Paul Yoon wowed audiences and judges during the 7th Annual Showcase with his masterful and creative guitar skills and won the Atlanta title and a shot at the Kollaboration Star grand prize. Yoon first began to play the guitar when he was 12 years old and participated in his youth group praise team where he learned to play in a band setting. Through this experience, he learned the importance of combining different bass parts with melodies to create different musical atmospheres.
At age 16, he developed an interest in the art of acoustic finger-style playing because this form of guitar performance allowed the guitarist to play bass lines, percussion parts, and the melody all at once. He also developed a passion for the cello around the same time, and this allowed him to go deeper into expressing lyrical melodic lines through his music. He continues to search for new musical inspirations and genres and hopes to expand his perception of music.
We caught up with Paul after he clinched the Atlanta Showcase title and found out more about his inspiration and his experience with Kollaboration Atlanta.
Did you create a unique piece for your Kollaboration performance?
My hope was that it would be something unique that my audience had not seen before. The song I performed at Kollab was a combination of my original called “Healing” and a piece called “Airtap” by Erik Mongrain.
What was the inspiration for your performance?
My inspiration was the “lap tapping” technique developed by a guitarist named Erik Mongrain.
How did you feel about your performance? Were you surprised that you won?
I felt that I gave it my all, and yes, I was surprised because there were some talented performances that night.
What feedback did the judges give you? Did they tell you anything that was surprising or inspiring?
They were extremely encouraging, and what they critiqued about my performance helped me to think more about performing for a live audience.
Did you learn anything from the other Kollaboration finalists?
The most important thing that I learned is that I need to keep my passion going by being around people who hold similar interests as I do.