Songs without Words

Hmmm … perhaps only Megatokyo/Kanon fans would get that title, haha ..

Anyway, while studying for finals (which turned out well, it seems!!), I sketched a happy girl. At a friend’s suggestion, I’ve colored her now. Regarding the coloring scheme, I knew that the skirt had to be burgundy because I saw a woman wearing a solid burgundy skirt in the snowy winter and it was stunning in its simplicity and elegance. She was probably the only person wearing a skirt, period.

The character’s hair is black, but I tend to avoid coloring anything solid black, so I did a red-wine interpretation of black. That left the argyle sweater in the middle, and I think one of the merriest colors to go with burgundy is green. Lots of green! I’ve recently started to like green, despite an earlier aversion to it. In fact, I may buy a green dress shirt if I see it in a store (they’re rare!). Almost all my shirts are blue (and my bro’s are mostly pink … he has curious fashion tastes … kind of preppy?) or white, plus one black one.

Coloring-wise, I tried to learn a new technique I had seen, which is essentially to make some transitions between light and dark shades gradients while others are sharp distinctions.  This differentiates color transitions based on folds and cast shadows (sharp) and transitions that are on gentle slopes.  I artificially created the gradients using smudging.  Additionally, this is my first time doing shading on patterned surfaces – it’s pretty annoying to come up with dark/light shading pairs for each color and then applying them, but I like the way that it looks.  I may try being more efficient next time by using other tools.

My main regret is that I made the line-art thick, appropriate for the cel-shading I originally set out to do. I switched to this style when I started using those colors – certain colors want to be cel-shaded, and certain colors are just too exquisite to be used that way.

I am also a purveyor of lazy-ass backgrounds. Sorry … one of these days I’ll do a real background.

Click here for bigger version (you can’t see much detail at this size ..)

All comments/crits welcome.

Anime is known for repetitive soundtracks consisting of throw-away tunes and rip-offs of classical and impressionist works. However, despite that, animation, with its exact timing, allows for some of the most exquisite coordination of music with the images.

The day before yesterday, I was watching Kimikiss Episode 10 in the student center with the sound off (I was scarfing down a sub before the ASA general body meeting). When I came to the ending sequence of just a few shots, I knew that even though I could not hear the music, the timing was planned perfectly.

This morning, I went back to rewatch the sequence several times with sound to savor an incredibly memorable moment. Granted, this is the director who made Honey and Clover, which surpassed the boundaries of girls’ shoujo and guys’ “slice-of-life” (think Minami-ke or Azumanga Daioh) to win quiet acclaim and a place in the top ranks of persisting anime. Nevertheless, the source material of Kimikiss was some average romance sim game, so I had my doubts and reservations.

The anime has nothing of the artifice and shameless girl-fondling associated with dating sims. The biggest emotional drama comes when the heroine, Mao, has to choose between two guys who could not contrast more – a jazz saxophonist and her childhood buddy, with whom she played video games and such. At this particularly poignant moment (every episode ending is poignant, but this one especially so), Mao is taking care of her childhood friend, Kouichi, who has become sick because he had been out in the rain the previous day. But he was out in the rain because he ran into her boyfriend, Kai, at the bookstore and wanted to recommend that Kai take her out to cheer her up. Of course, as any drama would have it, Mao was depressed in the first place because she realized that Kouichi really cared about her and picked up on her subtle needs. That means that, coming full circle, Kouichi’s illness right after a wonderful date with Kai only serves to increase the emotional tension.

That exhaustive explanation in hand, the scene is thus: Mao is sitting beside an ill Kouichi, tending to his fever. The music playing has shifted from centered jazz chords to a modal-sounding shift between F and e chords on the piano, with light glock tinkles on the E’s. At the moment she leans in, the music halts mid-phrase and all that is left is an unresolved E twinkle and the resonance of a pedal-held piano note. In silence, she kisses his forehead and backs off; he awakens and looks at her.

