[Vocals and First-Year Students] 28. The Act of Recording

*This content was translated by AI.

I came across a documentary film titled 'What Should Have Been Done?' during a weekend movie introduction program.

This documentary film captured the lives of a sister suffering from schizophrenia and her parents over a span of 30 years. The director, who is the younger brother of the protagonist, filmed his sister and parents' lives and was in Korea for a post-screening Q&A session. I have not yet watched the film. However, just knowing that someone's life was recorded for 30 years made my heart feel heavy with emotion. This feeling is even stronger when it involves family.

Thirty years of recording... Recording does not necessarily solve problems. Nevertheless, without any elaborate explanation, I came to accept that the act of recording itself carries immense significance.

What exactly is recording?

The K-POP and music industry scene I am involved in is always a world of speed races demanding immediate changes and results. Within this fast-paced gear system, for me, recording serves as evidence based on the premise of 'change.' It assumes that yesterday must differ from today, and tomorrow must be more advanced than today.

Recording is essential to visualize the intangible auditory art of singing.

'OOO, in this song, the falsetto range does not connect naturally up to Eb.'

After finishing a lesson, I open my laptop and write down sentences like these. With just one line written, I review recorded materials, reflect on the lesson time, and repeatedly ponder what the problem is and how to resolve it. If even writing a single note requires such effort, how much hesitation, pain, and layered thoughts must have accumulated in the director's 30 years of gazing at a loved one through a camera?

This makes me reconsider the meaning of recording. This heavy realization changes my perspective on vocalists' practice and recording. Perhaps I have been passing down to students a performance-oriented method of recording by having them write daily practice logs...

Writing a practice log today will not suddenly make high notes that were previously impossible soar or trigger dramatic changes. However, refining one's voice in front of the microphone every day and leaving traces of this process as records is the most certain proof that a vocalist treats their music seriously. Even without visible changes immediately, those records kept by steadfastly maintaining one's position each day become the solid strength that prevents collapse during slumps and helps preserve one's own voice.

I sent a message to my students: While writing practice logs is for growth, do not overlook the meaning inherent in recording our daily lives themselves.

After finishing today's schedule, I must meet this director through his film. Since this movie will not be released on OTT platforms and its theatrical run duration will be far shorter than that of major commercial films, I should hurry to the cinema to encounter that weighty 30-year record.

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*This content was translated by AI.