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University of Huddersfield Repository Akama, Ryoko Exploring Empitness: An Investigation of MA and MU in My Sonic Composition Practice Original Citation Akama, Ryoko (2015) Exploring Empitness: An Investigation of MA and MU in My Sonic Composition Practice. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/26619/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ EXPLORING EMPTINESS AN INVESTIGATION OF MA AND MU IN MY SONIC COMPOSITION PRACTICE Ryoko Akama A commentary accompanying the publication portfolio submitted to the University of Huddersfield in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ! The University of Huddersfield School of Music, Humanities and Media April, 2015 Title: Exploring Emptiness Subtitle: An investigation of ma and mu in my sonic composition practice Name of student: Ryoko Akama Supervisor: Prof. Monty Adkins Co-supervisor: Dr. Philip Thomas Department: School of Music, Humanities and Media Degree: Doctor of Philosophy (Composition) 1! TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents 2 Table of Figures 4 Statement of Copyright 5 Abstract 6 List of Works Submitted 7 Acknowledgements 9 Introduction 10 0.1 Pre-digital Period 10 0.2 Eliane Radigue 10 0.3 Silence to Listen 11 0.4 Nagauta 12 0.5 Overview of the Commentary 13 Chapter 1 15 1.1 間 (Ma) and 無 (Mu) 15 1.1.1 能 (Noh) Culture 15 1.1.2 間 (Ma) - Space and Silence 17 1.1.3 無 (Mu) - Emptiness 22 1.1.4 せぬ隙が面白き (Senu Hima Ga Omoshiroki) - Where There Is No- action Is The Most Entertaining 28 1.2 Approaches to Materials 29 1.2.1 Tools 29 1.2.2 Sound 31 1.2.3 Space 34 1.3 Approaches to Text 36 1.3.1 Gap and Distance 36 1.3.2 Serial Principle 42 1.3.3 Text as Objects 42 1.3.4 Remoteness 45 1.4 Approaches to Form 46 1.4.1 Micro Events 46 1.4.2 Sustained Events 49 1.5 Approaches to Listening: Composer, Performer and Listener 51 1.5.1 Inessentiality of Stardom - Non-Hierarchical Experience 51 1.5.2 一音成仏 (Ichion Jyōbutsu) - One Sound is the Nirvana 54 1.5.3 Music Without Beginning or End 56 2! 1.6 Approaches to Perception 59 1.6.1 真行草 (Shin-Gyō-Sō) 59 1.6.2 侘び寂び (Wabi-sabi) and 乙 (Otsu) 63 Chapter 2 65 2.1 koso koso - Approaching Ma and Mu 65 2.1.1 Phenomime and Psychomine 66 2.1.2 Ma and Mu in Performance 69 2.1.3 Ma and Mu in Scores 70 2.1.4 White Image 73 2.2 treow - Approaching Materials 75 2.2.1 String 76 2.2.2 Perception 82 2.3 grade two / grade two extended - Approaching Text 83 2.3.1 Kanji System 83 2.3.2 Score 85 2.3.3 Time 86 2.3.4 Remote and Live 88 2.4 Espèces d'espaces 03/04 - Approaching Form 89 2.4.1 Species of Spaces and Other Pieces 89 2.4.2 Espèces d'espaces 03 90 2.4.3 Micro Events 91 2.4.4 Espèces d'espaces 04 93 2.4.5 Sustained Events 94 2.5 gnome - Approaching Listening 95 2.5.1 Piano 95 2.5.2 Silent Letter 96 2.5.3 Sound and Silence in Score 98 2.6 con.de.structuring - Approaching Perception 99 2.6.1 Perception 99 2.6.2 Soundless Sound 100 2.6.3 Performers 101 Conclusion 103 Bibliography 105 Appendix 115 3! TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: an example of pregnant emptiness Figure 1.2: a physical employment of ma in Espèces d'espaces 04 Figure 1.3: a view of the inter-relationship between ma and mu Figure 1.4: Christine Sun Kim Pianoiss . issmo (Worse Finish) (2012) Figure 1.5: an employment of space and silence in sotto Figure 1.6: an example of visitor's listening participation in treow Figure 1.7: Fred Sandback Untitled (Triangle) (1996) Figure 1.8: Eliane Radigue Elemental II (2002) Figure 1.9: Manfred Werder 2005/1 (2005) Figure 1.10: John Cage Empty Words (1973) Figure 1.11: ajar - a sound installation with glass, transducer and sine tones Figure 1.12: an dt wo for two pianos and sinetone Figure 1.13: a notation system in Pulse Figure 1.14: Rubin's figure and vase illusion Figure 1.15: Konparu's diagram of shin-gyō-sō in relation to figure and ground Figure 2.1: an example of Japanese phenomime 'gaku gaku' Figure 2.2: text and space in koso koso Figure 2.3: tada no score no.12 Figure 