Search - Pauline Oliveros & Miya Masaoka :: Accordion Koto

Though an unlikely combination - accordion and koto - it is not so much about the instruments as about the energies of the music that comes from the intensity of listening - listening as close to "now" as possible. We know that our consciousness is delayed by a fraction of a second that the brain interprets as now - however the body is instantaneous in its perception. Thus the phenomena of playing and becoming conscious of what has played - been played - is a continually surprising experience in such improvisation. Pauline Oliveros Improvisation has a way of being new but endowed with moments of familiarity, somehow encapsulating the essence of the New, and simultaneously forming a variation and posing another path, an alternative... Improvisation embodies the paradox of the familiar yet also retains aspects of musically formal relationships. Improvisation speaks to spontaneity and yet breathes a conscious design of variation that is endlessly different as each moment is different from the past, even within static areas. Perhaps what is necessary to create this music, and what I am trying to describe in the post-production experience harkens to the complete listening of the sonic experience-- or sonic awareness, that is, the ability to focus attention upon both environment and musical sound, a concept that Pauline had introduced in the early 1980 s. Miya Masaoka Miya Masaoka, musician, composer, performance artist, has created works for koto, laser interfaces, laptop and video and written scores for ensembles, chamber orchestras and mixed choirs. In her performance pieces she has investigated the sound and movement of insects, as well as the physiological responses of plants, the human brain, and her own body. Within these varied contexts of sound, music and nature, her performance work emphasizes the interactive, live nature of improvisation, and reflects an individual, contemporary expression of Japanese gagaku aural gesturalism. Masaoka's work has been presented in Japan, Canada, Europe, Eastern Europe and she has toured to India six times. Pauline Oliveros's life as a composer, performer and humanitarian is about opening her own and others' sensibilities it the many facets of sound. Since the 1960's she has influenced American Music profoundly through her work with improvisation, meditation, electronic music, myth and ritual. Many credit her with being the founder of present day meditative music. All of Oliveros' work emphasizes musicianship, attention strategies, and improvisational skills. She has been celebrated worldwide. During the 1960's John Rockwell named her work Bye Bye Butterfly as one of the most significant of that decade. In the 70's she represented the U.S. at the World's Fair in Osaka, Japan; during the 80's she was honored with a retrospective at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C.: the 1990's began with a letter of distinction from the American Music Center presented at Lincoln Center in New York: In 2000 the 50th anniversary of her work was celebrated with the commissioning and performance of her Lunar Opera: Deep Listening For_tunes. Oliveros work is available on numerous recordings produced by companies internationally.