Percussion!

The most shocking part about being in Korea so far, is how much I have been given by my percussion teacher!!!!  I had never met her, only new her by reputation (as she has an international reputation) and I contacted her by Facebook last summer to see if it was possible to take lessons in Korea.  Already she bought me dinner when we met, she gave me tickets to an orchestra concert, she lets me use her studio to practice whenever it is open, she invites me to rehearsals, and recitals!!!! I feel SOOO blessed!!!!! I never expected this kind of experience while in Korea, actually, I was really worried about how much I could practice while here.. but after just one week, I have had SO many musical experiences, and I have met a lot of percussionists in Seoul!!!!! This is really overwhelming, so that is why I am posting about it... even though maybe it isn't too exciting.

 This is the studio where I practice!!!! The 5th floor of some office building.. I think.  It looks more like an apartment.  I take two subways to get here, about 45 minutes.  The marimba sounds AMAZING!!! I am spoiled, when I go back to Winona.... I will miss this a lot.

These are some of percussion students from a few different schools in Seoul.  I was able to watch a rehearsal of  them doing Edgard Varese's Ionisation!!!!! They are REALLLY talented.  The music programs in Seoul are Super competitive. The school that I am studying Korean at has a music program on a different Campus and Mi Youne said that they only take two students per year.  Also, they are all performance majors. They were a little surprised to hear about music education majors.  Music isn't really offered in the school in Korea, so I don't even know if you can find a music education major in Korea.