Advertisement : This article is a review of K.V.T. LAB’s Standard Korean Language and Vocal class provided by the artist Haeyoon. This was provided as a single free 50-minute class by the artist for promotional and review purposes. All opinions and experiences reflect those of the reviewer.
Hello and welcome back to HallyuTones – always focused on sound, stage and substance.
Firstly, I wanted to say thank you to everyone for checking out last week’s interview with Haeyoon. For those of you who may be discovering Haeyoon for the first time, she was the leader and main vocalist of K-Pop girl group Cherry Bullet. Since her time in the group, she has also performed in musicals, debuted as a soloist, and has now started her own company, K.V.T. LAB to teach Korean language and vocal classes.
The interview last week was an overview of Haeyoon‘s time in the industry, covering her trainee experience, her time with Cherry Bullet, and the reasons for setting up her new company.
Today’s piece is a little different – as part of this collaboration Haeyoon kindly offered me a free Standard Class with K.V.T. LAB, which covered both K-Pop vocals and Korean language practice. This was offered in exchange for an honest review of my experience, which I am sharing with you today.
Read on below to find out what K.V.T. LAB’s Standard Class entails, my personal thoughts, and why this collaboration was so meaningful to me.
What is K.V.T. LAB?
To quote Haeyoon from our interview last week:
“My new company, K.V.T LAB, is a vocal and Korean conversation lesson service for people all around the world who love K-pop.
From hobby classes to more professional artist training, K.V.T LAB gives students the chance to learn K-pop from someone who has personally experienced K-pop culture. I think that is one of our biggest strengths.”
K.V.T. LAB offer personalised 1:1 classes with students all around the world, tailoring classes to both the needs and experiences of each individual student. To help with this process, classes are split into 2 distinct levels, Standard and Professional.
Standard Classes are geared towards K-Pop fans who want to learn Korean language in a fun and conversational way. The classes focus on learning phrases, assessing Korean understanding, and using K-Pop songs to both train vocals and build up Korean vocabulary through practice.
Professional Classes are focused on career professionals. This could be individuals already working in the music industry, or those looking to audition or debut in the K-Pop trainee system. These lessons are still personalised, but focus more on audition preparation, performance feedback and advanced conversation support.
Classes are around 50 minutes a session, and hosted via 1:1 video calls. There is minimal preparation required for the first session, so anyone can choose to enter in at the level that best suits them.
Background:
I have been a K-Pop fan for around 15 years. Through this industry and fandom I have followed hundreds of artists and their music, made friends, met my wife, seen concerts around the world, and eventually formed HallyuTones based on my experiences.
However in all my time in the K-Pop fandom, I have never had the opportunity to learn about the industry so directly from someone with such a wealth of experience.
Initially I reached out to Haeyoon regarding an interview opportunity, however she kindly offered me a free Standard Class to allow for a more comprehensive understanding of what K.V.T. LAB could offer.
This was initially very nerve wracking for me – I have a background in music but not in singing, and while I can read Korean phonetically, my vocabulary and grammatical knowledge is lacking. But this was an opportunity too good to miss out on. It allowed me a greater understanding of what drives Haeyoon, what her class content involves, and gave me a chance to fully formulate my own review of the class.
My Class Experience:
Class schedule was pre-arranged with the artist, but due to time zone differences my class began at 7:30am for me. I was asked to select and prepare one song to perform for the artist, alongside a reason for choosing it.
Armed with green tea, a bottle of water, and my trusty headset, I waited patiently for class to begin. As the minutes counted down I was unsure what this class would cover and whether I would be experienced enough to be able to participate fully.
However, my fears were washed away once Haeyoon joined the call. Immediately, she created a welcoming atmosphere where I felt that I truly had nothing to worry about. After briefly discussing our interview piece, we started with short introductions.
What impressed me right away was how well Haeyoon understood the teaching process. As a former teacher myself, one of the most important things to do at the onset of a new class is to meet each student at their level. Haeyoon asked three simple but effective questions to start out the class – ‘Are you a fan of K-Pop?’, ‘Are you confident in singing?’ and ‘How confident are you with Korean language’?
These questions immediately set the tone and let her understand my personal experiences, goals, and skill set. Based on these answers, she made swift and detailed notes to assess the correct starting point for me.
Vocal Class
The first section of the lesson was the vocal class. Once initial introductions were over, Haeyoon asked me which song I had selected and why.
I had around a week to choose my song, and I deliberated for a long while about which would fit me best and also allow for the most accurate assessment of the class.
In the end I decided on the song ‘Bam Yang Gang’ by BIBI. The reasons for this were threefold – I enjoy the song and know the melody well, the song features some challenging pronunciations for a non-native speaker, and it was a song that I had seen her cover before. I felt that this would give me a good baseline to both give myself room for improvement while also assessing her teaching skills.
The performance went better than planned – despite being nervous I managed to finish the song, while Haeyoon listened diligently and made notes.
Once I had finished, she gave immediate feedback on my pronunciation, pitch and tempo. While she said that I did well, there were of course plenty of areas for improvement.
The next segment of the class involved going back through the lyrics of the song line by line. Learning by rote was used, whereby I read a line and Haeyoon read it back, correcting pronunciations and assisting where needed. Furthermore she offered insights into the meanings of key words and phrases, their context, and helped me to break down some of the more challenging lines into more manageable chunks.
Her feedback was instant, constructive and easily implementable. This meant that I could both feel and hear the progress I was making in real time. In turn this developed my confidence which further increased my rate of progress through the rest of the track. Occasional vocal samples by Haeyoon also guided with the pitching of certain segments.
