disaster themselves.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">I realized that it is a mistake to “support” Fukushima. It is Fukushima which is supporting our “now”, today’s Japan. That is why, you all are the affected parties in this problem. You can’t understand this if you live in Tokyo. You can’t understand this if you live in the city of Fukushima. That is why, one must imagine the situation, rather than not understanding it. </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Inside the No.1 reactor compound, I fatefully passed a crane truck of “Da-te Heavy Machinaries”, [the company] of Osamu. There are people who can’t escape. Because of these people, we are able to live a normal life. This fact hasn’t changed today.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Everyone, the Fukushima nuclear disaster is not solved, that is the fact. And let’s firmly co-own the fact that this is not Fukushima’s problem. Again I feel painfully that it is a mistake to think this is Fukushima’s problem.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">This is my report today.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal">-----------</div><div class="MsoNormal">The original Japanese post is below.</div><div class="MsoNormal">I couldn't sleep after reading this note, and just stayed up all night and finished translating it. </div><br />
<div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">今日、第一原発の現場に入りました。<br />
<br />
業務上の守秘義務もありますが、書けるだけ書かせて頂きます。<br />
<br />
重要免震棟で説明を受け、骨組みだけになっている4号機、3号機</div><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4f8a907c743aa3178633032"><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>を間近に見てきました。<br />
本日の最高値は1,000μsv/h。異次元の世界です。<br />
<br />
素直な感想としては、進んでいるが進んでいない。そして進んでも<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>いるということ。<br />
重要免震棟は線量の確保ができていますが、一歩外を出ると高い線<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>量であることは紛れもない事実。<br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_hide">...</span><span class="text_exposed_show"> そのような中で前司くんをはじめ、最前線でこの事故を押さえてい<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>こうと、尽力している方々がいること、当然のこととして仕事をし<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>ている方々がいることが、自身にとって大きな励みになりました。<br />
<br />
間違いなく言えることは、現場の支えがなければ、東日本は吹っ飛<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>んでいました。<br />
今でも千本近くの燃料棒がむき出しの燃料プールに残っており、格<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>納容器よりも危険な存在です。<br />
今回の事故は、いい意味では上澄みの爆発。燃料自体の反応で燃料<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>そのものが飛び散っていれば、われらが八王子メンバーでさえも当<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>事者になっていたという甚大さを実感しました。<br />
<br />
そして、誤っていけないのは、今回の事故は最悪ではなかったこと<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>。<br />
重要免震棟がギリギリ半年前に完成していなければ、現地での対応<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>は不可能であり、間違いなく今の日本はないということ。幸いなこ<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>とに最悪を免れることができたという、恐ろしい事実をもっと皆で<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>共有すべきと感じます。<br />
<br />
いいですか、本当にぎりぎりの状態でした。今、それぞれの事業を<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>どう展開させていくかといった議論をしていますが、それは奇跡的<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>なラインが守られたから出来る話にすぎません。<br />
隅田であれ、八王子であれ、日立であれ、東京全体であれ、おそら<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>く西日本であれ、紙一重だったのです。そしてしっかり対応しなけ<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>れば、これからも紙一重であり続けるのです。<br />
<br />
ふくしまが当事者というのは明らかな誤解。本当に日本全体が当事<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>者となるべき問題なんです。きっとこれを実感はできないでしょう<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>。キツメのトーンになってしまいますが、共有できる皆さんだから<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>あえて言います。<br />
この重さを心に刻みつけてほしい。<br />
<br />
その上で、当事者としてやはり皆さんにはかかわってほしい。<br />
当事者として、外部支援者ではなく、自分自身が自分自身の仕事や<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>ライフスタイルをどう見直していくか、この原発に依存するエネル<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>ギー消費の仕事やライフスタイルの在り方を、真剣に考えるしかな<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>いと感じます。<br />
<br />
むき出しの鉄骨を見て、改めて事態の深刻さを痛感しました。テレ<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>ビとは明らかに違うのです。そして、その現場で体一つで作業して<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>いる方々がいます。<br />
その中には被災者がいます。<br />
われわれ日本人はそういった方々に今この時も支えられているので<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>す。<br />
<br />
改めて福島を支援するということが誤解であることを実感しました<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>。<br />
逆に福島の地で今を支えていること、それによって日本が支えられ<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>ているのです。<br />
<br />
だからこそ、この問題は皆がまさに当事者なのです。<br />
東京にいては分からない。福島市にいては分からない。<br />
<br />
ゆえに分からないではなく、想像を働かせる、思いを巡らせるしか<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>ないのでしょう。<br />
<br />
第一原発の構内でわれらの前司さんの伊達重機のクレーン車と運命<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>的にすれ違いました。逃げない彼らがいる。そういった人がいるか<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>ら、普通の生活が送れている。それは今も変わらない。<br />
<br />
皆さん、原発が収束していないというのは事実。そして福島の問題<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>ではないことを、しっかりと共有しましょう。ふくしまの問題と考<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>えること自体が誤りだと、本当に痛感しています。<br />
<br />
それが私の今日の報告です。</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-63138383174377187762012-01-01T18:28:00.005-05:002012-01-02T01:26:11.956-05:00Happy New Year 2012!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y-oLwQ0J_Ww/TwDhLaXLibI/AAAAAAAAAbw/q_pXDNahKw0/s1600/IMG_6151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y-oLwQ0J_Ww/TwDhLaXLibI/AAAAAAAAAbw/q_pXDNahKw0/s200/IMG_6151.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>I have planned to post more "Beijing" stories and pictures, but again, my life as a mom and other things got in my way :) My family is visiting Boston for the New Years visiting family friends, so finally I have time to post some old pictures from October here. The first one is with the inventor of FM synthesis, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Chowning">John Chowning</a> in Beijing, who was the featured guest composer at <a href="http://www.musicacoustica.cn/english/index.asp">MusicaAcoustica</a> Festival 2012 in Beijing which we were invited. It was French composer/organizer <a href="http://www.granierb.net/">Benoit Granier </a>who found me and contacted me to go to Beijing for the first time to perform and give lectures at the Beijing Central Conservatory.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q2QputR_XwM/TwDkAAliM9I/AAAAAAAAAb8/ebHJehHOWbY/s1600/IMG_6050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q2QputR_XwM/TwDkAAliM9I/AAAAAAAAAb8/ebHJehHOWbY/s200/IMG_6050.JPG" width="149" /></a></div>While in Beijing I met very nice people, including an American journalist named James Tiscione, who wrote <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/681392/Electric-feel.aspx">a feature article of me in Global Times</a>, an English paper in Beijing. James, who is originally from Yonkers (I think he said), has lived in China for several years now and impressively speaks Chinese fluently. He took me around to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutong">Hutongs</a> in Beijing, and we had a great time walking around. Here he is treating me to a sour apple candy which was yummy! Maybe not so yummy (?) since I didn't taste it, but here are some interesting culture merger :) "Tea Coffee" and "Mojito Milk Shake"! <br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r7RjB3aC7OE/TwDwKzhagYI/AAAAAAAAAcI/Se3BCHA02S4/s1600/IMG_6058.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r7RjB3aC7OE/TwDwKzhagYI/AAAAAAAAAcI/Se3BCHA02S4/s200/IMG_6058.JPG" width="149" /></a> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jQVpMtfc5W8/TwDxQsX4M9I/AAAAAAAAAcQ/DymqFwBwmnY/s1600/IMG_6099.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jQVpMtfc5W8/TwDxQsX4M9I/AAAAAAAAAcQ/DymqFwBwmnY/s200/IMG_6099.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
