Page 9 - Fifty-fifty Sep 2021

YOONSEO

SHIN

2020 WINNER OF THE NZIA GAMELAN PRIZE
by Jan Gould

NZIA was so impressed by the letter of thanks we got after
awarding the 2020 Gamelan Prize that we decided to do a
profile on the prize winner herself. The reason the NZIA
Executive was so impressed is because it rarely gets an
acknowledgement, or a letter of thanks.

In her letter, Yoonseo wrote: “Once completing my tertiary
studies I aspire to build myself a career in the film industry. My
predominant focus is on film scoring and it is in an industry I
would love to work in.”

Yoonseo also said “Learning new instruments is one of my
greatest passions in life and the gamelan was a wonderful
addition to the collection up my sleeve.”

I met with Yoonseo Shin and asked her what instruments she
knows and plays. She said she started with the piano and
violin and moved on to the flute, the harp and then gamelan.
Her parents are very musical especially her father, and when
she came to New Zealand at the age of two, the traditional
values of support for music and education in a disciplined way
were an integral part of the household. Her father likes guitar,
drums, jazz and blues. Growing up in New Plymouth, her
music education was highly conventional at school, and her
practice sessions at home were well supported and timetabled.
Classical music was supplemented by a whole range of genres
so that Yoonseo’s musical background was extremely well
rounded.

For example, at her school (New Plymouth Girls’ High School),
she took NCEA Music and was supported by her music teacher
in the Chamber Music ensemble that showed her awareness of
the intricacies of classical music. Yet, in the weekends she
would be part of the Rock Quest, which for those of you who
have not attended one of these events, contains the full gamut
of rock music, right up to very heavy metal. She says that
NPGH was a high achieving environment without excessive
competition. This is borne out statistically, because Girls
schools traditionally do at least 20% better academically than
co-educational institutions.

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