Another piano recital today. I've been trying this new hall since last month. It seats 50-70 people comfortably, so since I'm losing audience, I thought it doesn't make sense to stick to the old hall. Besides, this new place has better parking lot.
I had been feeling a little uptight since morning. Until 6 pm prior to the concert, which began at 7.30, I sold only 2 tickets. At 7 I sold 13 tickets, at 7.30-sharp 20 tickets, then ten minutes later 5 friends came. We started at 7.40. After two Rachmaninov Preludes, 8 people came. So that made 33 people. With 50 tickets I printed, that's more than 60 percent seats sold. Financially it's good. But the fact that only 6 piano teachers came (I'm one of them) didn't make me feel better.
There are about 30 music schools in Bandung, not to mention private teachers. Piano are always the most popular instrument in every school. The hall where the concert was is attached to a music school with 200+ piano students. But not 10 percent of them came. I didn't even see any teacher. The principal of the school opted to go see a brass band which happened to perform the same night.
A good friend, another classical music activist in town, asked me later how it was, and as I was telling him my story (while cursing a lot of people), there and then I realize that I'm most probably doing the right thing in the wrong place. The Italians will live on pasta 365 days a year, but Indians would die in a month. Walmart is a huge success in the US, everywhere else it's a flop. The Chinese will survive on porridge, but the Dutch would starve. A mangrove will grow strong in a strand, and not in a mountain. Some things find roots because the place where they grow has everything they need to strive.
Classical music is not so different. China is embracing this culture slowly but surely, and starts producing world-class musicians in this genre, although classical music is not their culture. In the country that was suspicious of any Western culture, how did classical music manage to find a voice? Taking the analogy from my previous premise, I think it's because China, or the Chinese, has everything to offer for classical music.
Let's be honest. (Learning) classical music requires hard work. People who say that learning classical music should be fun and is fun are idiots, and teachers who aim to make classical music lesson enjoyable are highly suspect. No learning process is fun, but you stick to it because it's worth it. The harder it is, the bigger the reward. Once you pass the difficult part, you'll find whole new world. (Then you go find another new world by going through the same process, only the path is steeper and the wind blow harder). Even if you're born with 100 percent musical gift in your genes, you still have to go through the technical drill, the aural training before you expand your musical horizon and emerge as complete musician. And that means lifelong learning. Classical music also requires a trained ear. Even those who learn classical piano or violin will find, at first, that listening to a simple minuet is not as easy as listening to Michael Jackson. To go through all these hardship and find your pot of gold at the end of the storm, you need to develop passion, curiosity, persistence, perseverance, attention to details, discipline, focus, determination, and let's not forget intelligence.
Most Chinese have those traits. They and classical music fit well like a glove.
I'm facing it now, with no hard feelings. I've had my sabbatical period. I returned, at a point, with a new spirit. But things haven't changed. It didn't make sense to me at first, but now I know. People in Bandung are not born for classical music. It's not for everybody. Characteristically, we're not ready for it. We don't have what it needs to excel, not even to dwell. To stay in this path would not be useless, at least for me personally, but it would be futile, at least for the moment. I doubt that my people will change into Chinese in 10 years time. I'll just make use of my time better now and concentrate on things that can be changed.
