Co.Ko. - un poco Loco (2017)
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solo piano
duration: 10 minutes
premiered by Blair McMillen
11/1/2017, National Sawdust, New York, NY
Additional Performances:
3/2/2018, Blair McMillen, SCI National Conference, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA
9/29/2018, Jihye Chang, Center for New Music, San Francisco, CA
9/30/2018, Sar-Shalom Strong, Park Central Presbyterian Church, Syracuse, NY
9/11/2020, Jihye Chang, Naxos of America - Classical Music Day, online (mov 1)
10/25/2020, Dominic Fiacco, Cazenovia Counterpoint, Cazenovia, NY
3/27/2021, Eun-Hee Park, Alabama Piano Gallery, Birmingham, AL
2/25/2024, Koeun Grace Lee, Grace Presbyterian Church, Walnut Creek, CA
4/6/2024, Jihye Chang, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
10/12/2024, Koeun Grace Lee, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA
With “Co.Ko.” (from the title) being the abbreviation of Contemporary Korea and “un poco Loco” meaning a little crazy in Spanish (chosen for rhyming), this piece is a 10-minute musical essay in three movements, reflecting contemporary Korea, where its own traditions and Western influences mingle in a slightly crazy way.
Movement 1 is titled "Sangietto" and is based on sanjo – a Korean traditional musical genre (actually pretty modern, as it is from late 19th century) – meaning “scattered melody.” A sanjo piece, typically 40-60 minutes long, encompasses a handful of sections with different tempi and prominent rhythmic patterns, getting gradually faster throughout the piece.
This shortened sanjo in around 5 minutes (therefore, “Sangietto”), is based on the structure and rhythmic patterns of the tradition, intertwined with Western music, including rag time, symbolizing the deeply interspersed Western culture in contemporary Korea.
Movements 2 & 3 parody K-pop – ballad and dance music, respectively. The title of the former, “Emperor of Ballads,” is the nickname of a famous K-pop ballad singer in 1990s, Shin Seung Hun. The harmonic progression of the first phrase, which is somehow stereotypical in K-pop ballad, is repeated, as in a passacaglia, and mocked with raucous and shrieking clusters.
The last movement is titled “Jingle up!!” and largely incorporates house music (a genre of electronic dance music that was popular in the US in 1980’s and in South Korea in 1990’s), with its common rhythmic and melodic patterns. It is a musical patch work in which several independent musical passages are interwoven, including a modified quotation from “Jjalang jjalang” (a word mimicking the rattling sound), a famous children’s radio gymnastic song in South Korea, again from the 1980’s.
solo piano
duration: 10 minutes
premiered by Blair McMillen
11/1/2017, National Sawdust, New York, NY
Additional Performances:
3/2/2018, Blair McMillen, SCI National Conference, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA
9/29/2018, Jihye Chang, Center for New Music, San Francisco, CA
9/30/2018, Sar-Shalom Strong, Park Central Presbyterian Church, Syracuse, NY
9/11/2020, Jihye Chang, Naxos of America - Classical Music Day, online (mov 1)
10/25/2020, Dominic Fiacco, Cazenovia Counterpoint, Cazenovia, NY
3/27/2021, Eun-Hee Park, Alabama Piano Gallery, Birmingham, AL
2/25/2024, Koeun Grace Lee, Grace Presbyterian Church, Walnut Creek, CA
4/6/2024, Jihye Chang, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
10/12/2024, Koeun Grace Lee, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA
With “Co.Ko.” (from the title) being the abbreviation of Contemporary Korea and “un poco Loco” meaning a little crazy in Spanish (chosen for rhyming), this piece is a 10-minute musical essay in three movements, reflecting contemporary Korea, where its own traditions and Western influences mingle in a slightly crazy way.
Movement 1 is titled "Sangietto" and is based on sanjo – a Korean traditional musical genre (actually pretty modern, as it is from late 19th century) – meaning “scattered melody.” A sanjo piece, typically 40-60 minutes long, encompasses a handful of sections with different tempi and prominent rhythmic patterns, getting gradually faster throughout the piece.
This shortened sanjo in around 5 minutes (therefore, “Sangietto”), is based on the structure and rhythmic patterns of the tradition, intertwined with Western music, including rag time, symbolizing the deeply interspersed Western culture in contemporary Korea.
Movements 2 & 3 parody K-pop – ballad and dance music, respectively. The title of the former, “Emperor of Ballads,” is the nickname of a famous K-pop ballad singer in 1990s, Shin Seung Hun. The harmonic progression of the first phrase, which is somehow stereotypical in K-pop ballad, is repeated, as in a passacaglia, and mocked with raucous and shrieking clusters.
The last movement is titled “Jingle up!!” and largely incorporates house music (a genre of electronic dance music that was popular in the US in 1980’s and in South Korea in 1990’s), with its common rhythmic and melodic patterns. It is a musical patch work in which several independent musical passages are interwoven, including a modified quotation from “Jjalang jjalang” (a word mimicking the rattling sound), a famous children’s radio gymnastic song in South Korea, again from the 1980’s.