The Piano Lesson

paper.In all my years of playing piano, I practiced the bare minimum for auditions and recitals alike, and that thoroughly frustrated my parents and my teacher. I had never liked practicing piano, but that changed in middle school when I happened upon a Chinese movie called Secret. Not only was I in love with the movie, I loved the soundtrack even more. Normally, I do not notice the background music of movies, but Secret had such compelling music that I bought the piano book containing all of…

Jing-Mei is a character from the short story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan. The story follows a Chinese mother and daughter (Jing-Mei) living in America. Throughout the story, Jing-Mei and her mother struggle with one another, her mother wanting her to be a child prodigy and her constant fighting against becoming one. Knowing that Jing-Mei does not want to be a prodigy gives us great insight into who she is as a character. Wanting to just be herself, fighting against her mother, and purposefully…

unimaginable ways, and although I’d used mathematics in my own music for years, the application of computers into my music has dramatically changed the way I play piano. I’ve been playing the piano for my entire life. At age 12, I’d learned songs from countless music books, which to me was a chore rather than a lifestyle. Piano lessons and practicing were filled with routine 1-2-3-4 counting and playing,…

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria is one of the most well known and prolific composers of the classical era. As a child prodigy Mozart learned to play the piano at the age of three by watching his father teach his is older sister. By the age of six Mozart was composing his own music and with his sister, Nannerl, traveling Europe to preform concerts. During these travels young Wolfgang met Johann Christian Bach (youngest son of…

focus on the history, philosophy and sonic outcomes of Instrument Destruction, particularly in relation to performance art. whilst exploring ethics and danger involved in destroying instruments. This research will be undertaken with Annea Lockwood’s Piano Transplants’ series firmly in mind, and reference will be made to both scores and performances of these works. This paper also represents a unique opportunity to raise awareness on important works in experimental music, contributing new…

is teaching myself to play the piano. Music has always been one of my favorite things in life. When I was younger, I would try to come up with song lyrics and was also interested in learning guitar. My dad played when he was younger but never played much after he had kids. I was fortunate enough one day to get a piano from a close family friend. Piano was not my first choice in instrument but I ended up loving it. I didn't want to ask to get lessons or a piano teacher so I bought a book,…

When I was younger, in the sixth grade, I started piano because my parents had forced me. When I first went into the piano class, I was very intimidated by the older kids because they were in middle school while I was still in elementary school and they were also experienced. I had no experience whatsoever and the piano instructor, Mr. Hayward announced that the piano recital will be in five weeks. I was panicking and shocked at the same time. I also had a lot smaller hands than my peers, making…

Kan who lives in America and learns to play the piano. I will be comparing and contrasting this story to my personal story, where as a child I moved to China and learned to play the piano. There are some similarities and some surprising differences in the stories obstacles, conflicts, and transformations. In the story "Two Kinds" Ni Kan faced many obstacles trying to learn to play the piano. Her first obstacle was that she did not want to play the piano at all! For example, the text says " my…

the unimaginable in China, the mother moves to American to start over and gives birth to her daughter, the protagonist of the story. thought-out, the daughter's life, she encounters several things that she necessary didn't want to do. Learning the piano, dealing with high expectations later in life, and then realizing the gift that her mother gave her after the mother had passed away. The main character was to become a prodigy, her mother had it planned out to a T. First the…

Jing-mei’s mother and Chang sign her up for a recital that she does awfully and her mother insists that they continue the lessons and in turn Jing-mei said “then I wish I weren’t your daughter, I wish you weren’t my mother”. The piano lessons stop and on the narrator's 13th birthday her mother gives her the piano as a peace offering. In the end, Jing-mei realized that “Pleading Child”, which represents her childhood, and “Perfectly Contented”, which represents her…