Chutian Metropolis Daily, March 15 (reporter Zhang Cong) Wu Chun, born in Wuhan in 1982, is a young pianist in Germany and the only young pianist with three doctors in China.
When he was a child, he studied under Chen Wan, head of the piano department of Wuhan Conservatory of Music, and went to Ukraine alone in 1998 to study, because of his outstanding performance in a number of international piano competitions, Wu Chun won a congratulatory letter written by the former president of Ukraine, and was also noticed by Vladimir Kleniev, a world-famous piano educator and president of the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition. In 2005, he was invited to the Hannover Academy of Music and Drama in Germany, where Kleinev is located, which is also the alma mater of Li Yundi and Chen Sa. Subsequently, Wu Chun began the learning process of "three doctorates in two countries". In 2016, he became the first artist-in-residence specially invited by the Art Education Center of Tsinghua University, while taking into account his performance career.
On May 12, 2001, Chutian Metropolis Daily published the story of Wu Chun and Wu Chun's mother in the special issue of Mother's Day that year, with the title of "Single Mother Creates Piano Genius". In 2017, Wu Chun's study experience was accidentally learned by Dong Qing, and in April, he appeared on the stage of "Readers".
Dialogue Background:
When he left Wuhan for Ukraine in 1998, Wu Chun took with him all of his mother's belongings, $3,000.
He was a child growing up in a single-parent family, and in order to maintain his piano dream and family livelihood, Wu Mu, who was working as a mechanic at a college at Huazhong University of Science and Technology at the time, needed to work five jobs at the same time. For a long time, the living expenses of mother and son for a day were strictly controlled to less than 10 yuan.
But Wu Chun said he was very happy. Wuhan is where his musical dreams began, where he and his mother had painful memories, but more than that, help and warmth from those around him. It was this help and his mother's efforts that allowed him to finally realize his dream.
On March 2, 2018, during the Lantern Festival, Wu Chun, who had been away from Wuhan for 20 years, finally had a formal "return", and at the Qintai Concert Hall, the "center" of classical music dissemination in the city, he contributed a wonderful Lantern Festival concert together with the Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra and the famous Chinese conductor Jiang Jinyi.
On that day, Wu Chun and his mother invited many neighbors who had helped him as a child, and his uncle and uncle Wu Chun said that without these people, he, who came from a "poor" family, might not have been where he is today.
Mother and son live for 10 yuan a day, and this kind of life has passed for more than 1 year
Chutian Metropolis Daily: Who did you and your mother invite to see your performance?
Wu Chun: It's those uncles and aunts who helped me with my mother in our difficult times, watched me grow up, and took care of my mother when I was abroad. It may be a bit exaggerated to say, when I was a child, the environment in which I grew up was that the aunt who sold vegetables and biscuits in the Chinese trade market would take care of it, because it was really too bitter at that time, my mother was very familiar with these neighbors, and the aunt who sold biscuits I still don't know what her last name is, but when I was a child, I went to buy biscuits and she would stuff me a few more, because she knew that I loved to eat biscuits. Then like grandma (Chen Wan) is no longer there, after my mother divorced, she began to teach me without tuition fees, and there was too much warmth left in Wuhan.
Chu: At what age did you start learning the piano? In fact, it really costs money to learn this thing, you only have your mother around you, and her income is not high, how do you stick to it?
Wu: I'm 4 years old. The kindergarten teacher found that when I learned to sing, I reacted faster than other children, remembered well, I could sing two or three times, she told my parents that she felt that this child had "talent" (laughs) and could learn music, and suggested starting with the piano. Of course, from my current point of view, that is only a little bit of "something" that is more prominent than other children, my parents spent 1600 yuan to buy a Yamaha electronic keyboard, after finding a professional teacher to study, they borrowed more than 4000 yuan to buy a piano, and by 1992, when I was 10 years old, it was also my mother's continuous efforts for 3 years, and I got the opportunity to learn from my grandmother (Chen Wan).
