Preparing my audio project.

For my upcoming sound work, I intend to explore the possibilities of using orthography as a means of creating a graphic score, drawing from my research on guqin and shakuhachi notation.

As they share entire or partial similarities with the type of hanzi used in guqin notation (and due to my particular proficiency in the language) , I intend to use Japanese kanji characters as an exploration into orthographical graphic score methodology. My partner, a native Japanese speaker, will kindly consult the process and offer me both guidance and further needed context.

My aims , therefore are:

• To respect the cultural contexts of the language, and to not reduce the script to mere aesthetics.
• To symbiotically infuse the languages’ physical, cultural and semantic meaning with a sonic context.
• To apply multiple approaches to understanding written language as graphic scores; performing several sonic experiments in order to broaden my understanding.
• To apply different sound art methodologies to my practice, including improvisation and collaboration.
• To consider and evaluate my own limitations within this practice, such as performance ability.

Methods:

Firstly, I intend to use a singular character as a form of graphic notation. This will involve considering the ‘radicals’ (smaller symbols of which the Kanji is built from), stroke count, stroke order (including the application brush weight), semantic meaning, and visual aesthetic.

From establishing this as a foundation, I will then begin to consider how to apply this methodology to a larger graphic notation format. This will include research into other existing kinds of graphic and text notations and using these as inspirations.

Throughout, I will have my music equipment close at hand so that I will be able to immediately experiment first-hand with what functions well as graphic notation.