Happy Hour Harmonica Podcast

Yoonseok Lee interview

• Neil Warren • Season 1 • Episode 141

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Yoonseok Lee joins me on episode 141. 

Yoonseok is from South Korea where he first took up the tremolo harmonica. He discovered the chromatic when he heard Sigmund Groven playing at the Asia Pacific Festival in 2004, and started taking lessons with Sigmund. This culminated in Yoonseok studying at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo with Sigmund as his professor.

Returning to South Korea in 2020, he enjoys a successful career as a freelance chromatic player, and returns to Norway to teach at a yearly harmonica summer camp. 

Yoonseok has released two albums so far, with many of the pieces arranged by himself, and also songs he has composed for the chromatic harmonica.

Links:

Yoonseok's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/yoonseok.lee2/

Linktree: http://linktr.ee/yoonseokl

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yoonseok_hca/

Buy Harmonica Recital album: https://baro7.com/products/yoonseok-lee-2nd-album-harmonica-recital

Videos:

Yoonseok's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/YoonseokLee_HARMONICA

A young Yoonseok playing tremolo harmonica: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1CYScJ3VO4

Playing James Moody’s Toledo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78ezOpAGh98&list=RD78ezOpAGh98

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py62lXF0Xiw

Moonlight music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiF2o0WSIuQ

Playing with a harpist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM4v1qc4s1w

Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com

Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB

Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com  or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS
--------------------------------
Blue Moon Harmonicas: https://bluemoonharmonicas.com



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SPEAKER_01:

Jung-Tok Lee joins me on episode 141. Jung-Tok is from South Korea where he first took up the tremolo harmonica. He discovered the chromatic when he heard Sigmund Groven playing at the Asia-Pacific Festival in 2004 and started taking lessons with Sigmund. This culminated in Jung-Tok studying at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo with Sigmund as his professor. Returning to South Korea in 2020, he enjoys a successful career as a freelance chromatic player and returns to Norway way to teach the yearly harmonica summer camp. Jungtok has released two albums so far with many of the pieces arranged by himself and also songs he has composed for the chromatic harmonica. This podcast is sponsored by Seidel Harmonicas. Visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seidel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Seidel Harmonicas.

UNKNOWN:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

Hello, Yung Tok Lee, and welcome to the podcast. Thank you, Neil. Thank you for inviting me. No, it's a pleasure. So thanks, Yoon-seok. So we talked about yourself. You're a student of Sigmund Groven, who we had on the podcast a few episodes ago. So I've been meaning to get you on since talking to Sigmund, and he speaks very highly of you. So we'll talk about Sigmund shortly. So first of all, you're from South Korea, and you were born and live in Incheon in South Korea.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I was born and raised in South Korea, and now I live in Korea. in Oslo, Norway with Sigmund Kroven, yes.

SPEAKER_01:

But I came back to Korea now. Well, you did spread your time between Norway and Korea. Yes. But now you're living permanently in Korea, are you? Yeah, great. So I believe you started playing piano first and had lessons and then you found the harmonica. What about the age of nine, I understand?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, actually I started by chance the harmonica at a local community center. But at that time I never imagined it would become my career. I liked the harmonica bass because it's portable and it has such a variety of tone colors. So maybe that's the one that I liked about this instrument when I was little.

SPEAKER_01:

So tell us about the scene in Korea with the harmonica. So I think we have an understanding here in the West that the harmonica is very popular in the Asian countries. Is that true? Yes,

SPEAKER_02:

it's true. But there are so many harmonica enthusiasts in Korea, but most of them are just hobbies. They just play the harmonica as a hobby. There are very few professional harmonica players in Korea. But I I think that's because we don't have proper major in college. So it is not easy to study this instrument properly. But yes, it's very common and it's very popular

SPEAKER_01:

in Korea. Yes. Good to hear. So does that mean that you have a more attentive, a larger audience for your harmonica performances in Korea because it is a popular instrument?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. Some of my concert audiences are harmonica enthusiasts but some of the audience are just people just normal people but in Korea many people associate the harmonica with something nostalgic because the harmonica sound is always some nostalgic sounds so many people more or less they play this instrument at least once in their life I

SPEAKER_01:

think. And so where does that nostalgia come from? Is that from a line of Korean players or is it from European players?

