Child Journey in Piano, Parent Music

Piano Trio

2009-11-01T20:01:00.000-08:00

Serena joined a trio group recently. She enjoyed playing with other children. I think of it like a rock band where they can interact with each other. So she is actually motivated to play well for others.

practice, practice, practice

2009-07-30T14:18:00.001-07:00

If you are not going to be a professional pianist or good enough to be a professional pianist, why spend so much effort on it ? Why be frustrated with losses at piano competition ? Why have discords over practicing ? My answer has always been: for the child, it is better than watching TV. When my daughter takes time off to rest after a major piano competition, she just spend her extra free time watching Tv.

Competition of parents, 12 and under

2009-04-10T14:38:00.000-07:00

I think winners of piano competition 12 and under pianists are proxies for their parents. Of course, the children are talented. The parents who are musicians and can spend the most time with their children will probably win most competitions. However, once you are over 18, only talent,hard work and luck win.

Do you really need to LOVE music ?

2008-12-18T14:50:00.000-08:00

I think to play a music piece well, you do need to immerse in it. But, you don't need to be passionate about it. You need to be a superb technician to play a piece well. A great teacher (interpreter of music) can interpret the piece for you and you can play well. A great master would need to play well and interpret well. I see and hear all these prodigies talking about how they cannot live without music. I wonder if they can ever be great piano players, or just great fans/critics.

Which music piece to play ?

2008-12-11T15:07:00.000-08:00

It seems like every child on youtube is playing a similar repertoire of piano music. It is quite difficult to pick a music piece that you like and have enough difficulty to win a competition. So it seems logical to just follow the footstep of an older kid and play similar music repertoire. On the other hand, there are only a limited number of "greatest hits" by a composer. Of course, you practice those popular pieces that everyone enjoys.

Starting Over Again

2008-11-18T00:30:00.000-08:00

Now, Serena's younger brother is starting to learn violin. He obviously does not have the same talent as Serena. It takes him probably three times longer to learn a piece of music. But, we will still make him practice 30 minutes a day until he is 12. I always wish that my parents force me to learn how to play piano or violin. Why ? He will just use these 30 minutes to watch TV.

Who are you playing for ?

2008-10-16T16:08:00.001-07:00

Met a mother whose daughter did very well in piano. She won state competition and was invited to join Juliard school. Now, she is college and decided to quit playing piano. Her mother states that she sits with her every day for 2 hours practicing her piano for the past 13 years.

Some would fault the daughter for not valuing her talent and being immature and lazy. I fault her mother for not giving her daughter the choice earlier and not teaching her the independence to do thing for herself.

Same music, different music

2008-10-09T11:39:00.001-07:00

Different interpretation of the music notes results in different music.
Different publisher of music notes writes different interpretation.
Tastes for music is different for different judges.
How does one know which one is better ? or is there a better interpretaion ?

Only as Good

2008-10-05T21:40:00.001-07:00

You are only as good as your current performance. No matter how well you play in practice or in your last performance. You are judged by your current play. You are only as good as your last competition, unless it is a big competition. You cannot take away a big competition win. Unfortunately, there are always bigger competition or performance waiting. It is a never ending cycle. Unless you play for fun.

Bach concerto F minor BWV 1056 3rd movement

2008-05-12T09:55:00.001-07:00

I thought it is pretty cool that she did not slow down when she played the wrong notes. She pretended that nothing wrong had happened. If you did not know this music very well, you may not know that she played at least more than 5 wrong notes.

Moszkowski Serena Piano

2008-02-17T13:31:00.001-08:00

This is after playing for almost 6 months.
It will take probably a few more years to be as fast as it needs to be.

Juggler Serena Piano Toch

2008-02-17T13:21:00.001-08:00

not fast enough,

I wonder again

2008-02-06T14:51:00.001-08:00

I guess teacher gets the satisfaction of seeing their pupils succeed. They get to make sour grapes into fine wine.

I wonder

2008-01-12T21:38:00.000-08:00

I wonder how the piano teacher or any music teacher can stand the musical performance of their pupils. Young students often play without the sophisticated texture of an established performer. I know you cannot compare a young student to a professional. But, once you taste fine wine, anything less is just "blah".

piano Chopin Serena Piano

2007-12-14T15:50:00.003-08:00

I guess she is really into this music. Although, it is probably just from the concentration on playing it well.

Bach Concerto F minor with Orchestra piano serena

2007-12-14T15:50:00.001-08:00

Finally, she did.