My impression of Beijing was that there were so many cars which maybe driven by people who were on bicycles until recently, so it is pretty chaotic on the streets and you have to really watch out for yourself :) The country made me think of what it must have been like in the old "wild-wild West" in California, when everyone went for new opportunities. My father, who was born in former Manchuria as a son of Japanese pediatrician pre WWII, and have been invited to China many times as a specialist of solar energy, said that "In China, everything happens everywhere, all the time!" and I think that's pretty much correct :)<br />
<br />
2011 was a very fruitful year for me in terms of work, and I have several projects that I am currently working on. The very immediate project is for Maestro <a href="http://www.fluteconnection.net/contfl/artaud.html">Pierre-Yves Artaud</a>, the great "Dean" of France's flute society. Prof. Artaud teaches at the Conservatoire in Paris, and the founder of <a href="http://www.off-paris.fr/ang/orchestre_ang.htm">Orchestre de Flûte Français</a>. This is a piece for solo flute (Artaud), violin (me) and interactive computer using IRCAM's latest software <a href="http://omax.ircam.fr/">OMAX</a>, and my bowing motion sensor "<a href="http://imtr.ircam.fr/imtr/Augmented_Violin">Augmented Violin</a>" also developed at IRCAM, and the flute ensemble. <br />
<br />
My children, especially my daughter is distraught that there is NO SNOW anywhere this year :) Her Christmas present wish included "Let it snow, let it snow..." We shall see.... :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-69332466658922197912011-11-13T21:12:00.000-05:002011-11-13T21:12:01.772-05:00China mega-post Part-II was in Beijing from October 23-31. Finally now I'm little more relaxed, I get to post some pictures and stories from there. My October was really hectic for me; As I wrote in <a href="http://subharmonics.blogspot.com/2011/11/regrouping-again.html">my previous post</a>, I had two premieres within a week: <i>Eigenspace</i>, my new interactive graphic collaboration, I-Quadrifoglio, my first string quartet premiere with the Cassatt String Quartet. Then I prepared a new composition written for me by French composer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Battier">Marc Battier</a> for violin and electronics entitled <i>Double Suns,</i> to be premiered at the <a href="http://www.musicacoustica.cn/english/index.asp">Musicacoustica Festival </a>held at Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. I had to learn Marc's piece within a week, since it was just finished :) which suited me as I had absolutely no time before the <i>I-Quadrifoglio</i> premiere!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_WLOzHkGoIVsUa0yuVCmnHas3bWi2O2S64Kf_6UgscgHeeCk13S0mhWr7nfGuYCUZn5v-ysnW7YAkMp9ewbr2lFypsasT5VD05NYhzPFimlh60NrJwCH604Z6yg6ghYqKGJ1zjKr8MZc/s1600/IMG_5990.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_WLOzHkGoIVsUa0yuVCmnHas3bWi2O2S64Kf_6UgscgHeeCk13S0mhWr7nfGuYCUZn5v-ysnW7YAkMp9ewbr2lFypsasT5VD05NYhzPFimlh60NrJwCH604Z6yg6ghYqKGJ1zjKr8MZc/s200/IMG_5990.JPG" width="149" /></a>On October 22, I left for Beijing from Newark, a 9-day trip leaving my two children with my husband. The day I was leaving, my daughter who is physically very fit and hardly ever sick, decided to come down with high fever. She usually goes down very deep like this, but comes out of in within a day, which fortunately she did according to my husband and she didn't miss any school. Nonetheless, it was a little unnerving to leave them in this state... The flight to Beijing was full, with the longest line for the first class and business class that I have ever seen. It looked almost as long as the economy line which I was in. The flight plan showed that we were flying straight up from New York through Canada, over the north pole, and down through Siberia to China. It was the first time I've done that.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2VJK6j25eyyowwtUVMm-vczhFssQUhZTLQZqpk3XEviAlj_z2sn6qlnJ-tIRAlbzDmVp-1BUjW5T4y3F_79_nRox8AIh-6Fd9GgZ6ks_LQoHzhbmHKBIvwbC9odBsFzqqP3gRvLXy2Gk/s1600/IMG_5992.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2VJK6j25eyyowwtUVMm-vczhFssQUhZTLQZqpk3XEviAlj_z2sn6qlnJ-tIRAlbzDmVp-1BUjW5T4y3F_79_nRox8AIh-6Fd9GgZ6ks_LQoHzhbmHKBIvwbC9odBsFzqqP3gRvLXy2Gk/s200/IMG_5992.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>As we were landing I took some pictures from the plane: a lot of blue and red roofs of factories (I assume) but these two colors symbolize China. Here I come! Then I was picked up along with a group from Lyon, <a href="http://www.grame.fr/">GRAME</a>. Here are composer/architect <a href="http://www.grame.fr/Creation/Compositeur/Jaffrennou/cvpajBritain/cvpajBritain.html">Pierre Jaffrennou</a>, formidable percussionist living in Lyon <a href="http://www.adams-music.com/pf/reference/artists/detail/?17ACD1B13F174996ACCAF49B3DC2C400">Yi-Ping Yang</a>, and composer <strong style="font-weight: normal;">Max Bruckert also from Lyon, waiting for the car at the airport. Not just because of these people from Lyon, but with others from France and Chinese professors who are Francophone, I think I spoke more French than English in China throughout my stay.</strong><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhKkrmg3ia6rqX0NRWgxErjmTUmhbC66wWlIS2u013oeMvS3GwZj26VrWqWQMp-KXfcPoIfOijT42i8-ZH5uHS48MoW2PjcAdsNg27c6CYLi9m1F6G39DbSn0lfNvYd8sgJ1Cb65s0i04/s1600/IMG_5995.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhKkrmg3ia6rqX0NRWgxErjmTUmhbC66wWlIS2u013oeMvS3GwZj26VrWqWQMp-KXfcPoIfOijT42i8-ZH5uHS48MoW2PjcAdsNg27c6CYLi9m1F6G39DbSn0lfNvYd8sgJ1Cb65s0i04/s200/IMG_5995.JPG" width="200" /></a><strong style="font-weight: normal;">From the airport, as we approached central Beijing, you are struck with avenues after avenues with gigantic new architecture. Just imagine twice the size of New York's Time Warner building, and that is standing next to each other on both sides for miles and miles, by streets twice the size of Park Avenue. That's Beijing!