Last updated: December 5, 2025 (content will be updated over time)
SUMMARY
- A reading circle × music session that loosens the boundary of “reading as a solitary act.”
- Everyone reads the same chapter together while sharing a soundscape created for that story.
- We are currently seeking book curators, musicians, and venue hosts.
This is a SESSION that blends a reading circle with a live music performance. We loosen the boundary of “reading as something you do alone,” and slowly move through a single book together—while music expands the imagination.
We envision a series that sits somewhere between the quiet concentration of reading and the raw immediacy of live performance: making “the time spent reading itself” into the work.
In the same place, reading the same chapter, listening to the same sound
Each time, we invite a curator (critic / editor / bookseller, etc.) to select one book.
Participants arrive having read up to a chapter specified in advance by the curator. On the day, everyone silently reads the next chapter together at the venue, wrapped in the sound performed by a musician.
A character’s emotional shift, a landscape description, the moment a concept emerges—based on the progression of the text, the musician draws a chapter-specific soundscape in real time.
Sample timetable (90 minutes)
This is one possible structure:
| 1.Introduction (15 min) | The curator introduces the book and offers a brief recap to align everyone’s memory. We tune our attention to “today’s reading range” and to listening. |
| 2.Reading + Performance Block 1 (20 min) | Participants read the assigned chapter silently. The musician brings sound into being in response to the unfolding text. |
| 3.Mini Talk (10 min) | The curator organizes what has happened so far and offers questions to carry forward. |
| 4.Reading + Performance Block 2 (20 min) | Into the latter half of the chapter. With a different mood and texture from the first half, the sound stays close to the chapter’s climax. |
| 5.Cross Talk & Group Share (25 min) | A conversation between curator and musician, plus participant reflections (sharing a line that lingered, etc.). |
*During the “reading blocks,” the music continues without interruption. Everyone reads at their own pace while passing through the same chapter inside the same sound.
*As a participation benefit, we are also considering distributing a “reading soundtrack” recorded from the day’s performance (e.g., via a download code).
Co-creation process (from planning to the day)
The core of this SESSION is the collaborative process in which a book curator and a musician co-create through a single book.
| 1.Book selection & range setting (led by the curator) | The curator chooses “a book they want to read with others right now,” and decides how much will be read in one SESSION. |
| 2.Aligning the sonic direction | The curator shares the book’s context and key motifs. The musician proposes a sonic approach (still / dynamic, timbre, texture, etc.). Together they create chapter-by-chapter “sound direction notes” (e.g., “uneasy here,” “silence here”). |
| 3.On-the-day tuning | While grounded in the prepared notes, the musician improvisationally adjusts dynamics and the length of silence in response to participants’ reading speed and the atmosphere of the space. |
This is a starting draft; we will reconfigure it flexibly depending on the location and participants.
Collaborators we’re seeking
- Book curators / critics / editors
・Strong knowledge in a specific genre (contemporary thought, SF, poetry, children’s literature, etc.)
・Have “one book you want to read slowly with others”
・Interested in sharing ways of reading and questions through open, flat conversation with readers - Musicians / sound artists
・Enjoy expanding sonic imagery from text and narrative
・Interested in ambient / experimental / improvised / electronic practices that work with space and time
・Drawn to subtle change and silence rather than loudness - Venue hosts (bookstores / libraries / cultural spaces, etc.)
・Want to open a place related to books and knowledge in a more engaging way
・Can provide a quiet environment for reading (not overwhelmed by outside noise)
・Able to accommodate low-volume performance / speaker playback, or open to a headphone-listening format - Videographers / filmmakers
・Experience filming live music and documentary work in small crews
・Skilled at capturing the atmosphere of a site using natural or existing light
・Able to balance long takes that reveal “the flow of time” with detailed shots
・Ideally able to handle editing as well (shoot-only is also negotiable) - 出版社・メディア・企業の方
・Interested in creating a place where people can spend time reading books or authors you are involved with, slowly and attentively
LOG
Dec 5, 2025: Concept draft published
Support / Partner
HASSHIKI welcomes partnerships (collaboration / sponsorship) with companies, organizations, and individuals interested in this SESSION / project. Venue support, equipment cooperation, co-planning for productions, and brand/product collaborations are all welcome. Please reach out via the form below.
