On the evening commute, the crowded subway.
Office workers on public transport found various ways to pass the boring time.
Listening to music.
People-watching.
Thinking alone.
Probably the most popular way was.
‘Is there anything to see?’
Looking at their phones.
And this male office worker was scrolling through YouTube.
Instead of poking around the community to find the day’s bothersome issues, he just wanted to relax with some simple videos.
So, when he couldn’t find anything interesting while browsing the algorithm, he entered YouTube’s trending videos, popularly known as the ‘Korea’s Hot Clips.’
Among them, one video caught his eye.
[Hanseong Arts High School Vlog | What Do You Learn in Piano Major Class?]
—HyunaLog · Views: 140,000 · 1 day ago
‘Vlog?’
It seemed it had been selected by the algorithm and got lucky to make it to the list.
Sometimes in the trending section, channels with fewer than 100,000 subscribers also made an appearance.
Still, the man thought those videos generally held charm.
‘Maybe the charm of this video is healing.’
The youthful daily life of teenagers tends to be inherently therapeutic.
Moreover, if it’s about classical piano, it would be even more so.
In other words, it was the type of video he was looking for.
‘I should watch it.’
The man clicked on the video, and as expected, it started with a cute BGM and a cute high school girl at the school gate.
[Woo-ah: Today is Friday, the day for majors. There’s hardly anyone around, right? Yes, I was a little late.]
Like many other VLOGs, the high school girl named Woo-ah carried her phone and cheerfully recounted her day’s schedule.
[Woo-ah: Anyway, today is the major evaluation, and I’m supposed to play a prelude and an etude. Ah, and there’s also a accompaniment law test today…]
Then it quickly transitioned to the classroom scene.
[Woo-ah: Anyway, I will show you the whole major class today!]
<1st Period Sight-Reading Time>
An explanatory subtitle popped up about what sight-reading time is.
“Uh?”
The office worker raised his head to look ahead instead of at his phone.
There was an ad on the screen door.
‘Isn’t that… right?’
No one could deny it was the same face.
After all, you couldn’t have two people that looked like this.
*
The primary viewership of the vlog still consisted mostly of the Seven fandom, but certainly, at some point, it became exposed to the general public.
And the scenes stuck in the viewers’ minds were mostly similar, as were their remarks.
Sadly, the subject of those scenes was, of course, more about Woo-ah than Do-hee.
It went something like this.
This is how it went.
First, Do-hee was focused on her sight-singing class.
[Do-hee in school uniform side view.mp4]
(Vlog video)
─ “Solara♪ [My partner Do-hee sings well too, right? (Even though she’s a singer, lol)]”
Ultimate goddess vibes ㄷㄷ
– Seriously pretty
– Why is it so cute when she blushes from being stared at, really? ㅋㅋㅋ
└ Awkward ㅋㅋㅋㅋ so cute
– She’s so pretty that it’s like saying she looks like a doll, she’s an idol for a reason.
– I’m surprised she sings so well now, more than I expected ㅇㅇ
└ After seeing this short clip? ㅋㅋ
└ For real, I like the fact that she practices vocals a lot and has the mindset to improve… Even I, who doesn’t know anything about music, can see her singing skills improving. She’s so admirable and pretty.
└ Feels like she’s growing like in a drama.
Next up is how Do-hee spends her break time.
[Characteristics of a nerd and introvert during school break.mp4]
(Vlog video)
─ “[Are you solving practice exams again…? Honestly, there’s nothing else to do.]”
Pretending to sleep or study, lol
– Where does the author live?
– Dude, is Do-hee really a nerd?
└ They said there’s nothing to do except studying~
└ For real, this ultimate social butterfly is cosplaying as an introvert again.
└ Don’t take away the title of introvert…
– But why is an idol like Do-hee solving a practice exam, and that of a third-year? Isn’t she 17?
└ Do-hee has always been good at studying, always ranked first from elementary to middle school.
└ Really? I didn’t know. Aren’t her parents pushing her too hard?
└ For real, but it doesn’t match the idol profile.
└ You can tell just from watching Do-hee’s past Seven live streams or vlogs that she studies regularly as part of her routine.
The third one is the aural training class at the arts high school.
[Transcribing music after listening to the performance with Do-hee and Seven.mp4]
(Vlog video)
─ “[Teacher! In the first measure… first measure five… Woo-ah, that has sol, fa, re, do, la… is la included? I’m going crazy.]”
This is an aural training class where the teacher plays notes and rhythms, and the students have to transcribe it on the spot.
Additional note: This is not an absolute pitch test; there is a separate absolute pitch test at the arts high school.
(Do-hee did a sound recognition test from a single note to a six-note chord on a broadcast.mp4)
This is the absolute pitch test.
They say the difficulty is higher in the aural training class due to the rhythm aspect.
– Do-hee just excels at music.
– So this is what it takes to win a piano competition.
