If contemporaneity is dominated by a general aesthetic model drawing on multiple media, inevitably transforming "games" into "video games," it is also true that this practice does not correspond to the totality of attitudes. Indeed, a different direction is pursued by a very young South Korean composer, Il Hoon Son, who recently graduated from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Il Hoon Son has written an artistic research focused precisely on the composition and processes based on rules and instructions of traditional Korean and non-Korean games, as well as having several compositions in his catalog that fall within a Musical Game Series.
First and foremost, a merit worth mentioning relates to the ensemble chosen by Il Hoon Son: the first piece of the series is in fact written for two pianos, but it is the only one with such a reduced instrumentation, as the others are Rhythm Bomb (2019), for an ensemble of 12 instruments and conductor, and even Game of Yut 'Mo or Do’ (2022), for orchestra. It is a remarkable fact, as it is also evident that all the previously mentioned pieces have been performed by very small ensembles, sometimes even including the composer himself, and the largest is Generation Kill by Stefan Prins for 8 performers. This aspect deserves attention not so much as an unequivocal merit, significant in itself, but more for the objective difficulties encountered (for any type of piece) in the context of a new commission for an orchestra, a system with particular dynamics and specificities linked to a solid and structured organization of repertoire selection, the efforts spent on studying and preparing concerts leading to a often complex negotiation of the compositional possibilities of each piece - especially those new ones, created by young composers. Any repertoire with a non-linear form, or that requires interpretative skills far outside traditional instrumental practices, can easily encounter objective difficulties, clearly dependent on contextual factors (such as resource and time management) and objective facts, such as the difficulty of adequately preparing pieces based on indeterminate elements in a predetermined number of rehearsals, which therefore do not include too many obstacles or incidents. Moreover, in general, it is certainly a less common and widespread practice, and a style of performance that many orchestral musicians may never have encountered before, thus presenting further difficulties that are hardly compatible with the rigid scheduling of an orchestra's working day, marked by precise times and schedules.
Il Hoon Son delineates 8 fundamental rules for his practice, which define its scope and aesthetics. The first rule, "The game must contain rules and objectives: win or lose," and the second, "The game must be played by more than 2 opposing players or teams," indicate that Il Soon's games belong to the Ludus category, as described by Roger Caillois, or to the "achievement" playing mode as claimed by Thi C. Nguyen. This clear and definite direction also determines an evident transparency of the game, which will thus be known to the listeners. This is also evident from rule 7, which states that the audience must be aware of the rules, probably to better follow the gameplay. Rules 5 and 6 establish the composer's musical interest focus in this context. "The players are strictly forbidden from acting or from verbally communicating during the piece. The musical game requires the ability to understand by hearing alone, in contrast with games that have a visual component," and "The piece must be idiomatic. Even if the outcomes of the piece are uncertain, the piece must have a musical identity."
He is on the opposite horizon of Ciciliani and Cage. Regarding Ciciliani, the difference simply lies in the relationship with different media, which Il Soon excludes a priori but Ciciliani takes as a premise; for the remaining ludic characteristics, there is no particular dissonance. However, regarding the musical identity of a piece and how to define and/or recognize it, one could write volumes. It is clear that this composer's intention is for a certain degree of recognizability to be transversal to the specific dynamics that make up the piece. Therefore, although the exact quantities and dimensions of identity cannot be discussed with great precision, the possibility of a result constantly different from itself through different performances is deliberately excluded, and thus the particular indeterminacy of Cagean matrix is excluded. The desire for control over the sonic material and the attention given to the aesthetics of the final result bring Il Soon much closer to John Zorn than the two previous composers, with whom the Korean author actually shares more traits. The reference to the exclusion of the visual medium, stated among the rules defining compositional practice, is particularly unconventional in an era where multimedia is a widespread and entrenched attitude among many artists.
In his paper, Il Hoon Son presents three of the six game pieces he has composed: 20 Questions for two pianos, Paradox of Losers for vibraphone and four pitched instruments, and Yut Nori for eight pitched instruments and a conductor. The first of these is a fairly linear translation of a spoken parlour game into music, with the addition of corollary elements to maintain constant aural interest and ensure control. 20 Questions is indeed inspired by those guessing games where two players challenge each other by asking questions to discover an object imagined by one of them, with only "Yes" or "No" answers allowed. The guessing player has twenty attempts to try to win the game, beyond which they are considered to have lost.
