When IU doctoral student Hippocrates Cheng broke his fingers playing basketball, he was forced to shift his focus from performing music to composing it. Although he was classically trained in piano, violin and clarinet, the Hong Kong native soon found his real passion was composing music inspired by styles he learned from different cultures.
The composition student’s endeavors as a composer, multi-instrumentalist and overtone singer were featured March 16 in an episode of “Hong Kong Stories,” a documentary series that follows Hong Kong residents with interesting stories made by Radio Television Hong Kong.
Hippocrates said he wants to learn as much as possible about the world’s music. He likes to collect non-Western instruments and incorporate them into his compositions.
“I don’t want to be limited to a certain style,” Hippocrates said. “I keep my personal signature and uniqueness in each composition. I’m trying to find my own voice.”
A culmination of all the ways Hippocrates explores music, the documentary shows the musician performing his compositions in concert, playing instruments from his vast cross-cultural collection, practicing his overtone singing technique and collaborating with a street musician.
Although the episode focuses mostly on Hippocrates’s musicianship, it also shows his efforts to learn about and respect music from different cultures, he said. He hopes people will watch the documentary and see the importance of appreciating different types of music while also understanding their cultural significance.
“I hope people can see that we should be open-minded,” Hippocrates said. “We very easily misinterpret people, so I hope they can see me as an example.”
Hippocrates said he’s grateful his musicianship has been captured by the documentary crew because he’ll be able to look back at his progress in the future.
“I’m very thankful,” Hippocrates said. “This is not just my documentary, but this is a result of a collaborative effort from everyone who has helped me and supported me.”
Some of the most influential people in his musical growth have been his teachers, such as JacobsSchool of Music professors Don Freund and Aaron Travers, Hippocrates said.
Freund said he admires how dedicated Hippocrates is to learning different styles of music and incorporating them into his compositions. According to Freund, Hippocrates stands out because he's more interested in learning new instruments and composition styles than limiting himself to just one.
“He’s probably the most incredible force of music I’ve run across,” Freund said. “Most of our students are focused on doing just one thing really well, and he’s the opposite.”
Joseph Hung, director of "Hong Kong Stories," said he decided to do an episode on Hippocrates because he wanted the series to showcase passionate people with special interests. He said his goal was to capture moments where Hippocrates expressed his passion by training his camera on the musician’s face while he performed.
Hung said he hopes viewers will be inspired by Hippocrates's open-mindedness and passion.
“I want to tell the audience that if you want to play music and enjoy it, you can play anything,” Hung said. “You can play with a broken guitar, you can play with anything you pick up from the floor. Just enjoy music, that’s very important.”
