Sunday November 25, 2007
A piano star is born
By MEERA VIJAYAN
starmag-feedback@thestar.com.my
When he is not tackling complex classical pieces on the piano, this precocious talent can be found mucking around like any kids his age do.
IN the hushed, darkened concert hall, a single spotlight shines on a grand piano, illuminating the instrument and a child half-sitting, half-standing on the piano stool too large for his pint-sized frame. His hands are raised a split second in the air before descending onto the piano keys before him, breaking into a spellbinding performance of Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu. Eight-year-old Marc Yu, dressed in a Chinese style tuxedo, is a sight to behold.
Caught up in his own ethereal reverie, the young pianist seems to be consumed by the music he plays, his body swaying gently, his face mirroring the intensity of his feelings. Only after he has finished his second piece, 2 Movements from Danzas Argentinas by Alberto Ginastera, does Marc seem to return to the world of mortals.
Marc is not your average American boy – he is a child prodigy. His brief performance at the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall in Singapore last Tuesday was at the invitation of the National Geographic Channel, which is featuring him in its new three-part series, My Brilliant Brain.
The programme examines three groups of genius who answer questions about human intelligence. Musically-gifted Marc is presented in the first segment titled Born Genius. Next up will be Make Me a Genius and Accidental Genius.
Born in Pasadena, California, Marc first astounded his mother, Chloe Yu, at the age of two-and-a-half when he played out Mary Had a Little Lamb on the piano at a birthday party.
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Hitting the right notes ... Marc Yu rehearses under the watchful eye of his mother Chloe Yu before his performance at the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall in Singapore last Tuesday. – Photos by KENNETH WONG / The Star |
Marc also has perfect pitch; this ability to identify musical notes as easily as recognising colours is a rare skill only one in 10,000 people can claim to have.
The lad’s genius does not stop with music. He is currently taking a college prep English class in a Californian high school. His mother started home-schooling him after he completed kindergarten two years ago, coaching him in maths, geometry and algebra. He will start on trigonometry next semester. She also teaches him writing and Chinese.
Home schooling, Chloe points out, allows Marc – her only child – the flexibility to travel and perform, besides giving him the chance to learn at his own pace.
“What other children learn in eight hours a day he can squeeze into 30 minutes or an hour. This way, he can learn whatever he is interested in at that moment,” she explains in an interview with The Star on the concert day.
Different strokes
Marc first realised he was different when he was in kindergarten. As his classmates sang nursery rhymes, he was already accompanying them on the piano.
“He would play the 12 Variations on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Mozart,” says Chloe, laughing.
Being different does come with a price. Marc discovered the frustration of not being understood by his peers when he discussed music with them. At that time he did not realise he was operating at a different level. He soon decided he would not talk about music to his friends.
“He still plays with other children. But he avoids talking about music,” says Chloe, 34, a Macau native who moved to America in 1990.
Off stage, Marc is like any other child, bursting with energy and curiosity over his surroundings. He is playful yet mature. While his mum is fielding questions halfway through the interview, the little guy decides to oblige the cameraman by striking some cheeky poses. He is also evidently proud of his ability to go cross-eyed at will, a skill he claims to share with his beautiful mother.
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Marc has his cheeky moments. |
“I like playing difficult pieces, especially those that my teacher says no to.
“I like playing music because it has a lot of different feelings – expressive, sad, excited and happy,” says the prodigy whose repertoire includes Ravel, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and other contemporary pieces.
Marc also confesses to concocting stories that fit in with the music he plays each time he performs. “I change the story every time. Otherwise it gets boring, boring, boring,” he utters, his head drooping in mock sleepiness.
Marc also plays the cello, although he says he now has little time for it – little wonder, considering the number of hours he spends practising on the piano.
Says Chloe: “If he is just practising, he spends four to five hours a day. But if he is learning something he is really interested in at that moment, he easily plays for six to eight hours.”
Once a month, Marc flies out to China to learn under the piano professor Minduo Li at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music for a week. His mother had noticed a strong chemistry between Marc and the maestro.
Apart from that, Marc also studies music composition at the Colburn Music Conservatory in Los Angeles.
Hyperactive to impressive
When he is not at the piano, Marc may be out playing a game of boisterous tag in the park with his friends, reading or visiting art museums. He has also developed a new obsession with card tricks and gambling card games like Black Jack and Pai Gow poker.
Like any normal kids, Marc does get into trouble once a while. His playfulness caused him to hurt his hand about a week before an important concert with the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra in Texas last April.
“He hit his hand on the wall in the playground and couldn’t practise for a week. He could only remove the splint on his finger two days prior to the concert where he played Bach’s Concerto in D Minor that he had learnt just a month before,” says Chloe.
His startling transformation from hyperactive child to impressive performer is also something his mother has gotten used to over the years.
“Sometimes his energy drives me crazy because he would be running around or jumping up and down just seconds before he goes on stage. I would be like, ‘Can you please just meditate or calm down or shut up for two minutes?’ And he can’t.”
Occasionally, the boy needs an outlet to release that boundless energy.
“There was another time after a concert when he knocked down a dozen violin cases back stage. Other times he would be wrestling with children from the audience after the concert. That is how he releases his energy,” says Chloe, a full-time mother who travels everywhere with her kid.
Nevertheless, regardless of how mischievous or hyperactive he was before a concert or during rehearsals, Marc turns into a different person the moment he goes on stage.
“Then he is truly a performer, not just a student,” says the mum.
Chloe, who was until recently a single parent before she remarried – to ophthalmologist and cellist Dr Christopher Yo – says her family was always musically inclined even though she never took formal music lessons.
“I taught myself the piano, and I always have music around me. It was not a deliberate attempt to play classical music when I was expecting Marc,” she says.
Her intense love for and dedication to her son is evident in the close rapport they share. She even lives separately from her husband just because Marc needs to be alone during his practice sessions.
“When we practise, we don’t want anyone to bother us unless it is an emergency. My husband, being a musician, understands that and it is a perfect arrangement. We have never had a single fight,” she laughs.
Big ambitions
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Mini celebrity...Marc, playfully framing his face with the National Geographic Channel logo, posing for photos with fans after his performance. The little fella will be featured in the channel’s My Brilliant Brain: Born Genius documentary. |
The winner of the Young Artist Award in California last month is expected to play prestigious dates at London’s Royal Albert Hall and New York City’s Carnegie Hall in the next two years. More immediately, he is scheduled to play Beethoven’s first piano concerto with the California Philharmonic Orchestra on Feb 15 next year.
“The pieces I want to learn are a little too complex for me,” Marc admits.
“But I want to play the second and third concertos by Rachmaninov,” he says, his eyes alight with enthusiasm.
Chloe explains that the only reason he is not able to play those pieces is simply because some of the chords involved are too big for his small hands.
“His left hand has just reached an octave, which spans eight keys. He will have to wait at least five years before he can play those two concertos,” she notes.
That does not stop him, however, from attempting those pieces just for fun to play for his best bud, who is 25 years old and none other than the internationally acclaimed Chinese piano virtuoso Lang Lang!
So what are the other challenges he faces as a young musician?
“The first is diligence, which means hard work. One can’t give up too easily if one is to succeed. The other is interpretation. A lot of people can memorise music, but to interpret the composer’s piece and deliver it to the audience is not easy,” comes the answer – from the boy, not his mother.
Marc Yu is not just immensely talented, he is highly intelligent and mature beyond his age.
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