From Korea to Canada
It was the spring of 2014 when I started playing the violin for the very first time. I can remember very clearly how, at first, I absolutely hated the violin. I disliked everything about it. I even begged my parents to not send me to the local violin academy and whenever I finished a lesson, I could only think of how my next class could be worse; the reason why I hated the lessons was because of how scary my teacher was. Now that I am much older, I highly doubt my old violin teacher was as scary as she appears in my memories, but, as a very young child (in first grade), I even bought my violin teacher chocolates on Valentine’s day and begged her to not get so frustrated with me in my lessons, which, I have to say, now that I think about it, it’s actually quite funny.
All of this changed when I moved to Canada and I restarted playing the violin in third grade. I found a wonderful teacher; he was very kind, polar-opposite to my teacher in Korea, and helped me to start liking the violin and classical music. But, after a year or two, I faced a serious problem; I wasn’t improving. Though I was technically going through my Suzuki books and learning harder pieces, my teacher was overly nice to me in my lessons that, I wasn’t fixing my mistakes and he wasn’t really pointing out my mistakes either; he just listened. The moment we finished learning the notes of a piece, we moved on, without memorizing, reviewing my old pieces, and rarely working on a piece for more than a couple of weeks. I needed to find a teacher that could help me like playing the violin, but who was also a little more strict and organized, when it came to the mistakes and the countles wrong notes I was playing at the time (and of that, I still play).
Then, it was when I was in fourth grade, when I first met Ms. Mary-Beth at a local music festival in Fredericton, New Brunswick. She sat at the back in a separate wooden area, inside what I remember to be a church, and graded me on my playing and gave me a quick mini-lesson after I played. I can still remember how nervous I was when I played the Skye Boat Song and Witches Dance in front of everyone who was there inside the large church. After I had finished playing, my mom told me how she liked the way Ms. Mary-Beth pointed out my mistakes and went up to her to ask her if she offered any lessons.
Ever since then, I have taken lessons with Dr. Brown and have improved significantly, especially with my intonation. But, it wasn’t all great at first; in fact, when I first started, I can still remember Ms. Mary-Beth teaching me how to play my second and third fingers correctly and my mom constantly yelling at me about my rhythm for nearly six months. Then, the magical moment came; I finally started playing the right notes. Without the help of Ms. Mary-Beth, I couldn’t have passed any of my Royal Conservatory exams and I wish to continue my violin journey with her.
Another person that I must thank are my wonderful parents. Though my mom can bother me sometimes with her constant nagging - usually about my rhythm and my bow strokes, it was her who made me work harder, who found a right teacher for me, and to be completely honest, without her support, I don’t think I could have gotten this far, not just with violin, but with everything I have accomplished in my life.
In the coming years, I look forward to continuing to learn the violin, improving my rhythm, and improving my skills in music theory, which, I have to say, is a very big challenge for me and overcoming this challenge is my next goal for the upcoming years.
