Professor Kang Yoo-han’s performance had ended.
Everyone held their breath, waiting for the resonance of the piano to completely fade away.
During that time, no one made a sound.
Just moments ago, the performance Professor Kang Yoo-han delivered had left everyone in such a state.
A feeling of being overwhelmed.
A pianist must know how to fill the stage alone.
Like other monophonic instruments such as the violin or cello, the piano does not require accompaniment.
Therefore, a pianist is only truly considered a professional when they can command the stage alone.
Professor Kang Yoo-han demonstrated this with his own hands.
With just ten fingers and eighty-eight keys, he created a performance right here.
The suffocating silence, which felt as if it would last forever, was broken when Professor Kang Yoo-han rose from his chair.
Smiling gently, he addressed a student sitting in a chair at the back of the stage.
“It’s a romantic piece, isn’t it? It tugs at the heartstrings. But you don’t need to make too many changes. At this point, it's more important to ensure the melody flows smoothly. And...”
The student listening to him hurried over to the piano bench, eagerly taking notes in the notebook they were holding.
After Professor Kang Yoo-han finished his explanation, the student began playing the piano again, following his instructions.
After each student performed, he would provide a brief evaluation and suggest ways to improve the performance.
“Yes, that part was impressive. But don’t stop the pedal. The audience will definitely notice if the flow gets interrupted.”
“No matter how free-spirited the piece feels, the rhythm and timing must be precise. That’s the least respect you can show to the sheet music.”
"That's right! It's much better than last time. But it needs to be more beautiful and grand. More. Just a little more. That's always the most important thing."
Many students were gathered in one place, all participating in a class on the same piece of music.
However, the lesson content differed for each student.
I once saw a Go master teaching multiple games on TV. It was impressive to see a professional playing and guiding several amateur players simultaneously.
Professor Kang Yoo-han's class was similar to that. He was teaching more than ten students at the same time.
In short, this class resembled a masterclass format.
'I never thought I'd get to witness the masterclass I missed in Singapore here...'
Anyway, living for 12 years (+3.5 years) has brought many unexpected experiences.
"Thank you for your hard work!"
"Thank you for the guidance!"
"Professor! About the lesson schedule at the end of this month..."
"See you next week!"
Once the class ended, the students dispersed in small groups.
Only then were we able to meet Professor Kang Yoo-han. Teacher Park Ha-seon personally introduced us.
"This is the student I mentioned, Han Seojin, and the people next to him are his parents. And as I mentioned earlier..."
A brief round of introductions followed.
After shaking hands with my parents, Professor Kang extended his hand to me as well.
"It's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you from Ha-seon."
"Hello, I'm Han Seojin."
We shook hands.
The moment I grasped his hand, I was momentarily surprised.
'His hands are huge...'
Thick knuckles. Long fingers. Wrinkled hands. I wondered how far those fingers could reach an octave.
But it seemed I wasn’t the only one having these thoughts.
“Your hands are still small.”
“Ah... yes.”
“I’m not saying it as a criticism. But since you’re still growing, you should make sure to eat well and work on your flexibility. And exercise, of course. Judging by your fingertips, it looks like you’ve been practicing a lot. You’re a good kid.”
“...”
Professor Kang Yoo-han, assessing me like Sherlock Holmes.
He tilted his head slightly to the left, toward the direction of the piano.
“It’s not every day you get a chance like this. How about you play here? The more stage experience, the better. Most of the older students have already left, so I think this would be better than a small practice room.”
Just as Professor Kang said, most of the college students had already left the concert hall.
And after all, wasn’t he the one who called me here because he wanted to hear me play?
Teacher Park Ha-seon had told me he was a bit impatient by nature...
Right now, I didn’t see any reason to back out.
“Sounds good. I also like playing on a nice piano.”
The piano in Korea University's concert hall was a Steinway.
If you were to name the world’s top three pianos, they’d be Steinway, Bechstein, and Bösendorfer.
Among them, the piano that is overwhelmingly loved by pianists is, without a doubt, Steinway.
The price of that piano alone easily exceeded 200 million won, so it wasn’t the kind of piano I could casually play on a regular basis.
Professor Kang Yoo-han looked at me and smiled slyly.
