TAMU Department of Performance Studies
Kim-Choi Duo spent a wonderful weekend of September in College Station, TX, giving a recital, lecture and masterclasses to highly energetic group of Aggies! We brought with us some of our newly learned repertoire including Peter Lieuwen's Bright River and Bernstein Sonata as well as our old favorites such as Devienne's Sonata and Martinu's Sonatina. It was great to play Bright River for Peter at his own university.
Kim-Choi Duo performing at the Rudder Theatre
The following day, both of us gave master classes for clarinet and piano students. I particularly enjoyed collaborating with the TAMU Department of Anthropology for my lecture entitled "The Influence of Traditional Korean Music on Contemporary Music." I have had a number of opportunities since graduate school to explore this particular topic and felt both comfortable and sufficiently informed to give a short lecture. Since the majority of the audience did not have formal musical background, I focused on two particular examples where the Traditional Korean Music and Western Contemporary music intersect: the musical borrowing of famous (and very pleasant) Korean traditional melodies such as Arirang, and more intricate but subtle adaptation by composers such as Isang Yun (mainly through the concept of "Hauptton"). I was able to give some demonstration showcasing various unfamiliar but fascinating musical practices in Korean tradition. I am intrigued by the potential in this fusion and look forward to investigating this topic further.
Brown Bag Lunch Lecture
Parallel between the Eastern calligraphy and the concept of Korean music
Taoist principles in Korean traditional music
Demonstrating modern techniques that emulate practices in Korean traditional music
Our friend Peter was such a gracious host and invited us for the evening at his incredible estate. We had marvelous time enjoying his beautiful lake and talked about some more collaborative projects to come!
Our friend Peter had this beautiful private lake behind his house. The dock floats around!
Some high-speed exploration!
