A Little Joy as A Young Teacher
I was one proud teacher listening to my student Sarah's Junior Recital last Sunday. She played a difficult program with great control, finesse, and most of all, understanding of the music. The program included Schumann's Fantasiestüke, Debussy Premiere Rhapsody, Stravinsky Three Pieces, and Malcolm Arnold's Clarinet Concerto No. 2 (with Martin Fröst's highly demanding cadenza which Sarah played from memory). First three belong to my signature repertoire, and I worked on them with her in great details. It was also an adventure exploring Arnold's rather underperformed concerto together and see my student giving it a her own distinct personality. While there were plenty of rooms for improvement, I could see very well that she clearly understood what this (playing the music) is all about.
Since her arrival at Tech two and a half years ago, Sarah has made an impressive progress. Among other things, she performed Weber's Concertino with Maryville Orchestra as a winner of the Maryville College Concerto Competition, named twice Tennessee winner of MTNA Young Artist Woodwind Competition (1st place in 2013 and 2nd place in 2014), and participated in summer workshops such as ARIA and Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, playing for renowned clarinetists, including David Shifrin, etc.
I find the greatest joy as a teacher when others tell me that they hear and see my own playing from my students' performances. Assuming that I am doing something right, this can be a great compliment. As I was listening to the recital, I was quite taken by her control of dynamic, attention to the legato and phrasing, and relevant musical gestures, things that I cherish the most in my own playing.
I am only too happy to help my students to discover their places in this world by sharing with them my knowledge, passion, and beliefs.
David Shifrin Recital at the Blair School of Music
TTU Clarinet Students with David Shifrin
It is a great pleasure to see my students are becoming increasingly interested in taking advantage of various musical opportunities around them. Last night, they organized and drove themselves to the Blair School of Music in Nashville to attend a recital by Mr. Shifrin while I was in Tech Rehearsal for the upcoming "Halloween" Concert by our faculty quintet. I am very excited that my students got to experience what I was fortunate to do during my student years.
Krehl Clarinet Quintet with LSQ in TN
A few weeks ago, I was very fortunate to host and accompany the Larchmere String Quartet, currently quartet-in-residence at the University of Evansville, IN, in their concert tour in Tennessee. Back in September, we started working on the very little known Clarinet Quintet (1902) by Stephan Krehl (1864-1924). The week I spent with LSQ gave us more time to learn the piece well enough to give some of our first public performances together.
Soon after LSQ arrived at my home in Cookeville (and finished many bottles of wine), we headed to Harrogate, a tri-state town located in northeast Tennessee. We spent a whole day there still refreshing our vague memories (if we had any) of the music and getting ready to perform Krehl for the first time that evening at Lincoln Memorial University. After the LSQ gave a fantastic performance of quartets by Haydn and Brahms, we gave our TN premiere of Krehl's Quintet. Besides being surprised at various surprising tempo changes and harmonic surprises (lots of surprises), we all agreed that the piece has some really beautiful moments and great potential.
After our first concert at Lincoln Memorial University
Harrogate has some beautiful scenery.
LSQ is busy getting their food before it's all gone.
The next day was spent in Nashville where we made a stop at WPLN (Nashville NPR Affiliate) Studio to play for a live interview and broadcast for their Classical 90.1. LSQ gave another very exciting performance of the first movement from Brahms String Quartet, Op. 51/1, and we played the Lento movement from Krehl's Quintet.
At WPLN Studio C, Nashville, TN
Our final concert together in TN was scheduled at Tennessee Tech University where I teach. The LSQ gave their Center Stage Presentation in the morning, pouring a great deal of insights and inspiration for our music students. We had a relaxing afternoon strolling around the downtown Cookeville. The turnout for our evening Center Stage Recital was terrific, and I tremendously enjoyed playing Krehl again with the LSQ. I truly appreciate the LSQ's courage and willingness to work with me in giving a new life to this rather obscure work. I truly look forward to our number of upcoming performances together as well as a recording session for Naxos, featuring the quintet and Krehl only string quartet. Please stay tuned for our exciting upcoming projects!
