Way Back When Wednesday - Being Musical in Korea

While we lived in Korea, the members of our church tried some clever ways of keeping us involved in what was going on without using language.  Most of the members didn't speak enough English to be able to translate for us, and we didn't speak enough Korean to participate on our own.  The missionaries were excellent at translating, but in a small branch, they were really busy.  Since music doesn't really depend on a common language--just it's own--that's how they got my participation.

When we first got there, I thought that since they were a small branch that maybe they would need a pianist.  But they didn't.  One of the teenage girls played beautifully.  But that didn't stop them from asking me to play for baptisms and relief society.  The only problem was I wasn't able to read the Korean at the speed they were singing while I was playing, and I have this bad habit of not paying attention to how many verses there are in a song.  I usually wait until the last measure or two and figure out what verse they are on by what they are singing.  Couldn't do that in Korean.  And they didn't have a chorister so I usually had to have someone give me a signal to stop. 

Then they gave me a calling (or assignment), branch chorister.  No problem, that was easy... or so I thought.  First of all, I wasn't super familiar with how to lead.  Plus, I had to sing in Korean while leading.  Hard!  I had to concentrate on two very different and equally brain power consuming things at once! 

Good thing nobody ever looked at me during the song.  Except one really cute little girl.  She was probably 3 or 4 years old.  She'd sit there and try to copy me, giggling and waving her arms all around.  I had a hard time keeping a straight face!