For tam-tam solo
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Premiered in Hong Kong City Hall Theatre by Four Gig Heads on 6 October 2010.
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Performed in MB123, HKU by Louis Siu on 4 August 2011 during HellHOT! New Music Festival 2011.
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Performed in Swarthout Recital Hall, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS by Ashley Tini on 15 October 2012.
- Performed in Shang Wan Civic Centre by Austin Yip on 6 December, 2013.
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Exhibited in “International Musica Con Vista Exhibition” from 26 March, 2016 to 10 May, 2016 in Lucca, Italy.
Programme Notes
The idea of “cornerless”, or circle, plays a very important role in Chinese philosophy. In ancient China, people believe that the world was originated from T’ai-chi, which later on transforms into yin-yang, the mother of the sky and the earth. Ancient people regard the sky as an infinite loop that survives forever, and the earth as a static object that supports everything—they regard the sky as “circle”, and the earth as ”square”. Tam-tam, being one of the oldest Chinese instruments, first appeared around 200 B.C., also shows a sense of “forever-ness” with its long decay rate and circular shape. This work experiments the resonances through the interplay between different materials and the tam-tam.
This score is a graphic representation of how the piece should be executed. Because of this unusual instrumentation, it is almost impossible to notate exactly what the composer intended with traditional notation, particularly with the positions on the tam-tam. This notation provides a clear roadmap for the performer to follow. The score is to be read according to the roman numerals, and it uses kind of a computer-programming algorithm, so that the performer can follow step by step on how to play the work.
Austin Yip 