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know. But as far as I know, the origin of the harmonica is one of some Korean traditional instruments as well. So it is called saenghwang. But the similar instrument, also Japan has some similar instruments and China has some similar instruments but maybe that's why the harmonica sounds really touch the Korean people.

SPEAKER_01:

So going back then to when you started, like you say, you started playing harmonica, I think, in a cultural sense, and there's some music activity going on. Don't think you started on the chromatic harmonica, did you? No, not at all.

SPEAKER_02:

Tremolo harmonica, which is what most people in Korea start with.

UNKNOWN:

Tremolo harmonica.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, the tremolo, yes. So I've heard that, you know, in Asia, the tremolo is very popular. So over in the UK, at least, the tremolo is used in kind of traditional folk music a lot of the time. So is that the same sort of music that it's used for in Korea?

SPEAKER_02:

I think so, because the tremolo harmonica is very easy to play the folk music, the sound and the tremolo sound as well. So when I was young, when I started the tremolo harmonica, I played a lot of Korean folk songs and traditional music on this instrument.

SPEAKER_01:

Just to establish as well, so you are predominantly a chromatic player, which is what we'll discuss largely with you today. But do you still play the tremolo? And what can you get out of the tremolo?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, I still play the tremolo. But in Korea, the tremolo harmonica is the most common one. And the price of the instrument is quite important to the beginners. So tremolo harmonica is a bit cheaper than the chromatic harmonica so many people just start with the tremolo harmonica first so when I teach the harmonica to just the beginners I just go with the tremolo harmonica rather than the chromatic harmonica because when you start the harmonica you don't want to spend a lot of money so many people still think that chromatic harmonica is a bit pricey So I just want many people to play this instrument. So maybe you can just start with the tremolo harmonica and then move to chromatic later.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And of course, the tremolo's got some similarities in the fact that it's quite good for playing melodies like the chromatic, but it's in a diatonic scale, right? Yes. So that's the kind of difference. But it's not so far removed from the chromatic. It's more like a chromatic than the diatonic, say, isn't it? Yeah. So a must-note as well, Jungto, Your English is fantastic. Does everyone speak such great English in Korea?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, my English is not that good, but thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm very impressed, honestly. Much better than my Korean, so well done. Do you speak Korean? Not at all. Not at all? No. So I believe you first discovered the chromatic harmonica when you attended the Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, because every two years, there is an Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival, sometimes in Seoul, sometimes in Hong Kong, in Japan, in Taiwan, in Singapore. So the first festival that I attended was in 2004 in Hong Kong, where I saw Sigmund Kroven performing live for the first time. And before that, I didn't know there are other harmonicas other than the tremolo harmonicas. But when I went to the festival, there are so many different harmonicas there. So I was very surprised.

SPEAKER_01:

And so you heard Sigmund there, as you say, he was performing, and you were very impressed by Sigmund, you were starstruck, and then you started sort of corresponding with him, yeah, and trying to get some lessons with him and things?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I always have been a big fan of him, so I became a big fan of him after the Hong Kong festival, so I tried to buy a lot of his CD, and

UNKNOWN:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02:

The sound was so pure, clean. So I was so happy about his sound. So I wrote a lot of fan letters, but no reply at all from him. So I was disappointed. But one day I heard the news that he's coming to Korea for his Korean tour in 2012. So after the concert, I just waited in line to get his autograph. So when I met him, I just Ask him, did you get my email? And he said, what email? I sent you a lot of emails. And he said, what email address? So maybe that's the problem. Now I know I used the wrong email address. So he just gave me his private address. So yeah, that's how I can just communicate with him.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, then he visited Korea again, I think, didn't he? And then you got to see him. And then you had some in-person lessons with him. mean you even got to perform on stage with him yeah

SPEAKER_02:

yes because he was so popular in 2012 in korea so he came back to korea almost every year so five years in a row so in 16 i played duets with him in seoul and then i decided to go to norway to study with him further because i was so happy about the lesson with him every year but it was just a one one lesson in one year, that's not enough at all.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so as you say, you went to study in Norway with Sigmund, but was it before this that you'd done your own studies in Korea and you'd taken up at the Seoul National University, you'd studied composition and music theory. Was this before you went across to Norway?

