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The Classical Pianist Brand with Jeeyoon Kim
112 Plays9 months ago
Classical music is pervasive and ubiquitous and yet for many people, it is difficult to connect with. We met one classical pianist who makes it her mission to connect with audiences and bring her joy of classical music to the masses. She is the extraordinary Jeeyoon Kim. a multi-hyphenate musician-author-blogger-podcaster-educator-and-performer. Our Athletes and the Arts founder Randy Dick caught up with Jeeyoon recently and he’s here with her on our show today.
For more on Jeeyoon, go to https://www.jeeyoonkim.com
Instagram @jeeyoonkimpianist
X: @jeeyoon_pianist
For Athletes and the Arts, go to www.athletesandthearts.com
Bio: Award-winning classical pianist Jeeyoon Kim has delighted audiences across the United States and the world with her combination of sensitive artistry, ‘consummate musicianship, impeccable technique, and engaging and innovative concert experiences.’ (New York Classical Review)
From the start of her career, beginning with her celebrated 2016 debut album, 10 More Minutes, Jeeyoon has thrilled classical music fans with her artful performances. Through her unique performance presentations, Jeeyoon has connected with concert attendees decidedly younger than the average by engaging in musical conversations from the stage. Her second album and concert project, Over. Above. Beyond., further stretched the mold for classical piano performances by collaborating with New York-based artist Moonsub Shin. Jeeyoon's collaboration with the artist delivered a multimedia experience that was also captured in an award-winning music video. Kim’s following project titled, 시음/si-úm/, began during her 2020 residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity for their 'Concert in the 21st Century' program. This concert project incorporates poetry and black and white photography. Jeeyoon's dedication to pushing the boundaries of traditional classical music to connect with a new audience has inspired a dedicated and passionate fanbase that defies conventional wisdom.
Jeeyoon began studying the piano when she was just four years old, and her love of music propelled her through her undergraduate studies in piano performance in her native Korea. After moving to the United States, she received her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance with Distinction from Indiana University’s renowned Jacobs School of Music.
In pursuit of a deeper understanding of music education, she earned a second master's degree in piano pedagogy from Butler University, where she concurrently served as a faculty member. As a testament to Jeeyoon’s abilities as an educator, she was recognized with the 'Top Music Teacher Award' from Steinway & Sons for three consecutive years, from 2016 to 2018.
Jeeyoon is an author, educator, public speaker, podcaster, and award-winning performer. In 2021, she published her first book, Whenever You’re Ready, offering readers a personal glimpse into her life. This self-help book in a concert-style structure shares wisdom and insights gained from Jeeyoon's musical experiences. After a successful reception throughout North America and Europe, the book was published in South Korea in 2022. The book, translated into Korean by the author herself, has made it to the top 3 best sellers in South Korea in the self-help category. Jeeyoon Kim currently resides in San Diego. Between a busy concert touring schedule, she happily practices her piano daily, maintains a studio full of dedicated piano students, and surfs each morning at sunrise.
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome to the Athletes in the Arts podcast hosted by Steven Karaginas and Yasi Ansari. Hi there, everyone. Along with Yasi Ansari, I'm Steven Karaginas and welcome to the Athletes in the Arts podcast.
00:00:29
Speaker
As always, our show is sponsored by School Health, your one-stop shop for medical supplies.
Resources for Artists and Performers
00:00:34
Speaker
So please check them out at schoolhealth.com. You can also always find our resources for health, wellness, and best practices for performing arts medicine at athletesandthearts.com.
Classical Music's Influence
00:00:46
Speaker
So today we are delving into the world of classical music. Now this can come across as intimidating as some listeners, even though it's widely pervasive in entertainment.
00:00:56
Speaker
I confess that my first exposure to opera was actually from Bugs Bunny cartoons that were made in the 50s. My father was classically trained on cornet and piano, so I grew up with that exposure in my living room almost every night. But for others, it may come from something as simple as a movie, or musical score, or theme music, or late motifs in other productions.
00:01:15
Speaker
For instance, my grandfather took me to see Amadeus at the theater when I was a kid, while my first experience with Puccini's Man in Butterfly was from watching the film Fatal Attraction with Michael Douglas and Glenn Close, a different experience entirely.
Meet Ji-Yoon Kim
00:01:30
Speaker
So classical music is pervasive and ubiquitous, yet for many people, it's difficult to connect with.
00:01:36
Speaker
Well, we met one classical pianist who hails originally from South Korea but makes her home in San Diego, who makes it her mission to connect with audiences and bring her joy of classical music to the masses. She is the extraordinary Ji-Yoon Kim, a multi-hyphenate musician, author, blogger, podcaster, educator, and performer. Our Athletes in the Arts founder, Randy Dick, caught up with Ji-Yoon recently and he's here with her on our show today.
Early Piano Journey
00:02:56
Speaker
Hi, June and Randy. We're so excited to have you guys here tonight. Thank you for having us. So I want to get started with June's history. June, why don't you tell us a little bit about your journey from South Korea to the United States? Give us a little bit about your background, your upbringing, what got you interested in classical music. Yeah.
00:03:25
Speaker
Taking piano lessons when I was four, to be honest with you, I don't know. Actually, I chose one day to do my parents and say, I'm going to start piano at four years old. I think luckily my parents put me in the Piano Institute when I was four.
00:03:42
Speaker
But my parents were really busy business owners and once they enrolled me into piano Institute, that was all mine and and as I recall, no one had to tell me to practice or go to the piano Institute. So that's how I started.
00:03:59
Speaker
The system in Korea is very different than here. Now I'm as a teacher to teach piano lessons for also young students that they come to lesson maybe once or twice a week. But in Korea, we go to Piano Institute every day, except again.
00:04:18
Speaker
And as a four years old, I have a little mini backpack and went to this piano institute every single day. And whenever I go there, we have maybe five minutes lesson followed by 15 minutes of practice on my own. And that was some routine that I go to some point of the day that I go to the piano institute, practice, take a lesson and come home.
