Performing at Kent State University

One non-musical thing I learned about this trip was that Ohio is freezing cold, haha!

On December 6, 2018, I had the chance to perform in the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music at Kent State University in Ohio. What was so special about this opportunity was the chance to perform Filipino art songs, a very unpopular genre of music here in the States. I got to meet wonderful and talented people, and got a chance to experience Thai music performed by experts. All of this would not be possible if it was not for Dr. Priwan Nanongkham (aka Dr. Khio).

I am so lucky. I started become intrigued by ethnomusicology, and thought to search for a scholar in southeast asian music in hopes to find someone that knows about Filipino music. Stumbled upon Kent State (name was familiar — remembered “Kent State Shooting” in high school history class), and saw Dr. Nanongkham’s profile. Got uber excited, and sent him an email at 3 in the morning.

With no high expectations of him emailing me back, he did. Immediately! He claims that he is not a scholar of Filipino music, but instead he invited me to perform in their World Music Concert. Crazy opportunity. Definitely grabbed it.

UNC-Charlotte funded my flight and off I go (along with my supportive husband) to Ohio. First thing we noticed: snow. Oh, and really friendly people! Dr. Nanongkham was so very kind and offered his home for us to stay in during our three day stay there. He toured us around Kent State, ate authentic chinese food, and lent us his van for a date night, haha! I got to rehearse with one of my accompanist (who graciously volunteered!), Qiaorong, for maybe an hour. Qiaorong was such a joy to work with! We performed “Ano Kaya Ang Kapalaran” by Francisco Santiago.

I also met Dr. Terry Miller and his wife Dr. Sarah Miller. Later in my research I found out that he was THE name that I found in the Garland Handbook of Southeast Asian Music. Haha! Crazy that I met the person even before I read his stuff. Mind blowing that I’m casually facebook friends with them now. They were such a fun couple.

Just a few hours before the concert was the dress rehearsal, and this is when I just met my other accompanist, Sunny. Her family and friends ( of the Thai Music Dance Group), drove from Chicago down to Ohio just for this concert. Though she was not a professional accompanist (though I tried to convince her to do so), Sunny was able to pull of the essence of the kundiman, Mutya Ng Pasig by Nicanor Abelardo.

This was my first time seeing a live performance of Thai music. To me, it was spiritual. Exciting. Playful. Mysterious. The dance group was able to do a live depiction of the story the soloist was singing. We were able to follow as there were translations being showed on the slide. This is where I got the inspiration to do the same thing for my senior recital. It was so exciting for me to sing the Tagalog kundiman songs. I’m not sure if they were ever performed in Kent State.

It was a bittersweet goodbye for us when we had to leave. Dr. Khio drove us to the airport and left a huge impression in my life. He gave us life advice that left me to tears haha! I felt like I met my family if I ever decided to move to Ohio. Everyone there was so humble. The pressure of pulling off a show with no rehearsals with each other can give off so much anxiety! But these people reminded me the core of being a musician, and it’s to be able to share and experience music together.

These wonderful photos were taken by my beautiful friend, Yuan Ni.