By BRIANNA WANTUCK ’29
Updated 11:50 a.m. EDT, 16 Oct. 2026
In April of 2026, Dr. Soo Yeon Kim accepted her current position of Full-Time Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola here at Houghton University (HU)’s Greatbach School of Music (GSOM). She is also a featured musician on campus, recently having performed in a Faculty/Guest Artist Recital on Oct. 9th and as the soloist in the Houghton Symphony Orchestra’s Oct. 15th concert on “Danse Macabre” by Camille Saint-Saëns.
Kim’s journey to HU began when she was performing and earning her doctorate at Eastman School of Music. The faculty there recommended that she apply to a position opening at HU for a Professor of Violin and Viola after seeing her in a teaching environment. The positive reputations of alumni and the Christian community were additionally significant in drawing Kim to HU.
As an educator, Kim expressed that her “expertise is [in] bodily awareness for musicians, and that’s something that is not really talked about a lot.” This is because “musicians are like athletes and you have to know how to use your body.” Music graduate student Faith Kaschube ‘27 commented that “she does a very impressive job of breaking things down for us to understand, so that we can unlearn bad habits and build good ones. [Kim] is great at pinpointing the exact aspect that needs to be fixed and shows us specifically how to go about fixing that thing.”
Focusing on the importance of bodily awareness has stemmed from a hand injury that Kim suffered early in her career: the result of a hereditary condition passed down from her mother to her and her sister. Effects vary from case to case, but Kim experienced immense pain, as the injury was located near nerves, leaving no option for surgery. Through this journey, Kim gained an interest in neuroscience and “[while recovering] learned a lot about the body [and] how body awareness helps students play better.”
For the students, this training has been crucial. Junior violinist Hannah Cuthbertson, ‘28, said that “Kim’s work on body awareness and technique improvement [has] helped my tone develop immensely. Her work [in] reshaping my posture, technique and tone has been among the more difficult things I have done on this campus. However, it’s definitely improved my sound and my musicianship.”
Kim’s teaching extends beyond the individual student. She frequently provides opportunities on and off campus for students to experience the world and music outside of HU. On campus, she has pioneered the Summer String Festival (now Summer Music Festival) to showcase student talents and progress. During the academic year, she takes students to concerts, as well as bringing artists to HU for special recitals. Kaschube notes that this is “a great opportunity for students to bond with each other and experience great musicianship.”
In the next five to ten years, Kim hopes to recruit more prospective students into the music program, continue to provide expansive opportunities, and continue a few personal projects. One of these projects is a new class that is available for Spring 2027: Mind, Brain, Body, and Music. It is an “Interdisciplinary course between psychology and music. It’s not a psychology of music…[but it will] discuss how music pedagogy helps students be an integrated learner,” and is available to all students as an elective and is co-taught by Kim and Dr. Tim Xeriland, Assistant Professor of Psychology. The goal is to connect students to the idea that your brain and body influence and are influenced by music, and further, that relationship was designed by God. Faith will be an integral part of the class, just like any other that Kim teaches.
Kim says that “as I learn more about it, I’m realizing God made us so amazingly.” Kim is hoping to provide HU students with the opportunity to connect with their bodies and God through the making of music through her classes and extended teaching at GSOM. ★
