May 12 (Lunar calendar: March 23), 2023 Friday | Dawnxisoul393art

  

《The Girl between the Black and White Keys》, painted by dawnxisoul393

A girl is playing the piano enthusiastically. Her hair is floating in the air and her thoughts are floating. Magical plants are growing crazily, and wonderful flowers are absolutely huge and in full bloom. The girl was full of passion, and the music stirred and moved in her heart. Feeling the heat in the air, the luminous center of her body burst out a flame, burning more and more. She is the passion of life. Let her music lift us to the land of imagination, where the energy of life flows freely and our inner spirit runs wildly. The inspiration of our painting is a girl playing the piano, that is to say, the prototype of the girl in the painting is a young pianist named "Zhou Mo". We attended her piano concert and were very impressed，the girl wore glasses and was about 1.71 meters tall, her long, white fingers danced between the black and white keys, and her body vibrated powerfully to the rhythm of the music.

Zhou Mo, who started to learn piano at the age of 7, began to perform on stage at the age of 8 and won all the gold medals in the provincial piano grand Prix in his hometown for two consecutive years. Her appearance and performance shocked the music industry at the time. Zhou Mo then entered the primary school affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of music, the primary school affiliated to the Central Conservatory of music, and the middle school affiliated to the Central Conservatory of music, and then studied at Berlin University of art in Germany. Zhou Mo has won many awards in important international competitions, including the American "Schimmel USADU" Youth International Piano Competition, the French "Grand Prix Animato" International Piano Competition, the Italian "Città di Spoleto" International Piano Competition, and the Spanish "Villa de Xàbia" international steel piano competition. She has been highly praised and praised as "One of the most outstanding young pianists in contemporary times". Today, Zhou Mo is a doctor. Today, Zhou Mo has earned her doctorate. Today, Zhou Mo has earned her doctorate. But what we can't imagine is that she was born into an ordinary family and started learning piano at the age of 7 and teaching piano as a teacher at the age of 8 in order to come up with the expensive tuition fees.

Illustrated by dawnxisoul393

Zhou Mo's artistic journey began, as many children do, by the will of their parents. But she only practiced the piano for two or three hours a day, and played with the kids, as usual, the rest of the day, except before her exams, when she would extend her practice time. Zhou Mo admitted that she had a little talent for piano, so after eight months of practicing that year, she took piano grade 7. After winning all the gold medals in the provincial piano grand Prix (children's category) for two years in a row, the 10-year-old Weekend began her schooling career in 2004, when she was admitted to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music Elementary School, where she studied with the famous pianist Mr. Kong Xiangdong. In less than a year, she was admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music Affiliated Primary School as an interlocutor, one of only two interlocutors in the country at that time.

After graduating from elementary school, Zhou Mo was guaranteed to attend the Central Conservatory of Music Affiliated High School. To raise money for tuition, Zhou Mo started working as a "piano teacher" at the age of 8. Learning piano was expensive, which was a huge problem for Zhou Mo, who was born in an ordinary family. Before Zhou Mo started practicing piano, the family had some savings, but when she bought a piano and took lessons, the family used up all their savings at once. Having no choice, Zhou Mo's father had to ask Zhou Mo to start teaching students so that she could earn tuition and improve her piano skills at the same time. Zhou Mo understood her family's financial situation and she accepted her father's proposal. In the beginning, Zhou Mo went to students' homes to teach. Zhou Mo's students were often older than Zhou Mo. How could she convince them when Zhou Mo's students were older than her? Therefore, every time she started teaching new students, Zhou Mo would play a piano piece for them and then they obeyed. After Zhou Mo went to Shanghai and Beijing to study, she used her summer and winter time to go back to her hometown to teach the students.

Illustrated by dawnxisoul393

When Zhou Mo was in primary and middle school in Beijing, she taught college students, graduate students, and her big brother and sister who were working. Later, when she went abroad, she used video teaching. When she was a sophomore in senior high school, Zhou Mo was exceptionally admitted by Berlin University of art in Germany. During her high school years, Zhou Mo's piano skills improved rapidly, and she won many international piano competitions and traveled with Chinese cultural and artistic delegations to Europe, America, and Asia, which created an opportunity for her to study abroad. During her sophomore year, a professor at the University of the Arts in Berlin, Germany, approached Zhou Mo and asked her if she wanted to go to his school for college.

The professor had seen several performances of Zhou Mo and had always been in contact with Zhou Mo. This school ranked among the top 10 art schools in the world, and tuition fees are free, which made Zhou Mo a lot easier. In fact, it was not easy to enter this university. According to Zhou Mo, she must be recognized by all piano professors in the school. She did it. The rigid requirement of "having good German ability" stipulated by the school also made an exception for her. After entering the University, in order to further improve her piano level, she also studied command with conductor Lawrence foster, although sometimes flying from Germany to the United States was just for a class. At the University of the Arts in Berlin, Germany, Zhou Mo spent three years completing her four-year undergraduate studies.

Illustrated by dawnxisoul393

To Zhou Mo's father, Zhou Mo was a "tomboy" with a big, cheerful personality, but with the unique temperament of a piano girl. Zhou Mo liked playing basketball, tennis, and golf, but she seldom played basketball later because she needed to protect her hands. Zhou Mo's favorite sport later was swimming and she was best at breaststroke. But when Zhou Mo sat in front of the piano, she would immediately calm down. From the beginning of practicing the piano, Zhou Mo's father had been studying with Zhou Mo, including studying in Germany. Zhou Mo's father later had become Zhou Mo's agent. Zhou Mo's father thought it was his career to train his daughter. Others said he was stupid, but he didn't think so, he thought he was training several generations, if her daughter got ahead, her next generation would have a different starting point. Zhou Mo's father took care of his daughter's life, bought groceries and cooked, and usually accompanied her to classes.

Although Zhou Mo's father could not play the piano, he had a good theoretical knowledge of the piano. After Zhou Mo and her father went to Germany, Zhou Mo's father rarely went out at first because he didn't speak German or English, he couldn't communicate with people. Later, he used the computer and learned German and English by himself. Zhou Mo's father said that before a child was mentally mature, parental accompaniment could be interpreted as supervision, at this time, it was difficult for a child to learn if parents did not supervise the child, however, when the child grew up and had their own ideas and creativity, parents could relax properly, every parent wanted their child to be successful, but every child's path and every family's situation was different, so parents needed to take the time to observe their child and find the right path and education style for their own child. 

Of course, Zhou Mo's father's approach to raising Zhou Mo and his thoughts on raising children can only be used as a reference for us, as Zhou Mo's father himself said, every family and every child's situation was different.

Original by dawnxisoul393, 

The Story behind Our Painting 《The Girl between the Black and White Keys》