</strong><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbXL-jp9xa3z0WkINT9OSLOqkZEZ1EKg6cHaS11-1mL4CweRfAQPd8MzoQfAfK0CRMc0a6bmNiLy8xwkDnfduDiYvTRO2OIXCvE3XT20TLVG6hnlZkQlsTEvYMTUd30ibTeN5kPFydDi0/s1600/IMG_6004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbXL-jp9xa3z0WkINT9OSLOqkZEZ1EKg6cHaS11-1mL4CweRfAQPd8MzoQfAfK0CRMc0a6bmNiLy8xwkDnfduDiYvTRO2OIXCvE3XT20TLVG6hnlZkQlsTEvYMTUd30ibTeN5kPFydDi0/s200/IMG_6004.JPG" width="149" /></a><strong style="font-weight: normal;">After hurriedly checked into the hotel, I was brought straight to the rehearsal to meet Marc Battier at the Beijing Central Conservatory. The new piece he wrote for me, <i>Double Suns</i>, was to be premiered the next evening at the Opening Concert of the Musicaoucstica Festival. The Opening Concert was entitled <i>Voyage Apollonian</i>, adopting my composition for interactive graphics I was performing in the concert (graphics by <a href="http://cs.nyu.edu/%7Eperlin/">Ken Perlin</a>, NYU). The next morning I staggered downstairs of my 3-star business hotel restaurant for breakfast: my first Chinese food buffet, which I ate too much and lasted for two-meals worth :)</strong>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-30572253613618521322011-11-12T18:24:00.003-05:002011-11-13T11:37:28.135-05:00Regrouping again :)Long hiatus since July. I just had a very busy fall season, constantly feeling like a hamster in a wheel :) Now I am finally having to sleep normally, regrouping, think and listen again, without constant crises and pressure one after another. It is a VERY welcome and much needed state of mind :)<br />
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I realize my last post was July, when I came back from Japan. The editor of STRINGS magazine, Greg Olwell, read my<a href="http://subharmonics.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-monumental-day-with-fukusuke_15.html"> previous post</a> about my visit to Japan, especially concerning teaching and meeting with Japanese students in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and asked me to contribute to the STRINGS magazine blog, which they called <a href="http://www.allthingsstrings.com/Blog/Music-As-Medicine">"Music as Medicine"</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbYpOwubbeac1XGrqClGMVvgdkQbq7LHkW4jwz9V3D-rcd6no-qzSdb2_W6AR4FKB6GGvILIvxKQ9uvHogi0bNf6LGk-rmWr432gOKEfQc4B3cBVC2QZ1Ecg0pprtdikgtgOKZvCzWHyQ/s1600/Eigenshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbYpOwubbeac1XGrqClGMVvgdkQbq7LHkW4jwz9V3D-rcd6no-qzSdb2_W6AR4FKB6GGvILIvxKQ9uvHogi0bNf6LGk-rmWr432gOKEfQc4B3cBVC2QZ1Ecg0pprtdikgtgOKZvCzWHyQ/s200/Eigenshot.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>In the fall, I had two big new works premieres. One is a commission from <a href="http://www.harvestworks.org/">Harvestworks</a>, an interactive audio video work with Japanese movie director and media artist, Tomoyuki Kato. I met him through his brother, Prof. Kazuhiko Kato, a renown computer science professor at Tsukuba University in Japan. He came to my lecture in July there, and over the internet, he introduced me to his brother. Mr. Tomoyuki Kato is widely known for his stunning visuals and designs expos, industrial presentations, and theme parks. My new work is called <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYfGCwKN6VY"><i>Eigenspace</i></a>, using work that I did this summer with Nicolas Rasamimanana at IRCAM, using "eigenvalue" of the bowing movements. It is related to kind of inertia of the movements my bowing and musical expression generate. It is a new mode of interaction for me, which I am now exploring intensively. Mr. Kato also uploaded his <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vVuANDUuV8">"director's cut" version on YouTube</a>; it shows a bit of rehearsal images of the project. <i>Eigenspace</i> was premiered at Roulette in Brooklyn, and we are planning on expanding it to an evening-long event in the future.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE_n12HWJ4DbIdd4vdAlbpj2wP7hMFbF-05YuPVcKwtcnqTpTQ-0fqXSM-olK9ru_UX3tsvBLyFC7p09ALSBDWncWlzDdvyFPXuQN4giVfDHrIGYSpPqiUkwGnEWVeSRikTDHD2DCKyXU/s1600/IMG_5911.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE_n12HWJ4DbIdd4vdAlbpj2wP7hMFbF-05YuPVcKwtcnqTpTQ-0fqXSM-olK9ru_UX3tsvBLyFC7p09ALSBDWncWlzDdvyFPXuQN4giVfDHrIGYSpPqiUkwGnEWVeSRikTDHD2DCKyXU/s200/IMG_5911.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja2-7pOUF3PNlmVh3twoVABZc2nY-R4qYp_G2gMUFO3r07sUiNZUUjtT83p3M8yCRZOmi1uw0pAOKPPXF9gT3OEQrYJyLhEingH39Bu5duag8MFvR-wmExevT1oDNaswIO8E3xAxG-_tw/s1600/MK-cassatt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja2-7pOUF3PNlmVh3twoVABZc2nY-R4qYp_G2gMUFO3r07sUiNZUUjtT83p3M8yCRZOmi1uw0pAOKPPXF9gT3OEQrYJyLhEingH39Bu5duag8MFvR-wmExevT1oDNaswIO8E3xAxG-_tw/s200/MK-cassatt.jpg" width="200" /></a>Another big project for me this fall was a commission from the Cassatt String Quartet (through the generous support of the Fromm Foundation Award), "I-Quadrifoglio" for string quartet and interactive computer. The picture here is the Cassatt Quartet rehearsing "I-Quadrifoglio". I so wished that I had chronicled my compositional process and progress. This is my first composition in recent years, which I was not involved as a performer myself; I had to notate my musical intentions very clearly, which I have become complacent with, since I have been writing for myself most of the time. For the four string players of Cassatt, I was conceited that I, a violinist myself, know what I wrote and what I mean. It was only when I was confronted with all kinds of musical questions regarding articulations and expressions (for example "what do you mean by an accent with a dot, is this stronger or shorter than the... " etc) I realized how much I didn't know. This was a going-back-to-school experience for me, which I am very grateful to have the most patient and generous teachers as the Cassatt Quartet! The premiere was at the Symphony Space, and there was a pre-concert cocktail/interview along with other composers on the program, venerable Judith Shatin and Sebastian Currier, both master composers. Although I felt a little intimidated :) I very much enjoyed that it was the very first time I could actually enjoy a glass of wine just before my performance, since I'm NOT playing! In this picture I'm setting their computer up just before the performance. It is a totally hands-free, no click-track or foot-pedal used, interactive composition, which fortunately didn't fail at the performance! I'm so humbled that this is my first string quartet ever, and I was fortunate enough to be given this opportunity.<br />
