"One thing at a time"

Black keys are my least favorites. Once it reaches 4 sharps, or 5 flats,, that was about the ultimate end of my ability to read and decipher a piece of music and play and think at the same time. That is my brain and it is apparently not wired well enough for such complex theme as the black key etude by Chopin. I think it does have an official name for this piece but we will just call it the Black Key Etude for now, since it is quite well known piece in that name. Of course, parents are supposed to be proud of their kids and compliment them in any way we can to encourage and to instill the sense of pride of "work" and "personal accomplishments". I am always keenly aware of the fine line that exists between the pride of "work" and the temporary boastfulness or mere sense of "I am better than so and so". One thing I love about watching Erik is that he seems to have a very good tunnel vision about his approach. It could be because he is still youn...

Before I leave town, one thing I often remember to do is to record Erik's practice sessions on video to 'carry " the melody with me. I have a ton of recording on my mac and iPhone this time to show my mother when I see her and also to help me feel my home when I am away. We happened to be working on a duet piece for a month or so. With me going in and out of town, I find myself regress each time I return home, in the mean time, Erik's playing improves. This piece was almost together. We made a quick recording of it and I am afraid that I would be terrible when I return in two weeks after not playing for the whole time I am away. My breath control is definitely challenged by the lack of daily practices. I am very very fortunate to have an accompanist right at home who is interested and excited about playing new pieces. I think of my mother who encouraged me to take flute lessons when I was 13 or 14. She had no way of knowing that I would be reaping the benefit of her ...

There are many talents in life and many opportunities to use your talent. I feel very privileged to have witnessed many talented, gifted and dedicated young participants at the competition today. Some are teens and some are in the early 20s'. Erik was again the youngest entrant at the competition with the least experience under his belt. But he had no hesitation to try out and to do his best up against all those experienced musicians. He was not expecting making it to the final so he had no regret with the results. I loved meeting other parents who called themselves the dedicated "driver' for their kids. I am certainly not quite as available as some others, perhaps. (Erik made the finalists recital in the evening and placed 3rd). By the way, we found a cool restaurant in Monroe where they serve excellent Thai dish along with some Sushi. Dr. Yang and a few of his students along with our family ate lunch there after the morning preliminary performance, and we had a g...

Christmas has come and gone. The new year opened with a fantastic beginning for our family. We were able to enjoy the company of wonderful friends who gathered at our home on the New Year's Eve. We are grateful for each other, another year, assurance of true peace and many other tangible and intangibles around us. I had a very special time while taking down the Christmas Decoration this year. We waited till the Jan 2nd to begin our process to take away all the Christmas trimmings and glitter. I was hoping to go through some items with the guys but Erik's school was beginning the following morning and he is also facing a giant of Science Project presentation and Piano Concerto Competition this week,,,, he was up till late but he had to use all his available time for preparation for these events. So, I began the process of taking the lights and all gradually. Erik was playing his piano and the CHristmas tree was right next to him. As I stood and looked at the tree, and saw some ...

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family members. Everyone is busy and so is our family. But we would like to take a moment to stop and wish all of our friends a very special Christmas. Personally, I struggled this year more than others to slow down and enjoy the season in a way that the season deserves. This year is yet another year in which we saw Erik grow and mature in many ways. He is so much taller and I am almost sure that he would be taller than me soon! His hands have grown quite a bit making his piano playing more powerful. Erik worked very hard on academics, piano, lego building and whatever else that comes his way. He spent many hours a week on practicing piano this year again. Some of you may recall that he participated in a Piano Concerto Competition in January. Erik is preparing for yet another one for this upcoming January. I never thought that, some of the music books I purchased yrs ago would come in handy for Erik. Erik played quite a few pieces from my Beethov...

Today, I spent about half and hour playing with my son. I play the flute but I am not at all an expert like my son is with his piano. But I love the music and what it does to me when my mind is tired. I have been frantically working on my course assignment for my doctorate class at the same time I have been working on all the lecture preparation that I am giving in Japan in a few weeks. Lecture is very technologically demanding these days. I have made three sets of slides, each set is like 40-50 slides. Some have video, some have several photos with music embedded in it to enhance the learning and enhance the delivery. So, I probably put too much energy into the creation of my slides/video/audio combined presentation. So I decided to take a break and had fun practicing a few pieces with Erik. Erik was able to sight read this peace so we put something together for fun. Another video is from the reformation Sunday this past week when Erik presented his offertory at Church. A mighty fortr...

Bare with me, this is not an interesting post to most of you. Erik is loving his French class this year. But, in order to take French and fit it into his schedule, we ran into some scheduling glitches at his school. Erik has been fortunate to enjoy advanced Science and Math last two years. (we have some thoughts about what they consider advanced, though). He took Algebra I and Biology I in 8th grade. So, this year, he was supposed to take Advanced Honor level Chemistry (meaning his AH class buddies from last two years would be in it) and AH level Geometry (again with the same group of AH kids from the last two years). But in order to take French he was advised to take Algebra ll with the 10th graders (and Geometry next year with the current 8th graders who would be 9th grade next year) and he was also placed in regular honors Chemistry with 10th graders (meaning they are not advanced honor track kids). So, for two of the major classes he is thrown in with big, unfamiliar 10 graders! (...