Simply Complicated

Tattoo by: Max Von Kaspar

I did everything I wanted to do and also experienced everything I wanted to experience. 

I fell in love with the mountains, oceans and forests. For I know, they are my home. 

Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy

*woohoo, spoiler alert!*

If anyone is familiar with The Road, this book is by the same author (I actually never read The Road, but I am looking forward to it). This novel was, for lack of better words, dark and a little bit dehumanizing. What I found most remarkable about this novel, is that there is not a single explicit mention of any emotional feelings. We’re so used to reading books telling you how the characters feel, but not in this book! Admittedly, it does make the book a little hard to grasp at first due to the lack emotional mentions. The amazing effect of the style of writing McCarthy uses though, is that you begin to create your own emotions for these characters. It arouses a special, if not, more intimate relationship with all the characters in the book. This book is violent; deaths occur very consistently to animals, men, women, children and even infants. At one point while reading the book I found myself completely unaffected by the amount of violent killings occurring. That’s scary - but maybe it was intentional? One of the themes in this novel is the “real human nature”. As displayed in this book, humans are naturally drawn towards violence and evil. So when killing and death becomes the norm, and our emotions towards it can so easily become numb, is that an implication that our true nature is towards violence and evil? 

UO Percussion Studio 2015 will present their final concert of the year ... 

Please join us on May 28, 2015 @ 7:30PM 

“Mom, Dad, look what we did...” 

You won’t want to miss it. 

Aasen-Hull Hall/ RM 190 

I got the amazing opportunity to attend a talk with one of my favorite, living composers, Philip Glass. I love his music and what he does with it. If you’ve heard his pieces, they sound simple right? But the intensity, interesting harmonies, and innovation in his music writing creates a complexity that even the great names of music can’t compare to. 

He’s funny, humble, down to Earth, and honest. Flat out - a composer of his brilliance - said that talent is something you have or you don’t, but, who cares? What matters are three things: vision, stamina and commitment. 

He points to the younger generation (me!) and says, that hard work will get you somewhere. That’s why we go through school. 

The artist’s interpretation. His discussion on this fascinated me. Glass enjoy’s each artist’s individual interpretation of his music. He finds it fascinating and opens his eyes and ears to new sounds and new ideas he would not have thought about otherwise. 

I recently wrote a piece in the minimalist style - a quartet for percussion ensemble called We Insist on Making Things Complicated. My basis of this piece revolved around the idea that as humans we like to over think things, present things in over complex forms. The solo voice of my piece is a rhythm. I value every artist’s individual interpretation. Each specialized, personal interpretation is one of the most beautiful things on this planet. Thus this showcased solo part is liberated of instrumentation, dynamics, rules, and other specific performance practices. The only requirement is to convey the rhythm I have notated to the audience. (What a coincidence!) 

His idea of music is also based off of his mentality of “Why re-paint the Mona Lisa? It’s already there.” 

I found that most interesting. He refused to follow the generic ideas of music of his time - instead he decided to explore music through different means. This bold move also approached by other great composers of that generation such as John Cage, John Adams, Lou Harrison, & etc contributes to why there is such a vast diversity in music today. 

Glass, ever so gracefully, ends his talk by answering this question: 

“What is music?” 

He says that to him, music is a place. As musicians, we’re part of two worlds. We have one foot in this world and one foot in the other. 

Gorgeous. He didn’t say “music is a language”. I don’t disregard that, but it was refreshing to hear a different idea. 

I work with the pit at Sheldon High School in Eugene. It meant giving up my Fridays, some Wednesdays, a bit of my spring break and a lot of my only free time throughout winter term - but it was worth it. I’ve never done marching band in high school, so all this stuff was new for me. I was so lucky to have great mentors, co-workers and wonderful students to help me get settled into teaching pit. 

The best thing about teaching is that it’s so humbling. The marching world is different from my classical world which is different from my solo performing world and again, is so different from my music education world - but being involved in all of this makes me beyond happy. My mom always taught me to keep an open mind and to treat my mind like a sponge: absorb all the information I can. 

"Life is sustained by the grinding opposition of moral entities." | a.burgess

Heaven & Earth | 天與地

By: Pius Cheung 

The first piece on our concert is Rain Tree by Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu. In this piece Takemitsu paints a picture of this beautiful rain tree. The metal sounds: vibraphone & crotales - creates a sense of mystery and magic to this piece - painting this picture of a mysterious and grand rain tree. It's paired along side two marimbas. With the marimbas, there is a steady feel in the piece. To me this creates the image of the Rain Tree's massive roots, that keep it standing through the years. From beginning to end, you'll hear scattered rain drops that in a ways - becomes the "quote on quote" - cherry on top of the piece. Thus - there is a purpose behind each note, despite how scattered it may sound; which by far is my favorite aspect of this piece. Even the silences are placed carefully.... 

Happy Lunar New Year! 

I brought in the New Lunar Year, with of course, music. 

Lately I've grown a very strong love for adapting Bach's pieces for marimba. 

The Adagio from Bach's Violin Sonata I reminds me of the color, dark blue. The type of dark blue you imagine when you think "moonlight". It's heavy, maybe even tiresome. To me - this piece relates to insomnia. Imagine laying in bed at night, just thinking. It's quiet, you're tossing so slightly, and you're tired. You look out the window to see the moonlight - it's peaceful, but you feel troubled. 

I'm now working on adapting the Fugue from this same violin sonata onto marimba. The story with the fugue continues from the Adagio. The troubles are unraveling, but ever so slightly. You're waking up ....