Nick Hwang

Just Imagine:
The idea for my next piece for the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana is one based off several ideas: pseudo-improvisation, live sampling and manipulation, sound discovery, and sonic environments; and draws from a few interests of mine outside of ‘music composition’.

My very first thought was simply to create a multi-sampler that would be used in a piece that was an on-the-fly Dance/House piece. Where members of the ensemble would have objects and instruments in front of them, to sample and manipulate. And over the course 5-6 minutes a strongly pulsed live club mix would emerge. [That’s the former DJ speaking]

I thought, ‘simple enough. That would be cool… once or twice.’

The composer-side of me and somewhat emerging improviser thought it would be better to incorporate an air of pseudo-improvisation, where the members (and audience) are shown a word or an image and have a few minutes, as a group, to create a sonic/musical representation of the word/image.
[this somewhat fulfills my urge for demonstrative musical and procedural goals for the laptop ensemble – have a brief projection of the word/image. READ: crowd-pleasing projections].

An instance of the piece may not be limited to a single image. The possibility of more than one sequential image or even juxtaposed images is definitely possible.

The goal of the musicians is not [just] outright mimicry of elements, nor is it a race to the end. The process of creating usable sounds, coordinating with the other musicians, creating an environment, specializing them in time and performance space, and transition from one idea to the other is as much ‘goal’ of the piece as the actually arrival of coordinated effort.

It is more than likely performers will have a different/conflicting sonic ideas associated with a word/image. How the musicians deals with that factor, and the others listed above, is very open-ended
and discovery-based, which can be very exciting.
So what about that club mix? That would definitely be on the list, probably an interesting and more difficult ‘word’ to pull off with time synching issues.
But, Just Imagine: 5-7 performers on stage and this image pops up for 15 seconds.
[image from the SeattleWeekly].

5 minutes later, this image pops up. How would you do it? How would you make them different?
[from inhabitat.com]

“Just Imagine:” would not be technically hard or require too much coding, but whatever ‘instrument’ I decide to use, the performers will definitely need a level of mastery [this also fulfills my want for instruments with a learning-curve]. To be able to perform this piece, the musicians, will have to be extremely familiar with the interface. Like improvised music, the success of this piece rests on the musicians’ mastery of the instrument, their ability to convey their musical thought, and coordinate as a group.

Personal practice time on the ‘instrument’ would be a large requirement and rehearsal time would also be needed. Performances may not be limited to ‘words/images’ previously rehearsed. Well-rehearsed ensembles should not used previously seen words or should incorporating juxtaposed imagery or quicker paced sequences.

Nick Hwang 2010

I had a crazy dream last night and I’m pretty sure I can pinpoint parts in my recent life from where they came and blame it on having 2 cups of coffee and a tea yesterday. [ I had weened myself to a cup a day. ] If anything, it serves for people who don’t know me well personally, to explain myself anecdotally.

[None of this this has to do with the Movie Inception]

The dream:
I was at a convention in Paris. I was supposed to meet my brother, but I woke up late and was driving quickly to the convention site. As i got out of the car, I left the keys in the ignition and just grabbed my laptop power cord. In my mind, the streets of Paris are very narrow, leaving parallel parkers very little to room to get out, because as I got out, cars are veering out of the way to avoid hitting me. One car couldn’t stop and careened off the side my of rented SUV.

Forgetting about being late to the convention and only have a power cord, I found a police woman and tried to explain in french, adding some German in also: “J’ai habe laissé mes clés dans ma voiture.”

She quickly turned and spoke to me in english. I explained and she told me it would take a while to get the keys out since the car that crashed into it damaged the doors also. I asked her what the correct way of saying ‘I left my keys in the car’, and her response was something totally un-French sounding.

She told to wait close-by. [I think I had forgotten about going to the convention by now.] I walked into a warehouse, there were people arguing about their latest musical theatre production. I recall them just complaining about how the staff and management were out of touch. When they realized I was there, they started a cd player and pointed me a large table of merchandize and tried to get me to buy things. They trying to get me to buy tchotchkes when I was just trying to get the cast cd of the show.

Then I woke up.

The explanation:
I am leaving for Florida in a few hours to visit my siblings, and I have anxiety about missing a flight; I haven’t packed yet either. I recently almost missed a flight because I didn’t check the departure time correctly. So waking up on time this morning was important.

I’ve been thinking a lot about doing research abroad, especially in Paris. One of the requirements for a Fullbright fellowship is language competency and I’ve been wondering if my French is up to snuff. The non-french the police woman spoke may have been because I watched Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last night, which was in Swedish.

I recently I thought I had left keys to the office were my colleagues and I work in my car. We work downtown sometimes where I always parallel park and cross the street at the wrong times.

I found a DVD that an exgf had left of a broadway production of RENT. I watched that while I unpacked my new apartment. 2 nights ago, the director of a show I did music direction for at LSU who now teaches HS theatre in Metairie emailed me asking to the do music for their production of another musical, which I may or may not do. Yesterday, I was sitting in Highland Coffee and overheard an hourlong conversation between two local theatre persons and someone trying to break into the Baton Rouge theatre scene. The conversation ranged from the typical gossip to the downfall of LSU theatre because the influences of recently departed directors to general advice.