April 25, 2024

A Vietnamese Mother's Letter to Nixon Documentary

Hello Everyone,

I feel incredibly honored to share with you that the documentary spoken about in my interview with Ky Nam Nguyen, and her piece A Vietnamese Mother’s Letter to Nixon, is now publicly available with full English subtitles! I highly, highly encourage you to immediately watch it on Ky Nam’s YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywKXkH1RMr4

I was originally going to include this announcement in with the other content for the weekly blog post, but after watching the documentary, I realized that this story and its impact is far too important to just include alongside other material. The regularly scheduled blog post will instead be posted tomorrow on the website with notifications on social media. This week in particular there is much I wanted to discuss, such as the episode featuring Will Davenport, the recent FSU EChO concert I attended and the different works featured there, an impromptu post-concert mini-feature with Oliver Schoonover, and a preview of next week’s featured composer Gabe Gekoskie.

On the topic of this documentary, I find it haunting in an important way. It feels uncanny to put faces and actual voices to the words and sounds of A Vietnamese Mother’s Letter to Nixon, and I hope that the episode conducted with Ky Nam can serve as a companion to telling the story of Nguyen Thai Binh. Very few times in my academic career have I felt as impassioned and personally directed to help promote such a piece of art and what it represents, and I feel incredibly humbled to be part of it.

Ky Nam also recently shared with me that she is currently, as of this being posted, part of multiple events in Seattle, Washington, presenting her parents work on the story of Nguyen Thai Binh, the documentary, and her piece at the University of Washington and the Wing Luke Museum. I am so pleased for her and her parents to be getting the recognition for their efforts and reaching platforms to directly speak to audiences about their research and knowledge.

Like I said before, this is a special occasion, and the weekly blog post with all of the above-mentioned items will be up and available tomorrow. If you have not yet listened to the episode featuring Ky Nam Nguyen and her piece A Vietnamese Mother’s Letter to Nixon, I also encourage you to navigate over to the episode tab to do so. But in the case of this announcement, I implore everyone to watch the documentary, like, and comment on the video. Please show Ky Nam Nguyen and her parents support on behalf of the Theorist Composer Collaboration.

-Aaron

Ky Nam contributor page: https://www.tccollaboration.com/guests/ky-nam-nguyen/

Featured Episode: https://www.tccollaboration.com/a-vietnamese-mothers-letter-to-nixon-ky-nam-nguyen/

Documentary link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywKXkH1RMr4

Podcast Hosting Options

Website: https://www.tccollaboration.com/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2UkZ99Ko6FdoUyDdhHvqNe

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/theorist-composer-collaboration/id1740684613

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/31fdf020-d5d5-4550-9612-c6b47ca32835/theorist-composer-collaboration

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TCC-ys5xy

Contact and Social Platforms:

Contact page: https://www.tccollaboration.com/contact/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557900086297

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tc_collaboration/

Email: theory.comp.collaboration@gmail.com

Aaron D'Zurilla

TCC Founder/Music Theorist

Hello, my name is Aaron D'Zurilla and I am the primary host and founder of the Theorist Composer Collaboration. I created the Theorist Composer Collaboration out of a love of the connection between the artist and their art. Music theory, in my view, is a lens and avenue in which to understand people and their experiences. Often, as music theorists, and individuals attempting to find success in a historically hierarchical field, we find ourselves turning-away from modern music and artists when choosing what to study. As many academics could attest, the decision to study or analyze a work goes beyond that simple decision. It is a choice to highlight, spotlight, platform, and even promote the continuation of a commodity or idea, even if it is in a critical light. While there is plenty of space for such scholarship, and new inventive work in the field of music theory is developed everyday across the world in numerous topics, there is a stark lack of attention to the new music of today.

My personal rationale can be surmised in that we should not wait for music to be 40,50,80+ years old to begin pondering the creation of the art of today. Why wait to engage with literal generations of new composers, creating worlds of novel sounds and experiences everyday across the world? Generally, when looking at where composers and their compositions find support, it is within the composition community, across academia, festivals and through online platforms specific to the field. The hope of the TCC is to expand the support for modern, living compositions outside of these ar… Read More

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