Rei MUNAKATA: Okaeri II (2018) for ensemble

Rei Munakata Okaeri II (2018) for ensemble

Introduction Okaeri II (2018) for ensemble is commissioned by The Pranks Tokyo and composer Yuko Ohara as a part of project “Dreams you dream when you grow up”.

First performance: January 31st, 2018 Tokyo Opera City Hall, Tokyo Japan.

Reiko Manabe/fl, Kaoru Nishimura/cl, Yuiko Yasuda/pno, Kei Hakota/obj, Yuuichi Natsuaki/vlc

Instrumentation Flute

Flute Piccolo Paper megaphone (shared with the clarinettist) *)

Clarinet

Clarinet in Bb Paper megaphone (shared with the flutist) Small jingle bell Uchiwa

Piano

Grand piano with 3 pedals Plastic card Slide whistle

Percussion

A3 paper attached on a larger corrugated paper with tape.

2 shoe brushes: Preferably two brushes with different hardness of the hair.

Styrofoam: Ca 30 cm x 30 cm or larger Metal pot: Garden pot made of metal Floor brush Ocean drum, placed on an oven grill shelf Meinl spark shaker Uchiwa Bass drum (optional)

Cello

Cello with bow Uchiwa Hurin, hanging from a stand

Preferred performance condition: • •

Okaeri II is best suited to be performed in a small venue (ex. small cottage made of wood) that gives a sense of intimacy and focus. In a large concert venue, consider amplifying all the instruments (specially the paper brushing technique of the object player).

The performers freely decide the stage disposition with the following conditions: 1) All objects except Hurin should be clearly visible to the audience when played, 2) Hurin does not need to be visible, but there is no need of hiding it either, 3) flute and clarinet should sit next to each other if sharing the paper megaphone.

Program Note Okaeri (2018) for ensemble ¨If you happen to visit the house on Beverly Drive, try to open the window just a little.¨ Kuragari (2017) for piano solo 「もし真夜中にビバリードライブの家までお越しになられるなら、窓を少しだけ開けてみてください。」

Compositional idea and concept:

(The following text should NOT be presented to the audience in any form) Okaeri means ¨welcome home¨ in Japanese. Born in Yokohama, raised mostly in Japan and partly in China, lived in the US where my parents still live, and reside in Stockholm, I have many places I can call a ¨home¨. But the identity of a ¨home¨ is not very clear: What makes home your true home? Is it the geographical location? People you grew up with? Climate? Smell? Maybe sound?

One night at my parents place in New York during a hot summer (after a long journey from Stockholm with 6 hours of jet lag), I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Lazy to turn on the light even though it was totally dark except the faint light from the moon. The window in the bathroom was slightly left ajar, and the stream of heat and subtropical sauna-like smell came in through the window together with extremely loud and intense noise of summer insects. At that moment, I was suddenly transported back to my childhood in Shiomidai, Japanese cicada catching, hurin (Japanese wind chime), and fireworks.

The summer in Stockholm is very quiet, It was my dream to let my daughter experience the hot and noisy Japanese summer.

Performance Notes In general, Okaeri II (2018) for piano solo should be performed with a great sense of concentration.

The score is transposed.

Flute/Piccolo Note head Black note head (¨●¨)

Normal playing with pitch.

Square note head (¨ ⬜ ¨)

Air noise without pitch in default. But add a hint of pitch when necessary (ad lib).

Open (ord.) embouchure as default except “rr flt." effect (see below) or otherwise indicated.

Cross note head (¨x¨)

Instrument: Hold the indicated key silently.

Whispering: Whisper the indicated text without voice.

(Glissando from black note head to square note head) Fingering: Bb - A - G - F - E - D during the given duration (sixteenth note value).

Tonguing: Double tongue (“tk”) as fast as possible during the given duration regardless of the fingerings.

Absolutely no diminuendo.

