Writings

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N.B.: This is the first of a four-part writing series about my koto mentorship program as a professional development initiative I started in September 2022. This initiative is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. "Why don't you take up Japanese koto as a minor instrument?" an advisor nonchalantly told me as he proceeded [...]

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N.B. I originally wanted to write this essay as a Facebook post—a tribute to my old ways—but eventually decided against it due to the risk of being subjected to what I'll call the "algorithm invisibility." I think that this reflection deserves a space that actually respects its contents. My physical copies of the following musical [...]

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I’m nothing but a machine, Hearing other’s pain but not my own; Why should I catch up with y'all? Frogs croak in the dead of night—I won’t wait for you to understand, Thoughts disappear in a flash. Riding my ‘unwanted' box, I float in waters beyond your reach—How can I land on the moon? Cities [...]

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In collaboration with the Canadian Music Centre, clarinettist Martin Carpentier and accordionist Joseph Petric commissioned me to write a new 6-minute work—I named the piece Kinamulátan—for bass clarinet and accordion. I've never composed for accordion before, and so Joseph handed me some introductory material he wrote himself. Surpassing the initial confusion over the keyboard layouts (including [...]