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...

Overtone singing can produce two tones at the same time. The most direct use is the overtone is melody playing, offering a different timbre contrasting to normal singing. The example below is a famous group from Tuva, skip to 00:50 for the overtone singing section. A skilful singer can also provide polyphonic texture with overtone singing. Since there is a second voice in the overtone, the density is thicker. In Tibetan Buddhist chanting, the overtone part is static compared to the melodic contour in Tuvaina. Overtone in Buddhist chanting provides a richer and more resonating timbre. The texture is thicker and wider in regard to the density, thickness, range, or width, between the lowest and highest pitches.

 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...