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A week after the "I-Quadrifoglio" premiere, I left for Beijing, China for the first time, to participate in <a href="http://www.musicacoustica.cn/english/index.asp">Musicacoustica Festival</a>, invited by French composer and organizer of <a href="http://www.granierb.net/timi/bio.html">TIMI Modern Music Ensemble's director, Benoit Granier</a>. I returned on October 31st, followed by family obligations and some grant proposal deadlines. Now that I have a bit of breathing time, I am planning a "Beijing mega-post" and photos in the coming few days :) Or so I promise!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-6069212217453733282011-07-25T15:44:00.006-04:002011-07-25T19:56:19.638-04:00Back in Paris, encore visit to IRCAM<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW11BjsFz8V8K3y3KKVHfAmg6N-ut-joeByPmzLlwJAMc_9dYVxbnGsV3sA2PkCmSU-pFwCRi3MzxvquxDRzAwt7MoKH04jFb17c182zc0vRNucN5VYnuURr0aW97YDM4fSmtFP_7bkLI/s1600/IMG_5455.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW11BjsFz8V8K3y3KKVHfAmg6N-ut-joeByPmzLlwJAMc_9dYVxbnGsV3sA2PkCmSU-pFwCRi3MzxvquxDRzAwt7MoKH04jFb17c182zc0vRNucN5VYnuURr0aW97YDM4fSmtFP_7bkLI/s200/IMG_5455.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZAo7vMQF8_IyLmOFyxhCTtgk4DsdbbQxt-clIG60ggMiKpOTNcJrb5YuacjwqGNCRvlFTXb4aeTp6w4P1eKl8CgHnrxcgVQrU7zYzYyCwHxXngKo1myX3FbOX4XnvOgReuwSIWVH8OEQ/s1600/IMG_5466.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZAo7vMQF8_IyLmOFyxhCTtgk4DsdbbQxt-clIG60ggMiKpOTNcJrb5YuacjwqGNCRvlFTXb4aeTp6w4P1eKl8CgHnrxcgVQrU7zYzYyCwHxXngKo1myX3FbOX4XnvOgReuwSIWVH8OEQ/s200/IMG_5466.JPG" width="149" /></a>After Tokyo, I briefly returned to New York to pick up my kids, and arrived in Paris this weekend. I'm visiting IRCAM again, following up with our work together and discuss new developments. <a href="http://imtr.ircam.fr/imtr/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Bevilacqua">Frédéric Bevilacqua</a>, the head of the Real Time Musical Interaction Team and I, met last Monday in New York, the day after we both arrived from our original home countries: Fred from Lausanne, me from Tokyo. Fred invited me for "VIP only" <a href="http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1080">MOMA opening for "Talk to me" exhibition</a>, where IRCAM's "MO", Modular Musical Objects, which include my bowing motion sensor "mini-MO" (the smallest and the latest model) won the <a href="http://createdigitalmusic.com/2011/03/what-makes-a-truly-new-instrument-human-gestures-power-winners-of-guthman-competition/">first prize in a competition</a> and is now displayed there. We were both spectacularly jetlagged that we were wide wake :)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTns9u7G8cCffuj7zCP4OVV7ZFWsY4YTDyXadAp6vqryPZ5i4Nk2gG8zkbSjwxULR_8W4PM1AWZvevsfnrE2SRccOIM0ugKyFFs5j79hXl8NDL2oYeM4hcd2C_1yBL7cDOcIyTM2qHjE/s1600/IMG_5470.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTns9u7G8cCffuj7zCP4OVV7ZFWsY4YTDyXadAp6vqryPZ5i4Nk2gG8zkbSjwxULR_8W4PM1AWZvevsfnrE2SRccOIM0ugKyFFs5j79hXl8NDL2oYeM4hcd2C_1yBL7cDOcIyTM2qHjE/s200/IMG_5470.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL_4GeYZ4Aq48ef7iTWm6NA-uG4nluBOyeO1-uK0Fd0mAqCn8sQCEbhghkLER3PBDemm3H5u4pV1DMhl22UNxeh_NKzmiQ_MdxP77QehP0boHOsGjSYn4hDitugzAUCFqhW9Yf5tO37BU/s1600/IMG_5471.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL_4GeYZ4Aq48ef7iTWm6NA-uG4nluBOyeO1-uK0Fd0mAqCn8sQCEbhghkLER3PBDemm3H5u4pV1DMhl22UNxeh_NKzmiQ_MdxP77QehP0boHOsGjSYn4hDitugzAUCFqhW9Yf5tO37BU/s200/IMG_5471.JPG" width="200" /></a>Then Frédéric went on to visit his old school UC Irvine (Fred has PhD in Biomedical Optics!) giving lectures, and returned to Paris today, joined us for lunch practically right off the airplane. What a guy! :) Then he went to an appointment at IRCAM... I on the other hand, herded my kids through JFK where our Air France flight was about 2+1/2 hrs late, but somehow pulled through since my kids slept through the flight. I admittedly was quite tired, since my jet-lag from Tokyo/NYC was never cured :) decided to enjoy Air France's free Champagne and free red wine, and happily went to sleep. Only a few hours later, woke up feeling so sick! Bad decision, and my French husband scolded me later "Don't mix Champagne and red wine... if you have Champagne, drink only Champagne all the way!" Oh well I did learn my lesson LOL! All is well, and my children are with their French grandparents who very kindly are keeping them so I could work at IRCAM staying in Paris, and of course, for their second summer of complete "French immersion". And my brother-in-law kindly let me stay in his apartment near Republique where his family is away in Madagascar. I can walk to IRCAM from this quiet part of town. Here are my poor kids, waiting while I was looking for our luggage at CDG (there was Air France strike, and everything like baggage collection took a very Loooong time :)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU5V1PPg2UaO9mokKy-BLMxi7GTSWCKBxi4MWK5oMDeqL5HBYyTTNVjwHY-JlaXeGpGkv1W69GHaBXML2xKKAKIZ4aeaEQTPbsBmaWVYul2BX9Lr6zOpShtcGMqbb7OsYBXIRewrmNSsY/s1600/IMG_5528.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU5V1PPg2UaO9mokKy-BLMxi7GTSWCKBxi4MWK5oMDeqL5HBYyTTNVjwHY-JlaXeGpGkv1W69GHaBXML2xKKAKIZ4aeaEQTPbsBmaWVYul2BX9Lr6zOpShtcGMqbb7OsYBXIRewrmNSsY/s200/IMG_5528.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGfjiXekcGjBfxUAW0AIh58xpXx39aHoELTgabPXwkvkayEsuG1KHyRhpcb5ptrwx6c6I049w3LKL4XlprZ_1U-WOLva3xyUVddJtREwiB3rts0VQJzz7tunfJw3uBmaV3-FPdakZiIKE/s1600/IMG_5536.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGfjiXekcGjBfxUAW0AIh58xpXx39aHoELTgabPXwkvkayEsuG1KHyRhpcb5ptrwx6c6I049w3LKL4XlprZ_1U-WOLva3xyUVddJtREwiB3rts0VQJzz7tunfJw3uBmaV3-FPdakZiIKE/s200/IMG_5536.JPG" width="200" /></a>Here is Nicolas and I, <a href="http://recherche.ircam.fr/equipes/temps-reel/movement/rasamimanana/static.php?page=bio">Nicolas Rasamimanana</a>, my formidable collaborator at IRCAM who now runs his own NPO, <a href="http://www.phonotonic.com/">Phonotonic</a>, a 'spin off' of IRCAM pursuing individual projects. He said he might incorporate by the end of the year, to go "for-profit"! :)<br />
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Nicolas is a violinist also, and such a wonderful mathematician and scientist, that when we are together, what I do is to start saying something, and he goes, "Yes, that's right..." or "That's something I wanted to do anyway..." Although he speaks fantastic English, we really don't have to say much, and we could communicate with motions, music, or mime :) I count my blessings being able to work with him. I discuss what I need from the sensor data, and he starts talking to himself programming, and I just listen to his murmuring like music :) Then we try, then he programs, repeat.... In short half a day, we got already so much done. We also tried our scenarios for Fukusuke Nakamura, Kabuki actor wearing the sensor while he dances, by looking at the movies and data I made in Tokyo two weeks ago. (<a href="http://subharmonics.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-monumental-day-with-fukusuke_15.html">See the last post)</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC_CbEPZ5HHiKa2t166IEX3Rg7-KmyiaNzGT3jNS2GbjYWjOyvstx-rHLRsrNMhPLxGYvoqFow8gxMNVdTcK3Ief9Qog7Wme9Xx8xElun01XxUdBhrIV7CqJJ2my4DrukwCf3U7Y3vm0Q/s1600/IMG_5532.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC_CbEPZ5HHiKa2t166IEX3Rg7-KmyiaNzGT3jNS2GbjYWjOyvstx-rHLRsrNMhPLxGYvoqFow8gxMNVdTcK3Ief9Qog7Wme9Xx8xElun01XxUdBhrIV7CqJJ2my4DrukwCf3U7Y3vm0Q/s320/IMG_5532.