Korean Music Education System
00:04:42
Speaker
That was my business of the day.
00:04:46
Speaker
Now, looking back, I had one of the most important lessons or built-in in my system, which is create a habit, create a discipline and create a system and live in that system. But I couldn't live that system for too long because the company
00:05:04
Speaker
competition to each other in Korea system is very severe. I had to go through the art high school system where everybody major in piano at the same time playing the same piece
00:05:19
Speaker
And there's a piano exam. The result is on the bulletin board to everybody from rank from 1 to 100.
Personal Challenges and Growth
00:05:27
Speaker
So I was in that kind of, I don't know, very toxic environment, I would say, because it's the competition between each other rather than to yourself.
00:05:39
Speaker
But I went through that. I went through undergraduate in Korea as well. But actually, luckily, sometimes the crisis in your life is a blessing. In my case, my parents were having a really difficult time in the divorce. And in that time period in my life, because of the personal difficulty of my life, I turned to music as Oasis.
00:06:07
Speaker
So I didn't feel the competition to other friends or other pianists that in my grade or in my same school, but whether I just had to survive and music provide me that oasis.
00:06:24
Speaker
that I needed. But I knew that I had to get out of Korea to properly learn a classical piano, or maybe I just wanted to get out of there.
Studying at Indiana University
00:06:33
Speaker
I don't know. So I lived in Germany for a month, and I also lived in South Carolina for a month for all the places to test out which country's better for me.
00:06:48
Speaker
So because Germany is such a like root country of classical music, I wanted to test which country is better for me. And at the end, I chose America.
00:07:00
Speaker
And I went to Indiana University for my master's degree, and two years was not enough, so I continued to doctorate degree in piano performance. And, you know, being in Bloomington, Indiana was very much like,
00:07:18
Speaker
fairy tale environment that you play for the piano nerds. Everybody knows Beethoven's sonata's by heart. Everybody talk about Chopin, Bach, and you're like somehow somewhat isolated but kind of lived in this classical music bubble that
00:07:37
Speaker
At the time, it felt like heaven for me. Of course, I had to wake up from that world and reality.
Implications of Ranking Culture
00:07:46
Speaker
But when I was in it, I was so glad, just immerse myself to only focus with music without really thinking about career, without thinking about what I'm going to do with piano, just how can I get better? How can I create this music even more artistically?
00:08:04
Speaker
that those years of being a doctorate degree or master's degree, all of this time was precious. Of course, my life started after I'm done with the academia.
00:08:17
Speaker
So real quick, so going back to the experience in South Korea, because we talk a lot in America, especially, I'm sure you've heard about like the different toxic environments in dance, in theater, in gymnastics, in sports. And so what do you think is the justification for that kind of system in Korea? Do they think that, is it pretty much justified to that this is how you make highly competitive pianists? Is this how you think that's a better way to learn music?
00:08:45
Speaker
What have you learned from then going from there to here to help you understand that better?
00:08:51
Speaker
I think every society in every field, people like to put a number on it, number pneumatically. Who is number one? Who is number one interpreter of Bach? Or they like to categorize with something that you cannot categorize. So I find that it's whether that was in Korea, of course, it was much more people there, much more people in that time.
00:09:17
Speaker
majoring in classical music or piano, so that they have to somehow sort it out, one of the better ones in their way was doing a testing system. So I cannot blame on their system only, but because it's prevalent even now, they are having a hard time then,
00:09:35
Speaker
But it is each individual people's job to understand the art cannot be pneumatically categorized. Sometimes I'm moved by 10 years old playing beautiful shopping music. And how do I rank this
Cultural Work Ethic Comparison
00:09:52
Speaker
kid? This kid is a million number, you know, million of the world. And I think it is our
00:10:04
Speaker
want to categorize some of the art, but you know, truly we can't.
00:10:11
Speaker
But how can we somehow push some people to into the system, which is very convenient for the institutions, for the society, okay, what, so and so, win a competition, so and so went to this university, so and so, you know, got this degree or awards must be good. You know, I mean, there's some truth in it, but not that's not the full story. And in fact, if I could add, like,
00:10:41
Speaker
all of my friends, pianists or other musicians that I've known for years, that hundreds, thousands of musicians, I don't know what they're doing right now. I think I am really, really minority that I'm still continuing piano. Even though I was not number one in that ranking system, I was not the top three. I was like,
00:11:05
Speaker
you know, I was there, but I wasn't the number one, I always look up to like, Oh, she's so good. Oh, wow. He's, he's the he's number one in my world. But they don't continue one way or the other. Do you feel like
00:11:24
Speaker
this ranking system is different in different cultures. Like I wonder, you know, as a music educator, when you're working with younger kids or even teenagers, how does it compare to how things were growing up in South Korea and learning classical piano? Yeah, I didn't grow up in
00:11:52
Speaker
here in America, but growing up in South Korea, generally the work ethics or the perseverance are very, very high. Even academics are, you're just forced into, you wouldn't have to study every second you have. You have to practice hours and hours, hours. In some ways in America, much more loose
00:12:21
Speaker
I, you know, it is a balanced game. And of course there are, but in Korea, I feel like we need to relax a little more and emphasize enjoyment of music. In America, if one really needs to major in piano,
00:12:38
Speaker
and really serious about the art, I had to emphasize a lot, a lot, a lot harder on the creating a habit of practice, how you work hard. The work ethics of the students in America, I feel like I have to implement a lot more. Otherwise, there's, there's, oh, you're good. But like, you know,
00:13:01
Speaker
you have to strive for better within yourself, not comparing to others. But there's also pressure of high schools, you have to do one, two, three. There's not really a system
00:13:16
Speaker
unless I'm not sure there's a lot of art high school system that you can just focus on piano and, you know, according to that system that you can do other academics. But in high school system or, you know, other education system and you measure, in order to measure in classical music, it's not really tailored to
Emotional Power of Classical Music
00:13:39
Speaker
that need very well. So they are spreading really thin. So I feel that
00:13:46
Speaker
the moments that they have to really focus in a lot of practice and develop that techniques and all of the other things that balanced instruction of musical education is missing out just because they have to do some other exam or the culture of high school you have to supposed to do this and X, Y, and Z.
