[[Drama 2020] Do You Like Brahms?, 브람스를 좋아하세요?]

On 11/2/2020 at 5:28 PM, Jillia said:

@cherrhys88

It's not an easy drama to get over. I think SBS realised they have a treasure there.

 

I'm also still not over Joon Young playing "Widmung" for Song Ah. Especially in combination with the lyrics for it, seen in this gifset as well.

 

Source: DCGall, credit as labeled

I didn't back read. But here's the translation, just in case

 

Dedication

English Translation © Richard Stokes

You my soul, you my heart,

You my rapture, O you my pain,

You my world in which I live,

My heaven you, to which I aspire,

O you my grave, into which

My grief forever I’ve consigned!

You are repose, you are peace,

You are bestowed on me from heaven.

Your love for me gives me my worth,

Your eyes transfigure me in mine,

You raise me lovingly above myself,

My guardian angel, my better self!

Translations by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)

 

Source:https://www.oxfordlieder.co.uk/song/406

[[Drama 2020] Do You Like Brahms?, 브람스를 좋아하세요?]

2 hours ago, lovesparklys said:

@lovesparklys @Y.Q. I'm wondering if SA lack of action could be due to not wanting to financially burden her parents any further than she already does? I mean except for her summer internship she doesn't work so I'm guessing her uni tuition fees are paid by her parents. Based on my experience, private tuition needed at her level is probably expensive and we know that she hasn't had the best luck with professors. She likely also has to spend money on sheet music, occasional repairs to the violin, rehairing her bow etc. While I think her family background is considered middle upper, we already know that her mom and sis disagrees with her decision to continue studying and not working too.

 

Hi I think that this is one reason. Another one is that the way to get into gradschool is to get a record of experience as a research assistant or graduate assistant with a professor. Depending on the school, sometimes the recommendation or agreement of the prof who will supervise the student is also needed. A lot of power rests in the prof's hands to determine the students' futures in academics. So Song Ah is quite trapped because her prof has shown herself to be the vindictive sort and will basically scuttle her chances if Song Ah leaves her. 

[[Drama 2020] Do You Like Brahms?, 브람스를 좋아하세요?]

The Myth of Talent and the Finding of Your Career

 

In “Do you like Brahms?” the main character Chae Song Ah is depicted as being at an inflexion point in her career. Should she continue being a violinist despite starting late, underperformance at university and generally receiving feedback that she’s not good at it?

There are several questions that the show sets up, designed to emphasize Song Ah’s dilemma. 1) Does inborn talent determine if you succeed?  2) Can hard work substitute for talent? 3) Is a late start in a new career a disadvantage? 

As I am watching this show and the themes it explores, I feel like I need to chime in and put my researcher hat on to share what people have discovered about talent. I’ll tackle each of these questions, and I hope that by doing so to benefit people who are faced such hard questions in their lives. 

Spoiler

1) Does inborn talent determine if you succeed? In many ways, this is the easiest myth to bust. Ericsson and Pool, authors of “Peak: Secrets from the new Science of Expertise”, hold that, with the exception of height and body size, the idea that we are limited by genetic factors—innate talent—is a pernicious myth. “The belief that one’s abilities are limited by one’s genetically prescribed characteristics....manifests itself in all sorts of ‘I can’t’ or ‘I’m not’ statements,” Ericsson and Pool write. The key to extraordinary performance, they argue, is “thousands and thousands of hours of hard, focused work.” 

These aren’t the only scientists to point out the value of hard work and attitude. In her bestseller book, Grit, Angela Lee Duckworth describes her decades of research into the psychology of successful people. Her main finding? Success takes courage, resilience, detail, a commitment to excellence and endurance in pain. No mention of talent anywhere. 

 

2) Hence, we also tackle question #2 “Can hard work substitute for talent?” To me, what Duckworth’s research shows is that if there must be a talent, it would be the talent to know yourself, one of the most ignored intelligences of Gardner’s 8 intelligences. Intrapersonal intelligence helps you to know when to push, when to rest, when to keep going and how to keep going. Yes, talent in your chosen profession will certainly boost you, but those who focus too much on talent tend to ignore the mundane and almost too simple power of endurance and hard work when developing a difficult skill into an expertise. 

So I think that it could be true that hard work does not substitute for talent, but the research says that it is equally true that talent does NOT substitute for hard work. 

But you might say, what about those at the very top, the very, very top? Aren’t they talented? Well, yes. And if you think the definition of success means being the top, the very, very top, you might be right.  However, if your definition of success means “good at your job”, “paid for it”, “love what you do”, and “what the world needs”, then everything I’ve already pointed out is what you need to be successful. The point here is that while there may be only one Taylor Swift, there are also legions of fans for performers who cannot be Taylor Swift, nor aspire to be her. Substitute Ms. Swift with any favourite celebrity you want, the statement remains true. That’s because there are many forms of success and an infinite combination of skills that are needed for each success. 

In fact, the Japanese concept of Ikigai is exactly what I’ve just described. The sweet spot of success lies in a combination of passion, profession, vocation, and mission. What do you love? What drives you? What can you get paid for? What has meaning for you?

As you can see by now, laying out what “being good at something” means has been done many times, in many ways. The real difficulty lies in answering these 4 questions!

Which brings us full circle to the storyline of “Do You Like Brahms?” That the show is titled with a question mark alone should be a hint that it’s about a journey of discovery. The answer is likely, I don’t know, do I? As in the early episodes, when Song Ah gently corrects Joon Young as to what she asked him - not what other people liked but did he like his performance - so should we also be on that search to ask - What do I like about what I am doing?

 

3) Which brings me to the last question: “Is a late start in a new career a disadvantage?” Yes, Song Ah certainly cannot put in the same number of hours her starting-from-childhood peers have. Even if she has unusual tenacity, her runway is probably shorter than others before age starts to erode her dexterity. 

On the other hand, some level of maturity makes it easier to answer the questions of self-knowledge that the Ikigai lists. And we’ve already seen evidence of an unusual amount of maturity even among those older than her - Song Ah asks the right questions, she says the right things to make people stop and reflect, she knows and tries to do right by her principles, and she knows herself and her unfailing devotion to music. 

Right now, she certainly is struggling, since the naysayers are (particularly) plentiful in this drama. But sometimes all you need is few people to believe in you. She’s got that from her father, Joon Young, and Ms Ahn. 

Popular culture is littered with people who started “late”. Oprah Winfrey and JK Rowling are some you might have heard of. Each of them kept at it, and they were ready when the opportunity presented itself. 

 

So I hope this gives you courage. I hope that Chae Song Ah’s story, backed up by the data I bring together here, will encourage you to keep finding yourself, and your place in the world.