Hitomi Oba - Part 4

For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT)
Episode 159: Hitomi Oba - Part 4

In this week’s episode, we talk to Hitomi Oba about her influences, mentors, the crossover between her jazz and classical training, and her compositional process. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more about Hitomi Oba, check her out here: https://www.hitomioba.com/. This episode was originally recorded in December 2023.

This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors, like you. Want to support For Good Measure and E4TT? Make a tax-deductible donation or sign up for our newsletter, and subscribe to the podcast!

Intro music: “Trifolium” by Gabriela Ortiz, performed by E4TT (Ilana Blumberg, violin; Abigail Monroe, cello; Margaret Halbig, piano),  as part of “Below the Surface: Music by Women Composers,” January 29, 2022
Outro music: “Lake Turkana” by Marcus Norris, performed by E4TT (Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Alchemy,” October 15, 2021

Transcription courtesy of Otter.ai.
Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1903729/episodes/17156319

Producer, Host, and E4TT co-founder: Nanette McGuinness
Co-producer and Audio Engineer: Stephanie M. Neumann
Podcast Cover Art: Brennan Stokes
Interns: Renata Volchinskaya, Sam Mason

Chapters

• 0:22 In this week's episode, we continue our conversation with Hitomi Oba, who we spoke to in December 2023.
• 0:30 How does your classical versus jazz background translate into your compositions? Do you find yourself pulled more to classical or jazz, or does it feel like you're living in the space between the two?
• 5:15 How did you find your voice as a composer, and what is your compositional process?
• 7:46 Well, that leads to, where do you get your concepts, ideas and inspirations? How do you get them, or do they just kind of arrive in your mind's ear once you know who you're writing for, or etc?
• 9:18 The purest definition of music is sound in time, right? And what keeps coming up for you, as we're talking is the time, the x-axis, if you want to think about it that way.
• 9:36 You've talked about how important your mentors are. Who are some of the mentors you've had, either in music or out of music, and while we're at it, what composers, musical styles, drummers have had an influence on you as a composer or musician?

Transcript

Nanette McGuinness  00:00

[INTRO MUSIC] Welcome to For Good Measure, an interview series celebrating diverse composers and other creative artists sponsored by a grant from the California Arts Council. I'm Nanette McGuinness, Artistic Executive Director of Ensemble for These Times. In this week's episode, we continue our conversation with Hitomi Oba, who we spoke to in December 2023. [INTRO MUSIC ENDS] How does your classical versus jazz background translate into your compositions? Do you find yourself pulled more to classical or jazz, or does it feel like you're living in the space between the two?

 Hitomi Oba  00:45

Yeah, this question, this question, I think, is really important for a lot of people, because there's so many people now with backgrounds in, you know, western classical as well as, like, you know, African American musical genres. Now, right? Because both of them are quite prevalent in academia now. So so many people who are practicing both. I think this is a question that a lot of people are thinking about and are manifesting creatively in a lot of different ways. So I think it's really exciting for for me, as well as a lot of those other people. I feel like, yes, it is. We're living in the space between. And it really, for me, it depends from project to project, definitely, more specifically, not project project, but even more specifically, with the backgrounds and the practices of the players involved. Like I said before, about the, you know, improvisation. So, yeah, it depends on who's involved with each project. Who's going to be performing, you know, who's who's collaborating. I do think, you know, a lot of times it is presented as this, kind of like, you know, classical, postage, jazz, but because there's so many more artists who are living the space between, and then those people are an, in turn influencing other people who are living in the space between, it's getting increasingly hard to kind of separate those things apart, I think, right? So there are people generations above me, right, who've been making music for a long time in the space between who have influenced me, you know. So it's hard for me to then say, well, this is, you know, I do think it's important to acknowledge influences, especially in the case of, like, underrepresented, you know, artists and musics, especially in like, you know, the Black American, African American musical, you know, history. So I think it's really important to acknowledge those influences and then, but then how those influences manifest is highly individual, right? And might depend not on each person, but from, you know, where they are in their musical journey, you know. So most of the time I'm in my professional practice, I'm not writing for situations that call for stylized musical examples, right? I'm not writing for, like, commercial music for instance, right? Or, you know, um, in mediums in which it would have to be very explicitly, like recalling another genre of music, right? Like, this is not like, you know, 20s, big band music, you know, like, which a lot of people do, right? So I, most of the time I'm not doing that so, and I've been lucky to have a lot of mentors who've really stressed the importance of making your own music, you know, like, and it seems so obvious talking from composer to composer, or, you know, but in this, in this kind of realm, but it's, it's something that I need to be reminded all the time, actually, even if I know it in my head, even if it's like, you know, even if I wrote it on my wall, I still need those reminders to say, like, "Yes, like, you, you know, you have a lot of external forces, but you have to do what's your own." You know. And so I've had a lot of people, you know, that I respect, who've continually reminded me of that, really grateful for that. And so I think when I'm thinking about synthesizing my different influences, you know, I it's it's important again, acknowledge them, but I think it's also important, me for them to not try to, you know, necessarily, superficially, kind of assemble them into place, I think, yeah. And I should also know, like, you know, a lot of people don't even use the terms classical or jazz anymore, especially in jazz, I think a lot of people are starting to recognize that it's, it's, it had a lot of derogatory, you know, historically derogatory connotations and stuff too. So a lot of people are, you know, opting for improvised music, or, you know, creative music. Same with, you know, I guess, classical world too, right, like new music, creative music and such. So an increasingly more collaborative right, not just in terms of the composers being, you know, exposed a lot of different things, but a lot of the performers have backgrounds in a lot of different kinds of practices as well. It seems like, because, again, educationally, very rich environments now. We're exposed to a lot of different things, and we have access to things. So, yeah, it's, it's an exciting time. And I think there's so many ways that can manifest, not just within myself, but within all of you know, so many of my peers, so exciting. Yeah, it is.