00:14:12
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. There feels like a lot more pressure on those kids' society here than in Korea. There is a lot more pressure on
00:14:27
Speaker
you're just not enough. So you have to work hard. In Korea, there's more pressure on that. Here is something else. Pressure is not necessary. You have to practice hard. It's more of a you have to do everything else, everything else, everything well.
00:14:44
Speaker
So it sounds like you got to Indiana and you mentioned how your passion, it was like a dreamland for you. So what is it about classical music that sparks you so much to make you play as much as you want to play all the time and be as good as you are and being so motivated to teach others about classical music? What's the genesis of that spark that you have?
00:15:10
Speaker
You know, I'm very biased. I realized that because I
00:15:16
Speaker
In my world, the classical music is the music that I listen to, the friends and people that surround it, or all talking about classical music. That's when I graduate university and started to play for real audience, public, and realized, oh, they, oh my gosh, they don't know anything about it. Oh,
00:15:42
Speaker
I was living in the unrealistic bubble so that the love of it was just everywhere to my world and there's no question I don't have to talk about the love of classical music. We all meet classical music nerds.
00:15:57
Speaker
But, you know, classical music exists hundreds, hundreds of years. And in fact, that we have to create this, the CD or the sound system when we go to the moon, so that if alien finds out that we exist on the earth, there is this kind of art exist at Beethoven's sonatas. And there's a collection of classical music we shipped to the moon.
00:16:25
Speaker
And so that if there's good things happening on the earth, you don't know what really difficulties we have, but there is a beauty in this earth.
Engaging with Audiences
00:16:34
Speaker
And I find the classical music speaks to people's raw emotion. There's no other form of art.
00:16:45
Speaker
then classical music can directly communicate to someone's soul without any words necessary. And the emotions of heartache, sorrow, joy, all of the emotions that existed 200 years ago, it exists now too. And I think it's the beauty of it. It's almost like a little gift that
00:17:10
Speaker
the, I don't know, the universe is planted on this world so that we have to plug into that gift to live this life more joyously. There's nothing bad about classic music and I think people just don't have right context of it, never really discovered in the correct way.
00:17:33
Speaker
That's why they don't know. But if they know they ever experienced the correct way, they will be like, oh, where was I without it? You think it's just intimidating for people? Like, is that why is there why is there a disconnect with people in like classical music like that?
00:17:52
Speaker
I think that's all mixture of it. Obviously, piano is not the center of entertainment. Like 100 years ago, piano was the center of living room, not the TV.
00:18:08
Speaker
that we listen to music as a form of entertainment and we listen to it in the correct way which is someone plays music and you listen in the same space. Human creates, human receives that connection but then now we are so far away from it and moving away from it. There is a kind of
00:18:30
Speaker
the rules they create around the classical music. You have to wear this kind of attire. You have hope to your applause. You have to know classical music in order to appreciate that classical music could be maybe for grandmas. It sounds boring. There's a lot of assumptions around classical music, but because of that reason, people don't even give a chance to experience it.
00:18:59
Speaker
And I think that's why people don't connect with it because, you know, we are now like all the shorts and very fast in like stimulate society. You can, you know, in your cell phone, you can just watch something very like stimulating for 30 seconds and you continue on it. Classical music is like
Bridging Classical Music and Audiences
00:19:21
Speaker
your grandma telling a story of her past over the fireworks, I mean, fireplace before going to bed. And you have to like, oh, oh, you listen. And there's no like, immediate kind of rewards. But you thrown into it. And then you want more.
00:19:48
Speaker
You have to listen, you have to be there, you have to be fully there. And I think classical music takes a little bit of more initial effort for listeners to actively listen.
00:20:03
Speaker
What would we feel like? What would the composers feel like? What is this performance feels like? Oh, what kind of image can you think of? What kind of story? What kind of emotions this music tells me that I have to actively listen to it. I cannot just sit and receive it. I have to be actively participated. And if you more, you know, the more appreciation, you don't have to know
00:20:31
Speaker
in order to appreciate, there's an irony of classical music. You don't have to know to appreciate, but the more you know, the more appreciation. So in a way, if you know one classical music, there's no other occasions that I heard. Someone said, oh, I love Munlei Sonata. And then someone else is playing Munlei Sonata, let's say, in your town. And it's like, oh, no, I know that song. I don't need to listen to it anymore.
00:20:59
Speaker
It's totally opposite. They're like, oh my gosh, I love the piece. I know how it goes. Yeah, I want to hear that once again, once again by this particular pianist. So you're excited. And if you are there in the concert listening to that very piece that you're your favorite, then
00:21:21
Speaker
every corner of the musical journey, you're excited. Oh, that moment. Oh, my gosh. Yes. Thank you. And then you some other parts that you didn't really click before comes differently because today's different than a month ago today's day and yesterday. So the live this human creates art, human receives the art is alive again. And depending on the condition of your emotional state,
00:21:51
Speaker
You might be down that day.
Connecting Through Storytelling
00:21:53
Speaker
You might be a little discouraged. The music speaks much more strongly at that moment and gives you an antidepressant kind of lift. It feels like some kind of hope or healing energy that you might need at that pickup. Or even like euphoric. Right, yeah. Exactly.
00:22:49
Speaker
Yeah, so all my concerts have a microphone on stage and I talk about, I think about what I'm going to talk about the music as much as I practice piano. It's a part of the art form. The reason I do that is that I realize I need to be a connector. I need to be that messenger. I need to be that bridge.
