InterviewPodcast SeriesGroove Academy Podcast Series – Season 1 Episode 1

In this podcast series Joshua will share with us his music background, what contributed to his success, and what he thinks makes a great music teacher.

 

Musical Guest – Joshua Shin.

The Beginnings

He is a former student of Groove Academy and has made quite an impression throughout Canada by his drumming, percussion and marimba skills.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Joshua Shin’s earliest memories of music was when his mom would take him to see the local orchestra at the age of 2 or 3. After the show, at home, Joshua would pretend to conduct the musicians, imitating what we saw.

In support of Joshua’s interest in music, his mom enrolled him in piano lessons at he age of 6. This was a recommendation from Joshua’s mom’s friend who played in the orchestra. After a few years of piano lessons, Joshua lost interest in piano but still loved music. He would soon discover a new instrument that would stay with him the course of his life.

Love at first sight!

At the age of 9, still in Korea, he and his family where walking around, what he remembers to be, a park. His attention was grabbed by a local band performing and he was mesmerized by the drummer in the band. From that point, that was it, he was hooked to drumming and this would change the course of his life and love for music.

From the support and encouragement of Joshua’s family, they enrolled him in drum lessons. They committed to lessons once a week at a 45min drive, so that Joshua could study with a drum instructor on a real drum set, (as this was not possible or easy to come by in central Seoul). Joshua was hungry to learn everything there was to know about drums and drumming.

Drum, Percussion Awards and Accolades

A few years later, Joshua and his family moved to Winnipeg. and he enrolled at St. John’s -Ravenscourt School. Here, he discovered the world of percussion. In the band program, it wasn’t just about drums, but he also had to learn about tympani, mallets and auxiliary percussion. Soon after his arrival, Joshua began to study with percussion instructor Anthony Giancola. Joshua was introduced to different styles of drumming, and later on, the marimba. He began to dedicate a lot of his time to learning 4 mallet marimba compositions and went on to be the first percussionist to win first class trophy at the Winnipeg Music Festival.

Q&A With Joshua Shin!

 

GA. – “What sort of personal qualities or habits do you think one must have or develop in order to become a really good musician, or become really good at any profession?”

J.S. – “Discipline. I think motivation can get you started, but it’s discipline that gets you to go out their and practice even on the days you don’t want to. It gets you to manage your time, even when you feel like taking your lunch break to hang with friends. It makes you want to fit that hour of practice in everyday. That goes with everything. In life and even in university”, (laughs).

GA. – “What sort of qualities do you think makes a really good teacher?”

JS. – “The ability to inspire students. And I think in a lot of ways, students can be inspired just by watching their teacher play or perform on stage, or just the way that they teach. But I think the ability to teach and motivate students is really important. Also, finding that balance between pushing too hard and being too easy. I think a good teacher needs to push their students to a certain level, just so that they are just outside their comfort zones so they can get to the next level”.

 

Music Awards & Accolades

• The Teresa Lee Music Scholarship Award
• Julie Banton Award from the Winnipeg Youth Symphony Orchestra
• Manitoba Music Teachers Association Trophy for most outstanding performance, (just to list a few).