Whispering

All whispering should be pronounced clearly without letting the vocal cord to vibrate. Articulate hard consonants such as “t” and “k” percussively as much as possible.

There are two whispering techniques throughout the piece: 1) Whisper into the paper megaphone Roll an A2 paper into cone-shaped paper megaphone.Hold up the paper megaphone towards the audience and whisper mysteriously.

2) Whisper into the instrument Whisper into the mouthpiece with indicated fingerings. Always closed embouchure when whispering.

“shupi shupi…”: Repeat whispering “shupi” as many times and fast as possible during the note length indicated with a horizontal line after the cross note head (The score only indicates the first two “shupi”s).

Strongly articulate the first “shu” with a strong sense of kung-fu like gesture.

Discontinuous whispering: Always whisper “shupi” repeatedly when the horizontal line reappears. Irregular and unpredictable.

“rr’ flt.

Flutter-tongue with only air and articulated whispering of “rr” with fingering of C major scale from B to low C. Always closed embouchure when this technique appears.

Physical movements

All physical movements throughout the performance should be well planned and organic as if practicing martial arts. Keep every gesture (picking up instrument, turning page, etc) subtle and concentrated.

[Palm scrape] Put the instrument aside.

Slowly raise both hands in the air during the given duration (the dotted line).

Scrape the palms against each other (one palm moves slightly faster than the other to “catch up” when scraping).

The physical movement of the whole phrase should be somewhat circular and continuous organic movement with constant speed. Only the speed changes dramatically when scraping (suddenly very fast).

Clarinet Note head Black note head (¨●¨)

Normal playing with pitch.

Square note head (¨ ⬜ ¨)

Air noise (see below for details description).

Cross note head (¨x¨)

Instrument: Hold the indicated key silently.

Whispering: Whisper the indicated text without voice.

Triangle note head (¨▷¨)

Tongue ram.

Air noise

Air noise without pitch in default. But add a hint of pitch when necessary (ad lib). ↑ and ↓

Inhale and exhale (ord.)

[Air noise in treble clef 5-line staff] The indicated pitch refers to the fingering, and not necessary the sounding pitch.

All air noise should be without pitch in default, but feel free to add a hint of pitch if the performer feels the necessity. Vary the character of the air noise depending on your interpretation throughout the piece.

[Air noise in 2-line staff] Upper line = high Lower line = low Improvise the fingering and embouchure during air noise passages in 2-line staff according to the interpretation.

Whispering

All whispering should be pronounced clearly without letting the vocal cord to vibrate. Articulate hard consonants such as “t” and “k” percussively as much as possible.

There are two whispering techniques throughout the piece: 1) Whisper into the paper megaphone Roll an A2 paper into cone-shaped paper megaphone.Hold up the paper megaphone towards the audience and whisper mysteriously.

2) Whisper into the instrument Whisper into the mouthpiece with indicated fingerings.

“shupi shupi…”: Repeat whispering “shupi” as many times and fast as possible during the note length indicated with a horizontal line after the cross note head (The score only indicates the first two “shupi”s).

Strongly articulate the first “shu” with a strong sense of kung-fu like gesture.

Discontinuous whispering: Always whisper “shupi” repeatedly when the horizontal line reappears. Irregular and unpredictable.

Small Jingle bell

Hang a small jingle bell (ca 1-2 cm in diameter) at the corner of the note stand with a thread loop attached with tape. Make sure neither the stand or the tape disturbs the bell sounding.

Tap the bell with finger.

Gentle but rhythmical. Always with the slide whistle (piano player).

Physical movements

All physical movements throughout the performance should be well planned and organic as if practicing martial arts. Keep every gesture (picking up instrument, turning page, etc) subtle and concentrated.

Uchiwa

Japanese hand fan with any design, but preferably made of wood and paper.

Raise the Uchiwa in the air.

Gently fan the air with extremely slow and relaxing manner with an organic physical movement and meditative mind.

Keep changing the speed (fragmented air flow).