00:23:13
Speaker
And when I practice piano one piece for hours and hours, I know this piece in every second of it, every corner of it. The people don't know their first time going through this this trail. But as a tour guide of this music, I want them to know or giving them context. It's often the context. It's not necessarily historic context, but about
00:23:38
Speaker
my personal story, storytelling. One piece that I play this season is a Rachmanov vocalize and before I play that I talk about because Rachmanov went through a war in his lifetime that caused a lot of difficulties in his life and I share a story of my grandma who actually moved from North Korea when she was 15 years old and at the time
00:24:06
Speaker
that there was a rumor in her town that civil war might take place. And so it is safer for everybody to start walking towards the south. And rest of her family, we promised her to join her on the next town over on the very next day so that you just join the neighbors to start walking south. But next day, the civil war
00:24:30
Speaker
took place in Korea and Korea was then divided into North and South and ever since my grandma never seen her family and many occasions she expressed her wish for united Korea and at the time I heard that story when I was seven and I couldn't even think of what that meant
00:24:56
Speaker
And I talk about that pain that must have been through in her life that she could never see her family ever since. But the Rachmaninoff expressed his emotion in his art. I as a pianist receive and play
00:25:14
Speaker
And people in the audience receive an experience all over again. Together, we create a sense of hope and healing. And I share that story and play that piece of music that meant heartache. And I don't think that particular performance will ever never be the same.
00:25:39
Speaker
without giving me that kind of context. And I saw the power of when I talk about it, not someone else.
00:25:50
Speaker
could give a host of the concert or maybe giving some kind of narration of it. No, me as a performer try to connect with the audience what it means to me personally. And that amplifies the experience of audience in that very moment of that piece. So my mission as a pianist is to create that bridge. And people sometimes call me as a gateway drug to classical music.
00:26:19
Speaker
And I think that's, I love that, you know, I think people do need that.
Musicians' Varied Roles Today
00:26:26
Speaker
Now than ever, that kind of real connection to the art. And I think as a musician, as an artist myself, that it's no one else's job but artists ourselves.
00:26:44
Speaker
to walk towards the audience and try to reach out. When we did that and the connection is so great that I cannot, I actually received more than I gave at the end of it just because through the connection that I received more from the music, from the people.
00:27:06
Speaker
Is there somebody that you emulated or looked up to growing up or through your training or through your career that you like, wow, I want to try to take a little bit of how this person performs into my style or is this all like just you going on your own? You know, funny thing about classical music is that I'm playing the piece that millions of other pianists already performed.
00:27:34
Speaker
I cannot, if I go into that rabbit hole, like why, why I play the Chopin, the Nocturne, that billions of other pianists maybe can play better and all of that. And of course I do have a pianist that I look up to and love their music making. But when I, again, enter into the reality, hmm, we are,
00:28:00
Speaker
The world is changing, but the tradition of classical music is not changing. People are moving away. What's wrong in this picture? The picture, this connection is happening, and that gap is bigger and bigger and bigger.
00:28:18
Speaker
And that I'm trying to do is nothing really so out of norm. I'm starting to just thinking about how to convey the message of music a little better without changing the core of playing music making. So when I play piano, because of my training, because of how I learn how to play piano, I can never go to
00:28:47
Speaker
like all of a sudden like new age music or pop music of it to the to the bones I'm classic magician but I try to change the discovery of a more modern look maybe I talk on stage maybe the program might not be needed maybe program can be given at the end of the concert maybe intermission is not needed maybe you know we don't need that kind of
00:29:13
Speaker
all the traditions, I have to rethink what could be better. And I think, unfortunately, I don't know, I have some role model in classical music world that they do such a way that I do, but I
00:29:30
Speaker
use a lot of other musical world or other art form like poetry recite or pop music or how they connect is so much more modern than classical musicians. So I try to see that, oh, that works. That must work in classical music. So let me try it. And every step of the way I did was experimental and I'm still experimenting. I hope that I never stop experimenting.
00:29:59
Speaker
We'll be right back after this message.
Maintaining Music as an Oasis
00:30:03
Speaker
Founded in 1957, School Health Corporation has been dedicated to helping school-based health professionals keep their students healthy for athletic performance. As a national full-service provider of health supplies and services, school health's comprehensive offerings include hydration supplies to prevent heat illnesses, sports medicine, recovery and rehabilitation equipment, and school safety infographics for our athletes and the arts community.
00:30:31
Speaker
School Health provides more than just products and resources for performing artists and musicians. They also offer training, advisory services, and exceptional customer care for those supporting performers on school campuses. For more information, please visit www.schoolhealth.com. And now back to our show. So one of the questions I have for you is I know that it sounds like
00:31:00
Speaker
early college years, maybe even late high school years, you were going through a difficult time. And so music and classical music and piano was a oasis for you. So how does one person, so how does someone who loves the art so much as a way of getting away from reality
00:31:25
Speaker
keep it something that's fun for them, especially when they're surrounded by so much competition. So you shared, there was a time period where that competitiveness was getting to you, but
00:31:38
Speaker
the music was still a getaway. So how can we encourage artists these days that to continue using music as their oasis and how can they like shift the mindset a bit to like shift over from competitiveness to more, this is helping fuel me and helping give me what I need and giving me the energy to keep going on a day to day.
00:32:03
Speaker
That's a really good question. Because you mentioned that we're talking professional artists or musicians, maybe it's not about, you know, amateur pianist who uses actually indeed music as oasis, and I know a lot of them. I think as much as we polish our craft practicing, I personally work as much of mental, physical,
00:32:33
Speaker
outside of piano. And the mental training is very much related to giving myself a positive visualization. But before that, let me back up. I think before anything, I have to think why I do what I do, whether that is performing, teaching. First of all, do I know what I like? Yes, I absolutely love
00:33:03
Speaker
playing piano, that I don't question that. Okay, do I love teaching? Yes, absolutely. I love teaching. Or, you know, so there's many, let's say, five different things that I absolutely love, that I don't have to question at this moment in my life. And then I always think about then, how can I, with all of these things that I love, to help one person
00:33:29
Speaker
to be better or whatever form that is with what I do. So I always find that with what I love, what I'm passionate about, plus a mission of service
00:33:42
Speaker
together helps one to get out of themselves because it's not my music. It's not me or it's my oasis. It's not me doing it. If I started to think it's my glory, then it's actually easy to fall back to that. There's no point of me playing piano, you know, like why? But if I'm thinking, you know, I love doing this and yes, it does give me energy,
00:34:10
Speaker
But by doing that, I'm helping that one person to get connected with themselves better with my music making and seeing them to receive music helps me to pick up and keep going with it. And if I think about.