SPEAKER_02:

Studying in Norway, of course, after I graduated from the Seoul National University in musicology, which gave me a strong foundation. But as for the chromatic harmonica, in Korea, there's no proper teachers at all. Yeah, it's kind of self-teaching. I listened to Sigmund's album a lot, and mimicking his sound, that's how I learned...

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, so you've done your musicology degree. So you hadn't played any harmonica as part of that degree, had you not? Or were you allowed to use some of

SPEAKER_02:

it? When I entered the university, I played harmonica for the entrance exam. When I was just studying musicology, musicology is just musicology. So of course, when I was in college, I started to work as a freelance musician, but

SPEAKER_01:

normally I just play myself Okay, so then you went across and you then were admitted into the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. And this was, as part of your studies, Sigmund became your tutor at the university. He came just to tutor you, yeah?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, he became the professor because of me. Because I was the first student admitted to the academy with the harmonica as a main instrument. So, yes, it's kind of a win-win situation for both of us.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, fantastic. So how did you get into that Norwegian Academy of Music? You know, was that a tough process to get in there? And did you have support from, you know, the Korean, you know, music tuition side?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it's a long process. In Norway, that academy has a very specialized program called Frika in Norwegian. In English, individual concentration or something where you can just apply some unregular musical program if you want to so I just wrote a lot of paper about harmonica the chromatic harmonica and the relationship with me and Sigmund and all the repertoires written for harmonica all etc so that was the first round And then I just went to Norway for the real audition, the musical audition. So I played the harmonica in front of the juries. But Sigmund was not on the juries. So yeah, I just played them. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01:

I just got into the academy. Yeah, very well done. And were you continuing to play like piano or anything else at this stage? Or were you solely devoted to the chromatic? Just chromatic. And so Sigmund was then your tutor. I understand. he was quite a tough taskmaster. You had to work hard on the Sigmund. What was he like as a teacher?

SPEAKER_02:

He's an amazing teacher and studying in Norway was a fantastic experience ever in my life but at the same time I was so disappointed about myself because I was so bad. But I had weekly lessons with him that was a big turning point for me and yeah as you mentioned TASC master so he has a very sensitive ear so when i started to play something just one bar later he just said stop yeah can you just do it again you suck so yeah yeah okay i just do it again but yeah so it was not easy at all and on my first semester i was so disappointed about myself so i almost wanted to go back to korea just quit the studying in norway but i just wanted to survive his uh challenge his mission

SPEAKER_01:

yeah but until this point as you said you were pretty much self-taught on the chromatic harmonica yeah so i mean so what about that as for people listening about you know that discipline that you had to apply to get to the level you've got to now yeah and to and to satisfy sigmund and

SPEAKER_02:

I cannot satisfy Sigmund at all. Never. Never. But when I studied with Sigmund, I tried to focus on the basic foundations as well because that's the most important thing he suggested me learning because Tommy Riley and Sigmund Kroben, there are not many harmonica professionals in the world on the classical stage. I think let's go music scene but Tommy and Sigmund were just the true masters I think So I just try to learn as much as possible. But he always said the basic foundation, basic movement, and making a good legato, which is very demanding on this instrument, is so important. Yeah, I just practice with him just two notes, E to G, G to C, just very smooth legato, very basic foundations. That's what I practice a lot when I studied with him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And so obviously that's got you up to the fantastic level you're at now. So well done. So how long was your course in Norway? Two years. You must have felt cold in Norway too, did it? After being in Korea. Have you been to Norway before? I have, yes.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, very cold. But as I told you, before I went to Norway, I already started to work as a freelance musician in Korea so even when I went to Norway I always tried to go back to Korea when I have time because I didn't want to be forgotten in Korea as a freelance musician if you are forgotten anyone never called you at all so when I just off the semester I always tried to go back to Korea and just come back to Norway just back and forth it was a very hectic for me but uh yeah and norway is a very expensive country as well so yeah i had to make money in korea and

SPEAKER_01:

then just use that money in norway you've definitely earned the right there so lots of long trips i'm sure between korea and norway so yes so so fantastic so so what age are you now i was born in 1992 okay so you're sort of 33 sort of age now yes so still relatively young. When did you finish your studies in Norway?

SPEAKER_02:

2020, I think, because that's when the coronavirus

SPEAKER_01:

came to the world. Did you finish your studies before then, or did you have to stop them early?

