Curiosity and Courage: The “SEA” Pitch - Class Set in Toru Takemitsu's Guitar Works

This study is guided by the simple conviction that music is fundamentally a practice of questioning driven by curiosity and the courage to transform knowledge into expression. This research examines Toru Takemitsu's use of the "SEA" pitch-class set (0,1,6). Although Takemitsu's orchestral and chamber works have received extensive scholarly attention, his solo guitar music remains relatively underexplored. This paper focuses on three works.  All in Twilight, Equinox, and In the Woods analyzing how the "SEA" set operates across melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre. Takemitsu's treatment of the "SEA" set exemplifies what may be termed sonic curiosity, moving beyond mere pitch organization to evoke water, silence, and the Japanese concept of Ma (間). Ultimately, the study contends that analysis, when transformed into interpretation, reveals the unspoken expressive potential within a composer's voice and offers a model for performance-as-inquiry in contemporary guitar music.