{"id":190915,"date":"2015-02-03T04:00:04","date_gmt":"2015-02-02T18:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=190915"},"modified":"2015-02-03T04:00:04","modified_gmt":"2015-02-02T18:00:04","slug":"re-mi-student-tops-guam-music-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/re-mi-student-tops-guam-music-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Re Mi student tops Guam music competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

A student from Do Re Mi Music School topped the elementary division of Guam Symphony Society\u2019s \u201cYoung Artist Competition 2015\u201d late last month.<\/p>\n

Young musicians from both the CNMI and Guam went head-to-head in the Jan. 28 and 29 competition at the University of Guam Theatre.<\/p>\n

Kevin Liang, an 11-year-old from Saipan Community School, emerged on top with his rendition of \u201cViolin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64-Third Movement,\u201d by Felix Mendelssohn.<\/p>\n

Ao Zhang, Do Re Mi\u2019s founder and one of Liang\u2019s teachers, called the song a \u201cdifficult piece, a professional piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did great,\u201d Zhang said of Liang in an interview yesterday.<\/p>\n

Liang began his study of the song in August, practicing every day ahead of the competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cViolin is a difficult instrument,\u201d Zhang said. \u201cBut Kevin\u2019s talented. He practices more than three hours a day. Saturday and Sunday, eight hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>
From left to right are Do Re Mi music school founder Ao Zhang, Kevin Liang, and teacher Yi Wang. (Dennis B. Chan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zhang said the song requires \u201chigh technique\u201d and all kinds of different skills on the violin, among them great finger dexterity and a good ear for intervals and tempo.<\/p>\n

Other musicians played the piano, auto saxophone, violin, or sang, among other things.<\/p>\n

Pianist Cameron Fruit accompanied Liang during his performance as well as on the trip. Zhang and Liang\u2019s mother could not accompany him over issues with their papers.<\/p>\n

Zhang said he wishes he could have made the trip. He said Liang stood on the part of the stage that was farther away from the audience than he should have, but he still happened to win.<\/p>\n

Did Liang get nervous on the stage? \u201cI never get nervous,\u201d he told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n

Zhang said Liang has all the different skills and supporting factors that make him good. Liang also plays the ukulele, flute and piano.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst you need talent,\u201d he said. \u201cHe never feels scared,\u201d Zhang said of Liang. That\u2019s a talent, he said.<\/p>\n

You also need an \u201cear\u201d or \u201cmusic sense,\u201d he said. This can\u2019t be taught, Zhang said. You also need good teachers, and supporting parents, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot everybody has all these,\u201d Zhang said.<\/p>\n

Liang will perform at the Young Artist Award Winners concert on Feb. 15 this month. He also plans to play at Guam\u2019s Tumon Bay Music Festival in March.<\/p>\n

Liang treated Saipan Tribune to a live performance of his winning rendition.<\/p>\n

The song was played fast, with dozens of notes cascading across the air of the room, peaking, dancing, and riddling the ear for a soothing, lively experience.<\/p>\n

It may make you feel young again. \u201cThe violin has a soul,\u201d Zhang said. \u201cIt moves your heart. It\u2019s very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A student from Do Re Mi Music School topped the elementary division of Guam Symphony…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":190916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900,4],"tags":[1590,1591,1592,38],"class_list":["post-190915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local-news","tag-ao-zhang","tag-guam-symphony-society","tag-kevin-liang","tag-saipan-tribune"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}