SPEAKER_02:

Just more or less, because that was my last semester, I think.

SPEAKER_01:

You timed it well. So great. And so now I know you do obviously still go back to Norway. So I actually saw you and met you in person a few months when you came to the UK to play with Shima Kobayashi in Oxford, and then you went on to play in Norway. So you're still going between the two countries, yeah, a little.

SPEAKER_02:

I go to Norway every year because Sigmund has NMF, Norwegian Harmonica Forum, or association in English. They have every summer, there's annual summer harmonica camps. So Sigmund was one of the tutors, of course, And Tommy Riley was, of course, the teacher as well. So I have been working as co-instructors with him since 2017, I think,

SPEAKER_01:

every year. Do you do that in English or Norwegian? In English. How's your Norwegian language skills? I can just fake it, but yeah, it's not easy at all. So great. So as you say, so since 2010, 20 time you have been based mainly back in Korea and working as your career in Korea so are you largely based in Korea or do you get to the other Asian countries as well and you know the popular to the harmonica in Asia

SPEAKER_02:

sometimes I go to Japan and I have a concert in Singapore last year when they need me I can just

SPEAKER_01:

go to anywhere and so let's get into your your harmonica career now so you do obviously from the the work you did you did musicology you did some composition so you you work as a composer and arranger as well yeah and you obviously work predominantly in classical but you also work in other genres you play some some jazz some pop some folk some tango and you're writing instrumentals aren't you for for sort of string ensembles or guitar and harp and organ you're playing in and so you're composing as well are you

SPEAKER_02:

yes I compose as well but normally I arrange music for the harmonica

SPEAKER_01:

a lot and does that mean writing the scores for the chromatic harmonica to work with the other instruments and that's what you're performing

SPEAKER_02:

yes because as you already know there are not many official publishers for this instrument so I have to arrange a lot but I studied musicology and composition so which gave me a very good foundation for this process it trained me to analyze music which is especially useful for arranging or adapting works for this instrument.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, very useful skill. So, I mean, as you know, of course, there's a certain amount of pieces composed specifically for chromatic harmonica, but they are, you know, reasonably limited in number. So, I mean, when you go about arranging your pieces with the other instruments, I mean, what is this about the chromatic harmonica that you're, you know, you're thinking about and trying to make with the other instruments? How does it work well and that sort of thing?

SPEAKER_02:

It depends on the songs, but, uh, I can play the piano and I play the harmonica. So basic layout is just two instruments. That's the most common case for me. It's just a chromatic harmonica and the piano. But sometimes when I play with the string quartet, for example, I have to make the string quartet parts from the piano reduction score. So that's how I arranged the music for the special setting for me.

UNKNOWN:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

And do you approach when you perform yourself as a soloist in those ensembles, or as part of the ensemble, I guess it varies on the different songs and parts of the songs?

SPEAKER_02:

I think I'm the harmonic soloist, so normally I just play with orchestra, that's the common case.

UNKNOWN:

ORCHESTRA PLAYS

SPEAKER_01:

So your first album was released in 2022 called The Beginning, a good title for your first album. So you had some original compositions on here and some classicals from traditional. For example, you play It Ain't Necessarily So, which is a jazz song, obviously. It Ain't Necessarily

SPEAKER_03:

So

SPEAKER_01:

play the entertainer which is uh you know obviously a popular song on harmonica popularized by larry adler certainly from myself and um you know you play uh you know having the gila which is a jewish song and then some some classical pieces such as some bortok pieces and million folk dancing so So these ones, again, you arranged yourself specifically for your playing, did you?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, some of them are my arrangement and some of them from Sigmund and Tommy Riley as well. And some are just the original score. I have my own compositions. So the Moonlight. All the tracks from my first album, The Beginning, it's a mix of genres and featuring pieces from my regular recitals that audiences responded well to. So basically, I played a lot of times about these pieces. So

SPEAKER_01:

I just played and recorded. So, I mean, there's 24 songs on this album, so lots of songs on there. So it's a good output on an album for sure. It's like a double album, if not a Triple M. But like you say, these are pieces that you played regularly. You obviously knew them well and the audience responded well to them. So like you say, you've got, for example, some pieces that Tommy Riley played, such as Serenade. You used his arrangements, did you, and did something on top of that?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, Serenade is one of my favorites and that's the one I try to play without the accompaniment. Sometimes they don't have the piano and they don't have the orchestra at all and I have to play just one song. Then I just play the Serenade or some of the Bach pieces as well, the Gavotte and Rondo, the Violin Partita arranged by Tommy.

