August 30th, 2005

It has been a productive and interesting day. I had a great practice of Tchaikovsky Trio, had started to learn the 2nd Schumann Piano Trio, and had most of my private students' schedule sorted out for fall 2006.

Tchaikovsky Trio is always going to be physically challenging for me no matter how many times I had performed it. Having hands that can only play octaves, his piano trio part brings quite a strain to my hands. I love the variation-movement, the varieties of mood expression are so cleverly layed out that if the timings between each variations are measured well, the whole movement goes through like one act of a ballet or an opera.

Schumann's harmonic writing is so intriguing. each harmony brings you along with his journey of moods and expressions. I hope I can manage to bring listeners along to this journey.

It is tough to speak to someone you don't like. However, it is harder to speak to someone you don't like, and having to pretend that you actually like the person. You might ask, why do you need to do that, just be truthful to yourself. Well, no, it is not as simple. You have to consider your environment, your long term plan, your dream, your priority, your principle and many other factors. For me to express how I really feel about one person might make me feel great at the time, but it might do damage to my long term plan, or those connected to me. I know for sure, as long as I don't hurt anyone, as long as I don't bring pain or suffering to anyone, as long as I can be firm on my principles, I can have and use different strategies in my life. As I get older, I realize one cannot be selfish, because a selfish act will come back to hunt you.

This fall semester is going to be a challenging one. The schedule looks like this: two weeks tour in Taiwan, 14 trio concerts, 2 days of college teaching per week, 2 days of private teaching per week, learning new repertoire, rehearsing, continuing reading and improving my English skills, getting myself in shape, eat healthy, and many more. Can I keep myself sane while doing all these? Peter has total of 20 hours plus private teaching each week in addition to his performing & orchestra schedule. I hope he will be able to maintain his sanity, and be healthy and happy while doing all the work. We are in our 30s, and yes, it is time to work hard, However, we should be careful how we distribute our time also. Human body cannot run 24/7 without a break. Human brain cannot function 24/7 with breaks either. Let this semester be a good learning experience for both Peter and me for time management. We should work hard, stay healthy, and still enjoy life!

By the way, my trio's Karl Goldmark Piano Trios CD received a review from George Chien, Fanfare Magazine, to read the review, go to http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp;jsessionid=5FAD97768A88545AF2EC81356FB6FA7E?album_id=91529 .