My parents divorced in 1993, when my father moved everything out of the house, and my mother and I had to sleep in the college lab for a long time, putting together tables at night, two quilts and one bed. From that time on, my mother worked five jobs a day, such as mimeographing exam papers for the college, helping to weld electronic components, and then going to the tailor's shop to sew buttons and pants...
Chu: What kind of state is it when you are most bitter? In The Reader, you said that there was a time when your living expenses were 10 yuan a day.
Wu: If you say that before you go abroad, it is the time to rebuild your home. In order to exercise me, her mother also wanted me to know the meaning of "money", so she gave me 10 yuan a day and let me be responsible for arranging the daily life of the two of us. I always remember her telling me that you could buy snacks and toys with this money, but we only had so much money a day, and we had no food to eat after buying anything else. I started to be a "little housekeeper" from that time, about a year, I was responsible for cooking in the canteen, settling accounts, at that time I and her ate a vegetarian dish a day a meat dish, and then breakfast and dinner were buns, steamed buns and porridge.
Chu: You didn't give up the piano when it was so difficult.
Wu: At that time, my level was already very good, and the piano competitions in the city all won very good places. In 1995, I was faced with the choice of whether to go to a special music school at Huagong High School, and my grandmother insisted that I should not give up, and it was a pity to give up. But I needed to pay 35,000 yuan to enter the Wuhan Conservatory of Music Affiliated High School, we did not have this money, and finally went to a music private school with a scholarship. But for me, as long as I can learn the piano, I really like it, and more importantly, behind my mother's insistence, she always said a sentence, "Problems can always find a solution, believe in my mother." ”
After studying in Ukraine for 6 years, he did not return to China, relying on more than 500 letters to report safety
Chu: It is also because of this support that you took $3,000 and resolutely decided to go to Ukraine?
Wu: When I went to Ukraine, on the one hand, when Professor Popova of the Odessa Conservatory of Music was lecturing in Wuhan, she wanted to take me after listening to my performances, on the other hand, the roots of classical music are in Europe, and those who study piano must also go to Europe if they want to pursue their dreams. $3,000 was all our belongings at that time, of which $1,500 was the tuition fee for the first year, and the other $1,500 was a year's living expenses; as for whether the money for the next year was there or not, how to come, we didn't dare to think at all, take it one step at a time, just bite your teeth and go to Ukraine.
Chu: During this period, you have not returned to China for 6 years.
Wu: When I left, my mother and I both knew that it was impossible to come back in a short period of time, and it cost about $700 for a round-trip ticket back to China. In order to maintain my studies, at that time, my mother was working in China, I was studying and working in Ukraine, the first two years of our contact has been relying on communication, international calls can not afford, my mother agreed to write me a letter once a week, the postage of a letter is 1.6 US dollars, this is still she squeezed out of the living expenses of 4 yuan a day. Later, there was an internet, and my mother wrote me a letter every day, and I replied to it at least once a week. By 2006, I had written more than 500 letters. 6 years without coming home, you say I will not want my mother? I was 16 when I went out, and the living conditions in Ukraine were quite difficult, and I survived on the piano. The conditions of the students are very good, many people buy game consoles or something, I try to go back to the dormitory as late as possible, and I have been practicing the piano. Practicing is to participate in international competitions, you can get a bonus, and then shorten your studies to reduce her burden.
Chu: Never been tired or want to give up?
Wu: I'm not qualified to be tired, and I can't give up. Just think about my mother in the country behind me, how can it be (slack)? Two people are always dependent on each other. And since I was a child, I have enjoyed the sense of accomplishment that I have made through my own efforts to make my mother smile when she is very bitter. Of course, there is pain, the first time I spent the Spring Festival abroad, when the living expenses were cheated away by others, when I missed my hometown cuisine... After going abroad, I actually cooked my own food, but the bean skin hot dried noodle soup, you want to make no raw materials, I was later in Germany, life slowly got better, I learned to use pasta to make hot dry noodles (laughs).
Chu: It is very rare for a pianist to study 3 doctorates, what were your considerations at that time?
