Name: Hichiriki and Sho Improvisation by Edward Schocker
Duration: 7 min 31 s
Description: An improvisation on a Western and Eastern theme.

Self Desolving

syntheses for organ(s) 2022

played by Dante Boon and Eva-Maria Houben at Orgelpark at Amsterdam Wandelweiser Festival 2022

organs: Sauer, Verscheuren, Molzer, and the Cabinet Organ.

commissioned by Stichting Boon en Ster

syntheses for organ(s) 30th October 2022

Venice International Performance Art Week
“UNDER SCARS” A collective performance opera
European Cultural Centre | Palazzo Mora, Venice, IT
December 17, 2022
Photograph © Alexander Harbaugh

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An improvisation on a Western and Eastern theme.

Hichiriki and Sho Improvisation

Invenias No. 9

Bird Song uses natural phenomena of just intonation, which often have led to just intonation being ‘problematic’ and disregarded, as primary techniques. Specifically, it explores how pure stacked Pythagorean 5ths lead to comma discrepancies and subsequent acoustical beating when enharmonic equivalents are reached. It demonstrates how the beating from the comma can be used not only on a melodic level, but on a rhythmic level too. The compositional techniques are greatly inspired by La Monte Young’s The Well-Tuned Piano (Young, 1987), in which he emancipates commas by using them throughout the 5 hour long piece to characterise the work, and introduces the concept of playing in time to acoustical beating (Gann, 1993).

To achieve controlled beating, my composition uses a series of stacked pure 5ths building on F. The material begins with sine tones tuned to fundamental F giving a pure, clear sound. As the piece progresses, a sine tone of A, a third, slowly shifts frequencies, introducing the sensation of beating before settling. Then 5ths are introduced in alarming clusters. At the end of the introduction an E# is introduced, which causes acoustical beating against the F. It does this because the stacked pure 5ths cause the 12th 5th, E#, to be 23.46 cents higher than the F (Sabat, 2018, 16), a Pythagorean Comma . In equal temperament this would sound simply as an enharmonic equivalent of the same frequency, since the temperament narrows each of the 12 5ths, compromising purity but eradicating this comma. In Bird Song, this beating becomes established as a pulse, and vocalised melodic motifs begin, in time with this ‘pulse’, tuned justly to the fundamental F.

I wanted to explore ideas of organicism and nature and so the lyrics are about birdsong. According to a study by Emily Doolittle, Hermit Thrush birds tend to sing in harmonic series (Doolittle, 2014). Moreover, bird’s timbres, melodic patterns and imitation in their singing draw parallels to human music making. I feel that linking pure harmony and aspects of just intonation to birds makes the composition appear rooted in nature, and thereby more accessible. 

The style of the piece is quite theatrical, like a song and dance piece. This is due to the steady pulse of the beating, which invites synchronised movement, and could be further re-enforced with percussion like a tambourine. The notion that the pitches are tuned to a natural system and that the physics of sound determines this rhythm makes the pulse incredibly powerful, as the elements of the piece are linked strongly and organically. Further exploring the work as a theatrical spectacle, I wrote the lyrics in Italian as I feel it connects to connotations of opera, which originated in Italy. The lyrics seem to fit beautifully in the Italian language too. 

The composition also has a folky feel, with lots of similarities to Western culture ballads. This is due to the repetitive motifs and lyrics of the vocalists, the improvisatory feel of the simple melodies, the sine tone drones and fairly simple overarching harmonic schemes. Furthermore, topics of folk songs are also often rooted in nature and in portraying purity. The folk genre is associated with a sense of society but also comfort and home and integrating these connotations into the composition helps to make it accessible.

Bird Song demonstrates great potential for how musical pitch and rhythm, which often become isolated as separate elements, could be linked and developed. If just intonation is further explored and commas are emancipated, it could make performance of music much more powerful and wholesome, and responses to music could be greatly magnified because of it. Particularly in theatre and opera, dance could be linked to pitch’s natural determination of rhythm and pulse, embodying the experience of natural harmony.

Bird Song


Edward Schocker is a composer and performer who creates music with made/found materials and alternate tuning systems.

Hichiriki and Sho Improvisation

Edward Schocker

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