Hi everyone this is Brandon from Liberty Park music today joining us an interview
is Rachel Lee. She's a percussionist, a pianist and as always she's going to
share with us her special insights and advice on musical practice. Now Rachel
say hi to everyone and tell us a little bit about yourself hi everyone my name
is Rachel and as Brandon mentioned I'm a percussionist and a pianist and I just
studied in London for four years and graduated from the Royal Academy of
Music with a bachelor and now I'm back in Hong Kong where I originated
so I'm now teaching classes and also teaching some school kids forming some
percussion ensembles and just teaching mainly and also doing some performance
and that's it yeah all right so from what I gather you you perform you teach
oh there are lots of different projects so what's the typical day of yours look like
So a typical day would start off with usually a bit of a morning practice
and then after that I'll go teaching or I'll go rehearsing which usually takes
place in the afternoon and then after that I just go back home have my dinner
and practise a bit more and go to bed okay that sounds like a lot of practice
so how many hours do you do in a day usually around four to six depending on
my mood and how I feel that day depending on your mood okay I like that
like that so I mean when you were a student
do you still more or less have this kind of schedule like 4-6 hours, you said 4
to 6 hours right is that way yeah yeah yeah well when I was a student in the
Academy like when I was studying in London I probably did a bit more like
around 6 to 8 in that case because when you're in school you don't have to rush
off to go teach, you don't have to think about lesson plans and you just have one
target and that's practicing and just getting better at everything you do so
I did practice a bit more when I was a student
and now it's starting to lack a little bit but I accept that mmm
and I suppose through teaching you also learn you know you also improve yourself
as a musician yeah and you learn a lot more as well yeah yeah okay so um so
when you do practice I mean when you practice is there a structure that you
follow like for example do you do warm-up or is it you know a set of
particular things that you do you work on first usually I start with the
warm-up because warm-ups are just so important to getting ourselves warmed up
and your mind and your body to be ready for practicing and then after that I
usually start with a bit of old repertoire that I already know and just
play through it or and just play whatever I want to play and then after
that I will learn something new it might not actually be a new piece it might
just be a new technique or just something new to the fingers and just to
get that new refreshing thing in the brain and usually I just end playing
something I like and just ending it yeah right so what's what's your warm-up
routine my warm-up routine for piano usually starts with scales because
that's the best things to warm your fingers up and usually after that it's
just about relaxing your shoulders and doing actually a full warm especially on
the arms because usually it gets really tense after a while and with that it
would increase the risk of getting injured
which would make you unable to practice which is what we don't want so that's
usually what I do right so yeah so I guess you you practice for piano and
also for percussion right so how much of each do you do because I'm majoring in
percussion right now so usually I do around two-ish
hours on piano and the other 3-4 hours would be on percussion right and and I
usually start with piano as well because percussion just has that physical
element that would make you so tired don't want to practice piano
afterwards so that's why I do it this way around right you don't mix them so
you do piano first and then you're done with a piano and then percussion yeah
usually it's like that yeah so it takes I see and so I mean four to six hours
quite I mean it's quite a lot of time so how do you how do you allocate these
hours throughout the day well usually uh it's sort of just like a guideline of
how long I practice sometimes it might be like six and a half hours sometimes
it might be just three and a half when I don't feel happy so usually I just start
off warmup usually takes around 20 minutes to 30
minutes depending on the state of my arms and hands and fingers and then
after that the old repertoire will take around 45 minutes to an hour and then
after that I'll go for the new pieces or new techniques which usually takes
around an hour or two on the piano depending on how hard it is and then
after that I go for a 15-minute 20-minute break and just changed the
percussion and just warm up again because that break usually cools off too
much so a bit of a warm-up usually a physical like just like what athletes do
just trying to relax the arms do some stretching and then after that just go
on for some warm up on the percussion and then after that just go over the
old repertoire new repertoire and usually that's how it ends all right so
it sounds like you have piano you have percussion and you know so many
