About This Work
Commissioned by ETHEL, with support from ETHEL's Foundation for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
As I perused the Documerica Project (1971–1977), where the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hired freelance photographers to photograph different aspects of American life, I was struck by the images that had water as a central imagery — either as the main subject of the shot or peripherally associated. I thought about how a simple photograph can tell so much about a time and a place. I realized that many of the significant turns of events in my life (good or bad) also had a connection to water: swimming the beach at Coney Island in the late '50s, living along the Atlantic Ocean in St. Johns, Newfoundland, fishing in Biloxi, Mississippi, surfing in Hawaii, and performing for my fellow soldiers at Cam Ranh Bay hospital in Vietnam along the South China Sea.
For Into the Liquid, as with most of my compositions, I want the listener to connect to the music as if viewing a series of photographs depicting aspects of my life experiences. The work opens with an introductory motif metaphorically suggesting a liquid that runs through the memories of my life. In Chapters I and II, this motif is presented in different harmonic and rhythmic variations reflecting the emotional rollercoaster of thinking back to specific events in my life and the impact these events had on who I am today. The last Chapter is an artistic reflection of my life as I view it through a prism of military service.
“unfailingly vital” — The New York Times
Score Access & Performance License Policy
Works by J. Kimo Williams
As a composer, I believe music is not merely a transactional commodity, but a cultural and human exchange shaped by lived experience, history, memory, and community engagement.
In that spirit, my scores are made freely available for download for study, rehearsal, and live performance.
Free Use Permitted
You may download and use these scores and parts for:
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There is no rental fee required for live performance. I only ask that you let me know of any performances scheduled and provide a program relating to any completed performance.
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Programs and publicity should credit the work as follows:
Composed by J. Kimo Williams — Captain, U.S. Army (Retired)
Published by One Omik Music (BMI)
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J. Kimo Williams — kimo@omik.com
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Statement of Intent
These scores are offered freely so that the music may live through performance, education, and cultural engagement. Music is ultimately sustained not by ownership alone, but by participation, performance, and cultural memory.
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