Berkley Center

Sunghee Kim: When I was young, I always wanted to be a painter. I draw a lot and I painted a lot, and I also played piano a lot. About 12 years old, I had to decide between fine art and music. And my parents are not that rich. My father was a pastor at Korean Presbyterian Church, medium-sized church, but his salary was not that great. I didn't want to be a burden to my parents. And at the time I though buying paint and all the materials for fine arts would be quite expensive. And if I chose to become a pianist, that would be much cheaper than all the paint. My piano teacher was one of the church members and she gave us piano lessons for almost free, more than 10 years. So that's how I began my music journey.

William “Bill” Ickstadt: You said your dad sung, he worked for the Presbyterian Church there, right? There's a different theology in some ways with the Lutheran church. Is he happy that you're Lutheran?

Sunghee Kim: You know what? In Korea, we usually don't say I am Presbyterian, I am Baptist, or I am Lutheran. We usually say Christian. There are some different traditions. Some churches sing more hymns or some churches have more readings or longer prayer times, but I don't want to argue about their different doctrines.

William “Bill” Ickstadt: I think we can highlight our strengths in the Lutheran church without being antagonistic. The central teachings of the Lutheran church are treasures.

Sunghee Kim: I didn't know much about the Lutheran churches. And once I began working at one Lutheran churches in Indianapolis, I immediately fell in love with the liturgy.

William “Bill” Ickstadt: I remember you saying that. That's a great gift.

Sunghee Kim: Yeah. I appreciate the Lutheran tradition because through the strong traditional liturgy, I found myself. I could immerse myself into the worship service. I think that's because of my personal characteristics. I am a quite introverted person and I really need to have my personal time and my private time. And during the service, through the liturgy, I didn't see any one person is highlighted, or one person is leading the whole congregation and whole worship service. But the whole people with the Holy Spirit's guidance are leading the worship together. That's why I really appreciate the Lutheran tradition. And it goes really well with organ music and also piano or band.

William “Bill” Ickstadt: The liturgy is a gift, a great gift that we have. It's variable and yet it has the things that repeat. And a lot of times I think people look at creativity as a wonder that comes out of the void, that it has to be completely created anew. And it seems to me that some of the greatest creative works come out of having structure that catapults the creativity. And I think in the liturgy, you have a structure that is the same and you have parts that are different. And I think that actually serves creativity in the worship and allowing for variability, variety as well.

In terms of a person's theology as well as their musical appreciation, I think you change and mature. When I was younger, I appreciated certain things that I would probably set aside now. But I think that also awareness, knowledge, doesn't have to be through formal training, increases your appreciation of a much wider variety of things.

First time I heard “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland,” I ran up into the balcony and I asked the music director, "What was that hymn?" Savior of the Nations, Come. And I thought it was just hauntingly beautiful. And I was a seventh grader.

Sunghee Kim: Really?

William “Bill” Ickstadt: Yeah. I wasn't supposed to like that.

Sunghee Kim: For me, as a pastor, the kid, I just really wanted to please my parents. So I was really obedient girl. And now, in the US, I don't have to please my parents. Now I learned that I should become an independent Christian and my own faith and my own personal relationship with God. So it took a lot of time and I'm still learning how to become a Christian by myself.

And as a church musician when I was young, I really wanted to be a perfect musician. Whenever I made mistakes, I remember it. But I learned that worship service is not just happening on Sunday morning. My preparation times and my worship times, actually I enjoy preparation times more than worship service itself. During the worship service, there are too many things we need to focus on, otherwise it will be chaos.

But as an organist, sometimes I have to practice at late night at the chapel because that's the only time the chapel is open and it's completely dark, completely quiet. And I am the only one in the huge chapel with very little light. And when I hear the organ sound and when I practice all the hymns and when I look at the text, that's the most sacred time for me.