00:34:30
Speaker
Okay, I don't really think about I'm the top number one pianist in the world. If I really strive to be that, I think I already quit 10 or 15 years ago. But if I think it as I'm a mere puzzle of this universe to make this one
00:34:46
Speaker
this world to be better place, but I happen to be a magician. I happen to be an artist. How amazing is it? No one dies if I make a mistake. Actually, so that then I actually have power within me to make a change. So when I think about actually outward
00:35:08
Speaker
How can I be served? How can I be of helping? Then that was one of the best way to get out of that system. And then visualization work is a lot of it is when I perform, I imagine the people are there excited.
00:35:29
Speaker
I am excited. And so I visualize other people, the environment, because I believe the world is the way I see it. If I think everybody's judging me, if I think I'm pretty bad, I'm bad. But if I think I'm enough,
00:35:47
Speaker
And I believe the people are there to enjoy and receive. People are. So I have to really change my mindset. But it's like mindset, it's like a dust. Every single day, dust comes down. So unless I do every single day of working of dusted out, I'm going to be more negative than positive. So there is a whole list of things that I do to maintain the positivity within me so I can pick myself up.
00:36:18
Speaker
So I assume when you're talking with your students you're teaching, a lot of this message comes through as far as your own personal joy from performing and helping others. So how receptive are people when you're teaching them? Because they probably look to you and say, OK, help me get better. I want to be better. I want to hit this. I want to be able to do the Sonata. I want to be able to knock it out.
00:36:42
Speaker
And I want to do better than Frank over here because he stinks and I hate him and I want to be able to beat him. I want to be the first chair of my orchestra. I want to be the first piano. So how receptive are people? Because this is amazingly powerful stuff, but it usually takes a long time for a person to self-realize that. How do you get this across to them and how do they respond to you?
00:37:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think every single people that are personally connected have transformed, but part of it is me knowing what they're missing.
00:37:17
Speaker
perfectionist. So then I have to think, okay, what is your root of it? What is you are so afraid of judgment from others? That was a root of perfectionist. Sometimes they're simply a lacking of performance practice. They're only practicing in their little practice rooms and never really actually working on
00:37:38
Speaker
playing for your dogs, playing for your dolls, playing for, you know, go to the piano stores every single day, play your pieces. Just like, you know, you may actually lack experience, you know. So, or sometimes, so I giving them all like lists of things, but I know what they needed at that very moment more than others. But before I go there, I always ask, what are you eating?
00:38:07
Speaker
What are you? How are you exercising these days? How you're sleeping? So I have to cover the baseline. Are there healthy in the baseline? If all three are there, it's more mind issue. So then mind issue can the best way I find it is because even if I'm the world's best coach or whatever,
00:38:29
Speaker
that they have to be able to move themselves. So then the best tool is juggling. They have to write it out to be able to see themselves. So I always find that writing is giving yourself a thought of clothing.
00:38:46
Speaker
So if it's only living in your mind, it's bothering. But if you're giving your thought a clotting, then it's not something in your head, it's something that you can face, face to face, literally. And there's all of these things that I find is very helpful, is at the end of it,
00:39:08
Speaker
I have to think my life as long marathon, yet I only have this moment, this big and small perspective of it. As if this is, I can, you know, I live forever, but I don't. But only I have this moment, so that if I die tomorrow,
00:39:31
Speaker
what I don't want to have a regret not being in this very moment. So that's a reminder that I give to myself all the time where before performance or when I wake up, just be in the moment. That's all I can do.
00:39:46
Speaker
And I remind to my students, if they're struggling, they're struggling for the future they cannot have a control over. Or the past, or the other people's opinion. There's none of it is you don't have a control over. What do you have a control over right now? Is it right this moment?
Vitality of Holistic Health
00:40:04
Speaker
Or the strategies that you're going to go home and take on?
00:40:08
Speaker
so that I always emphasize what you can control, what you cannot control. You have to have a clear idea. People like you or not is not your control. You know, you're going to make a mistake or not is not your control, but you can't change how you mindfully practice that very section differently. Practice strategy can be different. As a music educator, I feel like it takes a lot of patience.
00:40:37
Speaker
I assume, I'm not a music educator, but that's what I assume. You probably have to have a lot of patience, passion, and purpose, right? Patience, passion, purpose, like this higher purpose for why you do what you do. So how do you take care of yourself? Like we talked a lot about how you're encouraging others to take care of them, but how are you taking care of yourself to be in top notch shape as an educator?
00:41:08
Speaker
Do you, or do you just love this so much that including this in your life all day, every day is just fueling you in all ways? I prioritize sleeping. I need to sleep eight hours or, you know, I have wearing a ring and to check myself. And sleeping is my priority. And also,
00:41:36
Speaker
Exercise is also my priority. I do have a trainer that I train together twice a week. And I personally, I do myself also do a lot of mobility, balance work, strength training. And also once a week, I do yoga.
00:41:53
Speaker
And that yoga is, you know, it's funny to call it yoga, but it is yoga that that very hours very much yoga. But every single day I do some form of yoga that I find that is when I do slowly move my body in such a way it is moving meditation, and more I closer to the performance.
