Subsonic Pulse: an exploration of low instruments
Not entirely sure why I've decided to dive into blogging in late 2023 (posted on my own website?), and I doubt many folks will check this. But here I am, turning it into an online diary – a space to share my story, my career, and for anyone out there curious about my music.
Subsonic Pulse was composed for the Akropolis Quintet’s 2023 Chamber Music Festival. I was super excited when Matt Landry asked me to write music for this weird instrumentation – I mean, what a cool idea for writing a piece for four low wind instruments?! Andrew Koeppe from Akropolis Quintet seemed to resonate with my piece from my ACMI application, Into Metaverse, and hoped I could do something similarly fast and loud. And bang! Subsonic Pulse, everyone!
I put everything I had into making this piece as loud, low, and fast as possible. To be honest, some of the low notes might not make any harmonic sense, and I used them because I simply didn't have lower notes on those instruments. But for that dramatic impact, I believe if I wanted something low, I needed something high to echo it. That's why you'll find one of my favorite techniques in this piece—playing on the mouthpiece (reeds). Blowing on bassoon reeds can easily reach G5, and the melody created by that was absolutely heavenly.
Working and studying at ACMI with the Akropolis Quintet and the amazing fellows was an incredibly impressive experience. As you probably know, my music tends to get tricky with rhythms and fast-changing textures. While, of course, Ryan Reynolds and Andrew Koeppe did a fantastic job on Subsonic Pulse, I also want to give a shoutout to Mio Yamauchi and Milo Pomerance—both undergrads, but they absolutely nailed the performance and recording of this piece.
Right now, I have arranged this piece for various instrumentations, and the reed quintet version is by far my favorite. The Hub New Music and CCM student ensemble BARQ have performed it several times. I'm really hoping this piece can become another Glow for me, a saxophone quartet piece that has been performed a ton.
Isn't this blog a bit messy and pointless? I spend a lot of time playing video games and don't write or read much. But hey, I believe I'll improve if I stay committed. Ever since I started pursuing my doctoral degree, I've found it challenging to find someone to engage in conversations about music (even my partner doesn't enjoy it lol). This is likely the reason I started writing blogs.