Takumi Ikeda wrote four new pieces for the concert celebrating the release of his CD "Musical Procedure." All of these pieces can include in the series Ikeda calls Musical Procedure. They were written in various (not common) notational styles, including pitch-only notation, vertical symbol sequences, written instructions, and video. Performers must use these scores to play their own music.

Our view of music is under the influence of modern recording technology. If music is something that can be recorded, can any musical experience be reduced to a recording? Recordings are nothing more than a low-dimensional cross-section of higher-dimensional structures. The idea that a score describes something to be heard is exceedingly modern and aural fundamentalist. Originally, musical scores described actions, not sounds. The idea will naturally influence the music being described. And it is impossible to say that the idea itself is not under the influence of recording technology. Musical Procedure may resemble music, but they are not necessarily music. In other words, they are not "procedural music.


Ιππάσου Επιτύμβιον [Tombeau de Hippase de Métaponte] (2021) for piano

Hippasus of Metapontum (Southern Italy in the modern era) was a Pythagorean scholar around the 5th century BCE. He was considered impious for discovering or publicizing the existence of irrational numbers and was thrown into the Mediterranean Sea and drowned by the same Pythagoreans. According to another legend, he was banished and had his tomb built without permission during his lifetime. The material of this piece is N-decimal notation of an irrational number, and only the pitch of the notes is written in the score. As for the note value, only its possible range is indicated. The performer can play the notes with note value and dynamics at the performer's discretion.


Vertical script (2021) for amplified trumpet & string piano

The trumpet part is notated vertically by five symbols (inspired by Hangul). The interval between symbols indicates the duration of the sound, but it should be understood relatively like ancient notation and not as a strict specification of duration. Each line is considered a sentence, and the performer could change the tempo from line to line. Rarely the string piano interferes.


Torch (2021) for trumpet, piano, melodica and sound files

Performers play using only three consecutive semitones, such as C-C#-D, etc. The title is derived from displaying torches in Rogue (1980), the early personal computer game; only the cells adjacent to the player character are shown on the screen. The sound files intervene in the performance impersonally as a fourth non-human performer.


Melodica Trio (2021) with video-score

Performers play any "fixed sound" while the rectangle flowing from right to left passes through the red line in the video. There are rectangles of two different colors, and the performer repeats the same "fixed sound" if the same color rectangle is repeated. And performer replaces the "fixed sound" with a different one each time the rectangle changes color. The moving speed of the rectangle varies according to a recurrence relation at times.


CD『Musical Procedure』の発売記念コンサートのために池田拓実は新曲を4曲書き下ろした。それらの作品は、いずれも池田が Musical Procedure と呼ぶ作品群に含まれる。新曲の楽譜は、音高のみの記譜、縦書きの記号列、指示書、ビデオなど、独自の様々な記譜法を用いている。演奏者はこれらの楽譜を使って自分自身の音楽を演奏しなければならない。


Ιππάσου Επιτύμβιον [ヒッパソスの墓] (2021) ―― ピアノ独奏

メタポンティオン（現在の南イタリア）のヒッパソスΊππασοςは前5世紀頃のピタゴラス派の学者。無理数を発見、あるいはその存在を公にしたため、不敬虔として同じピタゴラス派によって地中海に投げ込まれ溺死させられた、あるいは追放された上、存命中に勝手に墓を建てられた人物として知られる。本作は無理数のN進数表記を素材とし、音高のみ記す。音価は可能な範囲のみが示されており、強弱と共に奏者の裁量で演奏される。


Vertical script (2021) ―― 増幅されたトランペットとピアノ

トランペットのパートは5種類の記号によって、縦書きで記譜されている。記号同士の間隔が音価を示すが、古代の文字譜のように相対的に把握されるべきものであって、厳密な時間指定ではない。各行は「文」とみなされ、行ごとにテンポを変えることができる。まれにピアノが干渉する。


Torch (2021) ―― トランペット、ピアノ、鍵盤ハーモニカと音声ファイル

C-C#-Dなど、半音で連続する三つの音名のみを使って演奏する。タイトルはRogue (1980)における松明の表示（隣接するセルしか見えない）に因る。音声ファイルは非人間の第四奏者として、全く非人間的に演奏に介入する。


Melodica Trio (2021) ―― ビデオスコアによる鍵盤ハーモニカ三重奏

画面の右から左へ流れてくる矩形が赤線を通過する間、任意の「固定音響」を演奏する。二種の矩形があり、同じ種類の矩形が繰り返される場合は、同じ「固定音響」を繰り返す。矩形の種類が変わるたびに異なる「固定音響」に取り換える。矩形の移動速度は漸化式によって時折変化する。