Concert pianist and music teacher Tony Lu is in Petersburg. He plans to spend a week in the schools, playing for students and staff, and giving workshops.
Lu, who is blind, started playing the piano when he was five. But unlike most people, he learns by ear.
“The way I learn it is, I go on YouTube, listen to it, maybe two to three seconds at a time, pause the video, and then memorize what I just heard,” he said. “And try it on the piano and work it out and then go on.”
Lu moved to the United States from China at age 16. Now 26, he lives in Vermont and teaches a wide variety of music classes to students of all ages.
He brought that teaching experience to Petersburg High School’s band class earlier this week. After recounting some of his life story, he turned to music history. He told students that while improvisation is mostly associated with jazz, it used to be common in classical music as well. There are often sections of the song that are repeated in classical music. He said that today, most musicians play those repeats exactly as they’re written.
“That’s not what they did. In the Baroque and classical era, they decorate the second time when they play something.”
He turned to the piano.
“So I’m gonna give you a relatively easy-to-listen-to example, so you can get the concept,” he said. “Here is the very standard Mozart piece.”
First, he played Mozart as it was written on the sheet music.
“In the repeat, instead of [what was written], in Mozart’s time, they would do something like….”
Lu demonstrated a complicated variation on what he had just played.
“So there are a lot more notes, right?”
Lu plans to play a community concert as well. He said, during concerts he likes to provide a little historical context for each piece, a sort of auditory program note.
“I hope every single piece is a little surprising to them, and they’re gonna get to know the piece as I talk about the history part,” he said. [The pieces would be surprising] “because they expect the pianist to play piano music. And they’re hearing everything not originally written for the piano and saying, like, ‘Oh, this is for cello. Oh, this next one is for, you know, a soprano singer and piano.’”
He plans to perform a combination of orchestral and chamber music. Orchestral music is written for hundreds of musicians. Lu transcribes those pieces for a single musician to play on the piano. He says he spends a lot of time listening to the original version and trying to figure out what each instrument is doing. Then he pares down the piece, trying to convey its essence with far fewer notes.
But Lu said he won’t be playing just classical music.
“So if you don’t like Beethoven, Brahms, well, how often do you hear Russian jazz played in Alaska? This is your chance!” he said.
You can hear that Beethoven, Brahms, and Russian jazz at the Lutheran Church Sanctuary at 2 p.m. on Sunday, February 11th. Admission is free, although there will be the opportunity to donate.
