Music student Research – Yujin Ha: Exploring fresh musical perspectives
Rising sophomore Yujin Ha will be among the performers, challenging herself to play a modern violin solo that illustrates her research encompassing both the process and outcome of changes in how violins are made.
She and two other SURE students will perform under the mentorship of Paul Bhasin, the Donna and Marvin Schwartz Professor of Practice. Bhasin directs the Department of Music’s undergraduate research programs that also include composition, ethnomusicology, musicology and theory.
A dual music and neuroscience and behavioral biology major, Ha traveled with Bhasin to Emory’s Summer Music in Italy program. Her work began with archival research and interviews of world-renowned luthiers.
After immersing herself in workshops on music history, performance and technique, the experience concluded with her playing Francesco Filidei’s “Lied per violino” as an invited artist in the Cremona Music Festival.
She will perform the complex 2020 composition at the symposium, interspersing her play with explanations that include the different resonance and volume made possible with changes such as steel strings.
“Her interpretation reveals something about the piece, informed by all of this research she has done, the same as if a chemist presented their findings in a live set of experiments for the audience,” Bhasin says. “I’m very grateful that SURE has space for this kind of research for our ambitious and capable students to flourish.”
Tackling the scholarly work and performing has been straightforward for Ha, who plays in the Emory University Symphony Orchestra. The real challenge was overcoming the language barriers, though realizing the shared passion for music has opened her up to more research questions.
“I am realizing more that there may be a way to combine music with how an audience perceives music and song,” Ha says. “This project posed more questions for me that I would be interested in understanding.”