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A Chinese girl's road to fulfilling her cello dream
By Bai Xu |
July 13, 2013, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
TIANJIN, Melbourne, London ... when this Chinese girl first touched a cello 20 years ago, she did not realize the stringed instrument would lead her halfway around the globe.
"My first music teacher once told me that it is hard to become a musician, because it would be a lifelong profession which you can never change," says Linda Lin, whose Chinese name is Lin Yan. "But my biggest dream now is to travel with my cello, playing in every corner of the world."
Accidental encounter
Lin was born in Tianjin Municipality. Her father was a physicist, but his hobby was playing the erhu, a traditional Chinese bowed instrument with two strings. Her mother loved classical music. Believing it good for the brain of young children, she played the music every day for her daughter.
"I was very naughty as a kid, but whenever my mom played classical music, I would calm down and fall asleep quickly," Lin says.
At four-and-a-half years old, Lin told her parents she wanted to learn piano. "But at that time, it was not easy to find a good piano teacher, and pianos were prohibitively expensive in Tianjin," she says.
Her parents turned down her request, but as compensation decided to have her learn something else.
"They took me to a music school and let me choose what to learn," she says. Some instruments were very popular, like violin, for which many parents queued to have a word with the teacher. But apart from the piano, Linda was indifferent to other instruments.
Suddenly, she noticed one classroom was extremely quiet. A very handsome teacher sat idly by a "huge violin."
As they entered, the teacher played the instrument. "He told me it was a cello," she says. "It was about the size of a person, and the sound was just like the voice of human beings." She immediately told her parents that she would learn the cello.
Four years later Lin's father went to work in Melbourne, and she followed with her cello. Her decision to come to London was the result of another accidental encounter.
Lin applied for law school at the age of 17. Had she not met David Strange, former head of strings at the Royal Academy of Music, she might have become an attorney in a law firm.
But after an audition, the professor who taught a masters class in Melbourne told her "you would regret not pursuing your cello dream."
"At that time London sounded very far from me," she says. "I hadn't been to Europe before. The city was another mecca of classical music for me, apart from Vienna and Berlin."
Listening to her heart, she moved to London in 2006, starting her studies at the Royal Academy of Music.
Tears and laughter
In retrospect, Lin admits that more than once the word "quit" crossed her mind. "I wanted to be perfect, but I couldn't. Then I thought to myself, maybe I shouldn't have learnt cello at all," she says.
On these occasions, her father would say "it doesn't matter if you want to quit; we could sell the cello." At that time, the cello and music lessons were not cheap.
After all the tears, however, Linda was still unable to put down her bow. "Gradually I found out the problem: I wasn't practicing properly."
Lin recalls being hit by the baton once and a colleague making mistakes in a reprise. But one memory stands out. It was her final examination in which she played with a piano accompaniment. Lin played passionately. Her piano playing friend also got excited.
"Suddenly, I saw something fly over in front of me," she says, still laughing at the story. "It was his glasses. My friend was so excited that he shook off his own glasses."
She remembers her teacher tried hard not to laugh, while her mom, who had been nervous about her exam - suddenly became relaxed.
Lin has graduated and has become a teacher at King's College. She has played in concerts, and launched a CD with pianist Ian Brown last month.
To Lin, music is not like physics or mathematics. "It was something quite personal," she says. "It was part of you, with your understanding of life."
As a result, she enjoyed broadening her horizons by studying philosophy and traveling. She loved going to galleries to see paintings, because "all forms of art are interlinked."
Lin's message to Chinese parents is to give their children the opportunity to learn how to read music and to play an instrument. "This helps children be creative and artistic, which will come in handy later on in life."
(Xinhua)
"My first music teacher once told me that it is hard to become a musician, because it would be a lifelong profession which you can never change," says Linda Lin, whose Chinese name is Lin Yan. "But my biggest dream now is to travel with my cello, playing in every corner of the world."
Accidental encounter
Lin was born in Tianjin Municipality. Her father was a physicist, but his hobby was playing the erhu, a traditional Chinese bowed instrument with two strings. Her mother loved classical music. Believing it good for the brain of young children, she played the music every day for her daughter.
"I was very naughty as a kid, but whenever my mom played classical music, I would calm down and fall asleep quickly," Lin says.
At four-and-a-half years old, Lin told her parents she wanted to learn piano. "But at that time, it was not easy to find a good piano teacher, and pianos were prohibitively expensive in Tianjin," she says.
Her parents turned down her request, but as compensation decided to have her learn something else.
"They took me to a music school and let me choose what to learn," she says. Some instruments were very popular, like violin, for which many parents queued to have a word with the teacher. But apart from the piano, Linda was indifferent to other instruments.
Suddenly, she noticed one classroom was extremely quiet. A very handsome teacher sat idly by a "huge violin."
As they entered, the teacher played the instrument. "He told me it was a cello," she says. "It was about the size of a person, and the sound was just like the voice of human beings." She immediately told her parents that she would learn the cello.
Four years later Lin's father went to work in Melbourne, and she followed with her cello. Her decision to come to London was the result of another accidental encounter.
Lin applied for law school at the age of 17. Had she not met David Strange, former head of strings at the Royal Academy of Music, she might have become an attorney in a law firm.
But after an audition, the professor who taught a masters class in Melbourne told her "you would regret not pursuing your cello dream."
"At that time London sounded very far from me," she says. "I hadn't been to Europe before. The city was another mecca of classical music for me, apart from Vienna and Berlin."
Listening to her heart, she moved to London in 2006, starting her studies at the Royal Academy of Music.
Tears and laughter
In retrospect, Lin admits that more than once the word "quit" crossed her mind. "I wanted to be perfect, but I couldn't. Then I thought to myself, maybe I shouldn't have learnt cello at all," she says.
On these occasions, her father would say "it doesn't matter if you want to quit; we could sell the cello." At that time, the cello and music lessons were not cheap.
After all the tears, however, Linda was still unable to put down her bow. "Gradually I found out the problem: I wasn't practicing properly."
Lin recalls being hit by the baton once and a colleague making mistakes in a reprise. But one memory stands out. It was her final examination in which she played with a piano accompaniment. Lin played passionately. Her piano playing friend also got excited.
"Suddenly, I saw something fly over in front of me," she says, still laughing at the story. "It was his glasses. My friend was so excited that he shook off his own glasses."
She remembers her teacher tried hard not to laugh, while her mom, who had been nervous about her exam - suddenly became relaxed.
Lin has graduated and has become a teacher at King's College. She has played in concerts, and launched a CD with pianist Ian Brown last month.
To Lin, music is not like physics or mathematics. "It was something quite personal," she says. "It was part of you, with your understanding of life."
As a result, she enjoyed broadening her horizons by studying philosophy and traveling. She loved going to galleries to see paintings, because "all forms of art are interlinked."
Lin's message to Chinese parents is to give their children the opportunity to learn how to read music and to play an instrument. "This helps children be creative and artistic, which will come in handy later on in life."
(Xinhua)
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