2.4: an employment of white image in code of silence album Figure 2.5: こそこそ (koso koso) - a collection of my text compositions Figure 2.6: cymatic patterns in RadiAT sound installation Figure 2.7: Music on Long Thin Wire (Lucier, 1977) performed in Cookes Studio, Cumbria (2013) Figure 2.8: box of austere instrument Figure 2.9: a part of the first schematic of treow Figure 2.10: the most recent schematic of treow Figure 2.11: a kanji exercise book - a text source for grade two Figure 2.12: a notation system in grade two Figure 2.13: Espèces d'espaces album Figure 2.14: a notation system in Espèces d'espaces 03 Figure 2.15: Espèces d'espaces 01 score as a form of jigsaw puzzle Figure 2.16: a piano part in gnome Figure 2.17: kotoba koukan album 4! STATEMENT OF COPYRIGHT i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns any copyright in it (the "Copyright") and s/he has given The University of Huddersfield the right to use such Copyright for any administrative, promotional, educational and/or teaching purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts, may be made only in accordance with the regulations of the University Library. Details of these regulations may be obtained from the Librarian. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of any patents, designs, trade marks and any and all other intellectual property rights except for the Copyright (the "Intellectual Property Rights") and any reproductions of copyright works, for example graphs and tables ("Reproductions"), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property Rights and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property Rights and/or Reproductions. 5! ABSTRACT The commentary investigates Japanese aesthetics of space, silence and emptiness - ma and mu - that informed my compositional practice during the research period 2012 - 2015. The portfolio comprises text compositions and sound installations in which forms of micro events and sustained events are employed. Throughout, the emphasis is on my personal engagement with, and manifestation of emptiness that concerns a particular model of listening and perception. Chapter 1 discusses six primary research areas: ma and mu, material, text, form, listening and perception. Firstly, I introduce ma and mu by examining noh culture and Zeami's teaching of senu hima (where there is no-action) in the context of my personal approaches to music. The following subjects are then used to contextualise my PhD practice by means of examples from various composers and visual artists. Here, these particular and enigmatic concepts are explored through Japanese art as well as Western contemporary works by Alvin Lucier, Eliane Radigue and those of the Wandelweiser collective. Part 2 provides contextual commentaries on selected compositions from the portfolio that mostly articulate my aesthetics in relation to the topics covered in Chapter 1. koso koso addresses my methodologies to investigate the essence of senu hima, followed by treow that discusses my approach to materials and the importance of space. I move on to grade two and grade two extended in order to examine text scores, and then, look into Espèces d'espaces 03 and 04 as examples of musical forms that I employ. Finally, listening and perception are investigated through the compositions gnome and con.de.structuring. Throughout, I describe how my works explore emptiness as a result of my particular emphasis on listening over composing. 6! LIST OF WORKS SUBMITTED (Italic number refers to appendix and digital submissions) 2012 text composition 01. transmigration 4' (for piano, alto flute and violin) 02. The Tortoise And The Crane variable duration (variable instrumentation and performers) 2013 text composition 03. presque rien 2' (for viola and sine tone) 04. Pulse variable duration (for koto and electronics) 05. Two Lions 12-15' (for voice and electronics) 06. koso koso variable duration (variable instrumentations and performers) 07.
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