different things to work on for practice so how do you prioritize them how do you
plan your practice you know each may be different techniques you want to work on
different pieces you want to work on well so usually I work on techniques
first because that's usually what's most important and then after that I work on
the piece that's like similarly related to the techniques that I just practiced
and then after that I just consolidate it with another maybe another piece
and to just learn more on especially musical sense because sometimes when
you're to focus on technique you just forget about the musical element so when
I practice I put that in as well so technique first a piece that relates to
the technique it might even be just a simple Czerny or some Sonata after that
I put something that's a bit musical and that develops my musical brain after
that so that's usually how I structure my pieces and how I practice speaking of
musical so do you plan like listening to music into your practice well that's
something else that's something I actually do every night like maybe just
an hour to just trying to listen to a different genre even jazz rock or
classical but that's usually not inside when I actually do practice it's usually
outside but I usually do it everyday hmm so when you do that is a you know
are you sitting in front of sheet music and taking notes or it's more like just taking
in the music usually it's just for taking in the music and just feeling the
music but then sometimes when you actually have to learn at a piece it's
like you know you have to learn that piece and I would sit down with my pen
and then the music and just make notes as I listen to it mmm okay so it's for
like if you really need to study a new piece then you do that okay yeah yeah um
so how many years have you been playing music well I started piano when I was
around three years old so I would say around nineteen eighteen nineteen years
on the piano like on the piano so I would stay yeah around that nineteen
years on the piano and for profession how many years uh sixteen oh okay so you
started when you were six yeah, for percussion, yeah I see I mean how did you
get into playing different kinds of percussion instruments
so percussion it actually started when our school was recruiting members for an
African drum ensemble and and so I was like well I'm just like a six-year-old kid
trying to find something to do and just not just sit at school every day trying
to learn maths English or whatever so I was like okay I'll join and then it was
like an after-school activity so we just went on and then I made some really good
friends and it was so much fun just hitting drums and just letting it all
out especially when you had like a dictation that only got like C+ or B-
or something like that so and then I just got into it more and more
like like loving it and just like liking hitting things like all kids do and
that's how I started okay okay yeah and it's a legitimate reason to to to hang
out with with your musician friends and you know yeah lace and ribbons okay um
so I mean with all these years of music playing have you ever gotten frustrated
with your practice where you know with the sound oh yeah I actually have quite
a lot like it it happens quite a lot especially when you're you're you're
having a bad day like when sometimes you try to sit at the piano trying to play
something so simple that you can play with your eyes closed on any other day
but on that day it just does not work like it just doesn't sound even this
sound just sounds weird you're like the pedals not working for
you and that gets me really frustrated because you know you can do it you can
play it and you've played it numerous times and now you cannot and it gets
really frustrating at times what do you do so usually I would slow it down like
I would well there are two things I would do for one thing I would do is I
might just say let's take a break from this piece like let's not play this
today let's play something to like maybe something that doesn't require as much
technical side and or and then something you actually love you actually enjoy or
the other way is that if that's a piece that I have to learn like I know I need
to learn it or like I have a performance coming up and I
have to play it I'll just take it down like it might be marked 144 for crotchet
I'll just take it down to like maybe 100 110 just take it down take it slow for a
day or two and then it would get better as it goes on it might actually even
help in that case yeah yeah okay yeah I think that's what I do as well yeah I'm
or sometimes I create it's that funky ways to play that same piece so it's
almost like we learning that piece yeah but yours even though it's the same
music mm-hmm yeah okay so so before it performance do you have a special
routine for for your practice so for my practice right before the performance
usually around a week or two before the real performance I would take everything
slow everything needs to go down in speed because I find that what happens
especially to me is my adrenaline level gets really high on the day and what is
fast already like on the edge fast would get completely out of hand if I just go
