First Place!

Well, we did it!  Not only did we practice daily and worry constantly about whether or not we could actually do it, we won first prize.  I was a bit shocked and Dahin was so surprised she cried.  When they called us for first prize, she just started crying while holding the sign that indicated we were the grand winners for the day and could not answer the questions the hosts were asking.  One of the hosts asked me, "Is this the first time Dahin has won something like this?"  I said yes it was.  We're really grateful to the graduate students in my department who helped us get ready by brainstorming, working with us on the song (Mina met us every day despite a very busy work schedule) and lending me a hanbok.

The day started at 2 pm with an orchestra rehearsal.  It took us a couple of tries to match what we had practiced with the musicians but eventually we figured out a good arrangement.

Next up was the dress rehearsal on camera.  We did ok, better than the first rehearsal, but things were still a little shaky.  Dahin was originally supposed to sing the first verse by herself, but she was so nervous we sang the whole song together.  For the dress rehearsal, I was really trying to get her to sing louder.  We had also planned some choreography to go with the song, but that fell through as well because Dahin really needed to hold my hand in order to do it.  I was happy to oblige.

We nervously waited behind one of the choruses for our turn on camera.

Then, it was our turn and it went so well.  I was incredibly relieved considering the two really shaky turns we had at rehearsal.  Dahin hit her harmonies dead on and she even looked as if she were having fun. Once we were done, we stood on stage with other competitors and the judges commented on our performance.  They said the best thing about it was the energy and our performance presence, as well as the fact that we pulled off a song that was not easy to sing.  The thing to work on was making the traditional childen's songs sound more authentically folk-songish (a bit hard to do when accompanied by an orchestra) but I think the same--it would be great to be able to sing well in folk song style and I know we don't quite have that down yet, but we did learn a lot preparing this song.

I have to mention that there are essentially two types of children's songs in Korea: dongyo and cheolle dongyo (kugak dongyo--traditional children's songs).  Dongnyo are basically songs in a Western classical scale that employ elements such as functional harmony.  The songs are normally belted out without much vibrato and, honestly, the style of singing always makes the kids' voices sound a bit flat and the songs all sound alike to me. I'm not a fan of your typical Korean dongyo.  The traditional children's songs are basically folk songs that are either sung by kids or have themes that are relevant to kids and  are considered to be folk songs.  These songs are typically shorter than your average folk song and involve less vocal tricks, but performance of these songs requires the use of folk song vocal techniques such as wide vibration, an energy that matches the rhythmic cycle, and carefully placed ornamentations in order to really pull it off as a traditional dongnyo. The traditional dongyo are way more difficult to sing than the 'la-la-ing' of the typical contemporary children's song. Dahin and I were the only team that performed a traditional dongnyo.   We added one innovation: harmony on the chorus, but it was appropriate and a recording we heard of a children's choir singing the song included harmony on the chorus.  All other teams or solo performers sang the contemporary Western-style dongnyo.  In part, I believe this helped us win first prize.  We stood out from the other performers by our choice of repertoire.

 After everyone had competed and the judges commented on us in groups we stood on stage with all the competitors and sung a children's song together before they announced the prizes.  Honorable mention was a 5th grade girl Dahin knows at school who is, honestly, quite mean to Dahin on a regular basis.  She makes snide comments to Dahin about what Dahin can't do and  how perfect she thinks she is when they have mutlicultural classes together.  When they called the child for honorable mention, I thought 'crud, now at school Dahin will never hear the end of this.'  Second place was called and then, shocker, they called "'San Dokkaebi' Professor Hilary Finchum-Sung and student Dahin Sung!"  Yay us!!!!

The boys were so, so good.  I can't believe that they sat so patiently for over 5 hours during the rehearsals and filming.  Jack and I realized during one of the breaks, that we had all forgotten to eat lunch.  The cafe in the KBS studios just had cookies and pastries available, so Jack got the kids cookies and bought them juice.  Bad parents!  Well, I guess it happens some time or another. 

Dahin with her school mate and competitor.

Once the event was all over and we made sure the violin we won would be delivered to our home, we headed to Dahin's choice for dinner: Outback Steakhouse. The kids chowed down on ribs and Jack and I had steak and salad.  The best thing about this, beyond spending more time together as mother and daughter, was seeing Dahin so happy and full of confidence.  She did so well.  We've been called back for another show since we won first prize. Filming is this Sunday, so Dahin and I are yet again busy preparing a song for performance.  This show is not a competition, but features the winners from June, July, August, and September shows.  It will be aired in October. 

Another postscript:  This event has opened some doors for little Miss Superstar.  Dahin is now participating in a production of "Annie" at the Sejong Cultural Center in downtown Seoul.   The vocal coaches and dance teachers work with the kids everyday for three hours.  It is an intense schedule and means that I have to pick the boys up from school in the pm since Jack has to be with Dahin at rehearsals and they don't get home until 10 pm every night, which means an 11 pm bedtime after homework for Dahin.  I was afraid it might be too intense for her, but she absolutely LOVES it. I think she has found her niche.