An Undergraduate Physics Major Reflects on His UC Davis Experience
There’s a rising- and falling-like quality to the symphonic piece Noctilucence, written by undergraduate physics major Jason Chen. Playful woodwinds dance around a chorus of swelling horns. They rise in resonance and break like a wave, crashing down into a gentle lull before ceding the soundscape to dreamlike xylophone chimes. A sense of quiet — of peace — fills the air. Then, horns and woodwinds sound in a triumphant finale.
“Noctilucence was inspired by noctilucent clouds, which are these clouds that are really high up in the atmosphere and made of ice,” said Chen, noting their wisp-like appearance. “At sunset, the sunlight reflects off these ice clouds and you can see them glow.”
The beauty of the image inspired Chen to compose Noctilucence, a piece that sonically captures the shimmering visual quality of its namesake. It premiered in March 2023 at the spring concert of the UC Davis Concert Band.
Chen recently premiered a new piece, Dreams and Science, at this year’s spring concert on May 21 at the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. It’s his third piece to premiere at UC Davis.
“I’m so grateful for everything I’ve experienced here, all the opportunities and all the things I’ve learned in college,” said Chen, who will be graduating in June and hopes to one day be a physics teacher. “I never thought I’d be doing this.”
A physicist making music
Chen initially thought his music days were behind him when he arrived at UC Davis. As a youth, he played piano and during high school, he played mellophone in the marching band.
At the same time, Chen was entranced by astronomy and physics. Like playing music, solving physics equations scratched an itch in his brain.
“When I took my first physics class in high school, I realized, ‘Yeah, this is what I want to do,’” Chen said. “The math just works in a really satisfying way.”
A quarter into his freshman year at UC Davis, Chen started missing the communal nature of playing in a band. He auditioned for and earned a spot in the university’s chamber ensemble program and later joined the Concert Band. Ever the student, he expanded his musical repertoire by learning harpsichord and percussion.
Chen sees science and music as closely related disciplines. Both require creativity and tenets from science underlie music. The harpsichord is an example of the latter as the instrument boasts an intricate tuning system, completely adjustable to elicit different temperaments.
“These frequencies are related to each other in specific ratios and that’s just one aspect of math in music,” Chen said. “And sound is a wave, and waves are described very well by physics."
‘Dreams and science’ inspired by ‘Star Trek’ episode
Chen was inspired to compose Dreams and Science by the television show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, specifically an episode from season six titled “Far Beyond the Stars.”
In the episode, the show’s main character Captain Benjamin Sisko, portrayed by Avery Brooks, falls into a coma, during which he’s transported from his home in the 24th century back to 1953. In that 1953 reality, Sisko is a science fiction writer named Benny Russell.
“The main character is Black, and the whole episode centers around racism,” Chen said.
In a moment of meta storytelling, Sisko (as Russell) writes a story called “Deep Space Nine” about a Black captain of a space station.
“In the 24th century of the show, the bigotries of people have basically disappeared, and that kind of hope for the future really inspired me,” Chen said. “I think advancements in technology, along with social progress, can help us get there.”
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