LSQ in Cookeville
Jonathan Copeland's Semi-Annual TTU Visit
Jonathan Copeland, the clarinet specialist and repairman at Onks Woodwind Specialist
Keeping one's instrument in optimum condition should be one of the top priorities for both professional musicians and music students. With our diligent practicing and playing schedule (hopefully...), our instruments' mechanism can only withstand so much. Keys will bend, pads will wear out, screws will become loose, and various debris will collect even with regular cleaning and maintenance. For younger students who do not take proper care of their instruments, the problems are often exacerbated. To give a few examples:
- the instrument's performance will be drastically reduced
- lead to far serious issues such as crack, etc.
- difficulties in execution and inconsistent intonation
- unsanitary and disturbing accumulation of things you don't want to see
- frustration and much hinderance to expressing one's artistic vision
- bad habits will form by struggling with instruments that are not finely tuned
We already have enough to worry about aside from the mechanical issues of our instruments. Therefore, It is highly recommended that everyone should take his/her instruments to a professional repairperson (hopefully a specialist) at least once or twice a year. It can be challenging to find a time to send off the instrument for repair or overhaul. The costs associated with repair/adjustment also can be a reason that some people (especially students) put it off.
Since few years ago, I have partnered with Onks Woodwind Specialist in Smyrna, TN to provide my studio a bit easier access to a skilled repairman. Jonathan Copepland, the company's clarinet specialist visit TTU each semester to work on various adjustment and minor repair works for our students. After signing up for time slots, students can drop off their instruments to Jonathan who works on them throughout the day in our music building. He also gives each students personalized advices and helps them to schedule a full overhaul if necessary. Since we bundle this together, students can enjoy the streamlined repair service and relatively affordable costs (most works are done in around 30 minutes, and their instruments play far better in the end).
Many thanks to Jonathan for his visit, and we all look forward to seeing him again in April!
Jonathan doing his repair work on our students' instruments
Now I have a lot of sticky notes. Want some? Stop by at my studio for one. First come, first serve!
Everyone Has the First Time
Getting ready for the big solo!
Every once in a while, we all get to enjoy some special first-time moments. My past couple weekends were spent rehearsing and performing with the Oak Ridge Symphony in Oak Ridge, TN. The town, located just northwest of Knoxville, is well known for being a key location for the Manhattan Project during World War II. I have performed a number of times in their Chamber Music Series, and each time I was struck by its highly educated audience members and their great interest in classical music. It was a pleasure meeting some familiar faces and play some great music with local musicians there. So here are some first-time experiences for me:
- Playing one of the greatest orchestral clarinet solo parts: Kodaly's Dances of Galánta
- Playing on a new mouthpiece in a public performance for the first time in six years (I've been using my previous mouthpiece for all occasions. This time, I tried my new Vandoren M30D and really loved it!)
- My awesome wife accompanied me for the trip to the concert, so we got to spend some relaxing time together in Oak Ridge and Knoxville for the first time!
Buffet-Crampon Artist
My own Buffet Artist poster!
I am excited to announce that for the first time in my career, I officially became an "artist" of some sort! Partnering with Buffet Group USA, the North American Division of the famous Buffet-Crampon Paris, I am invited to join a handful of remarkable clarinetists and colleagues in the company's artist roster. It is a great privilege to be associated with this prestigious company dating back to 1825.
A letter from the CEO of Buffet Group USA (and the good old Buffet swap) - some more goodies came in, and the pictures are posted below.
My first clarinet was Buffet B-12, a friendly horn made of plastic (or ABS resin, to be more precise) purchased by my parents when we were in Korea. Those were the times when I used to leave the instrument on top of my shelf fully assembled until the next time I had to use it. Each time I picked it up, I could see a clear circle on the shelf free from dust accumulated over many weeks. That instrument served me well for years to come all the way through the marching band years in high school. After graduating high school, it went to a friend of our family whose son just began to learn the clarinet. I wish I still had it...
When I came to the US with my family, I started playing in a public high school band program with great enthusiasm. I soon met my first teacher, Ken Lee, renowned for his successful private studio in Northern Virginia. With the clarinet becoming increasingly important part of my life, we both agreed that I needed a professional level instrument. Under Lee's guidance, I ended up getting a Buffet Festival and soon purchased an A clarinet, too (also Festival). Those remarkable horns made it so easy for me to explore clarinet's incredible range of dynamic and color and helped me to discover my life-long passion for music. While it took many more years until I decided to pursue a musical career, they certainly provided the foundation for my future path.
