Bora Yoon - Musical Perspective
This week’s guest in composer’s forum, Bora Yoon, (multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer), really inspired me in many ways I had never experienced before.
Her perspective on the relationship between sound and space, and between spirituality and sound completely fascinated me. She manipulated common sounds and vessels through which sounds can be created into really beautiful and moving music. To me, it wasn’t just music; rather, it was a total sonic experience that effected the mind, body, and soul.
The first example of her ability to create music in this way was in the very first piece she showed the class, which she explained she normally opened or closed her performances with. In this piece, she used a looper to layer sounds using objects, voice, and common instruments. While I found it interesting when she used her violin and voice to create the music, her use of the megaphone to create a different type of vocal sound really fascinated me.
Two other pieces in particular really captured my attention. Both of them are off her “Sunken Cathedral” album, and I have not stopped thinking about these two pieces of music since Yoon presented them to our class. One of these pieces was “Little Box of Horrors,” in which Yoon used sounds such as cell phones, heartbeats, and breathing to simulate the white noise that affects all humans daily. Living in a city as busy as New York, it is easy to become overwhelmed by all of the signals moving through us and by all the white noise around us without even realizing it. Not only did Yoon bring this to my attention, but she got me thinking about how noise and signals and the lack of true silence is constant. I’ve started thinking about exactly what impacts this has on humans as a species.
The other piece that I haven’t stopped thinking about is “Father Time.” As Yoon stated, grandfather clocks have a way of capturing the eye when they are placed in a room. To me, grandfather clocks have always had a spooky, and eerie aura about them. I’m not sure why this has always been the case for me, but it seemed that Yoon somehow captured all the sounds in a way that spoke to what I’ve always felt about grandfather clocks.
Her composition was spooky, eerie, and seemed to linger. It had a ghostly type of feeling to it, which I believe was generated by her use of a heartbeat and an ambient vocal melody with a lot of reverb on it. She also incorporated the ticking sound grandfather clocks would normally make, but what was particularly interesting was that in this case, there were multiple layers of ticking, all in different rhythms and meters. It provided the sensation that the piece was taking the listener somewhere, while simultaneously putting the listener on edge.
I have since become a huge fan of Bora Yoon. I am completely fascinated by her work, and I’m positive it will have an impact on my writing.
Thanks for the great read! I was also really impressed with Yoon's ability to mix traditional orchestral sounds with technology and found sounds of our modern times to create a unique soundscape in her compositions.
ReplyDeleteI think my favorite piece was "Little Box of Horrors" as well. I kept thinking that people love to hear what is most familiar to them; her use of cellphone sounds, heartbeats, and atmospheric sounds that are so prevalent in our daily lives gave her music a modern twist.
Her idea of music as a tool for communication and hence the use of the myriad of different communication technologies as instruments was super interesting! I thought the piece making use of cellphones was quite interesting!
ReplyDeleteI agree that her "Father Time" piece had this creepy, eerie tone to it. It kind of reminded me of the existential dread people feel with the passing of time. The piece gives me anxiety in the best way.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I found it fascinating how she created both tranquil and anxiety-inducing pieces. Everyone's experience will of course be different, but for me acknowledging that I was uncomfortable "inside" one of her pieces was just as enlightening as the other pieces were soothing. It's kind of like watching a horror movie (again not for everyone) in that it transports you into a dark reality, but the experience is welcome because it's still an escape from the mundane (or even an exploration of the mundane in order to show that its not mundane at all.)
DeleteThanks to film music I have a set definition in my head of what "creepy" music is. Its a fault i understand, but to me, I wouldn't say her piece "Father Time" was spooky. To me it was more of a meditative/introspective experience. Digesting the spoken word, then trying to figure out how exactly it applied to the notes being performed was an exercise in music consumption.
DeleteI thought her metaphysical or perhaps spiritual approach to composing, while still staying true to a simple value of conveying emotion and meaning, was very effective and enlightening. Oftentimes, in my humble opinion, contemporary composers try too hard to create original sounds and lose focus of the music and conveying emotion effectively. This came across clearly in the music scored for film that she showed the class. It was extremely effective and wasn't "in your face" or so "out there" that it distracted from the film, but also was more than just an accompaniment to a moving picture - it seemed completely integral to the film.
ReplyDeleteI think this approach was super cool. It was a) very unique and refreshing to hear given her the pretty foregrounded nature of western ideas and music from most other speakers, and b) just in general not a way I've ever thought about approaching composition. I think it was telling about the industry in general that she said pretty emphatically that she would not mention any discussion of chakras in a press release. One can assume that she's worried about these ideas being scoffed at by mainstream new music gatekeepers, which to me is super unfortunate.
DeleteI think Yoon also had a great ability to humanize/anthropomorphize objects as well. In "Semaphore Conductus," cellphones were used in combination with cellos and choir to join in representing all the human objects that were used to communicate, including the radio and conch shell. I really enjoyed her ability to make these found objects work together with more traditional instruments to create something fresh. Also, when speaking about her wind chimes, she noted that each object had some meaning to her, and could produce a sound. So she's figured out ways to incorporate these objects into her musical life, repurposing things that would be otherwise ordinary. Yoon truly makes the best of what she has.
ReplyDeleteI like that you described her music as a total sonic experience - that really captures it! It’s also interesting to consider New York without the constant barrage of noise and signals, and how those sounds we have become so accustomed and numb to may affect us.
ReplyDeleteI very much agree with you that grandfather clocks have a spooky essence. If you’re interested, watch the movie The Stranger by Orson Welles from 1946, in which Welles is a clocktower operator and a secret fascist in hiding. As director, he definitely uses the evil nature of the clock to augment his character’s wickedness, even going as so far to call himself God, watching the townspeople from the clocktower. I think Yoon invoked a similar sensibility with her own work, as you commented on, with a focused control of electronics to create new meanings. What are some of the conclusions you have drawn based on her “Little Box of Horrors” piece, as it specifically relates to the idea of silence being absent in the New York experience? I grew up in the city my whole life, so I have no point of reference. If you are from somewhere else, how have you been able to reconcile the difference in sound pollution?
ReplyDeleteShe is (to me) one of the most interesting guests as for her music. She is passionate, but she knew what she was doing and she knows how is music being mostly writen today (in Europe in can tell).
ReplyDeleteI didn't love particularly her music, but it was unarguably and objectively very well written. I didn't expect that she actually wrote a motet in her "conductus" piece instead of taking a pre-existing one.
Good stuff, passion is important. And communication too.
ReplyDeleteI think Bora Yoon's choice of palette and the textures that she weaves from it are impactful to conveying the emotion she wishes to invoke.
ReplyDeleteI loved her passion for sounds!!! truly an inspiration!
ReplyDelete"Father Time" was my favorite as well. Her use of layered, different effects, especially heavy reverb, combined with the really interesting accompanying visuals (the layered, swirling clocks, that almost looked like an optical illusion), resulted in the coolest amalgamation of different artistic elements and textures.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post. I also enjoyed Boon. While not a fan of using so many different technological textures is composition, Boon's presentation made me think twice and research different ways to make music through different devices.
ReplyDeleteYour statement on the constance of noise in a place like NYC is so very true. It is interesting to think of how we as music-makers can be influenced by this. I often find myself taking rhythms or intervals from sounds I encounter in everyday city life.
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