Two years ago artist and designer Aliki van der Kruijs connected artist and musician Ryoko Shimoda (b.1982, lives in Fukoaka JP) with Daily Practice. There was a beautiful encounter, just for one morning in a cafe. Ryoko told she wished to research and compose silence and meditation. Two years later she announced she had written ‘A Little Meditation Piece for You’, especially for Daily Practice. And also for herself, to explore how silence, sound, mindfullness and touching the heart can be translated into a piano composition.

Ryoko Shimoda has adapted the tuning frequency of her piano:
“The modern concert pitch of A=440 Hz became the standard largely for practical reasons, such as consistency in orchestras and performance in large concert halls. To me, it has a brighter, sharper quality that feels as if it resonates more in the head.
The piano I play is tuned to A=432 Hz, which is much closer to the pitch commonly used in the time of Mozart and Beethoven. For me, this tuning feels warmer and more relaxing, as if the sound gently sinks into the body. The difference felt so profound to me—almost like the difference between a feeling of lack and a feeling of fullness—that I searched for a tuner who specializes in historical instruments and asked them to tune my piano this way.”

‘A Little Meditaion Piece for You’, is played by herself, with the duration of ca. 3 minutes. She made recording of it.
For the regular Tuesday meditation, this time Tuesday July 7, Daily Practice invited her to come, since she was in The Netherlands for a few weeks. She told July 7 is a special day in Japan, called Tanabata: “People write their wishes on strips of paper and hang them on bamboo branches. Originally, it was a day to give thanks for everything related to making and wearing woven textiles—from raising silkworms, to spinning thread, dyeing it, and weaving cloth.”

For Tuesday July 7th Ryoko designed and installed a Milky Way, consisting of two large pieces of tule. This was installed inside the exhibition of Moosje M Goosen.
We started at the regular time: 16:30 hrs. With her composition, projected on a wall, then we sat in silence for ca. 9 minutes, we played the composition again, we sat for another 12 minutes and the composition was played again. Like a mindfullness bell, waking up, the coming and going of sounds, maybe touching hearts.
Afterwards a wish was written on a strip of paper and hung in the ‘Milky Way’.