Nanette McGuinness  05:10

Crossover is king, in a sense.

Hitomi Oba  05:13

Yeah, absolutely.

Nanette McGuinness  05:15

How did you find your voice as a composer, and what is your compositional process?

Hitomi Oba  05:20

So I'm still working on that. [laughs] I'm still working on it. I've mentioned that, you know my mentors, I'm so grateful to have these kind of mentors who continue stressing this and then stressing like you have to find your own voice, and it's an ongoing process also, because I keep changing, right, like we mentioned, like, now I'm a parent, and I feel like, you know, priorities are changing, changing values, changing perceptions of things are changing all the time. So I think it'll probably be an ongoing process. But just like trying to adhere to that and trying to recognize when I'm not doing that, you know, and maybe like trying to compose in a way that isn't authentic to myself. Just getting better at noticing that, I think, is a big, big step, big step forward.

Nanette McGuinness  06:02

Getting better to hearing the still, small voice inside you that's saying yes or no.

Hitomi Oba  06:16

Yeah! Or even in my output, even after I've done it, yeah, absolutely. But in terms of compositional process, it really depends on the piece. But generally I, I do, I do start by picturing things in my mind. So you know, it exists aurally in my mind, in real time with the instrumentation and everything. And I thought that that's how most people composed, and I'm discovering through talking to other composers that that's not necessarily the case. 

Nanette McGuinness  06:22

[laughs] 

Hitomi Oba  06:24

So I guess I should note that, yes, this is, this is kind of where I start. Is I do try to imagine it, which is why, you know, exercising my imagination has been so much, you know, of so much value to me. But, yeah, picturing it. And this is how I work things out when improvise as well, right? I pictured in my mind first, and then in a split second, you know, like nanosecond later, it has to exist in the real world. And so, yeah, I think that that kind of, just like imagining it in its totality, is usually where I start. So, you know, it. And then I work things out, I edit, I chain things, I mold those ideas, you know, and maybe apply conceptual ideas, you know, like, well, what if you did take this and put it over? Like, more, more, you know, cognitively based ideas, maybe logical things, but, yeah, generally, I start with, well, I have this instrumentation, you know, these are the kinds of players. What would be interesting if it existed, I guess, [laughs] and then taking that down, yeah, sure.

Nanette McGuinness  07:44

Well, that leads to, where do you get your concepts, ideas and inspirations? How do you get them, or do they just kind of arrive in your mind's ear once you know who you're writing for, or etc?

Hitomi Oba  07:58

Oh, Nanette, that is...that also depends. 

Nanette McGuinness  08:00

[laughs] 

Hitomi Oba  08:02

That's a really good question. Yeah, and I'm curious as to what other you know composers, where they get their concepts and ideas as well. It really depends. Instrumentation is big for me, because I do try to picture it, you know, in my mind, sometimes it might be extra musical concepts. You know, for instance, I'm working on a piece right now, with Erica, actually, that's based on a text. It's somewhat narrative, but it's not theatrical, right? And so you know how that translates into music as just like a source material has been interesting, yeah! In terms of inspiration, yeah, I think one of the things that does help me picture things, I need to find a more elegant way to describe this, like picturing thing, but when I picture things in my mind's eye, I think I do, like I do, place a lot of emphasis on movement. So how things move through time, and how they take up space, you know, and how they you know. So that has to do with texture, that has to do with momentum, has to do with pacing, instrumentation, all of these things. So I guess it's aural, but it's at the same time, somewhat visual and tactile as well.

