Anna Zhao

    anna.whizh@yahoo.com

    Huang Kaiqian, a Senior 1 student of Xin’an Middle School, has won prizes at several international piano competitions. Her latest was first prize of Junior Class in the Third Hong Kong International Piano Invitation Competition on January 10, an event organized by the Asia Musicians Association to scout musical talent.

    Huang, 15, said she owed much of her growth to her mother, the mentor who introduced piano to her. But she said she used to be ordered to practice day after day by her mother who is a music teacher.

    Huang began to play piano when she was 4. “I was often lashed in the palm for my absentmindedness and lack of enthusiasm in practice,” Huang said.

    Like most ambitious parents, Huang’s mother went around to look for a good piano teacher for Huang when she was at a proper age to receive professional training. Huang said she had seen her mother persuading and pleading laboriously in front of people, only for the purpose of making her a student of a master pianist. Realizing her mother’s good intentions, she then began to learn piano diligently.

    When she was 12, a performance by Ke$ha that she watched on TV left a deep impression on her. She was so fascinated by the energetic way the singer performed that she began to mimic her.

    “I think interest is the key to playing music. Cramming or being forced to learn may help improve the player’s sleight of fingers but the music may still be devoid of emotion and life,” Huang said.

    She also likes playing drums, which she says is a good way for her to get relief from the tedium of lessons. Sometimes she composes her own tunes and sings in front of close friends.