Queen’s Birthday Gift: abdication for the new king

If I weren’t in Maui or connecting flights in Chicago, I would definitely rather be in Amsterdam right now.

Only by stumbling upon a friend’s post on Facebook did I learn that the Dutch Queen is abdicating her throne for her son on 30th April 2013. What a historic event it is!

Every year, on 30th April, every one in the Netherlands comes out to play. It’s not the present queen’s birthday but that of her mother’s that she chose to declare a public holiday for the nation. There are street parties from morning till night. You can either choose to host your own party, sell your wares outside your house, on your street, or visit other parties. The next day is probably the smelliest and dirtiest day in the country, for the streets reek of stale beer and urine.

My first encounter of the Queen’s Birthday Party was in 1995 when I decided to visit the Keukenhof, by way of a conference in Rotterdam. My Dutch friend told me about this public holiday and gave me a glimpse.

From that day on, I was hooked. Every 30th April in the Netherlands was a day to enjoy with friends.

Here’s a toast to the Queen and the new King —- and all my friends in the Netherlands.

What money cannot buy in Taiwan

Even with the positive effects of globalization, it’s still not possible to get what you want where you are. Sometimes you have to travel elsewhere to be able to choose what you want at a better price than you can get where you live.

In Taiwan, it’s possible to eat very well for less than what it costs to buy a cup of coffee in the USA.

For lunch, we three ordered 4 dishes from an authentic Szechuan restaurant: tofu, greens, clam soup, and 3 bowls of Szechuan wontons (chao shou). The meal came with unlimited self-service white rice and sweet black jelly drink (xian cao, or hsian tsao, or translated literally, fairy grass). The bill was US $12.00.

In the early afternoon, I got a haircut for US $3.50 — just the cut, no shampoo or blow dry.

Later I ordered a small bowl of wonton noodle soup for about US $1.50 from an outdoor, roadside stall (hawker). It was so filling that I barely had room for papaya, pineapple, salt-water goose leg, steamed bamboo leaf parcel, and other small dishes (xiao cai; hsiao tsai) afterwards.

Yet, at the same time, an iPhone 4S costs about US $663 outright. SIM unlocked. It’s better to get such gadgets in the USA. Accessories, such as iPad and iPhone covers, on the other hand, are quite inexpensive and varied. I bought a nice iPhone 5 cover for a mere US$10 at a convenience store in Taipei.

The 2.5 hour coach ride from Taipei to Taichung cost me US $6.00 —- quite hard to believe.

My nondescript hotel in Taichung has all the amenities I need for the week: wireless Internet, shower, TV (though I don’t need this), clean bed & daily change of sheets and towels, shower, toilet, two mirrors. I can get boiling hot water or cold water from a dispenser in the hallway. It’s a 5 minute walk from my father’s home. How much? Less than US$ 25 per night.

The walk to my father’s home meanders through a shopper’s paradise of colorful assortment of shoes, clothes for all seasons, and other material goods. Sales range from 10% to 90% off. Everything is primed for “shop till you drop.”

Unfortunately, all that glitters is not gold for someone who is not here to shop but to maximize the experience of one precious week for another year or more before I see my father again.

Fourth anniversary of Concertblog

Four years ago, I started the concertblog to document what it’s like to give concerts, plan, record, review, and travel.

It’s been a long and very interesting journey, cumulating in 96,000 visitors. In time to come, I’ll round it up to 100,000.

While our intentions were pure, we certainly had no idea of the outcome. Where would we be 5 years from now? 10 years?

One thing for sure, we didn’t expect to end up on opposite ends of the earth: one in full-time education & working part-time, the other working overtime. And being apart, it’s impossible to give concerts as a duo.

Thanks to skype and Facetime, it’s still possible to review our different lives and pursuits.

The endorphin-kicking rush of giving a concert is still there. A live performance still beats a recorded one.

As I type this blog on my iPad in a hotel in Honolulu, I am thinking about our last trip to Taiwan — we managed to perform a few extracts of our duo programme at a Rotary Club in Taiwan. We sightread music with a string quartet in Taipei.

Tomorrow I fly to Taipei to experience a taste explosion. That will be my celebration of this four year journey of experimenting and experiencing all that’s possible as traveling musicians. It’s also a time to reflect —- where next?

How to overcome stage fright

Some of my confident piano students admitted to “nerves” or “stage fright.”

This is not uncommon for first time performers.

I said to them,”You’re used to sitting in the audience, as a student. I’m used to standing in front of the class. It’s natural that you’d experience stage fright when we swap places.”

We brainstormed on how to overcome stage fright.

One student said that taking drama class helped a lot. There are exercises in impromptu acting which helps you think on the spot. You are forced to stand in front of an audience you can’t see because the spotlight is directed at you.

Another said practice. The more you practice, the more you know the piece and the less likely you will mess up.

Yes, practising the piece you’re going to perform is important. But you should also practise giving performances.

I told the class that I once pursued a bad habit of looking for grand pianos in hotels. I would force myself to go to the piano and play something from memory. The audience was anonymous and so was I. I had nothing to lose but everything to gain.