SPEAKER_01:

You did another piece which you composed yourself, which is We in the Past. That's another one of yours. Yes, the last

SPEAKER_02:

one. I think I have three. Moonlight and On the Road, track 17, and the last track, We in the Past. But my second album, I don't have any of my own compositions at all.

SPEAKER_01:

Right, yeah. So let's talk about your second album. So this is called Harmonica Recital. So this was released this year in April 2025, yeah? Yes, a few months ago. so yes i mean let's look through uh some of the pieces on this one there so like you say these are all you know pretty much well-known classical pieces aren't they that you're doing on here apart from you do a one james moody uh piece which is the witch's daughter so Was that one written specifically for harmonica?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. Yeah, because the first album, I just played all the different genres pieces. So I just tried to focus on the classical words on my second album. Yeah, as you said, all of the pieces are quite popular melodies. It's very good for the marketing as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, Gymnopedia. Yeah, I love that song. Yeah, it works so well on the harmonica, doesn't it? Yeah, those long held lines.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah. Oh,

SPEAKER_01:

You know, do these songs suit the chromatic harmonica well, do you think? Or have you just adapted, you know, the harmonica to meet these songs? You know, what about what you've chosen, the songs you've chosen?

SPEAKER_02:

On this album, of course, the James Moody's piece is the original compositions for the harmonica. So that's the best one for this instrument. But normally, just After a Dream by Foret, that's a melodic... scarlatti sonata in G minor as well it is very good piece for the chromatic harmonica

SPEAKER_01:

And so obviously this is classical. So are you mainly focused now on playing classical pieces rather than, you know, other genres such as jazz pop?

SPEAKER_02:

It depends on the concerts, but it is not easy to choose the repertoire for the concerts because there are not many harmonica soloists in Korea. So I try to play in many different concert halls, but always very new audiences as well in that sense it is not good to choose very academic pieces written for this instrument it's very long it's draining it's very tiring for me and for the audience too so that's why the james moody's toledo is always good for the audience so But I start with the music I enjoy myself. Luckily, my taste is fairly popular, so audiences usually enjoy it too. And I adjust depending on the audience. More academic works for the classical listeners or film music for a general or family audience.

SPEAKER_00:

Hey everybody, you're listening to Neil Warren's And so you perform with orchestras as well as sort of chamber ensembles.

SPEAKER_01:

So you play playing quite a lot with orchestras in Korea, yeah? Yeah. What's it like playing with the orchestra with your small, quiet chromatic? I think Sigmund was one of the points he tried to draw out of you, wasn't it? It was to really get the harmonica heard in that setting.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, but I try to use the amplification for the chromatic harmonica, but it depends on the venue. But I usually prefer to use a little amplification because the harmonica has a relatively small volume and when I play with the grand piano or a large orchestra a microphone helps keep the balance and I also like to add just a touch of reverb yet it really brings out the resonance of the harmonica but as I mentioned it depends on the venue

SPEAKER_01:

yeah so when you're using a microphone are you using a microphone on a stand like an acoustic one or is it one of the sort of ambient microphones or

SPEAKER_02:

just the standard but I don't have the specific preferences for the microphone I just play yeah in front of this the microphone that the engineers just choose

SPEAKER_01:

yeah but a microphone on a stand yeah you're not holding them on a stand of course well we talk about you know the harmonica being you know a reasonably quiet instrument so I mean we What do you do to truly try and, you know, project the sound of the harmonica, particularly when you're playing with an orchestra and all that sound? Is that something that, you know, any tips about how you really project the sound well from the chromatic?

SPEAKER_02:

well I think it's about the breathing because many harmonica players they sometimes squeeze the sound by breathing too much in order to make a big sound but sometimes that's the opposite I think you have to do the natural breathing technique when you want to make a very big sound i think so just breathe naturally yeah

SPEAKER_01:

and as you say you played with lots of orchestras so you've um you played with the you know some orchestras in in in south korea there you played in japan you played in the singapore concert hall so you played in tunisia you've also played in in las vegas in the usa yes Yeah, so what's it like as a traveling concert chromatic harmonica player around an international one?

