From HK's SPCC to Toronto’s Brebeuf

My first piano lesson was a failure

I was born in Hong Kong and studied at Rosaryhill School, where I spent my kindergarten and primary school years at.  I still remember for my Grade 6 music class examination, me and five other classmates chose to sing the theme song from the famous Japanese TV series Story of Oshin (阿信的故事).  I didn't know any classical music, and pop music was my only exposure to music at that time.  When I was 7 years old, I decided to have piano lesson, hoping to be able to play Hong Kong pop tunes that my mother often played.  After less than 1 month of piano lessons, I gave up!  I didn't have the discipline, nor the passion for music.  I just hated practising!

When I was 12 years old, I entered into St. Paul's Co-ed College (SPCC) - 聖保羅男女中學, in which each student was required to learn at least one instrument.  Guess what?  For novelty, I picked Er-Hu, while most of my classmates opted for western options, such as piano, violin, and cello.

Falling in love with classical music

It was in this environment that my passion for classical music was ignited.  My musical journey began in the school auditorium and teacher Chen Mingying's (陳鳴鶯老師) music classroom.  I was fascinated by the beautiful sound my classmates made from their instruments.  Listening to Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik during music class and Chopin's Polonaise Op.53 ("Heroic Polonaise") performed by a senior student during the class assembly opened my ears to the wonderful world of classical music.

I started purchasing classical music cassette tapes.  One day I came across a tape with the title The People United Will Never be Defeated! I thought it was such an inspiring name and bought it.  Then I came across another one called The Ring of the Nibelung, with a piece called: Immolation Scene.  Immolation: a big serious word which I didn't even know.

The cries of the Valkeries, the powerful emotions of The Ring, and the stirring theme of The People United Will Never be Defeated! opened me up to a new world.  Even though I didn't understand a word sung in the opera, I was fascinated by the picture of the dragon slain by a boy with a sword on the cassette tape cover.  My love of Wagner and mythologies started from this time.

My first piece?  Für Elise!

I decided that I must learn to play the piano, and my first piece?  Für Elise!

I was only able to recognize what middle C looked like on a score, therefore I had to write down the letter names of almost every single note on the score in order to learn the music.  I practiced extremely hard, and after a month, finally, I was able to play through the first page, haphazardly.  What an accomplishment!

Then I discovered Richard Clayderman!  Yes, I know serious classical musicians may be frowning at Richard Clayderman. But in Hong Kong, my classmates and I were obsessed. We swapped his sheet music and performed for each other during afternoon break in the SPCC piano room. His arrangements were also my gateway to many classical masterworks for the piano: Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, and many more.

From HK to Toronto's Brebeuf College School

My parents immigrated to Canada when I was 13 years old. Once settled down, My mom found through a friend my first piano teacher, Ms. Catherine Russell. She taught privately at first, then moved to the Scarborough branch of the Royal Conservatory of Music.

At our first meeting, she asked me to play something. I offered up the first few pages of Bach’s Italian Concerto, the first page of Beethoven’s Für Elise, something from Richard Clayderman, and a few other pieces I’ve long since forgotten.

After hearing me, Ms. Russell announced I could start at RCM Level 8. I was over the moon, especially since I’d been only self-studying piano on my own. So I did what any thrilled teenager would do and started practicing like a maniac: 7 to 8 hours a day on some weekends. While my high school classmates took summer classes, I rode a bus and then subway 1.5 hours each way from Markham to downtown for RCM theory and history.  Learning music theory has opened the door to composing my own piano pieces.

I’m also grateful to Ms. Russell’s good friend, Mr. George McElroy, who accompanied me at an audition for young pianists with the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra, which led to my first time performing with an orchestra: the second movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major. I was about 14.

Brebeuf College School: Playing in a Band!

In Toronto, I attended Brebeuf College School, where music class let every student pick a wind or brass instrument, provided free. My first choice was drums, but so was many others’, so I ended up with my second choice: flute.

Playing in a brass and reed band turned out to be a blast. Our band teachers, Mrs. Orlando-Burello and Mr. Butash, picked some seriously ambitious repertoire, including Beethoven symphonies and even Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture. For my final-year exam, I played the main theme from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake on the flute.

Then there was my math teacher, Mr. Ryan, a music lover with an endless supply of cheeky jokes. He knew I played piano and loved to call me something that sounded suspiciously like “the penis” (aka pianist) in front of the whole class. Lol. Sometimes after school, I’d play him my latest piece. I remember playing the Liszt–Verdi Rigoletto Paraphrase for him, and he played “Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix” from Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila on the piano.

There was also a Catholic brother at Brebeuf College School who played the flute. We often jammed together, playing Bach flute sonatas with me on the piano, or sometimes flute duets with me on second flute. We frequently performed for seniors at Extendicare.

Teacher #2: Boris Zarankin

Sadly, Ms. Russell passed away while I was working on RCM Level 10. My mom went on another teacher hunt and found Mr. Boris Zarankin, co-founder of Off Centre Music Salon. With him, I worked toward my ARCT Performer’s Diploma, which I completed at 18, before starting university.

He gave me great technique. He could take the scariest passages and break them down until they became playable. He also told stories about the composers’ lives during lessons, which gave each piece another dimension.

The Fork in the Road

In Grade 13, I had to decide what came next. I seriously considered studying music and even recorded an audition tape for the RCM’s music program. Then I never sent it.

Instead, I chose a general business program at York University that let me decide my path in second year. I didn’t feel ready to make music a career. I felt I was still playing “mechanically” and didn’t truly understand music yet. And everyone said the same thing: “Don’t know what to do? Study business and get a job!”

So I did. In second year, I entered York’s Schulich School of Business (BBA). The workload was overwhelming, and on the side I was coding Excel VBA for a cable insulation project (work experience!); selling CDs at Future Shop intending to improve my mediocre social skills; and accompanying violin students on piano at their exams.

Something had to give, and it was my own piano studies, which was quite depressing.

It wasn’t until 2006, 12 years after I stopped, that I finally sat down at the piano again.  And who did I call? Mr. Zarankin! When I resumed my studies with him, he gave me opportunities to perform in his concert series at the Glenn Gould Studio, which was such a thrill!