“As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten–-a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed
to me. I knew then that ‘w-a-t-e-r’ meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away.”
- The Story of My Life, Helen Keller

“This lack of internal body images became clear one day when she said, “Martha, what is jumping? I don’t understand.” Graham responded at once by calling one of her dancers, Merce Cunningham, to the barre and placing Keller’s hands on his waist. As Graham tells the story, “Merce jumped in the air in first position while Helen’s hands stayed on his body. Everyone in the studio was focused on this event, this movement. Her hands rose and fell as Merce did. Her expression changed from curiosity to one of joy. You could see the enthusiasm rise in her face as she threw her arms up in the air and exclaimed, ‘How like thought. How like the mind it is.”
- Sparks of Genius, Robert Root-Bernstein

Written for the cellist, John Popham.
Premiered on Dec 8 2023 by John Popham in nyc.

Baroque cello - John Popham

W-A-T-E-R (baroque cello, 2023)

for snares, cymbals, crotales

Riley Barnes, Julie Choi, Jon Clancy, Gabriel Costache, Tae McLoughlin, Amber Evans cond.
Ades Performance Space, Manhattan School of Music
March 26, 2019

Music For 5 Percussionists

Jixue Yang, Piano
Ni Yan, Cello
Danni Song, Voice
Nhat Nguyen, Conductor

Time Anonymous (2019)

for fixed media

For a long time, I have been concerned about what humanity treats the Earth. Such things as the Great Pacific garbage patch, air and water pollution, and deforestation destroy our environment which is so precious to our lives. Considering this, it doesn’t really matter how much we contribute to climate change (as some scientists argue if we create any influence at all). What is important, is that we need to revise our attitude to ecological problems. This belief became an idea of my new composition for fixed media.

I used passionate speech by Greta Thunberg as starting point (she pronounced it at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit in New York on September 23rd). Greta is probably the most discussed child on our planet in 2019. Despite all controversial opinions, she became a symbol of the environmental movement. 

“GRETA” also includes fragments of speeches from different years by Severn Cullis-Suzuki, Harrison Ford and Prince Charles. In this music I attempted to recreate my feelings about ecological problems. I intentionally used soundscape elements mixed with artificial sounds, which corrupt initial calm and quiet scenery turning it at some point into a lifeless desert.

Preview photo credit: Kevin Frayer, Getty Images

GRETA (fixed media, 2019)

Composer
IU Jacobs School of Music DM
Manhattan School of Music MM
Chung-Ang University BM

W-A-T-E-R (baroque cello, 2023)

Jeewon Kim

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