Hallyu & Me (Part II)

For the second half of my project (besides this blog), I played three pieces from the "Seasonal Korean Dramas" (more officially known as "Endless Love" series) by the director Yoon Suk-Ho. These "Seasonal Korean Dramas" include four dramas (1 for each season). Yoon Suk-Ho has spent the majority of his cinematic career working on these, and he is by far one of the most well respected and well known veteran directors in the Korean Drama industry.

In addition, these "Seasonal Korean Dramas" have made Hallyu stars forever legendary in the Korean Drama Industry, for example Bae Young Joon who is probably the most famous and best paid Korean actor makes 200,000 US dollars/episode and 43 million US dollars/year. Even though its been six years since Winter Sonata was released in Korea it still enjoys continued fame especially in Japan where Bae Young Joon has an enormous and very dedicated fan club. In fact Bae Young Joon is so popular that Japan is releasing a cell phone based on Bae Young Joon which will be released sometime this year.

For many Hallyu fans Yoon Suk Ho's "Seasonal Korean Dramas" represents the structure or the basis of Korean dramas, which is probably because there a few Hallyu fans who haven't seen at least one of these dramas.

So...."What are the Seasonal Dramas?"

The first "Seasonal Korean Drama" was released in 2000 starring Song Seung-Hun and Song Hye-Kyo. This drama both made them legendary Hallyu Actors. So in honor of the first drama here's the main title song from Autumn Story/Autumn Fairytale/Autumn in my Heart




{My Critique: Fortunately this is one of the shortest and easiest pieces, but it's also one of my favorite songs from the drama and because it wasn't very difficult it wasn't so stressful to learn. However, since it was simple I tried my best to pay more attention to the artistry of the piece such as the dynamics and phrasing in each measure. Also making sure the melody could by clearly heard at all times. Although this piece is still by far not perfect, I hope my listener will be able to really hear the dynamics and appreciate the artistry that I tried to give to this piece.}

Compare: Here's a Video Clip of the Main Title Song from Autumn Story. Enjoy!

The second "Seaonal Korean Drama" was released in 2002 starring Bae Young-Joon and Choi Ji Woo. This drama both made them both the most well known Hallyu stars globally. At first I couldn't decide which piece to choose because there were so many excellent songs, but in the end I decided to choose one of the most well known songs from this drama so here's My Memory from Winter Sonata/Winter Ballad.



{My Critique: Although out of the three songs I learned this was the longest piece, it was probably one of my favorite pieces. However, although it was the longest piece it wasn't the most difficult piece out of the three because the technique wasn't as difficult. Nonetheless, I don't think I would ever be completely satisfied. It was difficult to record this piece because the songs is very long so if you listen really good you can actually point out the mistakes. Out of the three pieces I learned, I know this song the best and I really like the melody of this piece. In addition, this piece is also different because it has lyrics and in the drama it's normally heard with lyrics. }

Compare: Here's a Video Clip of the song My Memory w/ the English Translation

The third "Seaonal Korean Drama" was released in 2003 starring Song Seung-Hun again and Son Ye Jin. Although this drama didn't make her a legendary Hallyu star, she is still recognized today as a well respected veteran actress. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find a solo piece from this drama, so I don't have a piano song for this drama. However, I'll still post a music video from this drama. Unlike the other songs I posted so far this song is more upbeat; however, I really enjoy this song because it's associated with nature scenes in Summer Scent.

Here's a Video Clip of the song Say Yes from Summer Scent!

The fourth and final "Seaonal Korean Drama" was released in 2006 starring two new actors- Seo Do-Young and Han Hyo-Joo for a change instead of veteran actors as Yoon Suk-Ho chose in the past. It also starred Korean-American actor Daniel Henney who although can't speak more Korean than an Elementary school student won Korean drama lovers over with his good looks. Danniel Henney is also relatively new and hasn't starred in many Korean dramas because he can't speak Korean; however, he speaks perfect English. In Spring Waltz he speaks mostly English and only very little Korean. So in honor of the fourth and final installment here's Teardrop Waltz from Spring Waltz.

{My Critique: This is the last song I learned and for me it was the most difficult song to learn of the three pieces. This piece was difficult because the technique was little harder, and I didn't feel I was able to covey the artistry of the piece that was suppose to, and it took several recordings for me to be somewhat satisfied. At first the piece was too fast and it sounded too rushed, then there didn't seem to be any dynamics, and because the microphone was closer to my right hand when I was playing the piano it sounded so much louder than the left hand. As a result I kept having to re-record. This piece definetely has the most mistakes, so as of right now it still needs a lot of work in my opinion.}

Compare: Here's a Video Clip of the song Teardrop Waltz. Enjoy!

The best thing about these "Seasonal Korean Dramas", and the reason why I enjoy watching them is because of the way that the director captures the best of the beauty in Korean nature, and the "Seasonal Korean Dramas" captures the beauty of the changing seasons in Korea. Although the similarities between the dramas start to get old, for example the love triangle story plot, the picturesque scenes never fails to capture my attention.