VOICE INSTRUCTOR LEE BYUNG-WON HELPS A SOUTH KOREAN STUDENT IN SEOUL, 1999-01-08 (photo)

Voice instructor Lee Byung-won helps a South Korean student (L) improve her singing ability by forming her lips into the correct shape during a class at Lee's singing institute in Seoul January 8. Such unorthodox techniques as singing with a bucket on their heads and singing while upside down are among the methods used by Lee in his Eumchi Clinic. Designed to improve the performance of those lacking vocal talent so that they, too, may participate in the all-important Korean social past time of karaoke, Kim invented these techniques in order to turn even the most tone deaf student into a performer who has the ability to sing at least one complete song in key. In Korea one's popularity, even to the extent of gaining a job promotion or attracting a lover, is often judged by the ability to sing. PB/TAN/AA