SPEAKER_02:

I'm just honored to be invited to many different countries thanks to this small instrument. But to my surprise, I play the same piece, but sometimes the audience, they responded differently. For example, in Korea We are kind of passionate. I think the audiences, I mean, the audiences are very loud, shouting bravo and asking for encores after a concert. But in Japan, for example, the applause is very warm, very quiet. But people often approach me individually after the show to share their thoughts. But they don't usually request unplanned encores. course they see that as impolite

SPEAKER_01:

so cultural differences cultural difference yeah i'm getting used to that yeah on your youtube channel you've got some uh some good videos so there's some of you playing with orchestras there's a i've got a clip of you playing with uh playing good the bad and the ugly theme tune which works great on the chromatic harmonica i loved hearing that one so And then you've made some music videos. So you mentioned Moonlight, which is one of your own compositions. So you've made a sort of music video of you playing that. You're looking all very nicely dressed and playing Moonlight on there.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, these days the marketing is very important for every business. So yeah, I just had a very good team for the recording videos. I got very good chances to just make a music video with them.

SPEAKER_01:

You have to spend a lot of time promoting yourself, doing social media. Does that take up a lot of your time?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, that's a very good and hard question because that's always very confusing me. I'm relatively quite young players, but back in the days, you just play good and that's enough. But nowadays, that's not enough. You have to do all the marketing and social medias and making music videos and you have to spend some money for the marketing because it's not easy to get chances to play this instrument as an occupation so now on YouTube I just uploaded just my performance video just concert videos but I'm just thinking that maybe I just have to make the tutorial video or some the vlog or something but I'm a bit lazy

SPEAKER_01:

you need someone to do your online presence for you I mean absolutely these days the internet is a great thing but it means you have to do a lot of that work yourself right which you know as you say didn't have to be done in the past so uh yes makes a lot more work but opportunities too so So you mentioned Japan. Did you tour in Japan earlier this year or are you going back? No, I

SPEAKER_02:

already had one earlier this year because my second album was released in both countries, Korea and Japan. So the label for my second album had connections in Japan and suggested releasing it there at the same time. So we even did a showcase at Tower Records in Shibuya.

SPEAKER_01:

So also you appeared quite regularly on television there in South Korea you also appear on KBS Classic FM which is a radio station there in Korea so you're getting some exposure on the media there in Korea

SPEAKER_02:

yes because two months ago I had the special program it's kind of the lecture concert so every month they have the special instrument and that month they just want to present the harmonica so the radio station just chose me as the harmonica master in Korea it was a live radio show just one hour concert so I just gave a lecture I think I did five times in that month yeah every Tuesday so first week I played some unaccompaniment pieces for the instrument including the serenade of course and the next two weeks I played with the piano James Moody's and something like that and the last two weeks I played with the string quartet so yeah it was a very long month for me

SPEAKER_01:

so I mean do you feel a responsibility you know to keep the chromatic harmonica going and you know some of the pieces over to the tommy riley pieces the ones composed by james moody they're part of the repertoire you know what's the balance between playing those pieces and then bringing new music to the chromatic harmonica and the arrangements you're doing

SPEAKER_02:

yeah i i i feel responsible for the introduction of the new pieces for korean audience as well because as i mentioned there are still so few harmonic soloists so for many people even professional musicians hearing the harmonica in a classical setting is something new so my goal is to share the beauty of this instrument through yeah good performances and hopefully inspire more interest in it

SPEAKER_01:

yeah you're doing a great job again i know sigmund sees you as the next superstar of the chromatic harmonica so I touched on earlier on that you are performing as a chamber musician so you're working so chamber music is played generally with four instruments a lot of the time or maybe a few more yeah so I think you're you're working in a as a chamber musician you're composing pieces for those and working in that small setting and then sometimes with a with a harp a guitar and an organ as well yeah so these are some of the things you're doing yeah yes so is this music that you're composing

SPEAKER_02:

it depends on the music but with the harp, Tommy Riley and Sky Lakanga was a very great duo for the harmonica and the harp. Scala, the harpist, she composed and arranged a lot of pieces for Tommy and herself. So basically, I played her own arrangement. And of course, James Moody wrote some special pieces for the harp and harmonica. So when I have a concert with the harp, I try to use that repertoire for the concert with harp.