– But being able to transcribe music like this is something that even people from top music colleges in our country who specialize in violin or composition can easily do, it’s just that they’re stuck in classical music.
└ For real, does it attract weirdos like that?
└ Agreed, the fans’ obsession gets really intense; a lot of people just hate on Do-hee because of it.
└ Whatever it is, those who hate on her just rationalize things, lol.
└ Honestly, being compared to students from top music colleges is already impressive, so the complaints are just ridiculous, lol.
(Information) When a typical girl group post goes up, it goes viral, and the agency gets involved. If it’s a suggestive post, the commenters immediately drool over it as if they were one mind.
└ For real lol, even Do-hee gets harassed by those sleazebags when a heavy suggestive post is up, saying it’s good and all that.
Of course, since the post became a hot topic, there were people fighting in the comments, so it wasn’t just good reactions, but one thing was for sure: it became a topic of conversation.
And the fourth and last scene that became a hot topic was the conversation between Do-hee and Woo-ah during a two-piano rehearsal.
[Do-hee, are you participating in the piano competition?]
(Vlog video)
─[After the second and third periods of the two-piano practice, we will each take our accompaniment exam and go for lessons. Since everyone needs to prepare for the competition now…]
Somehow, this was the hottest issue among the fans.
*
What I felt after entering the arts high school was that, surprisingly, there were many advantages.
One of those advantages was this: during other people’s class times, I could rent a solo piano room under the pretense of major practice and enjoy my own time.
This was obviously impossible in a regular high school.
Not only would there be no piano related classes, but I would also have to study unnecessary subjects.
─Dun dun dun♬
Of course, I wasn’t slacking off.
I was practicing the piano diligently as usual.
ㅡ♪♭
It just wasn’t turning out as I wanted.
When I let my mind wander, I ended up hitting the wrong key.
“Haah…”
Suddenly, I recalled the time before I got into the school when I had a one-on-one meeting with Team Leader So-hyun.
That day, the team leader explained to me why I was placed in the piano department instead of the practical music department.
The biggest reason was consideration for me.
They knew I had an attachment to the piano that went beyond what I revealed, practicing regularly even during my trainee period and while Seven was active.
And another reason was:
─Do-hee, do you want to try the piano competition again?
They were suggesting that I prepare for the piano competition once more.
It meant getting back to something I had to temporarily put off while preparing to be an idol.
Of course, it was a question of my intention, not a demand.
If the team leader had been thoroughly on the company’s side, they would have stopped me from participating in the competition, because the image I’d built up through awards could crumble with just one failure.
I had even won the grand prize every time up until now, so the standards were very high.
In other words, it was a situation where the risk was much greater than the potential gains.
It’s a task with big risks compared to the benefits I’ll gain by going out.
But the Team Leader just asked me.
“Oh, really? Can I go out? Then I want to go out! I’ve really been curious about the high school section and wanted to check it out.”
Of course, I answered that I would.
I was full of confidence in myself.
“Sigh… Oh, it went off again.”
But now, I felt doubts about my playing throughout the practice.
So now I was feeling the pressure.
Was it because of the accompaniment exam I just had?
Honestly, the accompaniment exam…
It wasn’t really that big of a deal despite being called an exam.
It was more like a mid-check.
The actual exam, the practical test, would be at the end of the semester.
The main goal was to practice the assigned piece under the pretext of an exam, perform it, and get feedback from the teacher.
The practical piece assigned by the school was Brahms’ Sonata No. 3, 1st movement.
I prepared the piece while pondering my thoughts.
Brahms, a Romantic composer, was someone who valued formal beauty.
Even though it was the last sonata he published, it was one of his earliest works from his youth, marked as Op. 5.
Packed with youthful bravado, it also contained Brahms’ serious and weighty music.
Tempo Sign: Allegro maestoso.
The combination and context revealed from the tempo sign.
Allegro gives a slightly uplifting and cheerful vibe.
Maestoso denotes a heavy and majestic feel.
Above all, the rhythm of the initial dotted eighth notes plus the two thirty-second notes…
I thought it was intended to push the sound forward a bit more.
After all, Brahms was someone who composed considering the colorful sounds and textures of orchestras.
I wanted to express all those feelings, adding my own interpretations.
And, as always, I played smoothly without missing a key.
But the only feedback I got from the teacher was one thing.
“Do-hee has prepared a lot. But it’s a bit aggressive. How about we try playing it more conventionally first?”
An advice contrary to my expectations.
For someone so confident at the piano, it was the first time I heard negative comments.
“Sigh…”
Just as I was about to let out another sigh and put my hands back on the keys.
Knock knock
With the sound of a knock, the door to the solo piano room opened.
“Do-hee~ It’s your turn to go down.”
Peeking in was Woo-ah.
“Oh, yeah. Thanks.”
Next up after the accompaniment exam…
Was my one-on-one lesson time in preparation for the upcoming competition.
Without even realizing it, I let out another sigh as I left the room.
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