This piece is part of a public collection of original music inspired by NASA's Lucy mission. She launches in October 2021 and will be the first to explore the ancient Trojan Asteroids in Jupiter's orbit. For twelve years, Lucy will traverse our Solar System to uncover the mysteries of our past — and perhaps those of our future. Meanwhile, on Earth, we channel her inspirational journey through our music!

My composition evokes the tremendously vast emptiness across which Lucy will fearlessly roam. Alone, she will find company among the fantastic celestial wonders of our imagination, both great and small. Lucy's patience will reward her with momentous discoveries of things we cannot yet even fathom. Regardless of the mission's outcome, we will celebrate Lucy's pioneering contributions and eagerly look forward to our next venture to continue unearthing the unearthly.

This music is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License and is freely available for use by NASA and other third parties. #NASALucySoundscape

To learn more about the Lucy mission and the soundscape project, visit https://www.nasa.gov/lucy-soundscape. Anyone can participate!

Lucy

as a musician who went to school in chicago for 4 years, it would have felt wrong not to learn to appreciate jazz, the soul of the city. like a kitchen sponge, I absorbed as much as I could and began to try my hand at integrating some of the things I learned and observed. I took formal composition classes for the first time and found new directions to grow. covid and focusing on other things in my life did a number on me as a composer, which is why some of these pieces took forever to finish. but here they are, finally ready to serve some years after their conception. enjoy!

tl;dr: I’ve been cooking.

“Café Window” (Jul. 2019) - one of my first jazz compositions, I was largely exploring how to use and voice different instruments, still heavily centering on my most comfortable instrument, the piano. I was inspired by the jingle that windows computers play when u plug something into the usb port (hence the name). brownie points if u can figure out why this is a café specifically…

“Marinade” (Dec. 2019) - just as a dish is assembled starting with a base, so too was this piece built up from the bass. a 24-bar theme lays the groundwork for an explosion of bold brass and saucy solos as they elaborately disguise and marinate in what is essentially an extended 2-5-1 progression, layered with a healthy serving of the circle of fifths.

“Lemongrass” (Jan. 2023) - aptly named for its fresh, tropical flavors, this bossa nova piece evokes palm trees, white sands, and perhaps the wii sports resort universe. also named this because I found my girlfriend chopping lemongrass when I went to tell her I finished writing it.

“Coop d’État” (Aug. 2019) - chickens overthrow local government (bok bok).

“Boiling Point” (Mar. 2023) - this big band piece dishes out a fitting climax to the playlist. a poppy percussion-and-bass intro makes way for prominent usage of stepwise motion and arpeggios to build and release tension. it feels like swinging in the streets to some upbeat new orleans big band. or maybe something that burned ur tongue.

hope u don’t mind the musescore-generated music too much… it would be my dream to hear any of these performed live! if u or people u know can make that a reality, let’s talk. otherwise, comments and constructive criticism are always greatly appreciated.

these works were a long time coming and they mean a lot to me; do not use my music without permission or giving me proper credit. thank u for listening ❤️

Boiling Point

Coop d'État

Lemongrass

Marinade

Café Window

One of my first-ever pieces was a waltz, and something about this style just got to me as a rising composer entering middle school. I drew a lot of inspiration for these from big-name waltz producers like Chopin and Strauss. While many of these pieces are kinda jumpy and on the whimsical side, there are some in which I tried to imitate a more romantic/lyrical style as well. (Sorry if some of these sound a little glitchy due to technological imperfections.)

Hieu Collection 1

Waltz in E Flat Major

This playlist contains a variety of etudes, nocturnes, preludes, and scherzos. Some of them I wrote a while back, and others I wrote as recent as last year.

Scherzo In F Sharp Minor

These pieces are the ones that have a bit of an oriental vibe to them. Shoutout to my Viet roots for inspiring me to try out this style of writing. You'll hear some that more or less stick to a pentatonic scale, and a heavy reliance on the harp and strings to create that peaceful kind of atmosphere.

Album

Chimes of the Orient

The pieces in this playlist contain some of my proudest works! Spanning a variety of different styles and moods, let your imagination take you somewhere with these, and tell yourself a story. Go on an adventure!

Nights of Snow

Improvisation II

This playlist contains the compositions I made throughout my freshman year of college!

Reminiscence

Requiem

Reverie

Fantasia III

Standby

Horizon

Hello, my name is Hieu Nguyen, and I like to compose music in my free time! I started teaching myself how to write music at the age of 8 and have been working on it ever since. I hope you like the stuff I've come up with over the years! Comments, questions, and constructive feedback are much appreciated. Thank you!

Hieu Nguyen

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