Two days before the performance of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra at Esplanade, there was a concert entitled “Treasures of Japan,” performed by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, together with some of the leading traditional Japanese instrumentalists. One of the things I noticed with Japanese orchestral/classical/traditional music is that it’s very very sharp. The shakuhachi makes a pretty distinct yet sharp tone, while the taiko has sharp and defined beats.

Even if the pieces were performed by the SCO, one would notice that while the pipa or erhu player is using a traditional Chinese instrument, the way they are played are still very sharp.

I particularly enjoyed the taiko performances by Eitetsu Hiyashi and of course the encore. Sadly, I wasn’t able to record anything as it was prohibited (ie. just follow law!).

A day or two before this concert, there was another concert by The Zheng Ensemble at the concourse. Their junior members performed “Butterfly Lovers,” an all-time favorite.

It’s very interesting to see how we see the roots of East Asian music from that of Chinese. Further, if we go down south to Vietnam, we see the strong influence of the Chinese in Viet music and culture. I just find it very interesting that when one quips to a Viet, “oh you look Chinese,” you’ll see long faces. I reckon this is due to 2 things. First, the Chinese invaded Vietnam when Vietnam tried to invade Cambodia. Second, when the French colonized Vietnam, they reformed their writing systems and thus breaking the umbilical cord between Vietnam and China. If the French Jesuit Alexander de Rhodes didn’t invent this new writing system and if he just studied Chinese like Matteo Ricci, perhaps Vietnam would still be using Chinese characters today, and therefore I’d be able to easily read their materials and communicate with them. However, as the French phrase goes, c’est la vie!

Psychology and the human condition has always fascinated me. I was a kid when I first heard about autism; until now, it’s its complexity remains a myriad an enigma to me. Last Thursday was a pretty eventful day. Apart from the DBE Phils preview (see previous post), it was the World Autism Day. I didn’t know that it was that day, and that Autism Society Philippines had an event at The Block.

As I had some time to spare, I stayed on and watched the performances. While watching, I noticed a familiar face on the stage backdrop. Reading the words, the backdrop stated “featuring TumTum Mendoza.” TumTum’s name was no stranger to me. Growing up, I’ve seen his name spread across local dailies. However, it was indeed a treat to see him perform (for free!).

The performers’ condition got me thinking about autistic savants. I’ve read about savants and autism for some time. The common denominator would perhaps be the lack of social skills - that is, the existence of a shell/bubble surrounding that person. Maybe the presence of such is much of a gift in this world where we are continually surrounded and barraged by noise received by all of our senses. A person’s ability to concentrate amid distractions is a skill too precious. Music, math, painting, etc all seem to require great concentration. Perhaps that’s the key as to why autistic savants are so good — because they are innately gifted.

The following is a demonstration of using those gifts, and championing humanity in the process.

Edit: Concentration might not be the right word. It’s more of the unique ability to focus (?) on one task and be very good at it without minding what’s happening around one’s self.

Utada Hikaru (宇多田 ヒカル)’s debut album First Love was released in 1999. This means that she composed and performed the single that topped Japan’s charts when she was just 16. I’m not much of a J-pop person, but I knew I liked her songs. Come to think of it, I got introduced to the artist by some of my high school students.

Being a fan of the orchestra, I tried looking in YouTube for an orchestra version of First Love. The only one I could find was an audio-only version by the Warsaw Philharmonic. There’s also a strings mix version. What I find interesting is that there’s actually a version by a Malaysian Chinese orchestra from Penang, and another by an Indonesian choir. Wow!

What I did see is Hikari, the theme of Kingdom Hearts, which is also very good. It was performed in as part of Video Games Live.

Inspired, I thought I’d give my hand a try at arranging a song for the orchestra. It has been roughly 2 decades since I last played the organ seriously, and perhaps 15 years since I attempted to re-study. So. With virtually no musical training under my belt, I gave it a try. The following is what I came up with. I hope you’d enjoy it, and leave some comments for further improvement.

The composition uses strings (cello, violin), percussions (timpani, chimes, etc), brass, woodwinds, among others. The idea of splitting the strings came from Paj (thank you!). All others mine.

While it may take some time before I could whip up something good for this group, am glad that this kicks in a good start. Having this kind of a production remains a dream … for now.