Move naturally without any sudden movement.

Imagine your fan is moving the whole atmosphere and bending the time space.

Piano Grand piano with 3 pedals.

Piano notation and various techniques Black note head (¨●¨)

Normal playing with pitch.

Diamond note head (¨♢¨) Press the keys silently without letting the hammer hit the strings.

[Percussive pedal] Stomp the pedal percussively.

[Scrape the black keys with plastic card] Follow the graphical notation for scraping duration, speed, and velocity.

The plastic card should be soft enough to be able to scrape the black keys (only) continuously, but hard enough to have clear noise of the card hitting the edge of the keys.

[Repeated dots] Repeat the indicated note (the middle D in this example) as fast as possible during the duration indicated with a thin line.

Silde whistle The whole or at least the mouthpiece of the slide whistle should be made of wood. Choose a slide whistle that has mellow and round tone quality. Avoid cheap plastic ones that has thrilling tone quality.

Black note head (¨●¨)

Normal playing with pitch.

Square note head (¨ ⬜ ¨)

Cover half (or more) of the labium with finger to prevent pitches to appear. Experiment with how much to cover as a slight little difference makes a big difference in sounding result. Aim for air noise that sounds like a violent “jet stream”.

Whispering

All whispering should be pronounced clearly without letting the vocal cord to vibrate.

Physical movements

All physical movements throughout the performance should be well planned and organic as if practicing martial arts. Keep every gesture (picking up instrument, turning page, etc) subtle and concentrated.

Object player A3 paper

with 2 shoe brushes Place an A3 paper (100 g) on a larger corrugated paper as shown in the diagram.

Tape all corners to prevent the A3 paper to move away.

Place the above on a resonance board (ex. cardboard box, wooden box, or drum) to let the scraping sound to be louder.

Alternatively, slight amplification can be used depending on the concert venue.

Brushes with two different hardness of bristle (one very soft and the other medium soft) that can create a hissing sound “s s s” when scraping the surface of the A3 paper. Keep changing the angle and the amount of bristle according to the dynamics and phrases.

Optionally, prepare more than 2 brushes for more variation.

The A3 paper part is notated in 2 line system: The lower line = towards the player The higher line = away from the player General playing technique: Gently brush the paper as if sweeping. It is important that the brushes do not ¨hit¨ the paper from above but only scrape from sideway as much as possible in one direction (i.e., not in a back-and-forth or zigzag motion), alternating left and right, to create gentle and quiet but somewhat noisy hissing sound.

The default dynamics are ppp / pp / p, but feel free to vary the dynamics depending on your interpretation and feeling.

• When performing ppp / pp / p, stay only on the A3 paper.

• When performing louder, move towards the corrugated paper outside of the A3 paper to enhance the scraping noise.

Tremolo-like busy scraping (“s s s s”). Use very little area of the paper for each scraping (but always with a lot of hair). Keep it light and gentle with an “almost” regular tremolo (i.e., not mechanical).

Create a carpet of scraping noise. Very “busy” and “noisy” but from very far in distance. “niente subito”: Suddenly let the brushes leave the A3 paper without stopping the scraping motion.

Keep “brushing” in the air (totally silent) until the beginning of the cresc.

Gradually lower the brushes during cresc.

The brushing movement should never been interpreted during the entire phrase.

Styrofoam

with shoe brush (same as above) A plate of styrofoam in a square or rectangular shape.

Attach the styrofoam plate on a wooden table that does not wobble.

Metal pot

with floor brush A round metal flower pot or garden planter that is about the size of a snare drum. Find a pot that gives a big noise with resonance when the base is scraped with a floor brush.

Turn the pot upside-down (bottom up).

If the bass drum is available, place on the bass drum.

If the bass drum is not available, place on a snare drum stand.

A big brush with very hard bristle used to scrub the floor.

The metal pot and bass drum (if available) are always scraped with the floor brush.