I also recalled forcing myself to make announcements at meetings or ask questions at conferences. Once upon a time, I worked on the trading floor for dealers who were impatient and intimidating because of the large sums of money they were managing. It was scary to join their late morning meeting, make an announcement and become the center of attention for 3 minutes. I was sure they’d rather go get lunch.

The important thing is to overcome your fears.

Long ago, I remember my hands and fingers getting antsy, sweaty, and even numb. I can’t remember when I stopped feeling like that.

They say it takes 10,000 hours to get good at something. How many thousand times does it take to overcome stage fright?

Concert etiquette for performers

When you google “concert etiquette” you get tips on how to behave as a member of the audience. This article is not about that. It’s about how performers should behave so that the audience will appreciate the performance.

I asked my piano students how they felt when the performing student didn’t bow or look at them when he/she got on stage and off/stage. They weren’t quite sure.

I showed them how to get on stage, how to bow, and how to end a performance by standing up and bowing. I told them they could lean their left hand on the grand piano to steady themselves. But the important thing was to spend a little bit of time looking at the audience and show modesty and bow for acknowledgement — that you appreciate your audience being there.

I asked the next student to bow before she played and bow afterwards.

The students in the audience said that they felt recognized and appreciated as the audience. It also seemed like a real concert.

How difficult is it to show some basic etiquette before and after you give a performance?

One student remarked that rock musicians don’t do that always.

The thing is, I said, the performer is not the most important person in the room. The audience is.

Without the audience, it’s not a performance.

I next talked about mistakes. If you make a mistake, don’t show it. Don’t grimace. Continue.

I learned that lesson long ago —- poker face. Don’t make a big deal out of it. Your audience isn’t there to judge you and count the mistakes you’ve made.

Next: how to overcome stage fright.

Ides of March Concert

Branding begins with a name.

A relevant name makes it easier to remember than a non-relevant one.

Make the name easy to pronounce and spell. Then it’s easy to remember.

The 15th of March is traditionally known as Ides of March.

Ides of March first page by Anne Ku

For years, I celebrated the Ides of March, not for “bubble, bubble, toil and trouble” or the risk of it, but rather the fact that I launched my first website on the Ides of March.

One particular Ides of March in 1997, I drove my red Nissan convertible out into the wet streets of Houston. Actually, it was more than wet. It was flooding. At the wettest point, I found my car swimming in the waters of Upper Kirby. This ordeal left such an impression that, immediately upon my return, I wrote the lyrics and music to “Ides of March.”

For my Friday Piano Class, I decided to give their first recital a name — the Ides of March Concert. Doors open at 1:45 pm. The Concert begins at 1:45 pm on Friday 15th March 2013 — in Maui!!

Getting close to 94,000

Whenever the total number of visitors inches towards the next notch of 1,000, I feel an urge to write a blog post.

Somehow, knowing that I can influence my blog statistics gives me a sense of urgency and power.

But the visitors that arrive at the Concertblog are not necessarily lured by the latest blog post. There is a time lag. Search engines drive the traffic here.

Originally this blog was intended to chart the adventures of our piano guitar duo as we travel and perform in Europe, USA, and Asia.

Except, we are now on sabbatical.

Robert is pursuing his doctorate in the musical arts (DMA, for short) at the New England Conservatory in Massachusetts. I am teaching piano and running a electric vehicle project in Hawaii. We don’t get to perform or rehearse together.

You can find our music online in video format (youtube) and discography.

Below is probably one of our earliest rehearsals captured on video — in Ealing, London, 2003.

Art music in Maui: a critical mass of audience for sustainability

Art for art’s sake only may be sustainable in a big city like New York, London, or Amsterdam. But on Maui, where there are plenty of other things to do outdoors, to sit down and watch a concert indoors without coughing or speaking for 2 hours seems a sacrifice if you’re only here for a week.

But if you live on Maui, it’s another story.

What we need on Maui, an island of 727 square miles and population 158,000 with 2 to 3 million annual visitors a year, is a critical mass of an audience for art music. By “art music” I refer to anything from Renaissance to 21st century avant garde music, spanning most of what we know as “classical music.”

When I count the number of classical music concerts at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center (MACC), which is equivalent of the Carnegie Hall of New York City, Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, and Royal Albert Hall of London, it averages one concert per month. And these concerts don’t get sold out either.

Every time I’ve gone to these concerts, I wondered to myself “where’s everybody?” How can they miss Dame Kiri Te Kanawa? How can they miss the San Francisco Pocket Opera? How can they miss the Van Cliburn winner?

How did Elton John sell out a concert and had to add another one the very next day? Elton John was classically trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

How did TedxMaui 2012 and 2013 fetch a full-house at the 1,200 seat Castle Theater at the MACC?

A critical mass can be created from a mailing list, the way Gordon Beal, the temptation of London, has done for art music, theatre, art exhibitions, and other events. He made it a “can’t miss” social event. You will not be lost. You will not be alone. You will not waste your time. His e-mails are sent early enough so you can decide if you want to go or not. His e-mails are specific enough so that you will know exactly what you’re getting into, what to wear, what to bring, what to expect.