“Already getting attached to the equipment, huh?”
“I usually practice on an electric piano at home, so it feels a bit stifling sometimes.”
"...An electric piano?"
"Yes. May I play it right now?"
"Haha. Sure, go ahead."
I walked briskly over and sat down on the piano bench. I adjusted the height of the seat to fit my stature. I swung my legs slightly, checking the distance to the pedals.
Turning my head to the right, I saw the dimly lit audience seats. Due to the bright lights pouring onto the stage, my field of vision became very narrow. I couldn't see who was in the audience or how many people there were. That wasn’t very clear.
I shifted my gaze to the keyboard. The shiny keys were pleasing to look at, making me feel good just by staring at them.
I took a deep breath in and exhaled.
Silence quickly settled in.
The stillness I had felt while living on the deserted island sank in.
During the nights there, when there was nothing to do, Uncle Miller and I would memorize sheet music.
When Uncle Miller would sing the first line, I would recite the notes after him.
When the carefully tended embers flickered, on the verge of dying out, we would look up at the sky, and a bright light would shine down on us.
The beautiful glow that silently watched over us throughout the night.
Recalling that moment, I began to play.
The piece we commonly refer to as "Moonlight Sonata."
Beethoven – Sonata No.14 Op.27 "Moonlight Sonata"
The first movement of Beethoven's Sonata No. 14.
* * *
A heavy note settled in.
On c♯ minor, the first theme of "Moonlight Sonata" unfolded.
Beethoven marked the score with "sostenuto" to instruct that the piece should be played as emotionally as possible.
Sostenuto.
A directive to sustain the sound fully, continuing to hold the note while proceeding with the performance.
To capture the sostenuto feeling, you need to press the pedal sufficiently while playing, which was why young children found this performance extremely difficult.
No, to be precise, it's not that they found it difficult; rather, they didn't want to carry it out.
At that age, children tended to focus more on the melody, after all.
However, that neglect would eventually came back to haunt them.
The pedaling practice they skimped on required significant reinvestment of time later on.
But then...
"......"
This child's performance was remarkably heavy from the very first note. A clear sign he was using the pedal properly.
Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata was a piece composed with the image of moonlight streaming down at night.
The child pressed the piano pedal all the way down, creating a quiet and melancholic atmosphere.
He perfectly recreated Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
The repeated rhythm in the left hand and the melody in the right hand blended into a single harmony.
Although the piano was being played, the atmosphere was still and serene.
A moment ago, the things the professor had so fervently emphasized to his students—this boy seemed to instinctively know.
He played with emotion.
Instinctively.
Yet faithfully to the sheet music.
It sounded easy, but even for Professor Kang Yoo-han, who had played the piano all his life, this was no simple feat.
That’s why he would analyze sheet music daily, study techniques, and explore the lives of composers.
But this boy...
Seojin was trying to capture all of this in his performance.
Based on his solid fundamentals, he played his piece.
True to the Chinese characters for "performance" (演奏)*, he was showcasing everything he had. (T/N: The sentence is saying that the person’s performance matches the meaning of the word 演奏—they are fully expressing themselves, showing all their skills, just like the word describes.)
Of course, Seojin's performance was not technically perfect.
Perhaps because his hands hadn’t fully grown yet, or maybe for some other reason, there were occasional gaps between the notes.
However, the mistakes were so minor that they were hardly noticeable.
If someone like Professor Kang Yoo-han, who had spent his entire life with music and didn’t spend all day teaching students, had heard them, they would have passed over them without a second thought.
But regardless of those small mistakes, Seojin clearly understood Beethoven’s music.
There were students who practiced just enough to avoid losing points during entrance exams, without any emotional involvement.
When those so-called prodigies came to see Professor Kang Yoo-han, 9 out of 10 of them couldn't escape from this mindset.
By the standards of the “Korean entrance exam system,” they were considered prodigies.
They suppressed their emotions as much as possible and minimized mistakes. When they did, people would call them geniuses.
Children who performed mechanically, following the rules of the exam system.
This was what Professor Kang Yoo-han always lamented about the Korean music scene.
But Seojin seemed different.
He didn’t care about the small mistakes, and he seemed focused only on how to express the music as a whole.
Seojin was giving a piano recital here.
