Korean Traditional Musical Instruments at Korean Public School

Korean elementary students are required to learn musical instruments at school. A friend of mine who has a first grader this year had to buy a set which includes a triangle, Korean traditional gong of sorts with cute wooden drumsticks.

As for my son, I had to buy a recorder when he was in 4th grade, and Danso/Tanso the following year.  It pays if a foreign parent has an idea about these so they can pick up one in advance before the teacher requires the student to bring one the very next day. I really hate those last minute buys. Either the teacher tells the student a day before or even if the teacher tells them way in advance, the student forgets it and remembers it just on that specific morning.

Grr...I remember having to jump out early morning in late winter, (just before the school year has barely started so it was still pretty cold morning) having to go with my BIL and son to grab his art supplies. Kid was already in 4th grade but we were all pretty new to the place so it was pretty much an adjustment to everything. From then, I tried to stay on top of things having typical school supplies on hand. Fortunately, my son is growing and has learned that I am not a magician. :)

So before I ditch and clean out this danso remnants, I'll just have to post the photo of the finger chart for this Korean flute.

Summer 2012 Violin

April 22, 2012

One more week to go before the end of the month comes. Our month has flown by with relatively filled and relaxed days.

The first week started with the holy week so most of the activities were home bound, plus TM had accepted a writing task that pretty much kept her busy the whole week.

We managed to join an Easter egg painting and hunting at a local department store. It wasn’t that easy for us as first timers. I came to realized that art can also be mentally challenging. I saw how P furrowed his brow on concentrating as he figured out how he’ll design his egg. I may also consider the field of arts for him next time. He needs more exposure to that.

On our list this month is the field of musical arts. P has scheduled to join a two- week violin lesson for this summer. We are currently half way through it and so far so good. Starting from sound zero, there has been some improvement after a week plus plenty of follow up learning and practice at home. 

Music and discipline

For the past three months, P has been going to church every week to join the Little Voices choral practice. He has always maintained high level of interest and consistent enthusiasm every week. A couple of months ago, their teacher announced that the group will be performing on the 28th of March. Since then, he'll be checking the calendar quite so often or ask every morning if it is 28th yet. The excitement in the little kid was so evident. He really liked the idea of rehearsal and singing.

The grandparents were also very supportive in this. They see how interested the kid is and they sure go all out for that.

28th came and P woke up in the wrong side of the bed. He didn't cooperate in preparing for the morning schedule so he ended up missing half of it. Good thing is that the main performance was in the afternoon and by that time, he all set and ready to do his part.

Upon the invitation of the little kid himself, the father has no other choice but to come despite the temperature that was raging outside. It was a really hot and sunny day. P had lunch at the Grandma's so hubby and I went to the church by ourselves, almost the same time that the Grandma and P arrived. After waiting for people to get there, the program finally started at past three pm. A lot of people turned up, mostly parents of the performers. ;)

The group is still in its maiden stage (barely 3 months old) and they opened the program with their prayer songs. Afterwhich was the Hospital Kids Choir who was more "mature" in their rendition of their pieces. Sure there were some "naughty" ones but, the performance level was just a notch higher than the local group. It was followed by another set of guest performers from a local school. This time, grade school students violinist. It was also refreshing to hear famous religious songs played with the violin live. By the time the local group went up the stage for their next part, the kids are already pumped up and the nerves were less that they were able to turn up their volume some more.

"it was very very good" - typewritten by Pilip

As for P's performance review, I believe he did well. The nerve got to him during his solo part causing his volume to decrease, but his actions were just right. He didn't fumbled on the lyrics nor the actions except for the volume. There was a bit of mic glitch but even when it was fixed, we still barely heard him. There was also this part that all the kids were to wait for their turn to sing while a soloist was singing the part. The thing is P somehow sang along and did the action with the soloist. And when he noticed that all the kids weren't doing the same thing, it quite cute watching his face.That didn't dampen his mood and so he had a good time all through out the day.

Mommy's note:
During the part that P and his group were waiting for their turn, they had to stay seated the benches. Most of the kids would be going here and there (to their parents, etc.) and sometimes even chat with their mates. Almost everyone did except for P. (and maybe two more smaller kiddos, ok.) Even up performing, he was just the "model" student. Hah! I wonder how long will he stay like that.

After the performance, the kids were given some snacks. P wasn't really big on spaghetti these days but he sure ate well that day. He looked tired but happy. And since the day was still good (even with the very sunny weather), we decided to go to Baywalk before heading home.

Every kid's performance in public is really important. Personally, I am not a big fan of these kind of stuff but the self-confidence that is being develop in these little ones are really something that we should always keep in mind. Sure, it may entail time, money and other resources on our part but the lesson of sharing, discipline and self confidence for them is enough.

TO be continued..