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>And of course, I'm in Paris, so my first lunch out with Nicolas was Salade de Gésiers.... I was dreaming about this :) Nicolas had crêpe, and we both had Cidre... :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-51782592322125517472011-07-15T13:18:00.013-04:002011-07-19T01:36:12.073-04:00My monumental day with Fukusuke Nakamura (中村福助)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span id="goog_1679989644"></span><span id="goog_1679989645"></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI4bUjQRvTbzu7qLVUIxAnCmV899Ek09ulO5llG1SyJJ_O_vly3U0DJCNYBMYqVdVOvOpKYTHpahQBGghCSggXGIvrmcMaWOJjX0Ez1E2clY3t5HqTPr0paYWTN4S8zfuvs2rWQMkrSSM/s1600/fukusuke3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI4bUjQRvTbzu7qLVUIxAnCmV899Ek09ulO5llG1SyJJ_O_vly3U0DJCNYBMYqVdVOvOpKYTHpahQBGghCSggXGIvrmcMaWOJjX0Ez1E2clY3t5HqTPr0paYWTN4S8zfuvs2rWQMkrSSM/s320/fukusuke3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I have been visiting Japan almost for the week, giving lectures and performances here in Tokyo. I decided to do this, leaving behind my family in NYC, after hearing that young Japanese artists and students are feeling rather depressed and helpless in the aftermath of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. I wanted to at least give some hope and joy of being creative in a unique way, and by all accounts, from the letters I received from enthusiastic students at my lectures saying "so encouraging, so much fun, astonishing, flabbergasted" (!) I am so happy that I came back.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmg-hZAWEbL6mFobvbMSATkEhDYlFo_Aii7GGSGJhH-lIW2ZjLIIdeC4zMgzNnIBLfSjpiw2y5RgimHPPTAvWkw9K2zoyoBmCPDw9GZ6Q-ZJSZA2OZ1JtQs8qxarwI004qvNWlP-p263g/s1600/IMG_5215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmg-hZAWEbL6mFobvbMSATkEhDYlFo_Aii7GGSGJhH-lIW2ZjLIIdeC4zMgzNnIBLfSjpiw2y5RgimHPPTAvWkw9K2zoyoBmCPDw9GZ6Q-ZJSZA2OZ1JtQs8qxarwI004qvNWlP-p263g/s320/IMG_5215.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>A few years ago, I had an earth-shattering, shocking experience seeing the extraordinary performance by one of the foremost Kabuki actors of our time, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1679989631">Fukusuke</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1679989631"> </a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.kabuki21.com/fukusuke9.php">Nakamura</a>, (<a href="http://www.nakamura-fukusuke.co.jp/profile.html">Japanese here</a>) who gave an avant-garde performance dancing with a pianist playing Chopin (see <a href="http://subharmonics.blogspot.com/2008/07/where-am-i-from.html">"Where am I from?"</a>). Yesterday, I had one of the most inspiring meeting with this extraordinary artist. I visited him in the backstage of Shinbashi Performance Theater (新橋演舞場), in between his Kabuki performances. I was introduced to him by Today's top Shamisen virtuoso Mojibe Tokiwazu 5th, the head of the House of Tokiwazu(常磐津文字兵衛5世)whom I collaborated a few years ago when I curated Music from Japan Festival in New York. Mojibe is the most astonishing artist; no one can be more traditional, yet he does completely outrageously adventurous activities. (see his <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS749GXVP0U&feature=related">Shamisen Rock video</a>!) I can't say how much I respect his open-mindedness; we worked together on interactive computer with Shamisen and Violin.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Fukusuke, a Japanese celebrity, a theater actor as well as a movie star, is one of the foremost Japanese Kabuki actor in the female role (Onna-kata 女形) recognized over the world. I was quite star-struck at first, but I immediately realized he is a true artist completely free of pretension, who is tremendously open-minded and genuinely interested in all forms of creativity. He was wonderful to speak with, about all issues regarding the very essence to performance. We are in very different fields, but I think we connected instantly at the artistic level. We spoke about the 'flow' of performance, 'preparations' gestures, what is the 'quality' of movement, and how one must remain connected to the tradition, as well as being experimental. I wished that I recorded everything he talked about; Fukusuke comes from a long line of the prestigious House of Nakamura, the family who has been Kabuki actors since the 1700s. He spoke about many of his legendary relatives and how they worked, their discipline and what he learned from them; many of his relatives were given the titles of Living National Treasures by the Japanese government.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The picture is Fukusuke wearing one of the motion sensors I'm working with, developed at IRCAM in Paris. I took Fukusuke's hand gesture data, and let him try out some interactive computer music with his hand. I was very happy that he seemed genuinely interested in collaborating together, and he wrote so in his <a href="http://ameblo.jp/fukusukeeiichi/entry-10952618247.html">official blog</a> (in Japanese) , and <a href="http://ameblo.jp/fukusukeeiichi/entry-10952682044.html">more pictures here too</a> !!! </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-31268160623086949012011-07-08T00:40:00.001-04:002011-07-08T00:48:50.754-04:00Off topic: obsessions :)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGqMUkBBym_p9Q9I86UcsVsftOkXielAAdONwmWK2-z5RYUDRR-NT9J1GAg2Q2g1uZtTk6SFW60ZMKFGMtu0Gth0XcIV1R24TAJQbXoTB6pNLgPoHSVHfIbR5HgiFFsUnauopZKIqetMc/s1600/birkin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGqMUkBBym_p9Q9I86UcsVsftOkXielAAdONwmWK2-z5RYUDRR-NT9J1GAg2Q2g1uZtTk6SFW60ZMKFGMtu0Gth0XcIV1R24TAJQbXoTB6pNLgPoHSVHfIbR5HgiFFsUnauopZKIqetMc/s320/birkin.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This post is not related anywhere near Subharmonics, but I think I have an addictive personality. From childhood my mother used to complain that I would get into one thing and ONLY one thing, like food, book, toy etc. going through phases. I still haven't recovered from this 'sickness' which continues to my adulthood. Maybe because of this obsessive personality, I get to do such esoteric thing like Subharmonics LOL!<br />
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To take an example, I watch same movies over and over and over again, actually ONE SCENE of a movie over and over again. There is this movie called "Evil Under the Sun", an all-star cast Agatha Christie movie starring Peter Ustinov. In this 1982 movie, English/French actress Jane Birkin has a scene towards the end where she dramatically changes her demeanor and especially clothing, making a spectacular entrance. I am so obsessed with this scene, with the accompanying march-like music, I believe by Cole Porter arranged by John Lanchbery. Peter Ustinov tapping his hand and his feet with the tune, and the tempo slows down in crescendo changing into more jazzy music, and Jane Birkin's character descends the spiral staircase while everyone watches her open-mouthed in awe. (if you have netflix, it's about 1hr 48 min)<br />
