Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: YouTube's Musical Marvels
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Heo Ok, having realized that the child was no ordinary genius, pondered deeply.
This child's talent couldn't even be compared to something like perfect pitch.
If nurtured well, he could lead not just one field of music, but perhaps the entire music world—a true genius of the era.
As a musician, her heart was already racing with excitement, but she had no intention of rushing into anything.
She had witnessed with her own eyes how forcing things out of impatience could make a talent vanish.
Instead of coercion, she decided to create an environment for him.
By filling the surroundings with music, she aimed to let the child naturally learn a great deal and come to love music.
And she didn't even want to impose the jazz she herself pursued on him.
She hoped this child would simply make the music he wanted to make.
That meant she needed to let him hear all sorts of things...
She decided to start with what she could do right away.
She sat her grandson Yeonwoo down beside her and resolved to play music other than jazz.
"This time, instead of jazz, I'll play something else for you."
What music should she start with?
This was definitely the right choice first.
The origin of nearly all music genres, akin to a parent.
"This is Vivaldi's Four Seasons, specifically the Summer movement."
It was classical music.
Her own piano journey had begun with classical, in fact.
And since she had rearranged and performed countless classical pieces into jazz, playing classical was no challenge.
Summer's first movement: Allegro non molto.
Amid the music, which somehow brimmed with a sense of heroic grandeur, fairies stealthily revealed themselves.
They were fairies unlike those from the jazz.
Dressed in Baroque-era wigs and attire, they appeared.
They were fairies in splendid garments, with an air of haughtiness, but those born of Summer seemed somehow weary and fatigued.
As if exhausted by the summer heat.
Their appearance was fascinating, but compared to the jazz fairies—precisely, the swing-dancing ones—they weren't as endearing.
As she watched their forms intently, the music soon transitioned to the second movement.
The atmosphere grew even more intense.
Then, the third movement climaxed into Presto.
It felt like thunder and lightning raged, and a typhoon howled.
Swept up in her performance, where the fairies seemed to pour their souls into the playing, they began to fly off.
Seeing the fairies flying away, Yeonwoo panicked and placed his hands on the piano keys, interrupting his grandmother's playing.
Heo Ok stopped playing and looked at Yeonwoo.
"What's wrong... hm?"
Heo Ok's eyes widened round as she saw Yeonwoo staring at her in horror.
She had gotten carried away, loosening up with some classical for the first time in a while without realizing it, immersing herself wildly—but it seemed too much for a child who not only loved swing but even created his own nursery rhyme swing.
"Hmm... How about something calmer?"
This time, she played Mozart's Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
But to a child who could already create his own swing, it seemed boring.
After seeing the child's sullen expression as he stared at the piano, Heo Ok fell deep into thought.
How could she expose the child to a wide range of music?
The only piano repertoire she could play was jazz, plus a few classical pieces from her childhood.
Other instruments?
At best, guitar—and only to the extent of forming a C chord.
Should she call in acquaintances?
But all the people she could call acquaintances were overseas.
Because the places where she had been active were Japan and America.
After much deliberation, she decided to seek advice and contacted someone.
-Mom? What's up, calling at this hour?
Her own daughter, that is.
Her daughter Jiyeong, four years younger than Jihoon, was a composer and producer who had gone to America a few years ago to learn more about music and was living there.
"It's about your nephew."
-Oh, I was planning to visit soon anyway. Even booked the plane ticket. Oppa sent photos, and wow, is that kid really a boy? He's so pretty! I can't wait to see him in person!
After listening to her chatty daughter's words for a bit, feeling she couldn't take it anymore, Heo Ok cut in.
"So, about your nephew."
-Yeah, yeah, Yeonwoo. Oh, right. You said Yeonwoo stopped talking? Does he go to the hospital often?
"Jiyeong?"
-Yeah? Say it, Mom. Is Yeonwoo okay?
"He's going to the hospital fine, so don't worry. And now I'll tell you."
-Okay, okay, tell me!
Finally getting a chance to speak, Heo Ok explained the situation coherently.
-Yeonwoo's a genius? Wow... I'm more shocked that Mom's certifying someone as a genius than Yeonwoo actually being one.
At those words, Heo Ok had no particular retort.
She was extremely stingy with praise.
Among those hailed as genius jazz vocalists or instrumentalists, the number she rated even as somewhat prodigious could be counted on one hand.
In simple terms, there were virtually no active musicians she acknowledged as geniuses.
If she had to name one?
-Anyway, so why? Can't you just teach him, Mom?
"No... I can't teach this child."
-You? Then who could?
"...No one. Yeonwoo is a child who can awaken to things on his own. So, what I'm saying is, I want to show him various music and instruments, but is there a way?"
At her words, Jiyeong replied as if it was absurd.
-What... You're worrying over something so trivial, Mom?
"Hm?"
-Just show him YouTube, and you're good.
"...YouTube?"
-Don't tell me you don't even know YouTube, Mom?
"I do."
