Searching for New Sound - Music Composition ideas

Recently, I received a commission from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, the alternative orchestra. The instrumentation is:     2 Piccolos 3 Flutes 1 Soprano saxophone 1 Alto saxophone 1 Tenor saxophone 1 Baritone saxophone 3 B-flat trumpets 5 Tubas 1 Piano 1 Harp 1 Guitar 1 Timpani 1 Tam-tam I had a short interview before the concert and helped me rethink the process of composing this piece Qs - Tell us a little about your piece? It is about noise. The clusters are the main material of the music. The cluster in the bass low register creates a muddy and gritty sound; while the cluster in the high register sounds piercing and edgy. Throughout the whole piece, I gradually add the cluster materials layer by layer until the breaking point everything’s messed up and ends with everyone being shaken. Qs -What attracted you to the sound of the Dung Chen? Dungchen is an instrument used in Tibetan Buddhism. It is a long trumpet, it is very long and puts one end on the ground on the ground...

The languages used in shomyo demonstrate the migration of Buddhism, from India via China and settling in Japan, from Sanskrit to Chinese and Japanese.  One type of shomyo language is transcription phonically from Sanskrit. Back in the time, people did not have IPA. People in China used Chinese characters to transcribe Sanskrit phonically. Then, the Japanese pronounce the Chinese transcription in Japanese. In both cases, the phonic transcription is not systematic or accurate. The meaning of original literal meaning of Sanskrit was lost in translation. It is all about the sonic experience, in this case, the texts are often performed in melismatic. On the contrary, the literal translation translates the meaning from Sanskrit, texts were drafted in Japan, and explanatory or narrative in ceremonies are chanted in Japanese and with literal meaning. These texts are meant to be heard, so it is often are performed in syllabic settings. Contour Notation The notation is not that accurate...

 Western music uses staff notation while Chinese music uses solfege or ideogram notation. These two notations have a common point one symbol represents a pitch. The player perceives the pitches block by block, one note or chord at a time and one after. However, some Buddhist chanting music uses curved lines to notate the music, and emphasise the contour of the voice. It is similar to the western glissando but not in a linear way. The connection between of each text is smooth and flowing. Japanese Shōmyō In Japanese Shōmyō, a type of Buddhist chant in Japan, they have a contrasting notation method to the West. The neumatic notation, generally known as hakase (- bakase ). straight and curved lines (Tokita, 2008). Same with the Western neume, these notations lack any systematic way of indicating pitch. The lines appear to represent the up-and-down movement of the vocal melody in a simple visual manner.  A Shōmyō  hakase  score (Tokita,2008) The Shomyo notation als...