‘A SONIC ARC’ by Tricia Park composed during her residency, performed here in the wood shop. Theory and anagram illuminated :
This is a piece for solo violin that is, as the title hints, an arc in and of itself. There are several metaphoric delights embedded in this piece, not the least of which is the title. As a musician who plays with words and a writer who plays with sound, I was charmed one day to discover that A SONIC ARC is an anagram for CORSICANA. And much like the triumphant Scrabble player discovers a way to use all their tiles, this serendipity led me to compose the piece with joyous speed. Haunted and haunting, the shape of the piece is also a metaphor for my creative process. I am a relatively new composer and am now inspired to write a collection of short pieces like this for solo violin, which could then be compiled into an album, commemorating this time in my life and marking the creative evolution that began in Corsicana.
Following an ABA, ternary form, the piece begins rather hesitantly, as if searching for its footing. The A section’s main motive is a falling third, between c-sharp and a-sharp, and explores a single line, falling and rising as it turns on itself, finding direction. As this first section arrives at a kind of cadence point, it enters into new territory: the propulsive B section, with continuous arpeggios that are energetic, rhythmic and offer harmonic progression and tension. After a point of climax, the A section returns, but is subtly transformed, with a falling third that is a half-step lower: now, a c natural and an a natural. Throughout, I utilize a variety of other violinistic techniques, like left-hand pizzicato and harmonics, to add texture and layers. The piece ends in a sigh: with the falling third, but this time, repeated three times, as it ascends higher and higher octaves, evaporating into nothing.
Korean-American writer and classical violinist Tricia Park lifts the veil of cultural universalism that classical music hides behind. In an effort to confront the harmful anti-Asian stereotypes and model minority myths she encounters in her career as a professional classical musician, Tricia’s writing probes Western imperialism’s effects on East Asian communities both at home and in diaspora. Below the exquisite melodies of Bach, a culture war persists that affects our notions of class, beauty, and what constitutes real music and by extension real people. Tricia addresses these complexities with clarity of voice and sight in her essays on her podcast, Is it Recess Yet: Confessions of a Former Child Prodigy. Her commentary speaks across U.S. and Korean cultural contexts to reveal excruciatingly accurate insights.
Residency Focus: In keeping with the intersectional focus of her work, Tricia spends time at the residency experimenting with ways to fuse her writing and musicianship. Tricia is working on her longform project, a blurred hybridization of fiction and memoir, while also completing an original solo violin composition inspired by her experiences in Corsicana.