url: https://soundcloud.com/martyregan/silent-cry-of-a-heron-2016
description: Silent Cry of a Heron (2016) is part of a continuing effort to devise a notational system with the aim of imbuing my music with a distinctively Japanese aesthetic. The score is designed with an element of rhythmic indeterminacy and uses proportional notation to facilitate a flow of musical time based not on a fixed pulse or meter, but rather on the natural patterns of the human breath. In this piece, I attempted to seamlessly blend the two instruments in a way that emphasizes their similarities and potential correspondences by means of imitative gestures and seamless fusion of their respective timbres, resulting in a soundscape where imagined boundaries between the “East” and “West” become blurred and transcended. In Japanese culture, among other traits, the heron represents gracefulness, patience, longevity, tranquility, and partnership. In this work, I seek to evoke these qualities in a musical soundscape of understated and timeless expression. This work was commissioned by Kiku Day and Kenneth Larsen.
post_type: sound_source
archive_link: https://shakuhachihack.com/archives/sound_source