UC San Diego

My interest in composition for the past three years has been exploring the possible expressions and articulations of space. The challenge of setting a task to musically unravel this fluid, abstract and interdisciplinary concept lies in the identification of what space means to me, and how such belief can be extended to the presentation of a musical composition that reflects my individual perspective.

I came to realise the space I seek is the ‘in-between’ connective medium that webs through a larger network of musical objects and events, rather than an empty box, a vacuum, a void to be filled with activities. In the two works I include in this dissertation - Six Legs and an Amphibious State of Mind, and Half-Open Beings, this medium is treated as a vibrating entity that generates and joins the musical material through time.

The musical space in my work can be further categorised into composition, social and physical spaces. The essence of this in-between vibration, in this context, is presented through a myriad of interconnected reverberations throughout the composition and performance of a musical work. It is considered as an acoustical phenomenon that weds composed sound and physical space into one experiential entity, and as an inter-personal, social resonance that, through interpreting and embodying the composed musical materials, resulted in the production of the desired musical intention.