Passage: Lieder für Nicht-Sanger und Mikrotonale Klavier^[1]

Embracing the Unknown:

'Unfamiliarity' Opening New Expressions

Right after the project with Haugen, I began exploring new possibilities for self-expression through a project with Passage.
I was playing a microtonal keyboard while singing lyrics that sounded like Japanese but were meaningless. Through this act, I was trying to bring unconscious content into consciousness and capture deeper meanings and emotions (will) through music (representation).

Passage and I created small stories for two of the three songs, and these stories were narrated before each song, mainly based on my free musical interpretation (not lyrics). Schopenhauer considered music as "the direct copy of the will itself," believing it conveyed essence more directly than other arts.
The stories born from my musical interpretation might have reflected this essential power of music.

"something" that is not professionalism or technique

Since its premiere in November 2019, this work has been performed a total of four times until 2024, illuminating new paths of awareness for the project in various ways during this period.

First, I want to write about how I freely wrote out my own images of the songs based solely on the ‘tune’ and atmosphere, not the lyrics^[2], and from there created "stories" for each song.

It is also worth noting that when determining the microtonal scales for the keyboard, Passage (each of the three pieces employs a different tuning method), after deciding on the basic scale combinations, used his ear to fine-tune almost every single note, attempting to merge the sonic imagery of the piece with the tonal colors of the words in the lyrics.

By writing out and putting into words the impressions received from 'listening'^[3], I thought that when I, not actually a singer, deliver ‘something’ to the audience through my singing and piano playing, there might be ‘something’ that is not professionalism or technique.

This 'something' resonates with the concept of "expressive form" proposed by art philosopher Susanne Langer^[4].
Langer argued that artworks have the power to directly convey emotions and experiences. This is the idea that the artwork itself embodies emotions and meanings without the mediation of language or logic. This concept shares many commonalities with the Japanese aesthetic principle of mono no aware.
In my performance, which I will discuss later, I can say that it was the energy of pure expression, rather than technical perfection, that built a direct relationship with the audience. This experience could be said to have practically embodied the essential power of art suggested by Langer's theory.

"unfamiliar"

Next, I'd like to proceed with the keyword 'unfamiliar'. This work contains many 'unfamiliar' elements. The representative points are as follows:

• Language of lyrics: A string of Japanese words that don't make sense as Japanese sentences.
• Unfamiliar microtonal tuning: Here, an electronic piano is used, combining either two tunings formed by microtones, or a combination of microtonal tuning + 12TET. In all cases, these are not the familiar 12TET that our ears are accustomed to.
• The unexpected combination of a pianist singing.
• Genre-crossing of a classical contemporary music pianist performing pop music.

These 'unfamiliar' elements were also 'walls' that I myself had to overcome, in other words, "colonialism within myself."
In particular, the preconceptions that I was not a singer, that I couldn't hit high notes, or that my pitch was unstable were significant challenges.

However, by recognizing these 'unfamiliar' elements without excluding or ignoring them, and focusing on what exists beyond professionalism or technique, I came to think that I might be able to deliver something to the audience that is, in a sense, not artificially created.
In fact, at the most recent performance, I received comments from the audience such as "It was nostalgic," "It was a sentimental singing voice," and "Humor, seriousness, straightforwardness, beauty, distortion, delicacy. These spread in all directions, opening up a space I had never existed in before."
I think this suggests that the energy of will was delivered directly to the audience without going through technique or professionalism.

1. Although this work is not included in the Artistic Results (due to the use of microtones on the electronic piano. Also, because it is a work ‘for non-singers’, the atmosphere of the live performance, including the chatter between songs, is all part of the work and cannot be fully conveyed by the documentation media), I have decided to include it in this Mycloperspective as this work was one of the important turning points in the project.
2. This was an experience akin to practicing active imagination. Active imagination is a technique developed by Carl Jung for psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. This method aims to bring unconscious content into consciousness and deepen self-understanding by consciously engaging with images and symbols that emerge from the unconscious and unfolding them. In music and artistic expression, this technique can also be utilized as a means to promote the creative process and enable deeper self-expression.
3. After this project, in Buene's work, I also conducted a test where I wrote down impressions received from the cognition and perception of 'listening,' and based on that, created an animated film. (Related page: Microtones in Motion)
4. Kato, hidetoshi. 1956. ‘Susanne K. Langer’. Riso-Sha, no. Riso (May).