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I think what I'm obsessed with is the TEMPO change. It's the effect of this music and the scene that are so perfect together. I'm not giving away the plot since this is a mystery, but for some reason, I can watch this scene, over and over again :) I'm curious, what are other people's silver-screen obsessions?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-15192651479765580362011-07-04T16:30:00.002-04:002011-07-04T16:43:04.908-04:00July 4th :) and "I-Quadrifoglio"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib7N4Q2_WeNwH3Vv5t9TL_p_sEX83wkQuwCoHZEyEz-VhClfEzi0b7HxZRtV_lLs6qzvafTa7LiIXzbPJczcPulUcDgqrvzEQKwkzzM9twR3yE6uwKpcnteiLdsDur7uibcyL1iuauZWk/s1600/PrideImmigrant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib7N4Q2_WeNwH3Vv5t9TL_p_sEX83wkQuwCoHZEyEz-VhClfEzi0b7HxZRtV_lLs6qzvafTa7LiIXzbPJczcPulUcDgqrvzEQKwkzzM9twR3yE6uwKpcnteiLdsDur7uibcyL1iuauZWk/s320/PrideImmigrant.jpg" width="176" /></a></div>To my complete surprise, in today's New York Times there is an yearly ad placed by the Carnegie Corporation entitled "100 immigrants: Pride of America", which I am included as one of them. A friend alerted me on my Facebook page. (I'm right next to the word "America" on the right side, middle of the page)<br />
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It is such an honor, and I am so grateful to the <a href="http://www.vilcek.org/">Vilcek Foundation</a> whose founder, Jan Vilcek himself is listed right next to me as well in this page. It was the Vilceks, who sponsored and presented my solo recital in May, recognizing my work as an immigrant artist.<br />
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In the meantime on earth :) I went shopping with my daughter this morning for all-American (or trying to be) July 4th dinner, which I imagine consists of hamburgers (although we can't barbeque on the upper west side NYC apartment) corn on cobs etc. I haven't gotten beer which is a huge oversight. (but we got wine)<br />
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AND in the meantime I'm very busy preparing for visiting the <a href="http://www.cassattquartet.com/">Cassatt String Quartet</a> tomorrow morning to do some basic soundcheck for my new commissioned work "I-Quadrifoglio" for string quartet and interactive computer, which will premiere in October in NYC. It would be absolutely my first composition, which I will NOT be performing myself! Although the first violinist, Muneko Otani and I studied with the same teacher and we have been a long-time friend. I know her violin playing and how she would phrase music. As for the title, it was very simple; Muneko emailed me one day almost in panic "I need the title!!" since they were doing a presentation at an Apple Store in Manhattan. Everything Apple starts with "I", and I happened to be browsing at hybrid cars (!) one of which was Alfa-Romeo. Quartet /4-leaf clover + Interactive = I-Quadrifoglio !!! A lot of times, title of my pieces actually start to take over my imagination and this one probably will :) And not to worry, for the premiere, I will have more 'legitimate' program notes and the origin of this title :):)<br />
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It is very VERY interesting for me to be working on this project, as processing a string quartet is quite monumental compared to processing just one violin as I usually do. It has already been done by many composers, but I guess what would be quite unique about mine is, that I am trying to make this work completely "hands-free", that is, using absolutely no computer operator on or off stage, but with absolutely no pre-recorded materials, just real-time processing.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-7147214169047723992011-06-28T22:25:00.004-04:002011-06-28T22:43:59.680-04:00Recording JanMaricana<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7KO9sTTkfzIpE3OA6dSi650urezSbVSpSNF6KIIaPyviko72qb8ttJ2fm6FMUKndsk7BhTGk5TASUG54hvQTM81wtw3fnL7MXR8xuqetGTUac-fbeGDMBXxAyIkWJNQ14Z4Sln0R92Gc/s1600/HueForTwo+01110.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7KO9sTTkfzIpE3OA6dSi650urezSbVSpSNF6KIIaPyviko72qb8ttJ2fm6FMUKndsk7BhTGk5TASUG54hvQTM81wtw3fnL7MXR8xuqetGTUac-fbeGDMBXxAyIkWJNQ14Z4Sln0R92Gc/s320/HueForTwo+01110.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>So I played a duo concert <a href="http://www.marikimura.com/Site_2/Hue_for_Two.html">"Hue for Two" with Stephen Gosling </a>last Saturday, to a standing-room-only audience thanks to the extraordinary work of my publicist Jonathan Slaff; he got the New York Times weekend listing which also received 'starred' recommendation, so I actually had some audiences who were tourists from out of town just came out of curiosity. I appreciated very much playing not just among my usual NYC circle of "contemporary music crowd". (photo by Lee Wexler)<br />
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I also for the first time, tried my hand in fund-raising through <a href="http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/">United States Artists</a>. It was a very educational experience, but in the hindsight, it was very very hard to both do the fund-raising AND performing such a demanding program. I'm not sure what I should do in the future regarding this issue.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCFiAfoDSyzfcpWrJr4viZFL_wpNEiq27oRyMZEOdDqrThglfiv1aAdWbX-xgO7NQtxldEC-FE1hGmT-Dwkba-7d8IEo8mgCMG1b0eZsPlklhmmMONZ98HbAeRHAJhppCqLfXxp2RdqRs/s1600/IMG_5043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCFiAfoDSyzfcpWrJr4viZFL_wpNEiq27oRyMZEOdDqrThglfiv1aAdWbX-xgO7NQtxldEC-FE1hGmT-Dwkba-7d8IEo8mgCMG1b0eZsPlklhmmMONZ98HbAeRHAJhppCqLfXxp2RdqRs/s320/IMG_5043.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Today I went into a studio at <a href="http://harvestworks.org/">Harvestworks</a>, a media arts center in NYC, to record one of my newest pieces called "JanMaricana for Subharmonics" which uses my newest Subharmonic 5th. It was composed for <a href="http://www.vilcek.org/gallery/on-view-now/string-theater.html">my solo concert in May, presented by the Vilcek Foundation</a> which support immigrant scientists and artists; I was so enormously grateful for their complete support that I decided to write and dedicate a work for Jan and Marica Vilcek borrowing their name, and even put in some Smetana/Dvorak-ish Czech harmonies in the piece (they are of Czech origin). By incorporated Subharmonic 5th into this JanMaricana for the very first time, I thought the work will be known as the very first composition in the history of the violin that uses the Subharmonic 5th, also my deep gratitude to Jan and Marica Vilcek for recognizing the significance of my work.