Helen Sung: Taking Listeners on a Journey

Acclaimed jazz pianist and composer Helen Sung found her voice through music. Now she is inspiring others to do the same.

Sung began playing music when she was five years old, taking classical piano and violin lessons. She recalls playing melodies she heard from the radio or tv on a small red plastic toy piano, further explaining that playing an instrument gave her a ‘deja-vu’ feeling that she couldn’t quite place at such a young age. “As young as middle school, I knew that music was something I’d never get to the bottom of — I knew it would be a lifelong fascination,” she said.

Having had a background in classical training, Sung’s first encounter with jazz wasn’t until she was at the University of Texas at Austin. “It was a paradigm shift,” she explains. “Learning jazz is like learning a new language. It asks ‘who are you, and what do you have to say?’”

Sung was later introduced to the world of composing when she became a part of the inaugural class of the Thelonious Monk Institute (now the Herbie Hancock Institute). There, she studied with jazz musicians that she had long admired. One in particular was the director of the institute, Ron Carter.

Sung explains that Carter said to her: “If you want to find your voice in jazz, you have to write your own music.” Sung still values this advice, and always carefully considers what she would like to say through her music. She focuses on three core elements when composing: conveying compelling rhythmic character, creating beautiful melodies, and making the listeners feel like they’re being taken on a journey. “The rhythmic character gives the piece life, and the melody is what the audience can follow — the harmonies really take you on that journey.”

When performing jazz, Sung wants her audience to experience the previously mentioned journey in the most tangible way. She’ll bring that journey to White Plains on September 6 when she performs at Downtown Music at Grace as part of JazzFest White Plains. The Sept. 6-10 festival brings 15+ performances by established and emerging musicians to various locations in downtown White Plains over a period of five days.

Sung explains that the connection between the performer and audience is very strong in a jazz performance, and the audience is not a passive listener but an active participant. Unlike during classical performances, Sung encourages the audience at her jazz shows to get involved and make themselves part of the experience.

After extensive studying, Sung has now assumed the role of teacher herself, previously having taught jazz at Berklee College of Music and the Juilliard School and now teaching at Columbia University and as visiting faculty at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Due to the way she was taught, Sung recognizes the value in a one-on-one, personal approach to teaching jazz and she tries to implement this as much as she can with her students while also following a curriculum. She explains: “I think school is a great place for teaching the history and tradition, and things of the past, but learning jazz is not only about the technical knowledge, it’s really about how you internalize it.”

Sung is currently working on several different projects, with one being a suite of music for big band that serves as a tribute to the jazz masters she has studied with. This project is in conjunction with the Guggenheim fellowship that Sung received in 2021. While she has her hands on many different keys, Sung explains that she loves it all, and feels connected to everything around her through music. “Jazz is the most generous art form. It can take in all of this influence but not lose its core, which I don’t think you can say about most types of music.”

For the full JazzFest White Plains event schedule: https://artswestchester.org/programs/jazz-fest-2/

Alyssa Monte is an artist and writer from Mahopac, NY. She earned her BFA in Photography and Journalism from SUNY Purchase in May of 2021.