One of our Monument House Concert Series fans said this of our house concerts: “I don’t need to bring anyone to your concerts. I can go alone because I know I will have a great time and great conversation.”

It’s not so at formal venues. Although the acoustics might be perfect, the performers exquisite, and the music awesome, you will be alone. You won’t interact with anyone else in the audience. There will be cliques — those long-time concert-goers who know each other and feel comfortable in each other’s presence. Unless you are like me, who enjoys going to concerts alone, most people, I daresay, are not like this.

So concert going becomes a social activity. For newcomers to Maui, it could be very attractive if there’s a group that welcomes you — and even better, pre-concert talks that explain the music, composers, and raison d’etre so you will appreciate it at a deeper level.

Tonight, I bring my first group — my 25 piano students and their guests to the Ebb & Flow Arts Concert at the MACC.

TEDxMaui 2013

I was introduced to TED.com a few years ago by a fellow Rotarian in the Netherlands. I’m convinced that it really is an idea worth spreading, and one that needs such a viral introduction at first. I probably would not have stumbled upon it had he not told me about it.

The value of videos on TED.com grows over time because it becomes a database of useful and inspiring presentations & performances all over the world, largely through TEDx. The way the presenters engage and empower the audience on topics that are timeless and yet timely is one reason why it will live on.

We performers have much to learn from its success.

TEDx are produced in different locations around the world. Maui started its own in 2012 with presenters somehow related to Maui or Hawaii.

On Sunday 13th January 2013, I attended the last 3 segments of the TEDxMaui 2013 production at the Castle Theatre of the Maui Arts and Cultural Center (MACC).

I was most impressed by the ability of certain speakers to convey a knowledge or skill that I had originally considered complicated in a way that made me learn and see the beauty of its simplicity. The elder explorer who taught the audience how to navigate the Pacific Ocean by the stars gave us a taste of that extraordinary craft of ancient Polynesians. The Hawaiian musician Mahala made us chuckle and laugh while he showed us the secrets of the slack key guitar, in particular, his view that each of the 6 strings represented a different instrument.

The lights were not off as typical of most performances. They were ON — because the audience was just as important as the performer(s).

Audience engagement is more important now than ever before.

My burning question was this: why was TEDxMaui able to attract a full-house at the 1,200 seat Castle Theater but not Dame Kiri Te Kanawa?

Reflecting on Christmas, in Maui

The last two weeks of the year have always served as goal posts, a.k.a. deadlines, a marathon that began 50 weeks ago that ended in a sprint. Every year, wherever I lived, I looked forward to those two weeks of stillness — a.k.a. peace on earth — a time to unwind, to stand still, and to stop.

Full stop.

In the madness to get there, I had set a deadline of Wednesday 12th day of the 12th month, this year of 2012 A.D. to finish a report. My colleagues wanted closure, and so did I. In the final moments, I waited till 3:15 pm, while the report was being “brewed” to perfection, and left for Roselani Place, an upscale residence for the elderly, to give a one hour Christmas Carol concert. The audience had already sat for nearly 30 minutes, having been told the concert was to begin at 3 pm instead of 3:30 pm as I had on my calendar.

Upon returning to the office, I was delighted to see that the report was ready for submission. 5 pm. SENT. I could now focus the remaining Thursday and Friday on clearing up, one final piano class, entering grades, and configuring the auto-responder for my well-deserved 2-week vacation.

The next deadline was 6:20 pm Kahului Airport to receive my childhood friend LL who had booked her first class return flight from Colorado as early as July. My cottage wasn’t “quite ready” but I had cleaned the floor and made it at least respectable, despite the clutter of unopened bills, previous drafts of reports, all piled in a criss-cross fashion, i.e. chaos.

Recap:

• Wed 12 Dec Report submission. LL arrives from Denver via LA.
• Thurs 13 Dec House-sitting appointment.
• Fri 14 Dec Last piano class. RB arrives from Boston, via Phoenix.
• Sat 15 Dec Swap Meet. Last visit to office.
• Sun 16 Dec Birthday barbecue in Kula.
• Mon 17 Dec Vacation begins. Drive to West Side of Maui.

….

Today I read of high surf advisory at the north shore. LL and RB went south instead, to catch some gentler waves while I cleared up the beautiful plantation house we’re to reconvene for a Christmas barbecue later on.

Before I get under the outdoor shower, let me pause for reflection.

I’m thinking of my friend Suntea in Colorado Springs, just a week before his 49th birthday, in hospital. I cannot imagine a worse place to be. Meanwhile I am here with my sister and mother who live nearby.

I want to thank all those who helped us reach our goals — RB pursuing his DMA in Boston and I reinventing myself in paradise. It’s hard to believe that we have actually achieved what we said we wanted to do in late 2010.

The future? Next steps? It’s time to make new goals.

Merry Christmas, all my friends, family, colleagues, neighbours, past and present!!