Scrape the base of the metal pot with floor brush in a very slow circular motion. Squeeze out the noise from every bristle!

Strike the centre of the metal pot base with a finger.

Be gentle and focus on the resonance rather than the attack itself. Do not hit too hard.

Ocean drum

placed on top of a metal oven grill

Noisy small ocean drum with sharp timbre made of plastic skin with metal or aluminium grains.

Place the ocean drum on a metal oven grill.

Metal oven grill in any form that is big enough to place an ocean drum on top.

Less grill bars the better.

The ocean drum part is notated in 1 line system: Big cross note head on the line = Strike the middle of the ocean drum with fingers.

Small cross note head above the line = Lightly tap the ocean drum from the side.

Spark shaker Meinl original spark shaker. If this is not available, use a high-pitch shaker with fragile character.

Stir the spark shaker as indicated in the score.

Bass drum (optional)

¨Okaeri II¨ can be performed with or without bass drum.

If a bass drum is available, place the bass drum flat on stand, and place the metal pot on the bass drum skin.

If not, place the metal pot on a snare drum stand or similar.

Bar 74: Scrape the bass drum surface with the floor brush in circular motion. If the bass drum is not available, place this passage on the metal pot instead.

Whispering

All whispering should be pronounced clearly without letting the vocal cord to vibrate.

Physical movements

All physical movements throughout the performance should be well planned and organic as if practicing martial arts. Keep every gesture (picking up instrument, turning page, etc) subtle and concentrated.

Uchiwa

Japanese hand fan with any design, but preferably made of wood and paper.

Raise the Uchiwa in the air.

Gently fan the air with extremely slow and relaxing manner with an organic physical movement and meditative mind.

Keep changing the speed (fragmented air flow).

Move naturally without any sudden movement.

Imagine your fan is moving the whole atmosphere and bending the time space.

Cello Articulation of high “A” Okaeri II asks for repeated high “A”, and the articulation of each note should be observed carefully.

All high “A” suddenly starts with indicated dynamics (otherwise indicated with cresc. from niente “ o “) and stay constantly until further indication.

Gestural and active with great sense of concentration and precision in spite of very soft and fragile sound character.

Extremely slow over-pressured bow.

Maximum pressure of the bow, but the bow moves so slow that it is impossible to create a continuous note.

Maximum 1 or 2 granular “clicks” per second. Keep it irregular and not mechanical.

col legno battuto Always only the wooden part of the bow.

Loud and violent.

Fragmented high “A” The high “A” appears in many different forms (short, long, with vibrato/bending, etc), and is often fragmented.

Follow the graphical notation to see when the high “A” reappears, (indicated with wavy line). The phrase should sound as if it is supposed to be a linear phrase but the music is so transparent that the sound occasionally disappears and becomes inaudible for just a brief moment.

Circular bowing Damp the G and D strings with left hand palm, and move the bow in circular motion.

Very slow in speed (ca 3 or 4 circle each bar). It should be much slower than the object player stirring the spark shaker.

Very light bow pressure (molto flaut.) to achieve only scraping noise without any pitch or squeaking of the bow.

Whispering

All whispering should be pronounced clearly without letting the vocal cord to vibrate.

Physical movements

All physical movements throughout the performance should be well planned and organic as if practicing martial arts. Keep every gesture (picking up instrument, turning page, etc) subtle and concentrated.

Uchiwa and Hurin Uchiwa: Japanese hand fan with any design, but preferably made of wood and paper.

Hurin: A simple Japanese summer wind chime made of either glass or metal with very simple and clear sound quality.

Raise the Uchiwa in the air.

Gently fan the air with extremely slow and relaxing manner with an organic physical movement and meditative mind.

Keep changing the speed (fragmented air flow).

Move naturally without any sudden movement.

Imagine your fan is moving the whole atmosphere and bending the time space.

Occasionally (not too often) fan the Hurin, and let it ring.