The back cover of my Rose 32 Etudes with the "Clarinet Family Tree" inscription by Don Oehler
When I came to the UNC-Chapel Hill as a Freshman, one of the first things that my teacher Donald Oehler did for me was to draw the "Clarinet Family Tree" (shown above). Oehler explained that our modern clarinet came into existence as a result of the collaboration among Theobald Boehm, Hyacinth Klosé, and Louis-Auguste Buffet. We (like the vast majority of American clarinetists) use the "Boehm" system, study Klosé's Méthod, and play Buffet clarinets everyday (Ironically Oehler plays Selmer clarinets). This left me with a deep impression, and my faith in Buffet's legacy and instruments was permanently engraved.
There are extensive resources about the early endeavors and patents available now, and I wanted to share the following excerpts from Eric Hoeprich's The Clarinet (p. 172):
"Here Buffet allows us an insight into the concerns of a modern instrument-maker, reflecting the needs of clarinet players at the mid-nineteenth century. An absolute evenness of scale, perfect intonation, and a lack of technical difficulties were the qualities sought after by the modern instrument makers and clarinetists by the 1840s. There can be no doubt this is exactly what Buffet achieved. In creating his clarinet á annex mobiles Buffet vastly improved Müller's instrument, and it was not without a certain, possibly justifiable, arrogance, that he wrote:
"This invention does not consist only of the addition of rings but also of the manner and orderliness of the design, for a small change is enough to create an instrument that is superior to the old one, but it would still be inferior to mine."
Buffet Artist mug and folder
And some more goodies...
A fancy Buffet banner now hangs on my office wall
I now play exclusively on one of Buffet's newest inventions, Tosca Green Line. I purchased the set while at graduate school studying with Frank Kowalsky. At certain point, I knew this is what I really wanted to do, and I spontaneously drove to Jacksonville Buffet Factory to choose my new instruments out of about 15 pairs. The improved key work, intonation, and durable material base makes the instrument an ideal companion for my daily musical adventures. I feel completely dependable and feel a degree of pride in carrying out this great tradition since the time of Buffet and Klosé.
I host the Clarinet Day at Tech each year with a strong presence from Buffet Group USA. Among pictured above are my former teacher Donald Oehler, Buffet Southeast Representative Donnie Todd, and the fellow Buffet Artist Todd Waldecker.
Krehl Clarinet Quintet with the Larchmere String Quartet
I spent past couple days in Evansville, IN working with the Larchmere String Quartet. I got to know them through my friend and violinist Alicia who joined the quartet some time ago. We read through some music last year and planned several exciting projects together for coming years. This weekend, we began working on Quintet for Clarinet and Strings by the little-known composer named Stephan Krehl. I came across the work by chance and was immediately intrigued by it. Learning this sort of unknown piece (from late 19th century) can be both exciting and challenging. I feel very fortunate to meet a quartet that is willing to commit great deal of time and effort in learning this piece and give it a new life. Our work this weekend definitely shed some light and gave us a good prospect.
Here is a preliminary list of dates and places where we will perform Krehl's Clarinet Quintet during 2014-15:
- October 14 - Lincoln Memorial University, TN
- October 15 - WPLN Nashville Noon Live Broadcast (with performance and interview)
- October 16 - Tennessee Tech University
- November 10 - Middle Tennessee State University
- January 24 - University of Evansville, IN
- June - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
It is exceptionally rewarding and invigorating to make music with a group of wonderful friends. Look how much fun we are having!
A Peek at My Studio - Vandoren M30D Mouthpieces!
The messy desk in my home studio
My studio is located in the basement of our home. Although it does not have any windows (my wife's studio is also in the basement, but it is on the walk-out side with plenty of sunlight), it is almost entirely soundproof. It feels very cozy, and I can play pretty much any time during the day or night. I try to keep it fairly clean, but certain things have been going on to keep it quite messy during this weekend.
Some new toys to try out!
After months of very busy performing schedule, I finally have a week or so to sit back and relax. So I decided to try some new mouthpieces. Several colleagues told me their positive experiences with Vandoren M30D. My wonderful friends at DANSR kindly sent me some samples to try over next few weeks, and they arrived just in time!