Once we had completed this section, Haeyoon asked me to perform the song one more time. Now that I had spoken with her more and had an opportunity to reflect on the first performance, I felt my confidence grow. My nerves significantly reduced, my pronunciation felt sharper, and my singing was smoother.
With this practice completed, I felt more assured in the meaning behind the song as well as in understanding my own competency as a vocalist.
Korean Language Practice:
The next segment was Korean language practice. My understanding of Korean language is limited to the reading of Hangul and some simple words and short phrases.
Having explained this to Haeyoon, our focus for this segment was primarily on self-introductions.
Starting with a simple hello, ‘안녕하세요’, we quickly progressed into sentences discussing where I was from, my interests, my favourite artists, my language learning goals and formal greeting phrases.
Each word and sentence was rehearsed, with key vocabulary explained and dissected (including particles), to ensure that I understood the grammatical structure and how the sentences were formed.
As before, practice was accompanied with instant feedback, before I was asked to read all of the sentences back altogether.
This section was more challenging for me due to some trickier vocabulary in one of the sentences. However, Haeyoon was very patient, continually encouraging me and importantly creating an environment where I felt safe to make mistakes and learn from them.
By the end of this segment I felt confident introducing myself in Korean and Haeyoon also sent over all of the practiced phrases to allow me to revisit these in my own time. Anyone who has learned a second language knows how important regular practice is for progression, and these resources have been invaluable in allowing me to hone my skills.
My Review and Recommendations:
Positives:
Working with Haeyoon was a true pleasure. I could immediately feel her professional yet friendly tone that was clearly informed by her own training and performance experience.
One thing I admire in people is when they are transparent about challenges, and work with you to overcome them. In my opinion, the best teachers are those who also reflect and learn from their students. A 1:1 setting really is best for this, and while I was learning and refining my Korean, Haeyoon also had an opportunity to build on her own English language knowledge.
As her first English language student, it was great to see her own confidence develop. There were a few parts where certain translations were complex, but when Haeyoon did not understand she always made it clear when she needed to quickly check or translate something. This helped the class flow well, and created an environment where both of us learned from one another.
The class structure was highly effective. Initial assessment meant the provided material was pitched perfectly for me to feel challenged yet also make progression in only one hour – I can easily see how this could be expanded upon to further challenges and milestones in further sessions.
Immediate feedback meant I always knew what my current skill ceiling was, and the steps needed to build my abilities up further. Progression was clearly visible and I always knew the manageable next steps to improve.
Things to consider:
1:1 settings create a more personal experience, however while this will work well for most people, others may prefer a group or class based setting depending on personal preference.
Going into this class I would suggest a basic understanding of Korean pronunciation is required in order to achieve more effective feedback. If you are aiming for my advanced and specific feedback, then the Professional class is likely your best choice.
I would also suggest a little bit of practice with your chosen song before the class – it’s understandable to feel nervous in this setting at first, but giving yourself a chance to select the best song may take time.
Importantly, this is not a fancall – K.V.T. LAB is geared towards K-Pop fans but this is strictly a learning environment. If you enter in with a clear understanding of your skills and what you want to get out of the learning experience, you will benefit the most.
This is a professional coaching service and as such monetary charges will be at standard industry rates relative to the length and chosen class.
Haeyoon as a teacher:
I firmly believe that some people are born for certain roles and lean naturally towards certain skills.
Every second of this lesson I could feel Haeyoon‘s love for K-Pop, for her group, and for the many intricacies of the Korean language. Through sharing and working on something that she genuinely enjoys, I could not help but feel drawn in by her bright energy.
I felt that she really took time to understand where I was starting from and where I wanted to be, which made the lesson far more effective than a general ‘catch all’ teaching style.
To me this makes Haeyoon a fantastic teacher. To be able to assess, adapt and guide so seamlessly made for a truly inspiring learning environment.
More importantly, the lesson was fun. We laughed, joked, shared personal experiences and insights and this made the environment relaxed. Consequently I felt I retained more vocabulary as I felt under less pressure.
Through framing the lessons around K-Pop, it made a great conversation point that helped conversation flow smoothly – I feel that this purposeful inclusion nurtured a friendly and exciting atmosphere that immediately reduced some potential barriers or anxiety that can sometimes be felt in a 1:1 setting.
Conclusion:
As I write up this review, I have to say that this experience was truly an honour. In my personal view, Haeyoon is one of the greatest idol vocalists of her generation, with a broad vocal range, smooth vocals and a warm vocal tone. In addition, throughout this whole process she has been extremely responsive, helpful, and easy to work with. I truly hope to work with her again in the future!
I have been fortunate enough to work with many idols and ex-idols, however for me what resonated so strongly was the feeling that Haeyoon is truly harnessing her many years of training and stage performance to provide a valuable service for others. Teaching is a joy, and I truly wish her a long and successful career coaching others.
If you are learning Korean, want to have your own memorable experience learning K-Pop with a K-Pop idol, or dream of debuting in the industry, I wholeheartedly recommend K.V.T. LAB. I truly believe that Haeyoon will support and guide you at your level to achieving your personal and professional goals.
If you want to get involved, please follow K.V.T. LAB on Instagram at the link below, and send over a message or enquiry!
Links:
Haeyoon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/h.yoooni/
K.V.T. LAB Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kvt.lab/
Haeyoon YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@h.yoooni
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