Young fingers, timeless music
By Matt Van Tassel
Classical pianist Frederic Chopin named his pieces as if for filing purposes -- “Etude Opus 10, No. 12,” “Etude Opus 25, No. 3,” “Etude Opus 25, No. 9,” etc. His fans were the ones who gave the pieces colorful names like “Revolutionary,” “The Horseman” and “Butterfly.”
So before 14-year-old John Chen began to play “Etude Opus 25, No. 11,” he prefaced the piece by explaining that Chopin's fans had dubbed it “Winter Wind.” Then he took a deep breath and began.
As John played, snowflakes fell outside the window of the apartment above a garage where he and his mother live in Lovettsville. John played faster and the snowflakes began gaining mass and falling faster.
Blustery winds transformed the peaceful scene outside into a winter frenzy. As John's fingers unleashed a furious cascade of notes, it was easy to imagine a blizzard whipping across the frozen tundra of Chopin's native Poland.
John played the piece from memory. He has memorized all 24 of Chopin's Etudes, which, when strung together, comprise a 70-minute masterpiece.
People who know John often refer to the teen as a “prodigy.”
“I don't like the word, or 'talent' or 'gift' – it's all hard work, it's all practice,” he said. "Yes, you have to be born with something, but it's not all that, it's mostly hard work.”
John began playing piano in China when he was 4. He started taking lessons when he arrived in the United States at the age of 5.
John practices about six hours a day on weekdays and nine hours on Sundays. On Fridays, his mother, Litong Yang, drives him to The Juilliard School in New York City where he has a full scholarship to take classes like chorus, ear training, music theory, piano performance and chamber music. On Saturdays, he finishes his classes and takes piano lessons with a college-level instructor, then rides home.
During the week, John attends Notre Dame Academy in Middleburg, where he has a merit scholarship. Yang said Notre Dame has been important in John's success. The academic advisers have bent his class schedule around the tedious piano regimen, she said. Notre Dame provides 20 percent of John's tuition, and an anonymous donor who supports students of fine arts provides the remaining 80 percent.
John has won numerous competitions, including a second-place award for pianists ages 12-15 at the international “Step Towards Mastery” competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. Yang explained that unlike Americans, who often clap to be polite, Russians will only applaud if they truly enjoy the performance; some of the competitors exited the stage in silence. John received a standing ovation and played two encores.
Besides playing prestigious international venues, John has also performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
After he graduates high school, John said he plans to attend a school such as Juilliard or The Curtis Institute of Music or a conservatory in Russia. He said he probably won't start composing until he's 20 or 30.
When a person as young as John so passionately pursues something, he needs a support system to aid him – his mother, schools like Notre Dame and Juilliard, piano instructors, anonymous donors, even strangers comprise John's support system.
A couple of years ago, John's preparation for a concert at Carnegie Hall became too much for the neighbors of his McLean apartment, and he and his mother were evicted.
“I listen 10 hours a day, so I understand how the neighbors felt,” Yang said. “But we had no place to go.”
After reading an article about the situation in The Washington Post, Karen and Fred Schaufeld, of Lovettsville, offered the apartment above their garage.
“Without their help, I probably would say, 'John, think about doing something different than piano,'” Yang said. “But, I felt like I'm not just doing this for my son, I'm doing this for so many other people too.”
Yang knows her son is special – she hears it in the notes and sees it in people's faces when he plays.
“They say, 'A Chinese boy from America is playing Tchaikovsky's Concerto Number 1?'” Yang said, smiling.
John said he feels relaxed when he plays the piano. "I feel the music," he said. "I [try] to feel what the composer wants.”
Since there is no way to ask composers like Chopin what his intention was, John reads about them, about their life, and learns the background of the music – why they wrote it, when and where.
John said he likes some rock music, but his true love is classical – in place of an AC/DC poster on the apartment door hangs the noble visage of Johann Sebastian Bach.
“That's what's great about the piano – it can imitate the sounds of the entire orchestra. And not just the orchestra, you can hear different sounds, colors and nuances [that you can't with other instruments],” John said.
He turns back to the piano.
“This one is 'Etude Opus 10, No. 3.'”
John takes a deep breath and begins. He sits upright in a lime-green shirt, his fingers sweeping across the keys. The sound is bold, passionate. He seems content as his body sways to the music, his bushy hair bobbing, his shiny silver Adidas pumping the brass pedals of a Steinway baby grand.
Contact the reporter at mvantassel@timespapers.com