Before a performance, second-year ethnomusicology student Harmony Chua said she feels like she is sitting alone in an empty room. But the moment she is onstage, sitting before her piano ready to play a composition that she has written, she becomes a bird in the spotlight, ready to take flight and experience the thrill.
Tonight, as a part of the Fowler Out Loud series, jazz pianist Chua will perform a suite she composed, called “Belief.” Chua’s piece is a representation of the solitude she has felt, even in a crowd of people, and how that crowd together experiences the same feeling of isolation.
Chua began playing the classical guitar in third grade, and picked up other instruments like the clarinet and drums until she found her main instrument, the piano, at the age of 14. After playing classical music by artists such as Mozart and Bach, she said classical music became too rigid for her, since there are specific interpretations of each piece. Instead, she said she leaned toward the richer harmonies of jazz artists like Bill Evans because she felt as though she was having a private conversation when she listened to Evans’ albums.
At the same time as her transition to jazz, Chua began to loosely play melodies in her head. She would compose where her ear took her, but it wasn’t until her first year of college that Chua said she was finally proud of several sheets of music that she composed.
“Music is no better than any other art form or study, but it is one of the most enjoyable and comfortable methods for me to express all the things I’m unable to say with words alone,” Chua said.
In order to speak to her audience through “Belief,” Chua created a band specifically for this concert. Chua asked a few close friends and trusted musicians to join her. Performing alongside her are bandmates Chili Corder, a second-year ethnomusicology student and guitarist, and Colin McDaniel, a second-year pre-cognitive science student and drummer.
McDaniel said there is a wide range of energy in the pieces Chua created for this concert. At some points her music is somewhat cheerful, while other parts are somber and introspective. It is a reflection of her personality, as Chua has a reserved and thoughtful side, but lets go and shows a different energetic side to her friends and loved ones. Chua is highly passionate and dedicated to her music, as she spends the majority of her time composing, he said.
“You can clearly hear how she takes her influences from hip-hop, electronic, classic compositions and rock, as well as people like … Evans, and she puts her own twist on it and reveals her personality by blending it together through a medium of jazz,” Corder said.
“Belief” is composed of three parts: “Burden The Heart,” “Heart to Begin” and “Harm in Me.” Slow and intense, “Burden the Heart” is a pun on the bird in the listeners’ hearts, as well as the burden that people carry, Chua said.
“Harmony is normally pretty shy and quiet, but she’s able to express herself through music and share herself with other people,” Corder said. “(‘Belief’) really shows what she has dealt with in the last few years and how much she has grown.”
The suite is supposed to represent the disconnect between people, which Chua has also experienced. Chua said many individuals all experience loneliness together, but most are unable to be honest and open up to one another. Chua said she hopes to relay a feeling of universal love and acceptance to her audience.
“Heart to Begin” is dramatic and harmonically dense, and symbolizes the difficulty of beginning a new phase. There are two main melodies in which the musicians will speak to each other and converse with their instruments. Corder will play the top line, while second-year ethnomusicology student and bassist J Johnson will play the bottom chord.
“It’s always difficult for someone to begin anything, like opening up to others,” said Chua. “But when they finally do start talking, they will find that people are more accepting than they originally thought.”
Chua said the third part of the suite, “Harm in Me,” is even heavier and more intense, and repeats some of the melodies in “Burden the Heart.” Chua intended the entire suite together to represent a cycle.
“‘Harm in Me’ is supposed to connect to the first song and symbolize the pain in hardships that you carry within yourself,” Chua said. “My nickname is ‘Harm,’ so it is kind of about me.”
Besides the suite, the band will also play “Trois Gymnopédies: Gymnopédie No. 1 (Lent et Douloureux)” by Erik Satie and arranged by Corder.
Corder said the pieces Chua selected give each band member a solo. The final goal, Corder said, is for the band to improvise over the melody of her compositions and essentially work as a team.
“While practicing, Harmony tries to get all the musicians to get into the vibe of it, rather than just play the note(s),” McDaniel said. “She wants us to take it to the deeper level, and she gives us free reign over what we play within that chord.”
As a result of Chua’s goal to incorporate everyone’s voice into the suite, the concert has been a collaborative process with a band of close friends who enjoy playing together. The official stress is collaboration and playing music that features all of them, Corder said.
“As far as musicians go, or how they define themselves, it is my personal belief they have to accept this one fact: you are a human first and a musician second,” Chua said. “The inspiration that you draw from experiencing life, emotions and the presence of other people is what allows you to see what is important and what can be stated within musical boundaries.”