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이어받은 선율 (Inherited Melodies)

‘’이어받은 선율’’ (‘’Inherited Melodies’‘) was a posthumous album of compositions by Korean American violinist and composer Travis Yoon. Travis arranged Gyeonggi-associated folk melodies supplied by his grandmother, Soon-ja Yoon, and completed the project during his leukemia treatment with notation assistance from Ezra Cruz. Ezra later arranged its release through the Fifth Bar Collective.

Overview

‘’이어받은 선율’’ drew exclusively from melodies Soon-ja had carried from Gyeonggi Province and hummed while cooking and working around the Yoon family home. Travis placed those melodies within Korean and Western classical instrumentation.

Background and Composition

Travis began developing the project during his Juilliard studies. By late 2024 and early 2025, he continued working on the arrangements while undergoing treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

During induction chemotherapy at NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, Travis could still hear the music clearly but had difficulty entering the notation himself. Ezra opened Sibelius and served as his scribe: Travis described and hummed the parts, while Ezra entered the notation and played back the MIDI. They continued this process during Travis’s treatment in New York and after his return to Evanston.

The album included string-quartet writing. A three-measure passage from a cello-led composition was reproduced in Ezra’s wrist tattoo while Travis was alive; he understood the mark as a promise rather than a memorial. After Travis’s death, another handwritten score page from the project supplied both the capital ‘’T’’ and musical notation used in Ezra’s separate memorial tattoo.

Creative Roles

Soon-ja supplied the Gyeonggi-associated folk melodies. Travis composed and arranged the album, and Ezra assisted with notation when treatment affected Travis’s ability to transcribe. Ezra later coordinated the posthumous release. Rowan Collins, Travis’s friend and former Juilliard mentor, was among the musicians who recorded his arrangements as a gift to the Yoon family.

Release

The album was released posthumously through the Fifth Bar Collective. Soon-ja and the Yoon family received the finished recordings.

Creative Works Albums Travis Yoon