Although the "D" models are Boehm system mouthpieces adapted to the German or Reformed Boehm clarinets, they do work fine with regular Boehm system. I went with M30D, which according to Vandoren has "a good balance between timbre and roundness."
Upon my first few minutes of trial, I immediately noticed they are very different from my current set up. I had to come down significantly on reed strength (from V12 3.5+ to V12 3 or 3.5) and use a ligature that is much freer. Silverstein ligature, one of my recent acquisition, seems to accommodate it fairly well (the string-inspired design also seems to be right fit for these German mouthpieces). Vandoren flyer recommends "56 rue Lepic" but I still prefer the sound and control I get from V12 (I tried samples of rue Lepic 3-3.5+ and V12 3-3.5+ that I received before coming to the conclusion).
M30D
M30D
These are some of my early observations:
- Noticeably consistent and uniform sound throughout registers
- A very refined tone (darker than my order setup but with lots of high frequency ring) but maybe too "artificial" for my taste
- Very easy blowing
- Incredible improvement on the intonation. Although the mouthpiece is set for A=441Hz, I seem to be able to manage it for both A=440 and A=442 without much problem.
- The altissimo register seems to suffer the most. I hope this is something that I can overcome after some time getting used to the slightly adapted embouchure.
I picked three that I liked the most out of the eight I received and plan on trying them out in the "field" during next couple weeks. Fortunately, I have rehearsals and concerts that would test this new set-up to a great extent (principal part for Kodaly's Dances from Galanta, Brahms Symphony No. 4, Stephan Krehl's Clarinet Quintet, and various WW quintet music). I am very hopeful as the early result is rather promising. I will post some follow up thoughts in few days.
Yay (or sigh) for more mouthpieces!
What's on my stand?
[Press Clipping] Exploring New Opportunities with Mixed Chamber Ensembles with Wonkak Kim and enhakē
The following article appeared on the official blog of the International ClarinetFest 2014 following my performance/lecture with enhakē at the ClarinetFest in Baton Rouge, LA. The article is written by my wonderful colleague Dr. Tim Phillips, clarinet professor at Troy University.
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On Saturday at 10:00 AM in the Black Box Theater, clarinetist Wonkak Kim and his chamber ensemble enhakē presented a lecture entitled “Exploring New Opportunities with Mixed Chamber Ensembles.” The ensemble consisted of Kim, violinist M. Brent Williams, cellist Katherine Geeseman Decker, and pianist Grace Eunhye Choi. (It should be noted that Choi is not a regular member of the group, but was filling in for one member who had recently had a child.)
The lecture began with the group performing the Breakdown Tango by John Mackey. This work was originally composed for Antares (formerly Elm City Ensemble) and has been performed by them at least 100 times. After the performance, Kim presented some “trivia” information about the group. He indicated that they met when they were students at Florida State University, hence the name of the group. Enhakē actually means “sound” in the Seminole language. He then guided the lecture through a series of topics: Disclaimer — things don’t always work out as planned, working with each other, establishing short-term goals, taking advantage of each other, reaching out, taking tangos to Argentina and choros to Brazil, (re)investing in the future, commissions, and recording.
Kim stressed the importance of developing friendships with the members of your chamber group. Of course, as life evolves, it is likely that you will eventually encounter individual changes of location and family circumstances. Yet, these changes do not mean that the ensemble can no longer rehearse and perform. He suggested having a handful of pieces that you return to frequently, allowing the group to really get to know each other as musicians.
Violinist M. Brent Williams explained that he had done several arrangements for the group and they performed two of these arrangements, Oblivion by Astor Piazzolla and a Brazilian choro. They noted that all of these arrangements are available for purchase on their website www.enhake.com. The session ended with the group performing a section of a new piece they recently commissioned from well-known composer Libby Larsen.
Throughout the lecture, Wonkak Kim was engaging and jovial. The other members of the group chimed in occasionally, and their performances were of the highest quality. This session was an excellent contribution to the Clarinetist as Entrepreneur theme of this conference.
–Notes by Timothy Phillips
Timothy Phillips serves as Associate Professor of Clarinet at the John M. Long School of Music at Troy University in Troy, Alabama, and manages Clarinet Corner, weekly program on Troy University Public Radio.