The ending theme of this show has a few defining features, none of which are particularly groundbreaking, but they are still notable.  First, there are two tonal centers: D major and E major; the A and bridge sections are in D, and the refrain is in E.  Second, the refrain’s second phrase pushes two notes up an octave, resulting in “E D# E (up a major seventh) D# C# F#.”  This displacement is really stark because of the human voice in that range.  The lyrics of the second refrain phrase are: “It seemed like it would break / And it was so precious I couldn’t touch it / I won’t ever forget / The wish I made upon that star.”

The phrase “I won’t ever forget” is a single word in Japanese: wasurenai (yo).  The “wasure” part is “forget,” and the “nai” negates it.  It is thus appropriate that the “nai” is the one that ends up on that high D#.

The opening of a song with its last refrain line is not uncommon; in anime opening themes, one frequently does so during some opening image before the title appears.  For ending themes, the dangling refrain is performed with altered accompaniment before the ending sequence begins.  However, the brilliance of this director is the timing of the dangling phrase, which I think has only been matched by Futakoi Alternative, with “Bokura ga Jikan,” with its guitar phrase introduction.  The singer enters on a profile shot of Mao’s eyes shaking, holding back tears, staring into the distance, contrasted with Kouichi’s sullen, expressionless face, just staring at her.

When the instrumental bridge takes over, the scene moves back a few feet, as if Mao had been singing those words and now in the distance you cannot hear them any more.   When the strings hit their high D# in turn, the scene switches to a shot of a starry sky (again drawing from the song).

Finally, when the song abruptly modulates to D major to begin its A section, the credits begin on a the opposite color from blue, bright orange.  E (bright) to D (less bright) is a grounding effect, and the polar shift of blue (sky) to orange (Earth) mirrors that.

I did not talk in length about every element of the music, but if you want to understand deeper what I mean, just watch this 1-minute segment at the end of the episode and I think you’ll get it without any explanation.

I am a composer who is always thinking about images as I write, so I guess this kind of thing means a lot to me.

I want to get back into the groove of “independent music-writing.” In this vein, I will begin my spring-term compositions now.

Violin Concerto

I have had a lot of trouble keeping up with numbering properly, but this is designated No. 67 in my file names, just for organizational purposes. I had torn out a lot of hair thinking about what style to employ, and I have decided to turn back the clock a bit and write more lyrically.

A few pieces that are good references would be the violin concertos by Alban Berg, Erich Korngold (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EsYUuGo8XA), and George Rochberg.

For a sample of the second movement, just ask and I’ll send you a .wav (from Finale).

Second movement ideas: “tonality-flanking” melody that aches with every step. A rather brisk Adagio – around 80 – and with very little unconventional meter (4/4 almost the whole way through). Piano part is contrapuntal and not harmonically conceived.
Third movement ideas: A very brisk modal dance making use of compound and odd meters with a very plucky piano part, more percussive.

Trio for Piano, Flute, and Violin

I have been asked to write a chamber piece in a tender romantic style.  I think this should be okay – that is my native musical language, after all.

I will use a fully tonal palette, probably using sharp keys (c# minor/major, E major are candidates).

There will be probably two movements, a lyrical and slow-paced first movement and a festive second movement.

Today was, somewhat unexpectedly, my designated holiday shopping day. And I am proud to say that it took me an hour flat, which may very well be a personal record. It also caused my d$/dt plot to look something like the gentle slopes of the Grand Canyon.
I love shopping, but not social shopping: bear in mind the distinction. The former is a test of intellect, desire, philosophy, and morals. The latter is an excuse to prance around and giggle mindlessly. I am happiest shopping alone – or with someone like-minded.
I once was quoted as describing the masculine shopping experience as the equivalent of a SWAT mission: you go in, armed with a vague knowledge of what has to be accomplished. You slip from shop to shop, avoiding contact so as not to be suckered into bad deals or useless baggage, instead compiling intelligence on comparative prices and products. Then, you negotiate. You debate. A proper present cannot be too specific so as to run the high risk of being useless or unappreciated, but it can also not be so general so that you do not seem to understand the person. Items that are too expensive will sacrifice the chance to buy other things; items that are too cheap are rarely of high quality and will, for all intents and purposes, just reflect a stingy heart.