00:42:17
Speaker
I might drop maybe three or four days of strength training to one and then five days of yoga, a longer session just because it helps me to ground it. And I know by this point,
Surfing and Balance
00:42:31
Speaker
I can sense it or I'm a little like up in the air right after performance or right before the performance. And I do a lot of grounding pose, standing code pose, all of those things. Or sometimes I diagnose myself with poses. And I think that's really, really important. And I guess I have to say that I started surfing living in San Diego. I lived in
00:42:57
Speaker
Indiana for 15 years without ocean. And now I moved to San Diego five years ago. And I started surf journey about three years ago. And I go because I don't like to be in the sun. That's like that's a Korean beauty
Holistic Self-Care Practices
00:43:13
Speaker
thing. And growing up in Korea, you have to avoid sun at all costs kind of thing. And I only surf sunrise right before sunrise. I am ready in the water. Wow.
00:43:25
Speaker
and I go to 5.30 in the morning when I can and surf until 7.30 or 8 and I'm out. So then where I can see pelicans catching fish for breakfast, I can see sunrise from the ocean, dolphins come by and surf with me and all those connection with the nature that I actually okay being in one room with the piano
00:43:53
Speaker
like days, actually quarantine time in the COVID-19 was actually fine for me. So, but this surfing forced me to be out in the nature, which is very healthy for me too. So to make a long story short for your question, I do have various like elaborate things that I do in terms of movement. And also in terms of eating, I know what works for me.
00:44:23
Speaker
which is often I have an eating window of eight hours or so to make sure I do intermittent fasting all the time just because when I'm a little hungry, my mind functions better. So when I have a seven o'clock performance, I wouldn't have a heavy dinner at five o'clock.
00:44:45
Speaker
So I, it's again an experiment and I experiment vegan diet. I do like all of these things. Now I have, you know, I don't want to elaborate too much, but I know what works for me, but what doesn't work for me. And I always apply a rule for 80 to 20, 20%. If I'm eating healthy in my mind, 80%, 20%. If I don't eat healthy, it's okay.
00:45:13
Speaker
You know, I don't give like diet and I always live by it. You know, you have to give yourself a grace too. And the last aspect of it is how I take care of my mind that I talked about all of this.
00:45:27
Speaker
self-affirmation, journaling. I do have a five-year journal diary that I write every single day. At this point, I'm second year, so that's the same date I can see what I wrote in 2023. I'm writing on 2024. And the next year, I can get to see two years plus that year.
00:45:52
Speaker
And I absolutely love that doing it. Sometimes I miss it and I actually go back and write it. And often it is about the highlight of the day, what things that I learned, what things that I felt. It's not about I went to X, Y, and Z. I did this X, Y, and Z. It's more of the moment of sparkle of joy or made me think. And when I enter into all of the entries,
00:46:22
Speaker
and I read through the end of last year and I felt like, oh my gosh, the year is actually quite full. It felt like time slows down. That's one of my life hack to live the moment a little bit longer.
00:46:43
Speaker
So yeah, I do have all of those things that I do in terms of how to take care of my mind and I do have a therapy counselor that I meet occasionally or regularly and check in with him to be able to
00:46:58
Speaker
express or talk it out, whatever the issues that I might be having. And I find that it's tremendously helpful to have someone, someone that I can totally be open with, and dealing with, you know, even right before performance, I feel like, Oh, I'm going through even if all of that I told told you, I feel like, Oh, my gosh, I feel like I'm not enough. Oh, my God, I'm going to mental school.
00:47:22
Speaker
Breakthrough and then after the session, I'm back to the ground again.
Sustainable Practice Routines
00:47:31
Speaker
Everybody needs a support system. Everybody needs their own coach within themselves, sometimes gentle coach, sometimes strict coach.
00:47:43
Speaker
who knows how to push, how to give a little pat on their shoulder, and know what it works for them too. And it's all learning curves. And I think the only thing that I, one thing that I'm really looking forward to, to aging is that much more understanding of myself and the life, what it means to me.
00:49:06
Speaker
Yeah, people do love numbers again, especially the students too, like how long is enough? And I experimented again and found that if I'm beyond four, it feels too much.
00:49:27
Speaker
three or four is good, healthy amount for me. Two, sometimes like having a light day and giving a little break. Never zero, I try not to. I don't skip
00:49:42
Speaker
practice, even in a vacation, I found a practice room before I booked a hotel. But even then, maybe I cannot find a place to practice. But I tried to apply a two-day rule. You can skip one day, but not two days in a row.
00:50:01
Speaker
And I think when I was in high school or doctor degrees, I aimed for six three-hour session and another three. That only lasts a week. I don't think that's possible for any human being. And after that, you're exhausted. Next day, you can only do it two hours an hour because you're exhausted from the previous day. So really healthy maintenance is
00:50:26
Speaker
for me is three to four. But I've seen other musicians done crazy numbers like they actually skip sleeping altogether and learn whole some song like overnight and they come out from the practice room like all like red eyes and like oh you and worked on it and at first I thought like oh I don't have the mental like strength to that kind of thing but now
00:50:55
Speaker
I think it is actually the shortcut of burnout. You know, I started when I was four, I'm 43, which means 39 years of every single day of doing the same thing.
00:51:10
Speaker
And no wonder many people cannot continue. So it is the lifelong marathon. And I think, for me, it's very, very important to maintain the balance as long as sometimes I don't need to practice at all. But think about music and go out for a walk. And practice outside the piano is also practice. So it's a balance game, constant dance.
00:51:38
Speaker
with myself and it's not about like you do it or you can't or none of that but it's like okay step back and two step forward maybe one step back it's okay let's go with this let it go go with the flow now it's time to go and now time to go slow down you know so it is again the art of itself I think is to know how many hours are good
Building a Musical Community
00:52:06
Speaker
and
00:52:06
Speaker
And I've done giving myself stickers, giving myself all of that like motivation things that to practice. If I practice this much hours, you've done it really well, but that doesn't last for long term. So it's a long term, true long term is that kind of dance.
00:52:31
Speaker
Yeah, well, I actually do want to talk about newsletter because, you know, traditionally, or most of times, the musicians or the artists to write, have their newsletter sign up, it's all about, okay, next, you can come to this show. Next, I have this project. But in my newsletter, I changed that to, how can I give?