The compositional process undertaken by Il Hoon Son is a very direct translation: every aspect of the game has been translated according to a principle of adhering as closely as possible to the semantics of the original game. Firstly, the object to be guessed has been translated into one of the most recognizable musical parameters, aiming to make the gameplay dynamics immediate and easily perceivable by both the audience and the players. The Answerer thus chooses a pitch (or three, depending on the version) to play repeatedly, which will be the object that the other player must guess through the positions of their questions, which are in turn translated into sound productions of specific frequencies. In the following image, you can see an example of translation from verbal to sonic communication, expressed in relation to the version of 20 Questions with three pitches to guess:
In turn, the responses of the Answerer are also translated into pitches, this time divided into only two possibilities: an octave of E for "Yes" and the third inversion of B flat 7 chord functioning as "No". Additionally, performers are also provided with the option to keep track of the questions asked through the use of the chromatic scale, which progresses from E to A. "For the sake of making a dramatic scene, I chose to play the marking notes with a crescendo."
The dimension of recognizability, declared as an intent in the rules set forth by Il Hoon Son at the outset, primarily relies on the use of a pitch, which, in the instrumental dimension chosen in this case, is limited to 12 elements, as each octave of the piano is divided into 12 semitones and there don't seem to be solutions involving distortions, detunings, or string executions that could widen the frequency spectrum. Furthermore, an additional reassurance in these terms comes from the stability of the response elements, which are identical in any performance. Thus, although their order may clearly change depending on the Questioner's questions and the course of the game itself, the sounds of the piece are clearly reduced to a sufficiently limited set of sounds to be familiar to a listener after just two "rounds" or performances. In this way, the identity of the piece is successfully guaranteed.
The aesthetic strictly understood as the musical part of the piece is therefore relatively traditional: the frequencies are those of the piano, chromatic scales and octaves are present - specific elements of the traditional romantic era -, but the non-linearity of the form and the distribution of these elements according to a playful interrelationship between the two performers determine the most intriguing and innovative aspect. Each performance is never the same as itself.
In presenting the ideation process of the piece, Il Hoon Son includes in his dissertation a chapter on Practical Execution, which appears particularly relevant in the overall reflection presented. This chapter, in fact, seems apparently contradictory to the intentions initially stated because it reports how the composer, having also performed the work firsthand, realized some aspects of the game that he wanted to "transgress," ignore, in order to achieve a musically more interesting performance. While the Korean author has repeatedly stated in his text how the primary purpose of a Game Piece in his vision is the teleological dimension, the end and objectives that the game includes in the musical performance, and that these should therefore prevail over other considerations, during rehearsals of the piece, he himself found himself "playing" with some aspects of the seemingly linear game flow. In practice, instead of "playing" according to the rules set by himself, aiming for the ultimate goal, on some occasions, he felt the need to pause his race towards victory to pay more attention to some elements encountered along the way, effectively sacrificing a potential ludic "success" in favor of greater musical enjoyment. This is not further explained, but it is very likely that it finds its reason in this refined and complex balancing of the "game" and "music" parameters in the general structure of the piece, and therefore how the terms of the distribution of intentions are actually considered negotiable by the composer during the performance. Another interesting aspect, also mentioned within the same paragraph, is the experience of another player grappling with the same piece, who recounts being struck by strong sensations while playing the game. That player, in fact…
“… lost a few games in a row and got quite upset. He asked the answerer to have a rematch and he lost his focus on the music. His obsession with victory made him lose sight of the fact that this was a musical piece. Interestingly, his emotion was identically reflected in the musical results. His strategy was strictly calculated, not considering making good sound, almost unmusical at the moment. Nevertheless, the strategy made for a piece which I had never imagined, let alone listened to.”
Thus, a self-sustaining cycle has been created, a sort of feedback loop, in which the game gives rise to specific sensations that underlie a musical interpretation that, within the context of a composition based on semi-improvised forms, determines the development of the piece itself, which continues in its evolution by reproducing the dynamics that irritate the player and further fueling this type of performance. In this dimension, the integration between the gaming and sonic dimensions is maximal, completely interdependent.
It could easily be imagined that it was this realization that determined the conception of the third of the Game Pieces produced by Il Hoon Son. Yut Nori, in fact, is a more complex piece that relies on a much less linear and directly translatable perspective compared to 20 Questions. "The musical goal/purpose/topic of the piece is to allow participants to transform the tension and emotions of the game to music. Tensions arise when one tries to read one participant’s intentions and strategies, and interrupting them has just that effect." The emphasis on the interpersonal dynamics of the players is thus an important parameter. However, the Korean author still maintains a translational approach to certain specific parameters of the game.