You have to think simultaneously within yourself about not-yourself. You need to put yourself wholly in the shoes of someone else: the presents are not for you. The separation of the simulation of another person and your mind itself is an imperative.

All around, there are distractions. Mere noise. You close your eyes and see all black except for the small blips that are your targets. You pursue them, claim them, and you exit.

Gifts are not purchased.

They are conquered.

Part the second

Humorous epics aside, I had some amusing experiences within that short time period, which, like any period of furious computation and optimization, felt like much, much longer. I began as I always do: I ate. The dangers of shopping on a full stomach cannot be overstated – hunger of one kind leads to hunger of another kind, and ravenous, growling stomach can only mean impulsive purchasing. It is like trying to repair a broken LCD screen with a bow and a necklace or fighting a fire with a machine gun.I ordinarily eat at Thai Accent, one of my favorite fast-food places because any quick Thai joint that is willing to make its food wicked spicy has the audacity I’m looking for in a restaurant. But I am sick, and subjecting myself to a waterfall of snot would be considered a bad idea. So I did the next best thing and ate at Taco Bell.Hate on Taco Bell all you want, but they have some good shit. Eighty cents a taco! It is the fast food paradigm applied to a distant cousin of Tex-Mex, itself a distant cousin of Mexican Food. But Taco Bell doesn’t put on any facades: one look at the name “Crunchwrap Supreme” and you know you have transcended all cuisine. This is fusion food like you’ve never seen before. Think P. F. Chang’s China Bistro. Yeah, fusion.

And of course, I topped off my three-taco combo with nothing else but the Baja Blast Mountain Dew. This weird blue liquid is only offered at Taco Bell. It tastes kind of like … actually, I have no idea how to describe it. I would suppose it’s something like a Pina Colada soda, except it’s blue, except it doesn’t taste like a Pina Colada. I then asked for four Fire sauce packets.

I’ve always had a soft spot for those faux-Chipotle sauces. Nowhere else have I tasted a sauce with that unique taste – authentic restaurants cannot reproduce this tangy, spicy flavor. I got 5 sauce packets – their generosity (or failure to count) left a smile on my face. I knew exactly how many I needed, and it was four. You see, years of experience have taught me that you need two packets per taco.

Why, you wonder, did I ask for 4 and not 6? Because 2 packets is rather spicy, actually. Not Thai Accent spicy, but spicy nonetheless. So one taco has to go plain, to absorb the spice. The proper formula is 2(t-1), where t is the number of tacos I’m ordering.

I was left with one extra sauce packet. Since I was little, I collected these – I don’t think they can go bad. At least I’ve never seen one go bad, and we’ve hoarded them at home for years. To mix things up a bit, I slipped it into my left jacket pocket, which contained my wad of aloe lotion Puffs tissues. It’s like Russian roulette – you reach in and usually you’re safe and you pull out a tissue. But sometimes you pull out the fire sauce and bask your nose in jalapeno goodness. Like I said, it mixes things up a bit.

I next graced the dainty halls of Godiva, Baja Blast Mountain Dew still in hand. There were women dressed elegantly in their winter garb, store clerks in suits. I was there with Baja Blast.

I looked around and humored an over-eager-to-help worker, who showed me some items, seemingly blind to the exorbitant prices of the items he was showing me. He then got into a bizarre argument or something with a pudgier store clerk, who stated that she was a “paid professional.” A paid professional at what? She was just standing there, giving orders. It was kind of surreal – not a very supportive work environment.

I made my picks and went over to the cashier, who asked me if I was buying anything for myself. I gave her a look that conveyed my precise thoughts: “I just savored three ground beef (and possibly other mystery meat) tacos, and I am carrying Baja Blast. Do I look like the kind of person who buys Godiva chocolates for myself?”

In any case, that was that and I headed over to Borders to make a few selections. Alas, nothing interesting happened there, so I shall spare you that episode. Ditto on Finish Line. I took the shuttle home, thought about handicapped-sensitive planning and architecture, and forgot to pick up my violin. Now I am happily blogging away in an Athena cluster, violin restored, just waiting and reflecting. And craving more Baja Blast.