(upbeat instrumental music)
- Tell me about the first time
you walked on a stage to perform.
- It was terrifying.
It was terrifying.
I think for everyone that be on the stage
for the first time to
perform is terrifying.
- Yes.
- But I think, for me personally,
when I was younger when I perform
I don't really have that much nervousness
in the beginning,
because you don't really
know what to expect.
And you just play what your
teacher taught you to play.
It wasn't like I'm trying to accomplish
something through the music.
So I think that as I grow older,
actually I get more nervous playing music.
But also, I think I enjoyed it more,
because I know what I want to say
through the music than I was younger.
- So it's more rewarding.
- Yes.
- [Jeff] There's more to accomplish.
- It's more hard, difficult.
But at the same time,
after you do it is more,
you feel like you actually say
something through the music.
- When you up the stakes, and
play more complicated music,
I feel an obligation, a
responsibility to the composer,
and to my peers if we're playing together,
that I must deliver on this.
And there's a lot more to think about.
And that's a different kind of practicing.
Instead of being sort of
free and letting everything
come out and let it, however
it comes out, that's good.
I have to control a little bit more.
And that then translated
to when I was walking
out on stage, you have all those thoughts
before you play and you're
trying to quiet your mind.
- Yes, yes.
- As with anything complicated,
it's not just with music,
you need to quiet your mind
and this voice in your head
that's been helping
you practice by saying,
"Not that way, this way."
You have to say, "You're
gonna have to be quiet
"for the next 25 minutes, please."
- You feel like, let go.
- The only way to learn how to do that
is to do it, to be on stage,
because I couldn't repeat
that fear or anxiety
that I was having,
energy that I was having
other than in performance.
- I think they have a very core principle
that's saying is to let it go.
But it's so easy to say, though.
- Easy to say, but hard to do.
We spend so much time practicing
before we walk out on stage,
I want to be satisfied, too.
I want the audience to
be satisfied and enjoy.
I want the composer to, the
responsibility, obligation.
But also to myself.
We've put in hundreds of
hours and here's the payoff
and if it goes poorly, I feel like
I didn't get a good
return on my investment.
And I'm mad, you know?
- When I was young, I was very scared
of my teacher actually,
because she was a very strict teacher.
And I still remember the
first time when I saw her,
it was in the Hong Kong
Academy of Performing Arts.
And I was sitting
outside the long corridor
with all the practice rooms,
and I would hear her
yelling at her students
about how they didn't
practice or something.
And I was just outside, this
young kid, freaking out.
I remember very vividly
my hand is all sweaty.
And it went fine, because
it's our first lesson,
but she have a very high standard on me,
because she know that if I really try,
I could deliver at the end.
At this stage, I begin to appreciate
what she have done for
me, and I wish that,
if she pushed me harder
in the beginning even,
then I might be even more
better in an even earlier stage.
- But we talked about this in
our percussion pedagogy class,
about the different
approaches teachers can take.
You remember I used the Chopin example,
that he had a very strict
teacher later in life
but a rather flexible,
supportive teacher early in life.
And Chopin said the same
thing that you just said.
Which is, "I can't imagine
what I would've been like
"had I had a more strict
teacher in the beginning."
But he said, "I don't think I would
"be playing music anymore."
- Yeah.
- So sometimes it's a balance.
Sophia may have been strict,
but she wasn't so strict
that she choked the love of playing out.
And so it's a fine line to walk.
- [Calvin] The balance.
- To help your students
reach their potential,
but at the same time, not frustrate them
to the point where they just don't
enjoy the activity anymore and give up.
It was great to have you here
to be able to work with you,
of course, but also the
same thing that Sophia said
would happen for you, the new perspective,
it happens for us, too, as teachers,
but also your fellow students.
Having international
students in the studio
makes a big difference because
there's different literature,
but there's also a different perspective
on similar literature.
And it's been very
helpful for the students
to broaden their perspective
of what the world of music is.
- [Calvin] Yes.
- So it's been great to have
an international student here
certainly somebody who's as
serious a student as you are.
- Thank you.
What does mentorship means to you?
- Well, it's similar to what you described
in that the mentor in music sort of sets
the foundation, or can.
Music, like all professions, is a network.
And it's a very
interesting network in that
there are different schools of performance
and interpretation and philosophy.
And so, if you can establish mentors
in these different schools,
it expands your network.
If you become isolated, your
options are more narrow.
So I've found having mentors
across different fields,
I had an orchestral percussionist
teacher who was a mentor,
a rudimental percussionist
teacher was a mentor,
a jazz drummer who was a mentor.
And this allowed me, helped me to navigate
a diverse field of percussion,
and I was able to focus
on being a generalist.
That is, somebody who could play
all the percussion instruments,
as opposed to being a
singular orchestral player
or just drum set, or just
hand drums, a specialist.
So for me, the mentorship
allowed for support
to do these different things,
but also expanded my network,
my friends, and opportunities to play.
(xylophone music)