Some definitions require an explanation:
“The board is transformed to music score. Each of the notes are functions as a station. The reading of the music score functions as straight courses, while the repetition signs are functioning as diagonal courses. I designed the board to produce an average duration of 15 minutes. However, the repeat signs mean the duration of the piece will vary.”
Transforming the dice from a tangible object to an intangible musical object was one of the hardest things about this piece. […] 4 players equally from 2 Teams determine each team’s movement by playing or not. So they can defend against an opponent’s advances with a strategy.
1 of 4 playing : -1 step
2 of 4 playing : 2 steps
3 of 4 playing : 3 steps
4 of 4 playing : 4 steps
0 of 4 playing : 5 steps
This particular choice is quite unique and uncommon. It resembles more of an arbitrary and partly predetermined sonification of a dice, rather than employing a more automatic method to achieve randomness as seen in other compositions. It leverages the resources of the ensemble, providing them, as Il Soon mentioned, with both an opportunity for strategy and partial control. This approach enhances the game dynamics in a particularly distinctive and challenging manner. While the composer could have easily opted for real dice, solving the issue in a straightforward yet elegant way, this solution demonstrates creativity and delves deeper into the intertwined dynamics between games (manifested here as strategy and social behavior) and musical outcomes. Notably, the dice themselves "produce sounds," akin to a classic form of sonification.
The sounds made by the mals of the opposing teams must be distinguishable by their timbre so the players and the audience can follow whose mals are where […]. When the mal moves, it makes the sound crescendo to mezzo forte and plays all the passing notes. It also makes a decrescendo to pianissimo when it lands on a station. When the mal lands and stays on a station, it plays the note with irregular rhythms and a whispering pianissimo tone. The mal players can choose their own clef to read the score according to their instrument. The clefs chosen are unchangeable during the piece. However, chosen clefs are not shown on the screen or the music score.
If a mal lands on a note occupied by another player on one’s own team, they form a group and travel together from that point on. In this case, the most recent mal to land plays the note an octave higher (or lower) so the audience can follow the group.
The instructions provided are highly detailed, reflecting the composer's intent to control the overall composition to achieve a "recognizable" performance. However, it is worth noting an evolution from the first piece in this specific case. Initially, the need for control was dominant, manifesting through the establishment of fixed, unalterable frequencies as a fundamental element of one of the players' execution. This approach gave the composition a solid structure, firmly anchored to these chords, reminiscent of classical forms like rondo or variations reduced to their minimal absolute elements, thus straddling the line between interpretation and improvisation. This combination of a relationship with the past and an innovative attitude proves to be a particularly effective and noteworthy practice, showcasing virtuosic balancing acts between seemingly diverse and opposing definitions.
What remained functional is this feedback loop between the outcomes of gameplay translated into sound production, which in turn influences the course of the game anew - a phenomenon primarily occurring within the dice, in Yut. This loop is the key to the effectiveness of the interaction in Il Hoon Son's Game Pieces. From an executive standpoint, it is fascinating to imagine oneself in the mind of each player, contemplating what the predominant goal will be in their interpretative choices. This connection between the value of a note in terms of its musical contribution to the performance and its value in achieving the game's objective may not always align precisely, adding an exhilarating layer to this artistic endeavor.
Regarding the performance aspects typically discussed verbally, which Il Hoon Son prohibits, the composer remarks: "Somehow, there is a way for one team to communicate without being understood by the opposing team. This mode of communication resembles how ensemble members typically collaborate while playing a standard piece together." Highlighting this parallel between two distinct modes of communication holds significant importance. Music has frequently been regarded as a non-semantic art, devoid of autonomous meaning and solely tasked with distinguishing functions. Similarly, in certain games involving strategy and teamwork, a comparable dynamic emerges: players cannot openly articulate their thoughts but must rely on trust among teammates or seek alternative means to convey their intentions. This convergence underscores another shared element present in Il Hoon Son's compositions.
“Because all the elements are controlled by a strict plan, the audience makes their own musical function or syntax. […] in the end, it is all about music. The outcome of the game (win or lose) is completely unrelated to music. The most important thing is the process of the piece. There are no practical wins or losses for performers at the end of the musical game. There is no prize for the game, and we cannot judge which player’s musical ability is better.” The conclusions drawn in his paper may initially appear contradictory to the nature of the pieces and their descriptions, but upon closer examination, they align. In the grand scheme of evaluation, Il Hoon Son's primary focus leans towards the musical aspect. The essence of the pieces lies in the musical experience they create rather than the outcome of the game, indeed further bolstering the alignment with John Zorn's perspective on game pieces.