on and just bash on through the two weeks so usually I would just take it
down a week or two like not very slow but at least under speed and then on
today it's got to be perfect that's what I'm like okay yeah all the excitement on
the performance day yeah um what is your overall philosophy about practice so my
overall philosophy would be that to enjoy it like practice is something that
should be enjoyable and something that you look forward to instead of something
that you dread and just hate doing it and you just do it because your teacher
or your parents need you to do it or because you need to have like good
grades for your next exam or something that's the last thing you want to
practice to be so that's how I like that's why I structure my practice into
doing things I love like playing music that I really love
and maybe if I have a piece that I hate but I have to learn I'll just put it in
the middle crush it in the middle and then before that I might even just play
some Disney medleys or something that just cools my brain and gets me ready
and then after that I'll just play a piece I love and so it would make it
more enjoyable and not as torturous as it could be if you just make yourself
learn something you don't like mmm yeah so so do you have any special tips about
for example like you know there's this technique that you have to learn and you
know sometimes it's just inevitably a bit boring or maybe repetitive so how do
you motivate yourself is there anything that you do you know practice that
differently or make it more interesting well I think the easiest example to stay
there would probably be scales because everyone needs to practice scales and
everyone knows they have to but then if you just repeat it up and down up and
down every single day you would get bored and you won't want to do it
anymore so usually I put different rhythm patterns into it so for example I
even tried doing like just putting your favorite pop song on and then just
playing the skills with the rhythm like what do you have to know the rhythm well
and then so you just play along to it so and so you're actually working your
brain at the same time instead of just doing repetitive things on your hands
and it's actually really interesting to see how your left brain in your right
brain you can do two things at the same time and it also at the same time it
works your skills but then it doesn't get boring because you're always working
it up mmm okay so you know just to spice things up and then challenge your brain
and coordination okay and any other special things you do like with the
scale since you know I I'm sure our audience is very interested in ways to
make your scales and arpeggios more fun to play, besides changing rhythms
well scale I tried actually doing two scales at the same time
like my left hand might be paying a G major scale and my right hand wasn't
playing an a-flat minor scale and then some and then after a while you actually
find that some scales work really well together but then that's how I sometimes
play with it because you can stand see how how well you actually know your
scales and at the same time because you're actually constant and trading
focusing and working hard you're actually improving your own musicality
and also the technical side when you're playing scales so that's what I
sometimes do when it's actually fun mmm that sounds very fun I think that that's
what this American composer Charles Ives was doing growing up I believe I read
that his father made him do it you know two hands one in D
major and the other one C major - it's like a clashing sound yeah okay that's
it's very challenging to do yeah but yeah definitely it's not gonna be boring
yeah yeah so so I guess your advice on how to make practice in how to get the
most out of practice is to make it enjoyable and yeah so then you you look
forward to doing it yeah you know try to avoid it
okay um so going back to what you're saying about the perform and stay so do
you get anxious about giving keeping a performance I still do right now I mean
I've been performing for I don't know how long ten plus years but I still get
an anxious before getting onstage and sometimes it just makes you freak out
mmm so what'd you do my my routine is quite special and also I think it only
applies to me but I love playing with my Rubik's Cube right before I go onstage
so when I'm sitting backstage where for my turn or just getting ready I play
with memory cube I just solve it like and then mess it up solve it mess it up
because I find that for me it helps me keep my mind focused but at the same
time I'm not too focused on what I'm going to play because if I just keep on
thinking what I'm gonna play in like five minutes or something I mess it up
when I get on stage because you just think too much you know so when I like
if I take the time off and concentrate on something that's not reason but the
same time it doesn't let your mind wander of and go sleeping or something
it helps me concentrate and play as I practice before on stage. I guess
it's a little bit like meditating like you focus on one thing in a meditation
focus on your breathing, in your case you focus on a game.
