REFLECTIVE ESSAY: The First Minjok Concert: My favorite experience in KMLA.

Invitation Letter: The First Minjok Concert


Place: Sangmyung Art Center at Sangmyung University
Cast: Students at KMLA
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Date: Saturday, November 19th, 2011.

     At the start of last month, October, I walked into the Minjok Education building for my Samulnori practice, as usual, complaining this would take another self-study period. As everyone in KMLA knows, the self-study period is vital for studying for quizzes or preparing presentations in classes. We MUST use these hours very efficiently, otherwise we have no choice but to take away our sleeping hours. Anyway, when I walked into the room where we always practiced Samulnori, there was a strange guy standing beside our music teacher, acting like a real teacher. Right then our music teacher announced that this strange guy will be guiding us towards the better performance at Minjok Concert for a month temporarily. I didn't like this guy because he didn't look like a person who would be good at Samulnori. However, as soon as he started teaching us Samulnori from the very basic things such as posture, rhythm, and the correct way to treat the instruments, I was already building great deal of trust of him in my mind. He was certainly good and he looked really professional. Besides, I liked his teaching styles with which everybody started to build tensions in their minds and work hard to do a better perforamce.

     After that day, Samulnori practice became the joy of my everyday life, and as we were getting better every time, I felt this great pleasure I have never felt in my entire life. As the show day was approaching, I became more and more excited to show this great improvement of ours to the whole audience of teachers, students and others who come to our concert. And finally, it was November 18th, the rehearsal day.

     The entire first and second graders arrived at Sangmyung Art Center that looked like an Opera House, and the place was filled with numerous staffs who were about to assist us for a better show. The most impressive people there were the directors. These directors were absolutely amazing. The main director standed in the very middle of the audience seats and checked all the details meticulously throughout the performance. He checked the composition of how performers were arranged on stage, the volumes of different instruments, the colorful and atmospheric lightings and many other details that might alter the performance minutely. When a student band was playing, the director somehow managed to adjust the microphone volume of guitar, syndicate and vocal, and when he finished doing it, I was literally shocked by the extreme changes of the quality of the show. Before the adjustments, I didn't even want to hear a single note in the music but after the director made some adjustments, the song was so harmonious and lovely that I wanted to record it and keep it in my mp3 player.

I spent whole lot of time practicing Samulnori for a month, giving up my studies, and we successfully finished the Samulnori performance, receiving one of the most applause among other performances. I really enjoyed both practicing and going up on a stage. However, what I remember the most about directors moving around the whole stage back and forth so passionately. I was extremely fascinated at what these directors do. So I've searched for some stage management jobs in google and youtube, and I found this video so fascinating!!!!!