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjiojjjM_oReJw1J86YDWgw5r9UNlD6X7H8P-jQywq7N405cS036JA1CrT2pzEd2CdsGCw0RoRhuKT2_kM97lKOIQDMRK0gxi7zo_1fagw8zPAE2hap8P7Y8RREZ_3EPRXmFfx0v_jzXw/s1600/IMG_5047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjiojjjM_oReJw1J86YDWgw5r9UNlD6X7H8P-jQywq7N405cS036JA1CrT2pzEd2CdsGCw0RoRhuKT2_kM97lKOIQDMRK0gxi7zo_1fagw8zPAE2hap8P7Y8RREZ_3EPRXmFfx0v_jzXw/s320/IMG_5047.JPG" width="320" /></a>I have this pathetically fatalistic notion that every time before I get onto a plane, I make sure to leave my latest everything current LOL! I thought that I should document this recording of JanMaricana before I fly to Japan in a few weeks, and while I still can play this very difficult piece. :) Here is my finger after 2 hours of recording; I also took the sound samples for my other new work, "Voyage Apollonian" which was also premiered at the Vilcek concert last month; I will have to process it and post-produce it, but now I have the sound source. I also recorded the samples for English composer Andrew Lovett, whom I'm collaborating. The whole session took less than 2+1/2 hrs, of which more than 30 minutes were spent on adjusting the microphone placements. My wonderful sound engineer is Paul Geluso, who has been recording most of my albums as I trust his ears. We listen and listen until we like the violin sounds, in every register. It really is a great pleasure working with him as he understands what I like.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6max-R3qd0MLQ-Q965DLIpTk2OA2wFGw3NDHFuBOdP8KyOe1nxdDuwji7M_pQLZ4kk51QNxexmEzRP1VoqTYTQX4mBRAoC4K_L1ixtP-jxNiUQvHnqsaEdJZg_GQ5jLDO02D4qUaAdgU/s1600/IMG_5039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6max-R3qd0MLQ-Q965DLIpTk2OA2wFGw3NDHFuBOdP8KyOe1nxdDuwji7M_pQLZ4kk51QNxexmEzRP1VoqTYTQX4mBRAoC4K_L1ixtP-jxNiUQvHnqsaEdJZg_GQ5jLDO02D4qUaAdgU/s320/IMG_5039.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Here is Paul adjusting the microphones in XY placement; he also put a third microphone below aiming from a different direction. We spent a long time adjusting the balance of the two tracks.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-48530771679962048932011-06-15T20:58:00.002-04:002011-06-15T21:00:51.618-04:00In Copenhagen and temporary home of my blog :)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIrT5Lta8DnujGqp-TJuSXOoGxj8h5GBvLYql20EiedGZ5NZ2sCrRlXnRyc-p-P-gBi7wXB04fyBTaY2HQ5I9YaAacBgxwopQ1TEc3b890ol_BGgUNh30IbTjgFaLOOrXYGucv7K5wjxY/s1600/IMG_4963.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIrT5Lta8DnujGqp-TJuSXOoGxj8h5GBvLYql20EiedGZ5NZ2sCrRlXnRyc-p-P-gBi7wXB04fyBTaY2HQ5I9YaAacBgxwopQ1TEc3b890ol_BGgUNh30IbTjgFaLOOrXYGucv7K5wjxY/s200/IMG_4963.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Well, I just logged into the blogger.com using Danish version of Google, and managed it :) I'm here on a multi-media collaborative workshop project by NYC media artist <a href="http://tonidove.com/">Toni Dove</a>.<br />
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I have been on hiatus yet again from my blog, but at the moment I have temporarily immigrated my blog to <a href="http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/">United States Artists</a>, a NPO I was invited to join; it is an artists' advocacy for fund raising organization, connecting artists directly to the audience and philanthropists. Next week, I'm self-producing a recital of violin and piano, with prime NYC pianist Stephen Gosling entitled "Hue for Two". For the first time, raising my own funding.<br />
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Please visit my page at <a href="http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/project/hue_for_two">Hue for Two</a>. You can see my demo video there, as well as daily (I'm trying :) updates (click on "updates" below our picture/video). Today I just posted a note about Debussy's violin sonata and a 1-cent clue on violin practicing :):)<br />
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If you like my temporary blog, I appreciate any pledge (you won't be charged unless I reach my goal) and now your every $ has a matching fund from USArtists!<br />
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The picture above is a copy of the first page of Debussy's sonata, which belonged to my last teacher at Juilliard, Joseph Fuchs.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-29268788832588196962011-05-14T10:15:00.002-04:002011-05-14T12:15:49.348-04:00Longest hiatus, back with a bang :)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ElJYylzdasPkL13-tDFdCZSIoFOw5Dyj879VWYY0q-Po_VVZYkjsVOa4DhhIiSc5CkxGZZ81UENRy0F9tv9qvRtjIRpGKyU50ThMAUEt9xkCkQF-6wGV-mMlJ8jyWuWeFti8VRMLoZI/s320/NYTimes2011.jpg" width="320" /></div>So I didn't post for two long month--I wrote sometime ago that I was alone in Paris last summer while being an resident at IRCAM, when I had all the time to myself, thanks to my French in-laws who kept my children. Back in NYC, with daily life of the mother of two (7 and 10 year olds) plus everything else that I do, prevents me from low-priority activities such as blogging :)<br />
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So here it is, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/arts/music/the-violinist-mari-kimuri-looks-for-low-notes.html?_r=1&smid=tw-nytimesarts&seid=auto">New York Times feature</a> just came out today, a wonderful effort by one of the best journalists I had the privilege working with, <a href="http://www.beyondcriticism.com/about/">Matthew Gurewitsch</a>. I really don't know how he managed to put this kind of thorough efforts, taking on such an esoteric artist like myself. Matthew really is an artist himself, whose integrity I truly respect. He asked so many good questions that also helped me define what I do, as "disseminating" and "publicizing" have never been my strong points. He managed to explain correctly two very difficult and different areas of my creative activities accessibly to the public, one in Subharmonics and anther in interactive computer. <br />
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One thing he breezed through, which he stated in the article, that I have now Subharmonic Octave, Second, Third and the FIFTH. It is this FIFTH that I have been working on and off for several years, for those of you who read my previous enigmatic posts about it probably knew :) Yes, the elusive 5th is here. Actually I also do have diminish 5th and 4th, as a deviation from the 5th, which is my latest of the latest, but didn't make it into the article :) I am still curious if there is a FOURTH as it stands alone, not a deviation of the 5th; what I mean 'deviation', is that I slightly move my bow towards the fingerboard while I play Subharmonic Fifth, then I get these two: diminish 5th and perfect fourth.<br />
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Oh well, that is still to come.... :) For those of you violinists who are trying my technique, try the fifth! :) It came very difficult to me but everyone's arm is different, and I suspect it comes quite easy for some of you.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-79320828946796562682011-03-11T20:55:00.000-05:002011-03-11T20:55:04.919-05:00When life stopsAs most of you know Japan suffered one of the biggest earthquake in history today. I happened to wake up in the middle of the night in New York, and found someone posting on Facebook and tried to call my parents. All phones and cellphones were out, but eventually my mother emailed me, and my family is all fine. It turns out, internet was the lifeline.<br />