isn't that risky to play a game that you might not be able to finish before
before the performance time well I usually make myself like I would say
like okay I'm not going up yet but just let me finish it
oh you doesn't take too long it takes me at around a minute to actually finish
one so it's not too bad you're good at that
oh yeah good for me if I do that I won't be able to get on stage alright and I
might get actually more frustrated I'll get it alright that's a very interesting
advice um so you know sort of redirect that energy to something that
you can focus on so what what kind of performance gets gets you most nervous
what kind of performance would be those that I'm playing a piece of very new
music which you cannot even find a recording online or anywhere and you
just have to play it and you trust yourself that you know it and then
especially when you have to memorize it and especially when it's 20th century
new music by composers that's maybe two three years older than you and when you
actually have to do a performance in front of a big
audience yeah yeah and then it freaks me out because you don't know because the
thing is you don't actually know if you're playing what's expected of the
piece and you don't know how audience might react because they won't think
it's the composer's fault that it's boring or it just doesn't make any sense
it would be because of the performer because you're the one performing the
piece yeah yeah true but I mean this may be a really awful thing to say but given
they never the audience never heard the piece before in a way it's not as
stressful but I totally get you I mean as in performing you want to convey the
message that the composer meant okay so again about about performing um so
can you recall your worst performance ever
well my worst performance was actually three four years ago and one of the
competition's it was actually an international competition it was for
marimba and I it was a piece that's written with a temple marking of presto
and I just managed to go up and play something that's like at least two times
its fastest it should be because of the tension the anxiety and the adrenaline
and if you actually know how like when you're playing with two hands and with
two sticks it will get tangled up if you play too fast because it's you're not a
robot you're a human being and so that was really bad mm-hmm
that was the worst experience I ever had did you did you do your Rubik's cube
that was actually a competition I forgot to bring my Rubik's cube so I had
no I need yeah how many how many of those do you have with you I have six of
the standard ones the three times three and then I have the four times four and
the five times five so with you right in your bag I usually have one of each in
my bag but at in my house I have how many I have because every time I
find it I forgot to bring I have to buy one like instantly because I know I need
it refer to performance any Hong Kong I guess you can get one very very easy
yeah it's quite easy yeah in London as well I suppose yeah yeah okay enough
with a you know bad memory so what about the best performance the best
performance was again in one of the competitions but it was for piano and I
was playing a Chinese piece and it was autumn with the silver moon something
like that and then it was a very beautiful scenic piece and the
atmospheric music is so nice so when I actually finished playing the last note
and then it just faded off I felt so emotional and then I just felt
like actually painted a reading beautiful picture and it just touches
your heart so much and then the audience was like in silence for like 10 seconds
before they started clapping and I was like I think I did a good job yeah and
then you just know you played it well and you also feel it you feel very good
you just feel like I'd actually played with the piece like not notes I played
it out yeah yeah yeah and you you know that the audience actually get the
message yeah yeah we want to convey okay yeah that's good and I yeah for me I
think what you know my my good performance is always they always make
me feel very emotional I feel that way I almost know yeah okay um so speaking of
speaking of a Chinese piece so I noticed that you also play this Chinese
instrument Gu Zheng and you also sing a couple piano and whole sets of
percussion instruments tell us about how you got into you all this
well Gu Zheng was when I was around nine years old I was watching the
television with my mom and it was one of those like mid-autumn festival programs
and then there was his really beautiful lady on the TV she was playing a really
good piece and it wasn't actually a Chinese piece
she was playing it on Gu Zheng but it was actually a mashup like some kind of jazz
piece with some classical piece but she plays it on Gu Zheng and then I just found
it like how can you actually do it it's like it's not even the instrument it's
like a Chinese instrument like but you can play jazz tunes and everything on it
and it sounds so amazing and then that's why I got into Gu Zheng
and then for singing it's because I started with the choirs at school like
around like six or seven like everyone goes singing choirs and then I actually
found that I love singing it's just it's really natural for me to just go singing
like even in the corridors or when I'm having a shower or something and then I
just decided to get like get going and see how far I can go with singing so
yeah do you perform as a singer as a singer I just I do for my teachers
students recital like I sing sometimes I mean I don't actually practice singing
so I guess that makes me not as good a performer and singing them compared to
any other thing so I don't usually do a lot but sometimes when when my teacher
has recitals I'll go and help her out and then yeah see what about Gu Zheng
do you you also perform I actually stopped Gu Zheng when I got into
secondary school because it was a little bit too overwhelming, four things
going the same time and because by then I already took my grade eight exam and I
was like I think I should drop it and this focus actually focus on other
things because you just can you just have twenty-four hours you can't spend
like as much time on every single thing as you want to try to prioritize right
yeah okay so so back to practice so what would be the
one advice you give our audience to improve their practice efficiency to get
the most out of their practice well most importantly just enjoy it it's like just
enjoy every single second as you practice it's actually a really exactly
privilege to be able to practice to have the instruments to have the time to
practice and especially when you're playing something you like it's
something that you love it's not something that you're forced to do
that's why to be efficient in practicing the most important thing is to make
yourself enjoy it love it make sure your brain knows what you're
doing make sure it's enjoying it not falling asleep or just traveling in
outer space or something just make your whole body feel at home when you're
practicing and it would increase the efficiency
very well said very well said I love you advice um alright so I'm afraid this is
so all the time we have today and thank you so much Rachel for sharing with us
you know all the stories and the good advice on practice hope to see you soon
thank you very much again yep thank you bye
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