Nanette McGuinness  09:16

That's fascinating. The purest definition of music is sound in time, right? And what keeps coming up for you, as we're talking is the time, the x-axis, if you want to think about it that way.

Hitomi Oba  09:27

The x-axis, right! I think in large part, due to me being an improviser, maybe?

Nanette McGuinness  09:33

Sure. Makes sense. [laughs] You've talked about how important your mentors are. Who are some of the mentors you've had, either in music or out of music, and while we're at it, what composers, musical styles, drummers have had an influence on you as a composer or musician?

Hitomi Oba  09:53

Yeah, that's such a big question. And if I feel like once I start, I run the risk of leaving people out.

Nanette McGuinness  10:00

I know, don't you hate it?

Hitomi Oba  10:03

I've been really lucky to have such great instructors throughout my life, you know, starting with when I was, you know, like in elementary school, people who are really encouraging in both private settings and in group settings, and mentors beyond education, of academia and schooling, I'm lucky now to have some mentors who I really look up to, not just in terms of music, but in terms of like, life and wisdom. And some particular, really close mentors right now include like composer James Newton and, you know, pianist composer Jon Jang in the Bay Area, and Francis Wong and Gabriela Lena Frank, and, yeah, just people who I really respect as people. And also, you know when in sharing their wisdom, it doesn't just have to, it's not exclusively limited to just like being a musician, [laughs] but as being people. And I think that is so important and integral if you're going to be mentoring someone in the creative fields. I had brilliant instructors throughout. In college, I studied Kenny Burrell, the guitarist, jazz guitarist, legend. He was one of the instructors there, and the compositions of Paul Chihara and Ian Krouse, you know, Roger Bourland, David Lefkowitz, there are a lot of composers who shared so much and in high school, yeah, just so many people! The Bay Area was so rich. Yeah, my private instructors through most of my time as a teenager, were Dan Zinn, who's a saxophonist and, you know, prominent educator there in the Bay Area, and also Michael Orland, pianist, harpsichord player, yeah, so and so many, so many more people I feel like, if I start, I'm just yeah, it's just going to go on, and I'm very grateful for so many of the people you know, who I had growing up as a child and also as a young person. So, yeah, it's, it's, I feel very, very, very, you know, fortunate. And, yeah, in terms of styles, I again, you know, I've had a lot of educational background in African American musical traditions, improvisatory traditions, western classical. My parents liked a lot of different kinds of music. So there was, like, rock, blues, folk, Indian classical music in my house. My mom started after I, you know, grew up, she started playing Okinawan instrument called Sanshin. Before that, she played Bansuri, you know. And my dad plays guitar, you know, there was a lot of music at home. And so we're exposed to music that wasn't just the music we were studying. And, you know, I grew up in a Japanese speaking household, there was, you know, Japanese music playing. And, you know, as a young 90s American and Japanese Pop and R&B. And then in college I was I got to study some other non- American and non-Western styles of music. I studied a little bit of little bits, only little bits, I can't claim to be proficient in any of them, but I studied little Gagaku Japanese imperial court music. And when I was in Japan and Taiko Japanese drumming I did for four years. Yeah, I did Balinese Gamelan for my whole time there, and Bulgarian women's choir my whole time there. It was, you know, in the Gospel Choir, we did Afro Cuban. Played in, you know, as a professional, I played in pop/rock productions. You know what lots of things you get to call to do as a saxophonist. So, yeah, a lot, a lot of different genres. And I feel lucky in California, we are exposed to so many amazing musicians in all of those genres, right? So getting a first hand experience with those people has been very, very integral as well.

Nanette McGuinness  13:54

[OUTRO MUSIC] Thank you for listening to For Good Measure, and a special thank you to our guest, Hitomi Oba, for joining us today. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast by clicking on the subscribe button, and support us by sharing it with your friends, posting about it on social media, and leaving us a rating and a review to learn more about E4TT, our concert season online and in the Bay Area, or to make a tax-deductible donation, please visit us at e4tt.org. This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors like you. For Good Measure is produced by Nanette McGuinness and Ensemble for These Times and design by Brennan Stokes, with special thanks to co-producer and audio engineer Stephanie M. Neumann. Remember to keep supporting equity in the arts and tune in next week "for good measure." [OUTRO MUSIC ENDS]