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After finding out my family's safety I tried to resume my work and life, practicing my Subharmonics again. I kept watching Japanese realtime internet TV and couldn't really focus. But life goes on, but I am rethinking our family's preparedness; I should beef up our emergency kits.... <br />
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I did practice almost 2 hours on Subharmonics, and got other work done. It was relieving to know my parents were safe. The disturbing thing about my last note, the one that I'm so struggling to get, is that there is almost no sign of it! Others are getting better and better, and now I'm trying to artificially put a pressure on myself, to make sure I can produce them under any circumstances :) <br />
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Life goes on, work goes on.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-88124518177992667572011-03-10T20:47:00.000-05:002011-03-10T20:47:02.958-05:00Déjà vuFor the past month and a half, I'm intensely working on the new Subharmonics that I am finally getting. A few weeks ago we took our kids on vacation but I even took my practice violin along so that I won't forget it. If I let go for more than a day, I'm afraid I lose it.<br />
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This is purely a kinetic exercise that intellectually speaking, quite boring. I just have to repeat my motions over, and over, and over again until I <i>have</i> it. These days, every morning for solid one hour and half, I am doing only one thing and one thing only. Practicing this new Subharmonics. It is getting quite reliable now, and as said in my previous entries I need SEVEN semitones, of which I already have six. The last one, the open G string, is the most difficult to control. I am "inching towards it" quite literally. That is to say, I am putting my left hand finger very very close to the end of the fingerboard so it is almost open G, but not quite. I am trying to get used to the feeling on my right arm how it would feel like on the open G, although I still can't do it. I am seeing the day is coming very close. I can already do it about 60% of the time with this "cheat mode" with stopping the left hand finger very close to the open G.<br />
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This exercise is oh so boring, so much so that I need some entertainment. CNN these days is too disturbing about the news about Libya, so I'm watching movies that I have watched many times before, so I don't really have to watch it. With occasional resting of my right arm, I can watch "Apollo 13", "The Young Victoria", "My Cousin Vinny". "Analyze That" (or "This"), etc. I need to occupy my mind but not so much so that I need to pay attention to the film. When I work, I usually need some kind of distraction. If the TV or movie is on, I usually don't remember much, which my husband laughs about. I can watch the same movies over and over again since I'm not <i>really</i> watching :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-64466144799886843822011-03-08T23:05:00.000-05:002011-03-08T23:05:42.953-05:00Setting upThis morning, I went to the home of Muneko Otani, the 1st violinists of the Cassatt Quartet. I'm writing a new work for them for quartet and interactive computer, and they just got all the gear -- programs, microphones and audio interface -- so I went there to set up and check everything. <br />
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My new pieces are in different stages of development, one in particular, in connection to my *new* Subharmonics is especially interesting to me. I need to compose at the same time I'm just finding out how to control this new technique. The new Subharmonics arrive to me by accident. One day I hear something and I go, "Oh no, you've got to be kidding me!", which turns out, it isn't. I try to repeat the *accident*, and give up when I'm unable to do so. Then, when I do get to repeat the sound production I go "Ah ha!", try to hang onto that repeated *accident* and remember how I felt. Then I forget. Then I try again. It has been like this for the last several years to get this new Subharmonics. Finally, it is no longer an accident, but still quite unstable. In order (for me) to use it in a composition, I have to be able to play it 200% of the time - well, 100% of the time... i.e. I cannot afford NOT to be able to play it. It has to be on demand, and that is the hardest thing about Subharmonics. ANYBODY can play Subharmonics. But to control it, you need a very precise bowing technique.<br />
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I still don't have my last, 7th note... I got six out of seven. But I'm inching towards it.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8458269552813493020.post-51260924633824349582011-03-05T11:14:00.003-05:002011-03-05T11:26:34.548-05:00Listening to PicturesRight now, I'm involved intensely in several projects that are totally different. One in particular is very different from my usual creative process. It is an interactive graphics work, where I'm interacting with a short movie. I started this project inspired by the complex and imaginative beauty of this visuals, created by my friend <a href="http://mrl.nyu.edu/~perlin/">Ken Perlin</a> at NYU. <br />
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I have worked in collaboration with the visuals in the past, but this particular one, seems to dictate the music. I look at it, and each section or frame evoke sounds to me. I am "listening" to the pictures.<br />
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Not much can be said at this point, and I will follow up later.<br />
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The new Subharmonics is still stalled at six out of seven notes I need. One more note to go still, but it's still not coming.<br />
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Today is my father's 78th birthday. His name is <a href="http://www.f.waseda.jp/kkimura/old/">Ken-ichi Kimura</a>, and he is a Professor Emeritus at Waseda University in Architecture. He is the Japanese pioneer of Solar Energy. If you go to his page I linked here, and see "Japanese Vernacular Houses with a focus to energy conserving technologies" you can see how Japanese old houses used natural energy to be ECO-friendly. I grew up in a solar house, one of the first experimental house in Japan called "Kimura Solar House". He studied at MIT where he married my mother who was at Radcliff at the time. Both of them were on Fullbright Fellowship, and I have to say, that I know I was <i>conceived</i> in Boston! :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17540346158875509674noreply@blogger.com0