Tri-M SFS: Celebrating Our High School Musicians Post-Covid

By Emmalee Johnson

IB Music and High School Orchestra Teacher

Thelove for music is a common thread among generations of students who have come and gone through the SFS timeline. For many years, The Tri-M Music Honor Society has helped create a diverse community of talented young musicians of all backgrounds and genres in the high school. Tri-M is a program founded by the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). As an honors club, Tri-M recognizes students for their exceptional capabilities in both academics and music. Tri-M SFS is among the 2,100 Tri-M chapters dispersed worldwide. Through performance and community service, Tri-M SFS provides exciting opportunities for high school musicians to share their passion for music.

This year specifically, Tri-M SFS hosted a live winter recital and a virtual Valentines-themed concert, involving over 20 performances combined. It also conducted a service project titled “Tutorials by Tri-M” where members created informational videos about various topics surrounding music, such as “Tips on Improving Sight Reading for Singers” and “How to Hold the Violin”. These videos were shared with the SFS music department to help elementary and middle school music students improve their craft.

Despite a successful season thus far, Tri-M has faced extreme challenges in previous years as a result of the Covid pandemic. As a club that relies heavily on the opportunity to perform, members were hit hard with conditions that prohibited any form of live recitals and even in-person meetings.

Jiah Choe (‘21), former secretary of Tri-M, was faced with the challenge of modifying Tri-M events to fit the Covid protocols during her two years as a senior officer of the club. The pandemic happened in the middle of her junior year, which especially impacted Tri-M as they were starting to expand and reach broader audiences. Plans to collaborate with local hospitals, nongovernmental organizations, Tri-M chapters at other international schools, and other SFS school divisions were put on hold. “It was definitely disappointing at first and a huge adjustment, as we had to figure out how to ensure that this engagement and enthusiasm persisted while continuing to provide opportunities for our members to serve through music,” she says.

Jiah recalls her best memories of being a part of Tri-M were “being able to perform in varying ensembles while serving the community through music”, but Covid had set a limitation to this. However, rather than focusing on the pandemic’s restrictions, she saw it as an opportunity to “[share] hope during challenging times through music.” Taking advantage of the “new normal”, the Tri-M team was able to provide virtual concerts through social media platforms, which made student performances more accessible to a broader audience. “It was really great to see so many students not only performing but also supporting other students through this online platform,” she mentions. She was also able to observe that the increased interest and support from the SFS community “incentivized and encouraged more of our members to submit recordings and participate in our virtual concerts.” Through her efforts, she was able to set new traditions while further emphasizing the universality and connection of music in Tri-M.

Although Tri-M had many setbacks due to COVID restrictions, executive teams quickly adapted to each year’s specific circumstances. Because most service projects were cut off as physical contact and communication were limited, we turned them into virtual projects. During the 2020-2021 school year, Tri-M SFS collaborated with YISS to create a performance video to send to nursing homes. Although we couldn’t organize as many service projects as before, we strived to keep in contact with the community. Additionally, most of the concerts were changed into virtual concerts. Although we could not see the members perform live, we could watch different people show different talents through the screen. Since we had limits on the number of people being in one place, we presented the videos in the morning announcements or Seoul Foreign School newsletters. Fortunately, most tri-m members felt that there was less pressure and anxiety, as performances were virtual as opposed to live, so more members were inspired to participate. Also, we garnered a larger audience, as with the video format, there weren’t obligations or time constraints. Overall, Covid did present difficulties, but we were able to pull it through.

With less covid restrictions moving forward, now is the time for Tri-M members to blossom and take advantage of the exciting opportunities that a passion for music can bring. The club is thrilled about the prospect of connecting with the local community outside of Seoul Foreign School to provide contributions to those in need. For instance, we are about to launch an instrument drive where high school students can donate unused/outgrown instruments for children in orphanages to use. We are also planning to host performances for nursing homes or care centers in the next school year. Most importantly, we cannot wait to open up our concerts to the entire Seoul Foreign School community to allow more students, faculty, and parents to hear our amazing musicians. Overall, enduring Covid-19 has made our club all the more thankful for the creative freedom we now have to celebrate music.

To learn more about what Tri-M does for the Seoul Foreign School community, visit our instagram @trimsfs or view our website @bitly/trimsfs.

Elin Chun Grade 11

What I like about Tri-m are the opportunities for students to share their musical talents with the SFS community through events like busking or homecoming. Tri-m is a close-knitted club that creates a comfortable and open-minded environment, supporting and encouraging all members to challenge themselves and their abilities. With Tri-m, the SFS community can enjoy the beautiful sounds of music and inspire a desire of others to become musically inclined as well.

Seungha Lee Grade 12

I’ve been involved in making music as a part of singing groups for as long as I can remember: choirs, chorales, and even a cappella groups. What I love most about participating in these ensembles is that we’re able to create an aural masterpiece using nothing but our voices. I find music to be the quintessential reflection of the wonderful diversity of humanity. By combining our unique abilities through music, we’re able to create something magical. It is an environment where our differences expand our capacity.

Zoe Sung Grade 10

The project that I enjoyed most so far was the Tri-M Christmas concert that was performed prior to winter break. In the concert, I performed a Christmas song with a trio of two other members. I enjoyed the process of picking out the song and practicing with my friends as it was satisfying to have a successful performance in the end. We learned a lot about harmonizing and listening to each other when playing especially as it was a trio of three very contrasting instruments.

Ian Kim Grade 10

Prior to joining Tri-M, I have seldom performed in front of others, so little to nobody knew about my love for playing the piano and the oboe. However, Tri-M has given me opportunities to not only get over my anxiety of performing in public spaces but to share my incredible passion for music with the school community. I hope that in the future I can continue to be a positive influence and inspire others like me to share their passion for music as well. 19 12