Beyond the Melting Pot I   for Ensemble 

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　・premiere 30.5.2022    Tokyo University of the Arts Hall 6.

Performed again at the 2023 Mitsubishi Estate Award Commemorative Recital (Marunouchi Building Hall).

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Fl. Ayami Tanagi 　Bs.Cl. Minori Hayashi　S.Sax. Mikiya Hojo　 Trb. Keito Teshima

Sho Marika Nawa 　Vn. Riho Kishikawa　Cb. Toki Mizuno 　Perc. Kana Narita 　

Pf. Kana Furukawa 　Cond. Kento Ishikawa

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<Instrumentaiton>

Flute/Piccolo

Soprano Saxophone

Bs.Clarinet (required Bird call)

Trombone (required Harmon Mute, Marbles)

笙(Sho)

Percussion

-- Tuned Wine Glass, Crotale, Slide whistle, Sizzle Cymbal, Tam-tam, Gong(Es,A,D),

　Chinese Cymbal, Splash Cymbal, Thunder sheet, Wind chime, Plexiglas, Bongo and Conga, 　　       Ratchet, 5 Temple blocks, Slide whistle, Vibra slap, Toy bell , Duck toy, Metal pipe, Kick drum,

　Hi-hat , Crusher , Hose

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Piano (required Tuned Wine Grass, Marbles, Rain stick, Melodica)

Violin

Contrabass (required Tuned Wine Grass )

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＜Program note＞

This piece takes its title from the book *Beyond the Melting Pot* (1963) by Daniel Patrick Monyhan and Nathan Glazer. The “melting pot” refers to the concept of a “crucible of races” within the American social context; it denotes the idea or state in which diverse cultures from various ethnic and racial groups blend together in American society to form a new culture. In the 1960s, the term “salad bowl” came into use to describe a nation striving for cultural pluralism.

 

This piece conceives of an ensemble composed of nine instruments from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds as a single “melting pot,” and begins with a sustained note in the high register of the glass harp. From the outset, with this sustained note from the glass harp as the central axis, various instruments appear, either imitating it or unintentionally mimicking it in an imperfect manner. Even when attempting to perfectly imitate this sound, structural limitations—such as the piano’s inability to sustain a note due to its sound-producing mechanism, resulting in a single struck note, or the trombone’s necessity to play in the lower register as it is a mid-to-low-range instrument—inevitably create unintended differences. By viewing these differences as analogous to racial or cultural differences, and by combining them with the unique originality and characteristics of each instrument (e.g., the piano’s ability to play multiple notes simultaneously, or the trombone’s ability to change timbre using its mute), the music gradually establishes its own distinct identity.

 

I projected the fundamental process of community formation—the perception of others with different cultures and ways of thinking—onto the first half of this piece. In the second half, as these elements collaborate to play, strike, rub, and pluck the same rhythm—building a relationship of coexistence through various playing techniques—I have reflected in this music my own thoughts on the “theory of harmony”—the idea that “by blending together, we give birth to a new culture”—as well as the issues of discrimination and violence against minorities, which are two sides of the same coin.

 

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