Musicians have explored light and darkness since, well, probably the beginning of light and darkness. Or at least since the beginning of music. But composer, pianist, and Berklee Online instructor Vicente Avella is doing something different. His recent self-released third album, Physics of Light<\/em> is 16 instrumental tracks on solo piano that all examine different facets of light, darkness, shadows, and how they play upon objects and what they mean in our lives. Songs like \u201cPenumbra,\u201d \u201cUmbra,\u201d and \u201cAntumbra\u201d accomplish with musical notes what Monet\u2019s Rouen Cathedral <\/em>series does with colors, looking at the same object in different lights. With a title like Physics of Light<\/em> you might expect something complex and off-puttingly intellectual, but Avella\u2019s playing is straightforward and heartfelt. His approach to scientific explorations feels full of childlike wonder and his melodic phrases ring so clearly that they feel lyrical. But the Physics of Light <\/em>title is not to be taken lightly\u2014no pun intended. To compose these songs, he says he dove headfirst into research to try to capture the sound of light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vicente Avella: <\/strong>My wife works in the medical field, so there\u2019s always science in my house. And my eight-year-old is a little mini scientist; he\u2019s really fascinated by it. Instead of reading him bedtime stories we\u2019re reading books on what planets we have. And some of these things really triggered my own interest, and I guess light was one of them. \u2026 Light has always had so many connotations in human history or in culture, where people refer to light and dark as spiritual relationships. And also when it comes to visual artists, all those photographers and directors of photography out here in LA are always thinking about light\u2014what lighting they\u2019re going to use and what kind of shadows they\u2019ll create. So the whole idea of light and shadows has always really been very interesting to me. So I started Googling and finding treatises that scientists had written on light and researching the subject and learning more. I mean, it was important for me to understand what I was writing about, to really understand what was the difference between penumbra, umbra, and antumbra. What really, is radiance? What do they talk about when they say \u201cresistance\u201d? What does that mean? If you asked me, \u201cOkay, tell me what the formulas are, what the graphics are?\u201d I couldn\u2019t tell you that, but I understood it was important for me to know what I was writing about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vicente Avella: <\/strong>I would say that as I was doing the research, some of those words and some of those properties really triggered my imagination. And, maybe visually I could almost see the idea of radiance. I mean, the whole idea of something radiant and shining and bright, it immediately sparks a visual image that I tried to translate through harmony and rhythmic activity, or registers, colors, that kind of thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTell me about the actual physics of light and your study of it. You have said that the more you got into this, the more you \u201cdove into the science, the physics.\u201d So what exactly did diving into the physics mean for you, and how did that inform the composition?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
So how do you translate all of this research into music? Is it that you hear the notes of what it\u2019s going to be while you\u2019re reading, or do you do all of the research and then sit down at your piano and think about it while you figure out that translation? Or is it some other method entirely?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n