New music piece

2007-12-01T09:37:00.000-08:00

It is much easier to learn a new piece as she gets better.
She is on cruise control now.
She will come home, do her homework, practice piano, and watch TV.
Her practice session is much shorter (half an hour) as there are
no recitals planned and she already knows the music.

Never Ending

2007-10-05T22:34:00.000-07:00

You are judged every time you perform. It does not matter if you did well or poorly in past. It is how you are doing now. That is life. It never ends until it ends.

prodigy

2007-09-18T22:17:00.001-07:00

Recently, I saw a prodigy pianist at a party. He states that he wakes up in the middle of the night to practice piano. He loves playing piano in front of a crowd.
He is mature and intelligent. However, he is very awkward around children. Is his awkwardness caused by the maturity level or the fact that he is a professional ? He is a professional because he is practicing more than 8 hours a day and home-schooled.
To work for a living at such a young age of eight.

I saw a clip of his professional performance recently where he made a mistake while playing. I just can't imagine the disappointment he must felt or his parents must felt. A lot of pressure to become "successful".

If he can redefine what "success" is as he gets older, then his life will be much easier. If he or his parents cannot, then the odds are that he will be disappointed.

But, pressure and further pressure is what is needed to create that rare one out of hundreds of prodigies who will be the next Yundi Li.

Three gifts

2007-06-14T19:44:00.000-07:00

I wanted to give my children 3 gifts that they can have when they are grown up.

First gift is the ability to play a music instrument.
Second gift is the ability to speak a foreign language.
Third gift is money. (just kidding)
Third gift should be money; but, it is not.

End Point

2007-06-14T19:32:00.000-07:00

First,let me say this blog is just random thoughts.

A friend asked me what is the end point of her journey in piano.
My first thought was he is a very goal oriented person.
There is no end point. I don't expect her to be a music major in college.
I don't have any expection and thus no goal to reach in her journey.
I just want her to do her best.

French Suite 4 Bach Serena

2007-04-30T14:30:00.001-07:00

It is not easy to play Bach well.

Nerve

2007-04-14T07:32:00.000-07:00

I always thought that those who succeed will not "choke". The ability to overcome and use the pressure and stress of the recital is the key to winning.
Serena said that she feels nervous before her past recitals; but, she has always thrived on it and actually performed better.

A few weeks ago, for the first time, she was actually too nervous and did not play very well. I wonder if she will overcome this mentally in the future. A winner is not just the one who poses the best skill; but, one who thrives under pressure and excels. In the past, I have always thought it is pretty amazing that she does not have stage fright. We'll just have to wait and see.

moving and swinging

2007-03-04T20:30:00.000-08:00

Serena played sonata 330 for her classmate in elementary school. Most of her classmates cannot sit through the 5 minutes of music. One asked why she is moving and swinging her body when she plays her piano.

She does not move her body during practice. We never told her to move her body or head. But whenever she does a formal recital, she starts to move with music. Maybe she feels the music.

Different kind of practice

2007-02-03T10:50:00.000-08:00

1) going through the motion.. as she memorized the music piece, she actually practice less. She will play through the different pieces rapidly taking less 30 minutes to finishes her practice session.

2) learning the piece.. this takes efforts and time. but, she will practice less of other music pieces so as to limit herself to 1 hour of practice.

3) concentrated practice.. when the stars and the moon are aligned (usually once a week), she will concentrate on learning the piece. Noticeable improvements will be made. She will actually practice about 1 and half hour because she will not be looking at the clock. Times passes quickly when she is mood to learn about the music piece.

I guess this is similar to a writer. Sometimes, you can not write anything. Other times, you can write for hours.

Practice, pRactice, prActice

2007-02-03T10:49:00.001-08:00

Limited practice does not make perfect. Maturity takes time. I think this is her limit for now.

Does she need passion ?

2007-01-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

She does not have any passion for playing piano. Does she need passion to play piano well ? Will she get passion later on ? She still practices very little. As the piece gets longer, she is limiting herself to practice each piece two times only. She does not enjoy the process of learning and practicing a new song. We probably would not have encouraged her to continue to play because it is such a struggle to have her practice at least 2 times each piece. But, she is just such a quicker learner; it seems such a waste of her ability to stop playing.

She does have a passion for winning and for showing off her ability. As she gets better, she starts to want to play for herself.

