Nine Days for clarinet, piano and prepared sounds

Nine Days For clarinet, piano and prepared sounds
Clarinet: Du Xingyou
Piano: Mao Zhu
Music Compose, Sound Design: Mao Zhu
Video: Du Xingyou, Mao Zhu
From February 4 to 12, 2022, 9 days of collaborative creation through the network.
Counting Nine in winter to record time is a traditional custom that has existed since ancient times in China. During harsh winters, people faced limited means of warmth and protection. To pass the time and alleviate the stress caused by the cold, they devised the concept of “Counting Nine”. It starts with the winter solstice, one of the 24 solar terms in the Chinese lunar calendar, and counts every nine days, for a total of nine stages. The calculation continues until reaching the eighty-first day (nine sets of nine days), when the cold winter is over and spring has arrived.
Since the winter of five years ago, I have adopted the method of "counting nine" in winter, which is full of poetic and traditional cultural significance, to create. Starting from the winter solstice every year, I collect sounds or images from daily life to create a work every day, usually a short video of about 1 minute, and publish it on my Wechat channel (Wechat is equivalent to China's Facebook). This kind of winter "Counting Nine" creation will last for 81 days before ending.
Nine Days is a collection of artworks that clarinetist Du Xingyou and I created through online cooperation during the nine days from February 4 to 12, 2022. It is like a diary, recording some moments of our daily life over 9 days:
Day 1, the rain of spring.
The first rain of spring, where do the birds go when it rains?
Day 2, Glass World.
Clouds are easy to disperse glass brittle, broken glass world, can not find exactly the same two pieces, however, before breaking, it is like other creations, can be replaced at any time. In a broken moment, new possibilities, new worlds are born.
Day 3, the speed of the raindrops.
The raindrop, falling straight down like an arrow, it doesn't have a constant velocity, sometimes Rallentando, sometimes Accelerando, when does it Calando?
Day 4, two candles.
Today I light two candles, one in memory of my favorite composer, George Crumb (1929-February 6, 2022), and one in memory of doctor Li Wenliang (1985-February 7, 2020).
Day 5, spring flashed.
The continuous rain for several days finally stopped, and there was even a moment of sunshine, although short, still biting cold, but spring still slowly came...
Day 6, clouds.
To write clouds
Move very fast --
In a flash
They turn into something else.
...
(Wislawa Simbowska)
Day 7, the worm's dream
After the beginning of spring, it has entered the second Hou: insects began to vibrate. Winter insects are slowly waking up, will wake up, the worm may be doing a spring dream? The slice of wood in the microscopic lens, covered with a layer of fiber crystals, looks fluffy and warm, no wonder, the bugs don't want to wake up ~
Day 8, far away.
Those who seek the distance have the right to be lost. (Adonis)
Day 9, the final answer.
9 days ago, Question: Where do the birds go when it rains? Nine days later, she answered with a musical epilogue.