00:52:53
Speaker
what kind of value to give whoever sign up for it. It's not much, much less about me, but what I learned from this book that resonates with me and, oh my gosh, it was so helpful. I have to share that. And I share. And those who follow my newsletter, they find it is valuable to their life.
00:53:16
Speaker
It's not necessarily that they are curious when I'm going to perform in their city, but it's more importantly, they find it is a value valuable. And I think I changed that again, it's not about me, but how I can be served.
00:53:31
Speaker
how I can serve something. I can give a value. And through that, I feel that I create a real personal connection. And if I come to their city to perform, and they feel like, oh my gosh, Gu, my friend is coming to my town to play. It's not just
00:53:51
Speaker
a pianist that you, you know, you heard before, it's a real friend that you've been connected deeply over the years, over the months, and then they can really, it's a different, my favorite concerts that I've been to is by my friends because that much of a deeper connection to the music because I know, understand this person better. So I think that
00:54:15
Speaker
change that, I don't know, the personality of newsletter. And that's one of the biggest way that I create community around me and who are my friends, who are a supporter of my art and that create a energy underneath.
Handling Performance Anxiety
00:54:32
Speaker
It's me doing it, but they are too, so that we are kind of going together.
00:54:39
Speaker
So with your people that you teach and you educate and when you're giving to others, what kind of advice do you give to them when people are asking about performance anxiety? Because that's one of the things we talk with musicians about.
00:54:52
Speaker
all the time, um, is what kind of thing, what kind of tips do you give? Obviously you've given a lot of great life lessons in this podcast so far, but like when you're, what's, what's the approach that you try to get across to students about how to handle performance anxiety, because it seems to vex many people of all levels of performance and everything.
00:55:11
Speaker
Yeah, I first, I think I mentioned a lot already, but just to me narrow it down even more is that when you feel nervous, like people feel like, oh, I feel the day, the morning of performance feels different. The same sunrise, but the same sun doesn't feel the same sun. There are different mindset. And I always tell them that's perfectly normal.
00:55:38
Speaker
that I find that I perform a thousand concerts, I still feel that. It's not going to go away. The lion next to you is not going to go away. But how can we tame them? So accepting that feeling, like a jittery or uncomfortable feeling, it's normal. Then I say,
00:55:59
Speaker
Our nervous system doesn't know you're nervous or you're excited. It's kind of, they don't know, but you have to give that a label, a positive label. I'm so excited. You know, like I say fake it until make it. And I do that all the time. Like I am ready.
00:56:20
Speaker
because I practiced well. Today, I let it go. Today is the day I get to share. It's a celebration. How exciting. I'm excited. And this experience, whether I perform perfectly, which is not going to happen,
00:56:39
Speaker
or not, I get to experience a new experience going to make me a different person afterwards. And truth is that I become a different person after the concert. Every concert experience is deepening my
00:56:56
Speaker
my personality and all of this. So it is actually, I do want to go through experience. So I make sure that students or other artists that this is actually for you too, to grow, to be better person as a better artist. It's not like everybody's judging you. It is about like a fist.
00:57:20
Speaker
that you prepare and we get to share and you get to eat too. So that change of the from, I'm so nervous, I'm so nervous, it is more of the, you know, I always have the visualization of the light, it's coming from you to out. It's not the arrow coming from people to you. It's not pointing at you. It's you resonate
00:57:43
Speaker
the arrow out. So more excitement you put out that you're going to experience, always thinking that you're going to have to radiate. And another thing that I didn't really touch upon in detail is a visualization. I ask all of my students to write it out. Every detail of that performance day, from the moment you open your eyes, it's a scenario, an ideal scenario.
00:58:10
Speaker
that up to the point that you walk to the stage and bow. And in this scenario, I wake up.
00:58:18
Speaker
And I feel great. Again, it's ideal scenario. I feel very, I'm so excited. I'm going to have yogurt in granola. It feels so fresh in my mouth. Great. Today, it feels like it's a celebration day. And then I'm going to practice. It feels great. The piano feels like I'm home. You see how much detail minute by minute, hours and by hours.
00:58:48
Speaker
And then to the point I walked to the stage, people are excited, I smile big and walk to the stage and bow. That I write it all this visualization of a positive, most idealistic experience for me.
00:59:09
Speaker
I ask them to out loud or say out loud or visualize it. You know, the moment that you actually, once you write it down, it's easy to almost like a movie, play that movie when you're before go to bed or after you wake up. And that visualization
00:59:25
Speaker
is a technique for all the sports, you know, athletes or other fields do that. And performance, performing arts or classical musicians, we have to train to create the scenario and the actual day, it's just we live it, we live it. And if you
00:59:44
Speaker
kind of train that way, I find it's much easier almost like you live that day more fully because you, even if it doesn't go in the way exactly that you thought it would, but the positive scenario holds you together in the frame of mindset that we need.
Strength in Vulnerability
01:00:06
Speaker
Do you talk a lot about these motivating factors in your book?
01:00:11
Speaker
Yeah, so where the title came from whenever you're ready from the motivation behind performing and the lessons you've learned throughout the years, where was that, you know, in the, I guess where, what was the purpose behind the book? Is it a lot of these teachings that you're sharing with us?
01:00:31
Speaker
Yeah, the title came from every stage right before I go on the stage. There's a stage manager holding the door to the stage, asking for my cue and say, whenever you're ready. And at the very moment, I ask myself, am I ready? Will I ever be
01:00:56
Speaker
ready. But at the same time, I had to create tremendous amount of courage, strength within myself and make a decision to walk towards the stage and speak, smile, nod, and walk to the stage and then beautiful stage and exciting crowds are cheering for me. And I noticed that I realized
01:01:23
Speaker
That very glimpse of moment that I, from the very vulnerable moment of making decisions to walk towards a stage, it's not happened at that very moment. It's all happened behind the scenes of daily life, of my green room of my life. And that includes how to discipline myself, how to create a habit. It has the five movements. The first movement is that. The second movement is how to deal with negativity within myself or from others.
