SPAM! is an interdisciplinary project I embarked on summer of 2020. I couldn’t avoid steering myself away from the COVID pandemic. Who wasn’t affected by it either directly or indirectly? I was home all day all year with an out-of-tune upright piano. I played through some Schumann, Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, etc., over those summer months with my janky piano. And it was not easy. Of course, the out-of-tuneness bothered me first. But even a bigger problem I faced was the consistent distraction caused by a thread of thoughts about uncertainty and fear. Death seemed to be nearer than ever. What is the point of playing “beautiful” music? I was bothered by the “beautiful” music. vanity, I thought.

In 2020 June, I asked six composers to write a piece for the untuned piano, household objects, recorder-keyboard, and myself. I told these composers that the pieces would be performed at home. I was hoping to invite everybody over to my house and give a premiere concert in the fall of 2020. Now it is spring of 2021, and the in-person premiere concert still awaits its happening. The concert was live-streamed on September 25, 2020.

I would like to thank all participating composers Anthony R. Green, Han Hitchen, Howie Kenty, Tyler Kline, Emily Koh, Benjamin D. Whiting, and audio/video engineers William Brown, Han Hitchen, Joshua Mallard.

SPAM! is now available as an audio format 12 Views on Life.