Vacation

2007-01-06T09:30:00.000-08:00

After a vacation, she gets lazy. She is not in her normal routine of practice and doing homework. She does not want to practice her piano and does not want to do her homework anymore. Once the school starts, she will hopefully be back to her routine.

Mozart Sonata K330

2006-12-01T21:25:00.001-08:00

She needs the deadline of a recital to concentrate.

Finally,

2006-11-07T15:43:00.000-08:00

It took a few months for my daughter to learn to play Mozart K330. Finally, she had a recital. She did fine for her age. She probably reached about 30% of the full potential of the music piece. Her play is still childlike. But, she is a child. I think she learned and grew a lot by playing this piece even though I know that she does not have the ability to play to the full potential of the music. Thus, I think it may be more worthwhile to practice a difficult piece (above her ability) than an easier piece (at her ability).

Technique and Difficulty

2006-10-17T23:12:00.000-07:00

As I learned about the different piano competitions for children, I noticed that most judges give award to children who can play more difficult pieces instead of how well they play the piece. The children may be able to play the piece technically well; but, they can't really play it to its full potential like a more mature pianist would be able to. Should a judge give the awards to children who can play a easier piece to the piece's full dynamic potential or give to children who play a difficult piece but well short of the music's intened potential ?

2006-10-09T18:52:00.000-07:00

Horowitz - Mozart Sonata in C Major K. 330; 1st Movement

It is amazing how great a 80 year old man can play. I hope my daughter plays at 50% of his level.

More or Less

2006-08-14T18:18:00.000-07:00

As she is currently trying to learn more difficult pieces, her regular self imposed time limit of 1 hour is becoming insufficient. She needs about 2 hours to really practices all the pieces well. Well, I will leave it up to her to decide.

Serena Haydn Sonata C Recital

2006-08-14T18:11:00.000-07:00


Piano Haydn recital

There is no fourth place.

2006-07-24T21:22:00.000-07:00

Another child told my daughter that there is no fourth place winner. There are only first, second, and third place winner. In most situations, only the top 3 winners get a prize. But, her fourth place finish was a hard won effort. Besides, she really did get a trophy. The top four finishers get a trophy. I remember when I was younger, I received a 10th place winner ribbon; but, there were over 100 competitors.

There is always someone smarter and faster

2006-07-23T18:16:00.000-07:00

My daughter got a fourth place finish at an open piano competition. There were many children that were much better than her at slightly older age. This is only at our county. Imagine in this country, there will be many many others who are even better. Of course, they will not be competing at this fairly intermediate level. But, from personal experience, smartest person or fastest person may not score the highest on test or run the fastest at a race. Practice and studying still matters

Asian Girl Learning Piano

2006-07-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

There are just too many Asian girls playing piano. Many of them play very well. So I think it is actually a disadvantage to be Asian, girl , and playing piano. They get stereotyped. It is unexpected if you are an Asian female and does not know how to play piano. There lies the dilemma in whether she should be playing at all. She may be better off putting the same effort into playing other instruments such as trumpet or saxaphone where there are fewer Asian females.

I put a video of her in youtube and she was mistaken to be the Asian girl in TV show "American Got Talent" as all Asians look alike.

Ethan Piano

2006-07-23T14:58:00.000-07:00


ethan piano practice recital family

Younger Brother

2006-07-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

Younger child will often want to mimic their older siblings. It was much much more work for us to encourger our first child to learn to play piano. We have no difficulty with our younger son. He wants to play piano without any prompting. Maybe he is jealous of the time her mother is spending practicing with her sister. Maybe he is just more interested in music. But, the question remains whether to have him follow the footsteps of her sister in piano or to learn another instrument.

serena bach invention 4 recital

2006-07-23T14:50:00.001-07:00


serena bach invention 4 child music piano learn recital. June 2006

Recitals Recitals

2006-07-23T14:50:00.000-07:00

She is having lots of recitals . Recitals are good in that they give a sense of accomplishment and a marker of level of competency. These recitals are very formal. So it also gives the experience of mock competition.

Serena Bach Prelude Piano Recital

2006-07-23T14:45:00.000-07:00


child serena piano prelude bach recital May 2006

First Competition by Daughter Serena

2006-07-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

This is the first competition for Bach entered by my 7 year old daughter. She has "won" her initial Bach branch competition. She has entered the Bach regional competition. Unfortunatedly, she did not win her regional competition. Her music selection of prelude may be seen as too easy to be able to advance to the next level. I thought she played as well as possible for this Bach prelude.