Piano comeback: more popular than ever, 40 million Chinese swear by it!

A country of pianists!
In a recent article popular Chinese pianist Lang Lang has been credited for inspiring 40 million Chinese to study the piano and in 2009 featured as one of Time Magazine's Top 100 influential people..
To put that number in context, the population of the UK is approximately 62 million, and Poland is just over 38 million. And with such a talent pool of pianists to choose from, it's no wonder the next issue of International Piano Magazine features "the Chinese are coming" profiling the superstar pianists of today Yundi Li, Yuja Wang.




Piano - the king of all instruments
Furthermore, among musical instruments,  the piano is the most popular instrument (Ex UK) according to
the ABRSM, (the Associated Board Royal Schools of Music, the international UK based exam body that sets the exam standards for Grades 1-8 in most musical instruments from the harp, violin, voice, and piano) In 2009, ABRSM received 150,268 entries for piano exams, 92,773 for music theory and this compares with the next popular instrument, the violin with 19,449 exam entries. Harpsichord was the least popular instrument with a mere 2 entries!

101 Pianists rehearsing  (source: langlang foundation)

Why is Piano the most popular? 
Pianos and their popular digital piano/keyboard counterparts can suit all budgets. It's probably chosen over the second most popular instrument - the violin because you can easily make a sound with the piano with the fingers from day 1. With the violin, the technique is immensely difficult in the initial year to produce a pleasant sound. Pianos can represent and simulate all orchestral sound ranges, textures, and effects: percussive timpanis to legato cellos, and violin pizzicato (through staccato). The repertoire is so wide ranging from jazz, blues, ragtime, pop, classical and  composers Michael Nyman, Gershwin, to Beethoven.

Start clocking  your 10,000 hours now
In Chinese communities, it is recognised that being good at the piano requires discipline, dedication, hard work and perseverance.  In other words, Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 rule applies - this theory says in order to be an expert and the top of the game in any discipline whether drama, golf, or piano you need to put in about 10,000 hours. This hard work and dedication, the parents believe will translate into other areas of their life, like their academic and later work life. Chinese culture believes this hard work leads to success in later life. In today's society, it's so easy for children to get into a couch potato routine watching TV,  playing computer games all day. And with every endeavor, it's not just quantity but quality of practice.

So if you really want to be the best at the piano or anything in life, start practicing now, make it a routine, make it your life!

Top Chinese Piano Masterpieces

I'm looking to start studying some Chinese piano pieces, I believe it'll benefit  my understanding of sound colour - by virtue of a different tonality and music system. When I was a teenager, in the 1990s I was impressed by the virtuosity of some of the folk songs which were transcribed by piano, my previous teacher Koo Kwok Kuen had recorded Chinese Folk Piano music, so now I'm rediscovering them.  Here are some great examples. I hope you  enjoy them. As you can see, they are all inspired by nature!  
彩雲追月 Silver Clouds Chasing the Moon (1935) by Chinese composer (Ren Guang, born in 1900) young Nigel Lim performs: 

Here's another fabulous performance of  彩雲追月 Silver Clouds Chasing the Moon by Aristo Sham.

Sa Chen, a prize winner in the Van Cliburn Competition and International Chopin competition  performs Autumn Moon Over the Calm Lake composed by Lu Wen-cheng in the 1930s. The piece is inspired by the composer's visit to the scenic West Lake, Hangzhou.


Lang Lang performs Autumn Moon Over the Calm Lake


Alaina Zhang performs Liu Yang He (by composer Tang Bi-guang)


Embroidering a Portrait in Gold 绣金匾, "Xiu Jin Bian" performed by pianist Yin Chengzong, 2nd prize winner in the 1962 International Tchaikovsky Competition. Alternative title is "Embroidering the Tablet With Golden Threads"



Last but not least, the Yellow River Piano Concerto performed by the  the Symphony Orchestra of the Central Philharmonic Society 中央乐团交响乐队  and pianist Yin Chengzong 殷承宗 (who arranged the piece from a work by Xian Hinghai)  This 1st Movement is characterised as

Prelude: "The Song of the Yellow River Boatmen" describes the momentum of the terrifying waves of the Yellow River and uses the rapid chromaticcrescendo and long rolls of the timpani and cymbals typical of Eight model plays model operas. (source: wikipedia)

Russian Piano School: Masterclasses downunder covering Rachmaninov, Chopin, Scriabin and more!

Thanks to my friend Ian Bennett who recommended TheMusicPage website, which streams live and archived video content of musical performances. As well as recorded performances, I also came across some piano competitions as well as masterclasses. I find the following masterclasses fascinating as both of the piano masters are schooled in the Russian School of Piano, and give an insight into the Russian method which according to Stefan Kutrzeba in short emphasizes:

• The artistic IMAGE-MAKING instead of  looking for nuances...
• The active INTONATING instead of  playing by heart...

Both Masters, note, currently teach in Australian and American conservatories respectively.

The first masterclass, I came across was presided by Oleg Stepanov, who studied under Lev Vlassenko at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, won the Liszt International Competition in 1956 (Stepanov has dedicated a piano competition in his memory)
http://www.themusicpage.com/showVideos.php?v=2434

1. First is Chopin Ballade #1
2. (55 minutes) Scriabin Etude in D Sharp Minor
3. (83 minutes 18 seconds) Rachmaninov Moment Musicaux #4 in E minor

The second masterclass was run by Boris Berman, who had the same teacher that Vladimir Ashkenazy had, and also studied at the Moscow Conservatory.

http://www.themusicpage.com/showVideos.php?v=2427

1. Beethoven: Appasionata Sonata
2. Rachmaninov: Moment Musicaux #1, #2
3. Schubert - First Klavierstucke 

The video player is slightly fiddly (smallish buttons) and the quality of the video so so, but the content's great! 

All masterclasses were held at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, Ian Hanger Recital Hall.