In the brief six-minute Beethoven sonata,
He had undoubtedly painted the moonlight.
* * *
'Maybe there were two mistakes…'
The somewhat unsatisfactory performance came to an end.
But there was nothing I could do. The Steinway, which I had only played a few times during competitions, was so smooth. As a result, my hands slipped once or twice.
‘Looking at it now, the key action on the electric piano really isn’t great.’
To be more precise, the electric piano feels a bit creaky.
Even the old upright piano at the piano academy wasn’t without those issues.
It was a bit unfortunate, but in the end, the mistakes were mine.
Even if this means I miss the opportunity, there’s nothing I can do.
This is probably the limit of my abilities right now.
I’ll just have to practice more from now on.
I didn’t want to make excuses about only having two days to practice “Moonlight Sonata” or about the piano.
While I was having these thoughts, Professor Kang Yoo-han’s voice came from behind me.
“That was a truly wonderful performance.”
“Ah... thank you.”
“I’m going to talk with the adults for a bit. In the meantime, could you go down to the audience area for a while? The conversation won’t take long.”
Come to think of it, where are my parents and Teacher Park Ha-seon?
After looking around for a while, I saw them standing at the entrance to the backstage waiting room. My parents gave me a small wave when they saw me.
I replied to Professor Kang Yoo-han, saying I understood, and went down to the audience area.
I heard the creaking sound of the waiting room door closing behind me.
What had seemed like a dark audience area gradually became visible as my eyes adjusted to the darkness.
Then, at that moment.
Suddenly, a crowd of people rushed toward me.
“Hey! How do you play so well? I was so shocked!”
"Wow. Listening to Moonlight Sonata again after a long time brings back memories of my entrance exam days. This was the piece I played when I competed in a contest as a kid."
"You really express the emotions well! Is that why Professor Kang Yoo-han called you? By the way, how old are you?"
"From the looks of it, you don’t seem like a middle schooler yet. An elementary school student? You must be preparing for the entrance exam to a performing arts middle school."
"Do you want some candy? You must have been nervous playing on stage, right?"
"Are your eyes still hurting? Wait, try blinking like this. They'll feel better soon."
"……?"
Where on earth had they been hiding?
A group of college students suddenly surrounded me.
For now, I accepted the Chupa Chups. Yum. As I thought, I must’ve been low on sugar. As soon as I popped the candy in my mouth, I felt my head clear up.
The college students seemed full of energy.
Maybe it was because I had just played Moonlight Sonata, but they were all passionately talking about Beethoven.
I seized the opportunity and asked what I’d been curious about.
Entrance exams for performing arts middle school, high school, and university.
Aren’t these college music majors like living witnesses?
Fortunately, the older students kindly answered my questions.
About 15 minutes passed when finally, the door to the backstage area opened.
I saw Teacher Park Ha-seon, squinting as she scanned the audience. She quickly spotted me and gestured for me to come over.
"I should get going now. Thanks for answering my questions about the exams, hyung-nim, noona-nim. Oh, and thanks for the candy too!"
For some reason, the college students burst into laughter.
With a single bow, I managed to get another candy before heading to the waiting room.
In the waiting room, I found Teacher Park Ha-seon talking with Professor Kang Yoo-han.
As soon as the professor saw me come in, he immediately spoke to me.
“You’re impressive. A very talented student. Your hard work seems to have paid off.”
“...Thank you.”
From what I had casually heard from Teacher Park Ha-seon, Professor Kang Yoo-han wasn’t someone who gave empty compliments.
He was impatient, straightforward, and blunt.
So, I could take his remark about my talent as a positive sign.
But at that moment...
“There’s something I’m curious about. It’s just the curiosity of an old man, but...”
Contrary to his gentle expression, Professor Kang Yoo-han asked me a sharp question.
“By any chance, have you ever been taught by a pianist other than Ms. Park Ha-seon? Your performance carries a certain unique flair that feels like it was influenced by a master... I’m just a little curious who that might be.”
idk about in korean, but I've only seen people refer to Moonlight sonata as "Moonlight sonata," they always append the "sonata" to it, or they just use the opus number. That stuff about beethoven composing it while thinking of moonlight is also bs, but who cares lol (obviously the korean author didn't).
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