21st Century Conductor

"Karen Tanaka's Wave Mechanics was a model of keen concision, coloured by a pair of vibraphones, the contrast of horns and trumpets, the shimmer of strings and woodwind and the discreet use of electronics. The performance, conducted by Paul MacAlindin, was alert." Conrad Wilson, The Herald, 19th Feb, 2007 

“an energised exposition of Tanaka's nine-minute quantum theory-inspired Wave Mechanics by the excellent NYOS Futures” Jan Fairley, The Scotsman, 19^th Feb, 2007

Karen Tanaka’s ”Wave Mechanics” has a number of qualities that can be found throughout Japanese, French and quantum physical culture and philosophy.

Find out about the piece and Karen at:

http://www.chesternovello.com/Default.aspx?TabId=2432&...

MA

Ma is the Japanese art of defining the perception of space through placement of objects. Originally from Japanese traditional music, ma can be seen throughout architecture, design and Noh theatre. This advert for 12 year old Suntory single malt whisky shows how the black space is defined by the sparse graphic, a straw of barley folded over, origami style, into a whisky glass and ice cube. The vibraphones in “Wave Mechanics” are particularly important musical objects against the background of her musical space.

Chaos

Chaotic, densely packed energy vibrates against itself, as shown  in this La Foret Grand Bazaar advert.  In “Wave Mechanics”, the energy welling up from the strings, woodwind and brass, peaks in waves of critical mass and explodes into formlessness.  This is not unrelated to Zen Buddhism and the attainment of enlightenment through the breakdown of the ego into a sense of “oneness.” Additionally, the two vibraphones duet in freeform rhythmic improvisation against a backround string colour, combining ma and chaos.

Changes of colour

Relating to Karen’s love of changing colours throughout the seasons of the Japanese calendar, “Wave Mechanics” uses various devices to transform the tone of the instruments:

Tremolo – the rapid movement of the bow across the string of a violin or cello

Sul Ponticello – the placing of the bow closer to the bridge of the string instrument to create a more metallic tone. The feeling of metal was also one of Karen’s goals in this piece.

“Press” – pressing the bow into the string creates noise and tone, parallel to the explosive breath sounds and transformations of tone found in shakuhachi and other traditional instrumental styles from Japan.

Trill – rapidly alternating from one note to another

Electronics – at discreet points, Karen adds artificial reverberation to the strings, changing their colour and creating a new sense of space.  This relates also to ma.

IRCAM

If you really want to understand Karen’s early work, you have to understand IRCAM. The French institute for the research of acoustics and music was Karen’s research base from 1986.  

Spacialisation: The science of perceiving sound from a specific location in space, also related to ma.  This can be done through computer programmes (used in Hollywood all the time), or  by physically placing the instruments on the concert platform, as in “Wave Mechanics”, where the vibraphones are opposite each other backstage left and right.

Spectral Analysis: the electronic analysis of sound, working out the structure of a trumpet, cello or any other sound in great detail.  Armed with this knowledge, Karen and other composers control sounds in their electronic, acoustic, and electro-acoustic music with great refinement. This follows on beautifully from the treatment of sound as a pure, non-functional object by Debussy and Ravel. It also relates to Karen’s carefully planned schemes of changing the colour of sound from one state to another.

Here's a spectral analysis of a plucked open G on a guitar:

Find out about IRCAM at:

http://www.ircam.fr/

Quantum Mechanics

This is the core inspiration for Wave Mechanics. In the physics of the last 100 years, scientists have observed that atoms behave like wave forms of possibility.   This means that the old view of the atom as a physical object has been replaced by the new, quantum atom, with clouds of possibility showing where an electron may be at any given time.

The fact that all matter in the universe behaves like a wave and electrons are unpredictable in observed nature, leads to the science of quantum wave mechanics, or how waves of possibility interact with each other. This brings Karen’s music into the realm of metaphor for unpredictable, fuzzy sound worlds and clashing note clusters, collapsing, as one member of the audience suggested, into reality at the peak of each rising wave of sound.

Find out about Wave Mechanics at:

http://www.spaceandmotion.com

Conclusion 

Just how far you should go to investigate a piece of music depends largely on how adult you want to be.  For me, doing Wave Mechanics with NYOS Futures was an exploration into the nature of sound, the connection of science and spirit and a paradigm shift from my western perspective to the many qualities of Japanese culture, all of which are part and parcel of being an artist and conductor with this piece.

Bringing quantum physics, ma, spectral analysis, spacialisation and transformation of colour together into a musical workshop in the Reid Concert Hall of Edinburgh University last Sunday,  became for me a journey through perceptions of culture and reality, and how we can make serious choices (or not) in breaking through our limited view of another world.  It's also about firmly rooting contemporary classical music in contemporary culture, something that we as modern musicians have singularly failed to do.

Perhaps we also need to let go of the shallow, free-market version of multiculturalism as exotic product and learn about how other artists really think.  

 www.nyos.co.uk

Wave Mechanics can be heard on "Messages for the 21st Century, Vol 2", released by Deutsche Grammophon - POCG 1860

Her children's piano pieces, "Children of Light" is on CD at:

http://www.amazon.de/Tanaka-Short-Pieces-Ikuyo-Nakamichi/...

and the notes for the above ordered at:

http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/068456/details.html