She had used YouTube once. During COVID, she had received assignments from her students as YouTube videos.
She had been amazed by YouTube's variety then, and even found herself hooked on short-form content without realizing it, after which she had cut herself off from it.
YouTube would suffice, yet she, who lived an analog life, hadn't even thought of that simple solution.
Was this why one shouldn't get old?
She rummaged in the master bedroom for the tablet PC.
She had bought it once because it could handle newspapers, news, composition, and performance, but she preferred the texture of newspaper paper, the 8 PM regular news slot, and writing directly on staff paper—so at some point, it had been left forgotten in a corner with just the charger plugged in.
For the first time in a while, she turned it on and launched YouTube.
"Yeonwoo?"
When she called, Yeonwoo came toddling into the master bedroom.
When Heo Ok patted the spot beside where she sat, Yeonwoo quickly sat down next to her.
"This is called a tablet."
Nod nod.
As Yeonwoo nodded, Heo Ok showed him YouTube on the tablet and said,
"This is YouTube. With this, you can watch anything you want."
"......!!"
Yeonwoo's mouth formed the shape of "TV."
"Similar. Anyway, with this, you can watch anything."
With that, Heo Ok played a piece of music in front of Yeonwoo.
The first piece she showed him was, of course, swing, which Yeonwoo liked.
Yeonwoo's eyes widened round.
"Tea for Two, played by a man named Art Tatum. He's the most famous pianist in swing."
To Yeonwoo, beyond the unfamiliar black-and-white video, a chubby black man with short curly hair played.
His hands moved dazzlingly.
"He's one of the fastest piano players. Even this grandma can't match his speed."
Indeed it was so.
With hands rougher and larger than his grandmother's, he played fluidly like flowing water.
Startled by the sound, the fairies gathered in twos and threes, filling the master bedroom.
But soon the short performance ended.
When Yeonwoo looked at his grandma with a regretful face, she played another video.
This time, too, a black man with short curly hair appeared.
He wasn't playing piano.
He played a novel instrument.
"This is a guitar."
Guitar, an essential instrument in nearly all modern music, especially band music.
To Yeonwoo, it was an instrument he was encountering for the first time.
"And this person is Wes Montgomery. One of the greatest jazz guitarists in history, who plays magical music with just his thumb."
The thumb magician.
With thumb picking no one else could imitate, he produced rich music, influencing countless jazz guitarists later.
Yeonwoo watched his performance, utterly entranced.
It was amazing how a small instrument (compared to piano) that fit in his arms could produce such full sounds.
After showing Wes Montgomery, she played another video.
Rat-a-tat-tat, boom! Clap!
A white man dynamically wielding two sticks in his hands appeared.
Something that was neither piano nor guitar.
"This is drums. People who don't know music or listen casually might not realize, but in ensemble playing, they serve like the heart."
The moment the drums unleashed a flurry, tremendous power shook Yeonwoo's chest.
It was drum playing that would make any man's heart race, that could captivate anyone—and Yeonwoo felt a surge rising within him.
It wasn't just Yeonwoo; the surrounding fairies clenched their fists, watching the drummer's performance.
Feeling Yeonwoo watching the video without even breathing properly, Heo Ok stroked his head and said,
"This person is Buddy Rich. He's called the greatest drummer in the world."
Heo Ok kept introducing great jazz musicians, but it didn't reach Yeonwoo's ears.
In Yeonwoo's mind right now, jazz guitar and drums were blending to replay the song he had created, in a new way.
If guitar shaped the melody, drums created the rhythm, making the song even richer.
Heo Ok, who had been eagerly explaining, saw Yeonwoo's expression and quietly set the tablet down, simply watching him.
Amid that, in front of Yeonwoo, Wes Montgomery's fairy and Buddy Rich's fairy appeared, performing the song Yeonwoo had imagined.
It turned into good music, just as imagined. Yeonwoo wanted to see this for real.
Yeonwoo looked at his grandma and pointed at the tablet.
"You want me to show you something else?"
Shake shake.
"Then?"
Yeonwoo pointed at his grandma, mimed playing guitar, then mimed playing drums.
"You're asking if I can play these two instruments?"
Nod nod.
"Unfortunately, I can't. I only play piano. I'd love to introduce you to a drummer or guitarist, but that's not easy."
Yeonwoo looked disappointed but understood.
One shouldn't casually order people around.
Like his uncle or aunt.
In a situation where a young child might throw a tantrum, as children do, Heo Ok gazed at Yeonwoo, who accepted it on his own, and suddenly voiced a thought that struck her.
"There are piano keys that can mimic other instruments pretty well. They're called MIDI keyboards."
"......?"
"And there's a kid around me whom I can call freely, who handles MIDI keyboards really well."
Heo Ok made up her mind.
Even if it meant booking first-class tickets, she would summon her daughter Jiyeong right away.
Before she knew it, for this cute, lovable, genius grandson of hers in this world, Heo Ok had come to see first-class seats as pocket change.