A Reflective Essay: Samuchim performance at KMLA Sponsorship Concert

          Reformation and revolution always takes costs. Especially when they are big ones that rock the society in a whole. And such change has precisely been the thing that has been prevailing Samuchim (the Korean traditional music society in KMLA) has been experiencing for the last two months or so.

          It all began with the KMLA principal Yoon Jung Il's great interest in turning the KMLA Sponsorship Concert into a successful one. Unlike last year's KMLA Sponsorship Concert (which was mainly consisted of students' parents performing and wasn't really that much successful in making people "sponsor" KMLA), he started to emphasize the students themselves getting involved in the concert, and there were even pamphlets made to advertise the concert.

           And many clubs that were participating in the KMLA Sponsorship Concert started to receive great support from the school. Samuchim, of course, was not an exception to this. An outside teacher named Baek Yong was invited.

The photo of Samuchim at KMLA Sponsorship Concert

           On the first day of his lesson, the instructor asked for our club to "play something." After listening to the music for just two minutes, he called us to a halt, and said that we had to "start from scratch." The seven months of practice we did prior to meeting him was considered as nothing.

          That was how the frantic preparation for the Sponsorship Concert has started. Samuchim received permission to not participate in the first self-study period in every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Every week after the mid term exam, 6 hours of time were sacrificed for learning Korean traditional music beats.

          The beats that he taught to us, they were literally "eye-openers." So far, Samuchim has been playing a beat that was extremely simplified so we could easily learn them over a relatively short time. Now, the instructor was feeding us with truly "traditional" beats that are passed down in rural regions of South Korea.

           And in the process of such revolution taking place, I have to admit, there were pains. A large chunk of Samuchim was angry with the instructor being so demanding and the practice taking away too much of their self-study time. Everybody was so nervous in memorizing the beats, and those who made errors in their beats were severely criticized by other Samuchim members. 

Members of the Samuchim (After the performance in Minjok Festival)

          Two months passed with such nervousness and reign of pain. The time of KMLA Sponsorship Concert performance has finally come. On November 19 2011 at approximately 4:40 P.M., in the backstage of Gyedang Hall were the Samuchim members, solemnly preparing themselves for their turn. 

         The performance was a great success. We were welcomed with fervent applause from the audience. The teacher, who has been so cold and harsh to us until now, hugged each and every one of us after the performance.

Samuchim after the concert (The adult standing at the last line is the teacher)

         The KMLA Sponsorship Concert meant something more than a mere "experience" that taught me how to do hard Korean traditional music beats to me. 

         Samulnori (the name of the Korean traditional art that Samuchim performed) is a form of music that require harmony amongst instruments based on high level of individual performance. And throughout the two months of practice, Samuchim has taught me how to be a member of a team and the importance of each and every constituent in bringing about harmony inside the society.

         Also, after two months of pain, the members of Samuchim found the bond amongst themselves to become much stronger than before. The group that used to be so cold and disconnected before is now planning to have a meal together after the final exam as a celebration for the successful ending of the music performance.

Morning exercise in KMLA

      For majority of the KMLA students, six o' clock in the morning means a "war" between their mind and their body; their minds shouting to themselves to get up, their body shouting back that they are just too tired. And if the bodies win, they are awarded with 30 minutes of more sleep, and then punished by seeing their names in next week's student court list. On the right to their names is the accused item, which reads: Absent for Morning Exercise.

     Morning exercise is a system in KMLA that enforces students to come to gymnasium until 6:30 in the morning every day, and do a physics activity (the student has an option between Gumdo and Taekwondo) for thirty minutes. Such daily physical education on the morning is greatly supported by the current principal of KMLA, Jung Il Yoon, who emphasizes "physical ability" as one of those qualities that are extremely important to "potential global leaders." And as a person who have experienced this system for good 10 months, I have something (perhaps more than just something) to say about the morning exercise in KMLA.

Gumdo (Kendo), a traditional Japanese martial art. KMLA students can choose either this or Taekwondo.

        Okay. I admit that stamina and strength is one of the talents that a leader should possess. I have learned this lesson very well throughout my first semester as I saw myself dozing off in class after sleeping late in the night while others were bright and awake during the daytime even after having just too hours of sleep. So I'm not saying that the half hour of sports per day is too much. No. In fact, I believe that thirty minutes is just the appropriate amount of time that could be invested on sports daily.

      But what I'm angry about is the time. The time that this morning exercise takes place. 6 o'clock in the morning is an hour just too early to get up for students who receive the most enormous amount of stress in South Korea. It is also the very beginning of the day, and since these sports involve extreme sports activity for most of the cases (especially Kendo), students find their bodies filled with fatigue even before they go to class. This eventually leads to them messing up a couple of classes in the morning time.

      The attitude of the teachers and content of morning exercise also makes me mad. In case of Kendo, the assistant teacher who helps the teaching of Mr. Myung Soon Kim is extremely incapable at supervising students. The teacher is also renown for basically "pissing off" students who fall behind rather than helping them. 

      Taekwondo is not an exception. The teacher of Taekwondo is infamous for relieving his personal stress and psychological pain to the students. The time that he finishes the martial arts lesson is also very capricious and fluctuant, thus leading to a confusion inside the students' daily schedule.

Korean traditional martial arts, Taekwondo. It's another option for KMLA students

     Furthermore, there are diverse safety issues if such physical activities are done early in the morning. The students, of course, have just got up from their bed, and many of them are half-asleep throughout the class. Since Kendo involve using wood swords that could easily bruise someone else and Taekwondo's martial arts poses can readily hurt someone else if wrongly aimed, it is not hard to infer that injuries could easily rise. 
     Also, the Kendo and Taekwondo uniforms are extremely formal and not practical, easily putting the user in jeopardy by its long leg sleeves and other parts that are focused on appearances, not safety. 
     I like exercise. Especially traditional martial arts like Taekwondo. But if the teachers are all losers and sadists and the exercise ends up making students to doze off in class, I'm left with no choice but to doubt the need of morning exercise in this school.