SPEAKER_01:

And I think in Korea, you're working with some contemporary composers and you've had some pieces written for you, I think, have you, by some composers in Korea?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I have some pieces written for me because a few years ago, I started to meet some contemporary musicians in Korea and I had a special seminar for the composers and presented some new music for them and some of them are very surprised and so interested in this instrument and they said they want to write something new for me for this instrument but some of them are good and some of them are not good because contemporary music is not easy to listen to sometimes so I've premiered original works and I try to introduce existing pieces to korea for the first time and like the michael spivakovsky concerto yeah his concerto is the the first ever harmonica concerto so i was the first korean to play that piece in korea

SPEAKER_01:

so this year um at the end of october early november is uh the world harmonica festival in trussingen and you're appearing as a judge there. I think you're the first Korean to be appointed as a judge at the World Harmonica Competition.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, I was so honored to be selected as the first

SPEAKER_01:

Korean jury. So great. So you're going along. You've been to Trossingen before, have you? Yes, 20 years ago, exactly. Wow. 2005. So going back as a judge now. So you're judging what the classical section are you? I'm not sure yet but yeah so great so you'll be there at Trossingen as will Sigmund so yeah people can meet and are you performing at Trossingen as well

SPEAKER_02:

yes we have the gala concert and as you mentioned Sigmund will also be there along with his pianist Ivan Anton Vogel and I've played with Ivan Anton many times so when I have concert in Trossingen I'm going to play with

SPEAKER_01:

Ivan Anton on the piano question should ask each time is if you had 10 minutes to practice what would you spend those 10 minutes doing so you've already talked about legato earlier on that and then the basic fundamentals so maybe helping chromatic players out there how they can get to grips with some more fundamentals

SPEAKER_02:

yeah if I had just 10 minutes I'd probably practice the Bach the Gavotte and Rondo from the violin partita as I mentioned arranged by Tom Riley because it has so many musical and technical elements packed into one piece so it's perfect as a warm-up before a concert and before you start practicing properly and that's also something I've played for years so it feels familiar but it still challenges me in the right way so if I can play this piece correctly I can just play

SPEAKER_01:

And what about any tips for some chromatic players out there about some of the fundamentals that you might focus on or they can focus on?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I can just say when I was little, when I was young, I thought playing the very fast piece, it's much harder than playing the slow and melodic pieces. But that's the opposite. On the chromatic harmonica and on the harmonica itself, it's not easy to play melodic pieces very beautifully because you have to breathe in and out. That's the basic breathing technique for this instrument. So, for example, playing the Danny Boy, the Londonderry Air, or playing the very small Ave Maria, Bach's Gnome is very simple melody but it's not easy to play this simple melody beautifully on this instrument So just please focus on the basic movements. Just two notes, smooth legato is very important for this instrument. When I went to the harmonica festival, but as you know, it's basically the competition. So you have to play very fast pieces. If you're going to play just one piece, you have to choose very fast and technical pieces. but sometimes I think it's too much because it doesn't sound

SPEAKER_01:

beautiful. I think maybe the chromatic suits the slower pieces too, getting that beautiful tone out of it. Do you prefer then to play slower pieces than faster pieces?

SPEAKER_02:

I like to play both, but playing slow pieces you have to focus more because playing fast pieces, sometimes you just play play, but playing very slow pieces, all you have to do is the concentration.

SPEAKER_01:

You've recently been named a Hohner Global Artist, so you've become a brand ambassador for Hohner, yeah? Yes, I'm honoured as well. So what does that involve, being a Hohner Global Artist?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, basically I always recommend the Hohner Harmonicas to the students because I started with the Hohner instrument and my main Horner is the Silver Concerto as well Horner has the very standard sound so if I choose one the typical brand then I would just recommend the Horner so I was so honored to be the Horner ambassador but of course I use the Pole Concerto Harmonica as well it's the same model that Tommy and Sigmund used and so it's feels very natural to me and the quality is outstanding but unfortunately the harmonica maker Gail Polista he no longer produce them so they are impossible to find now but I use the pole concert harmonica and the silver concerto as well and yeah I always

SPEAKER_01:

recommend Horner the poly ones as you say he's not making them anymore do you have more than one yourself so you've got some in supply I think I have five right yeah so you have some but I mean they'll take some maintenance right so is that something that you can get someone to do for you or do you do some yourself or

