625 (2022)

PERCUSSION TRIO

7 minutes

625 is about my memory of learning abacus from my math teacher, Ms. Pan, and practicing it with my friends in her office. Children add 625s repeatedly on the abacus to improve speed. We first play slow as we learn, with intense focus. At some point, we get comfortable with the playing, and our minds start to wander in the meditative waves of everyone playing together at varying speeds and rhythms. Our fingers fly on the abacuses as our minds swirl and soar freely above the sound cloud, sporadically perching on brief adult conversations among teachers, until Ms. Pan interjects: "Time to go home for dinner!" 

Performed at Sō Percussion Summer Institute by:

Maura Dinkert, Yelyzaveta Gaidaienko, and Jacob Kundu