01:01:52
Speaker
And third movement is about how to awakening my inner child to be more creative. And fourth movement is about connection, how to connect with myself first so I can connect better with others. And fifth movement is how to take care of my body. And in between, there's intermission that I talk about piece of music to my favorite music. And there's a QR code you can listen to, which is a versed version of written form of concert. And then there's encore and prelude.
01:02:21
Speaker
And I realized that I'm not the only one who has a stage. Everyone has a stage called a life. So whenever you are ready to embark something vulnerable, something unknown, something difficult,
01:02:37
Speaker
And this book might give a sense of strength when you make that decision to walk the first step into that. And I find that there are so many books out there that Guru is talking about how to get over your performance anxiety, how to live better. But sometimes the best advice is from your friends.
01:03:01
Speaker
friends say, you know, this really worked for me. And I try it. And even though you know all the tools or tricks from the books or whatever, and all of a sudden,
01:03:13
Speaker
Oh, I think I'm going to want to try it. And I think the beauty of this book is that the tone of my book is like friends again. I am also the fellow soldiers, the beaten up, still trying, but some of things worked for me, but I'm still experimenting and still were looking for a better solution constantly.
Adaptation and Diversification
01:03:35
Speaker
But these are the ones that I kind of worked for me and try it.
01:03:39
Speaker
So I think that gentle encouragement is the strength of this book and it's geared towards the general audience. But performing artist or the pianist or you're in that field, you'll eat up this book because it's all about that.
01:04:00
Speaker
So you wrote a book and you have a newsletter and you are a teacher and you're an educator and you're a performer and all these different hats you wear. Is this the type of career that a musician today has to have? Is this just your path? Or how do you make it in life now with making money and having a home and a family, your day-to-day business type stuff? Is this how you found yourself?
01:04:28
Speaker
or is this something that is kind of required of musicians these days, unless you, of course, have a big orchestra job and you get paid a salary. Is this how it is for musicians today to have to wear different hats to make their brand, make their career? If you ask that question 200 years ago, musicians just perform, musicians should be able to compose and live life.
01:04:54
Speaker
I never thought even when I was early 20s or even late 20s that I will be doing whatever I'm doing now. It's just that the society or the world is changing. And the key is no matter, maybe in 10 years or 20 years in my 60s, this world might be the different look for as a classical musician, then I also have to be able to nimble enough to adapt to that. But right now, for me, what worked
01:05:24
Speaker
is that just one job, it's a little suffocating for me. I want to do the things that I want to do, create my own path. And if I do, I love teaching, but not full time. If I perform all the time, I think I'm going to burn out.
01:05:39
Speaker
you know, all of this different, like, I think I'm happiest doing all of these things that I find is like a hobby, but it's not really a hobby. If there's a core mission, but it's everything is surrounded by who I am, what I love to do, what I can do well, what I can serve. And in the
01:06:00
Speaker
ended up, you know, in the modern society, allow me to be able to do it. And I'm so grateful. And of course, I am once upon a time I thought maybe I should become a professor. I mean, I have all the credentials. But then I'm at one point, I said, No, I think I have conscious choice.
01:06:22
Speaker
when I when last door closed when I last application didn't fall through and realize, hmm, in fact, that's not stable. I actually was thinking the benefit coming from it, which is to stable salary, maybe benefits of insurance, all that. But mentally, I don't think it's a stable for me.
01:06:42
Speaker
I think I will burn out or kind of like hate the job what I have to do and looking forward to get off the job so I can do X, Y, and Z what I'm passionate about. I don't have any that kind of risk what I do just because there's no one tells me what to do but myself so I can always kind of create
01:07:05
Speaker
the flexibility of my career allows me to be who I am, however I'm evolving. And maybe the percentage of performing is a lot sometimes and sometimes less, depends on how I feel or how I
01:07:21
Speaker
feel right on that very moment. But the truth is, though, is nowadays in the classical music scene or any other form, just because now society is changing, people want to directly connect with the artist. They don't want the agent talking about the artist. They want to hear your voice. And that means which means you have to be in the social media. Maybe you have to be some shape or form. I'm actually very introvert, which
01:07:50
Speaker
allows me, I'm an introvert, extrovert. So I'm trained to be an introvert, to perform what I do. But that's why I love writing. I love podcasts.
01:08:01
Speaker
But I do have YouTube, I do have a social media, but I do more of what I feel right for me, which is writing, which is podcast, you know, and then I thrive in that and I still performing. So I know my balance, my limits, how
01:08:21
Speaker
when I want to say no, and when I want to say absolutely yes. So for the musicians, I think a lot of assumptions that I should be just playing piano, I shouldn't really market myself or, you know, put myself out there, I don't know how to, that's not my job. None of that excuses are acceptable at this time of era. And indeed, we need to use
01:08:47
Speaker
come out to the world, however form that is comfortable for you. It doesn't have to be social media. It doesn't have to be any form that you are not comfortable. But the key is that you do need to create your own community in your own way, in your own personality.
Closing Reflections
01:09:06
Speaker
And I think that's the way this society wants for the artist to do.
01:09:15
Speaker
Randy, any other thoughts, any questions?
01:09:47
Speaker
Well, Ji-Yoon, this has been a wonderful conversation and I'm so inspired by your story and your motivation to do what you do. I want to be a better person starting tomorrow. I want to start journaling. I'm really fired up by it. So thank you for taking the time to talk with us today on the show. We really appreciate having you and best of luck to you in the future.
01:10:10
Speaker
Thank you so much. Thank you. And that wraps up another episode of our show. Remember, if you like what you hear, please click subscribe and tell your friends and maybe even leave a review. For Yasi Ansari, I'm Stephen Karaginas, and this has been the Athletes of the Arts Podcast.