[Vocals and First-Year Students] 22. Between Industry Discourse and the Lesson Room

*This content was translated by AI.

Recently, I have had many opportunities to attend conferences related to artificial intelligence (AI). On stage, AI, intellectual property (IP), productivity, automation, and monetization are constantly discussed.

The prospect that AI will replace human jobs has become common sense. The world relentlessly pours out the message that "those who cannot keep up with the AI era will be left behind." Amidst discourses of anxiety about falling behind while discussing technological changes, I get the impression that the fear of change itself is being consumed faster than the change itself. It even feels as if the world is being filled entirely with a vast virtual world.

When reading recent reports related to K-POP, I feel a similar point. Critics and industry experts discuss business models, global strategies, and new rules of the game. Of course, these are macro-level perspectives necessary for understanding the industry. However, teenagers and people in their 20s who listen to music with AirPods plugged in do not keep such discourses in mind. They simply find solace in a singer's voice, thrill at a scene on stage, and overlay songs onto their daily lives. There is a clear gap between the industry's analytical gaze and the consumer's intuition in enjoying music.

I am someone standing somewhere in between. I examine the landscape of the industry but am not an investor, and while I observe fan culture, I also conduct research and practice. As a vocal trainer, what I face every day is a student's growth and the process of change. Even in an era where vast technological discourses are poured out, students who knock on the lesson room door saying, "I want to learn to sing," remain the same. Their attitude toward singing is not a grand business to be analyzed, but simply a part of life.

At this point, I begin to reconsider my role as a vocal trainer. Merely training students to execute precise pitch and rhythm better than AI does not guarantee anything beyond technical perfection. This is because the intricacy of technique is already moving into the realm of technology. So, from a long-term perspective, what value should I present to my students?

It seems that the scope of a vocal trainer includes mental care to keep students from being trapped in the fear of being overwhelmed by technology and remaining stagnant. It involves helping them learn to handle their emotions proactively through the act of singing and assisting them in believing in their own voices rather than comparing themselves to others. I wonder if this is not the scope of practical education that this era demands.

I have not yet found a complete answer to this era's question. It is difficult to predict how far technology will develop or how the way music is consumed will change. When the world talks about the flow of vast technology and industry, the trainer on the ground must capture the details of students singing one word at a time. Reading macro-level discourses while tuning the micro-level within the lesson room. That is the coordinate where I currently stand.

No matter how much the world talks about vast virtual worlds and the logic of industry, the trembling of a student taking a breath before singing the first note is always real. Helping them not to fear that pure trembling and to spit it out in their own voice. In a period of change without a correct answer, I feel that what I must silently do now is precisely to guard that real trembling together.

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*This content was translated by AI.