11.14.23 - Introduction
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I’m engaged in an ongoing practice of musical I Ching.  

The I Ching at its core is a series of 64 hexagrams (hexagrams = a stack of 6 lines, solid or broken). Readings correspond to Chinese characters whose pictographic significance were expanded into a series of interpretive texts by the Duke of Zhou around 1000 BC. These readings have since been further elaborated on by many others, including Confucius, who dedicated much of his life to studying the I Ching.

There are many ways to form a hexagram. The oldest method involves a bundle of yarrow sticks, while the popular modern method involves flipping 3 coins 6 times. I use an Octatrack to generate random melodies, each of which corresponds to one of the 64 possible hexagrams.

Instead of a verbal reading, my approach relies on musical interpretation to communicate aesthetic parallels to the text - translating images and emotions to sound, melody, and vibration. If there are mountains, I try to play mountains. If there is apprehension, joy, or stillness, I try to reflect that in what I play. It seems to me that in traditional divination practices, words only get at a portion of the meaning, with certain key aspects (most importantly, the imagination of the querent) being overlooked in the quest for clarity.

Divination is a unique artform, in which a piece of art is placed between two participants - an oracle and a querent - and invites both participants to actively engage with it. My goal is to use this framework to invite an entire audience to engage more deeply with a live performance...to see it as a reflection of their personal story. All performances begin with a potent ingredient - the convergence of multiple consciousnesses upon a single space and time. My approach to the I Ching attempts to center and sustain the magic of this convergence.

My research for this project is vast - research into the original 64 pictograms and their significance, Chinese language, approaches to musical interpretation and improvisation. This page is my documentation of ideas from that research.