TGSWRFTS🏖️

Episode 19. A small sea in Myeongdong

Although the reactions of people who heard Shinyul's song for the first time were different, there was one common reaction.

Representatively, this is what the people watching the performance thought when Kang Ji-hye recently went on stage at a festival at her school.

“Didn’t it feel like listening to a song in the ocean?”

“That’s right, I was holding my breath without even realizing it.”

“A mysterious feeling, like seeing marine life you’ve never seen before?”

“It was truly a strange and beautiful experience.”

This seemed to be a common thought not only by those who heard the song on site, but also by those who watched the video of the performance on YouTube.

After Shinyul's stage video, many people unknowingly searched for and watched marine documentaries, and at some point, the algorithm began recommending marine documentaries as recommended videos after Shinyul's stage video.

There have been a lot of comments like this in the comments section of the official channel of a famous American nature documentary company recently.

– Is there anyone here who saw a high school student’s creepy live performance?

– What, why are there other people like me?

However, it is unclear whether this kind of Shinyul song will resonate with professors in the Department of Applied Music at Korea University of the Arts.

There are a total of five professors who observe and evaluate vocal majors’ performances.

One of them is a professor from another department, but he came as a guest judge to ensure a fair evaluation.

The other two professors are in charge of theoretical classes in the Applied Music Department.

The only two professors located in the center are professors who instruct vocal students in the Department of Applied Music.

Their names are Lee Won-heum and Do Seung-hwan, respectively.

Wonheum Lee is a senior professor who has been instructing the vocal major in the applied music department at Korea University of the Arts for 30 years.

Do Seung-hwan is a young professor who graduated from Korea University of the Arts and then went on to Berklee College of Music, graduated from the master's and doctoral programs, and immediately returned to Korea University of the Arts.

These two are each leading a new golden age, achieving an appropriate balance between the trends of the new practical music world and authentic genealogy.

Each year, during rolling admissions and regular admissions seasons, they have to screen over 1,000 test takers one by one.

Since only less than 10 of them have to be selected, their psychology becomes extremely sensitive at this time.

They focus extremely hard on each note and do not hesitate to reject the test if they make even the slightest mistake.

Sometimes, in order to cover up their shortcomings, they try to deceive people with songs that have been released for a long time or, conversely, songs that have been released not too long ago.

As mentioned earlier, the harmony between Lee Won-heum and Do Seung-hwan is a perfect combination of old and new.

No one can avoid their boundaries.

That is why the Department of Applied Music at Korea National University of Arts has a reputation as the most difficult school to get into and the most demanding in terms of practical skills.