SPEAKER_02:

yeah just the wind saver I just do it myself but if the reed is broken I have to send it to the Norway but basically it's the same reed plate as the silver concerto so

SPEAKER_01:

you can just as the honer as well you mentioned you still play some tremolo do you play any diatonic harmonica or any other sorts of harmonicas just once a year

SPEAKER_02:

when I have the very special concerts for children or some school concerts I always try to bring a lot of different harmonicas for just the demonstration. There are so many different harmonicas. So I play the tremolo, this kind of sound, chromatic, and look at this small diatonic and the B chords and the bass and the kick is that the mini harmonica, the four holes. Little Lady, yeah. Little Lady,

SPEAKER_01:

yes, that's the one. Yeah, great. But you're mainly obviously playing the chromatic. Do you play the orchestral ones, the chord and the bass much? Is that something you... actually you know try to use or not much

SPEAKER_02:

for that kind of ensemble harmonicas I just do it for just a demonstration but I also have my harmonica ensemble harmonica quartet as well so yeah I don't play the

SPEAKER_01:

chords and bass harmonicas as such but you're playing in a harmonica quartet and you're playing the chromatic in that yeah okay and do you perform with that quartet much?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, sometimes. So we have a concert next month, I think. But nowadays, I'm so busy as a soloist. And so it's not easy to make many chances to play as an ensemble. And as you expect, it's not easy to make chances to play the harmonicas on the stage. so if If some good opportunities happen, yeah, I play as an ensemble. But when they just invite me as a soloist, I

SPEAKER_01:

just, I have to go solo. And what about your embouchure? Are you using tongue blocking, puckering, anything else? Tongue block. And we mentioned earlier on about your microphones and you say you're playing with an orchestra, you'll play with whichever microphone the sound man gives you. I mean, does it ever change? Do you have any particular preferences for microphones or amplification you're just using a PA yeah or do you ever use a small amp yourself or

SPEAKER_02:

I have no idea

SPEAKER_01:

yeah so so you are basically just playing acoustically and then you just use yeah what sound and using a microphone on a stand yeah yeah but you like a little reverb you said yes the reverb is very good very harmonica and what about the EQ you know quite often we'll turn the highs down and the lows up do you worry about the EQ or not really Cool. So just to finish off now with the final question, just about your future plans. I mean, what projects you're working on? Have you got any more albums in mind? Obviously, you only released an album in April this year, so it's not so long ago. But are you starting to think about what's coming next there?

SPEAKER_02:

The albums? Not at the moment. I just, yeah, I just said I just released my second album earlier this year. But I'm always thinking about new ideas for the future. For the album, maybe because the first album And second album, I played with the piano. So maybe the next album, I want to make a new album with the classical guitar, for example. And maybe with the pipe organ or maybe just string quartet. So maybe some other settings other than just the piano. And the big project within this year is the World Harmonica Fest what you mentioned in Trostingen and yes big and small concerts I always have those kind of concerts so I just try to do it correctly and do it okay good so but between concerts I try to give private lessons and group workshops for harmonica enthusiasts and lastly year I published the method books the textbooks and the score books as well for the chromatic harmonica so I tried to publish the next series about this the score book and the textbooks this

SPEAKER_01:

year if possible great and were those available for people to buy

SPEAKER_02:

but it was written in Korean

SPEAKER_01:

language.

SPEAKER_02:

But maybe later in

SPEAKER_01:

English. Yeah, no, that'd be good, Juntok. In Norwegian. Norwegian first and English, yeah. Thanks so much for joining me today, Juntok Lee. Sounds like you're doing great. Great to hear you're busy and having a successful time with a chromatic harmonica. Thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you. Likewise. Once again, thanks to Zydle for sponsoring the podcast. Be sure to check out their great range of harmonicas and products at www.zydle.com Thanks to Young Tok for joining me today. He's certainly taken up the mantle of the great chromatic players and he couldn't have had better coaching than from Sigmund Groven and his connection with the legendary Tommy Riley. And for all you diatonic players who have an interest in taking up the chromatic, try some third position blues chromatic to get you started. That's an easy transition and see where it takes you. So thanks all for listening again. I'll sign off now with Jungtok playing the poem composed by Fiebig.