Misato Mochizuki

Boids again

Two years ago in Rome, I encountered a murmuration of starlings and I was amazed with its overwhelming beauty, changing shape as it moved. Moving of a fish school that you can watch in an aquarium, has the same beauty and the energy.

According to the scientists, their fine movement in a flock is based on the following three simple rules:

steer to avoid crowding local flockmates
steer towards the average heading of local flockmates
steer to move towards the average position (center of mass) of local flockmates

The word “Boids” refers to bird-like objects (bird-oids), representing the beauty of their movements in a flock which is a result of balancing out with each other, following the principle of least effort.
I wonder if these rules can be applied to the way a string quartet is shaped.
“Boids again” has been written as a sequel to the piece “Boids” (2017), a 4 minute study for string quartet in the frame of the Kronos Quartet’s educational project “50 for the Future.”
(Misato Mochizuki)