I learned that the musician’s life is neither glamorous nor is it lucrative. It is particularly difficult to live this way when one’s spouse is also a working musician. Once a child comes into the picture,as it did for us, I began to hate the work and realized that was not what I’d signed up for. I’m in a better place now, although I really miss being around musicians every day. My only regret is that I did not love it enough and did not have the ambition (nor was I talented/smart enough) to put in the requisite hours of practice and sacrifice to get a better paying job in music. However, I am now a subscriber to the same orchestra of which I was once a member. I now realize what an important role the audience plays in the performing arts experience and am proud to be a thoughtful, appreciative and sometimes critical audience member.

I consider myself one of the very few lucky ones – I never stopped loving music, even thoughn I went through the grind of the exams. I credit it to 2 great music teacher who taught me the true appreciation and great love for classical music. Both our children took up violin when they were around 6. They never took any exam, yet both became concertmasters of the local youth orchestra. They also had a great violin teacher who not only taught them very good skills, but also a deep love for music.

What a shame if the children in Hong Kong are turned off from music because of some misguided notion of their parents. Someone should enlighten these parents that it is more difficult to become a mediocre musician than a good doctor, but a mediocre doctor will make more money than a good musician – assuming that making money is their prioroty in life. Then they would not “waste” their children time and their money in pursuing “useless” activity such as music. One exception is Lang Lang – he makes “music” and lots of money at the same time. Need I say more?