Wu: First of all, I went to Ukraine and I read it continuously, and I jumped one level in the middle. After graduating with a master's degree in 2003, I was supposed to go directly to Germany to study for a doctorate in Hanover, but before my visa came down, I went directly to Ukraine to study for a double doctorate in virtuosity and music theory, and then to Germany in January 2005 and then a doctorate in virtuosity. Piano learners generally have two ways out, either playing or educating, you are outstanding, the whole world may have a stage; if the performance is not so top-notch, it may focus on teaching. I want to have both the stage and the podium, to be a little more diversified, and I am now walking on such a path.
Do not agree with "happy education", the initial insistence must come from the constraints of parents
Chu: What kind of opportunity is it to go to "Readers"?
Wu: At that time, I was already teaching at Tsinghua. This program is to find some pianists in Beijing to help with live music accompaniment, such as the first issue is Li Yundi. The one I went to record was relatively long, from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. After recording, Dong Qing probably felt sorry, so he walked over to me and thanked me. Didn't I publish an autobiographical book myself? I gave her a copy, and she said, "I'll definitely read it." "Of course, I didn't go too far into my heart, but I didn't expect that she didn't sleep that night and read it directly, and the next day at the meeting, she took the initiative to ask me to read aloud and tell her story."
Chu: Actually, when we saw the clip of this show, Dong Qing's eyes were always red, and the hardships you have worked along the way have touched her.
Wu: The clips on the show were 12 minutes, but we recorded the show for two and a half hours, and it was in the form of a chat. Dong Qing cried many times, the scene "stuck" 4 times, she just made up the makeup 3 times, many people at the scene cried.
Chu: In the eyes of many people, you are a miracle that comes out of a poor family, they feel that they can see the power of dreams and perseverance in you, in your opinion, what is the way to get out of the "mud of life"?
Wu: Whether you say "get out of the mud" or "realize your dreams", the persistence of parents at the beginning is very important. I started learning piano to "develop my intellect" (laughs), and of course I thought it was fun at first, but after a while it was painful: boring scales, repetitive basic skills training... It is completely different from the initial excitement and imagined beauty. Especially after practicing, other children can go outside to play after doing their homework, and I can only play the piano, including summer vacation and winter vacation, I have never traveled.
At this time, it is necessary to insist, the child's persistence often lies in the parents, and success is forced out.
Many people now mention "happy education", "listen to children", "don't impose your dreams on children", in fact, really, children do not understand anything, children's favorite is of course to play. I often tell some parents that an iPad and a piano, those 100 children will choose the iPad, that is simple and fun. Or to constrain. When I was a child, my mother and I "agreed on three chapters of the law", and I had to practice the piano well, so I could play for a while and watch cartoons and eat some cookies. If the piano is not practiced well, everything is not discussed.
I don't need it later, why? When I went to elementary school, I was a music class representative, and I could accompany my classmates, and I felt that I was different from others. When I can win the prize and accompany the choir, the piano thing brings me applause, honor, and superiority. When I'm older, I can even work as a tutor and take prize money through competitions to reduce the burden on my family... So what is the interest? Getting used to it is interest, and having a sense of accomplishment is interest.
Chu: So the "dream" is realized step by step.
Wu: I'm very simple. My original dream was to be able to play the piano well. In the sixth grade, Grandma said not to go to a normal school, to try it in the conservatory attached middle school, then I will prepare for the exam. When I was 16 years old, I thought of going to "find my roots", going to Ukraine step by step to participate in competitions, winning prizes, and after meeting Kleinev, my dream became to go to Germany...
So my "dream" is a stage by stage, I never said at the beginning that I was going to be a pianist in the future, I didn't think so far a goal, and then pushed myself to go, to suffer from gain and loss. My mother said to me, "Make a little progress every day", "Compare with yesterday's self is the most down-to-earth", I do this, everyone has their own way, everyone has their own day. Take your own path well, make progress day by day, no matter how hard it is, the dream may succeed.