Starting at the tender age of 6-years-old, Alexandra Chen has always enjoyed piano. Encouraged, but never forced, by her mother who wanted to give her the opportunity she never had to create music on the piano, she is the only one of her family to play an instrument.
Alex considers it good fortune that she was able to get on the waiting list to receive piano lessons from popular teacher, Mary Martin, based in the unassuming town of Newport, South Wales. She has never looked back, journeying with her for 14 years.
It all began with simply singing the alphabet and focusing on each note at a time, singing rhymes and having fun, as her tiny 6-year-old hands got used to the keys.
Grade 3 is when Alex considers she started to learn properly, and she was committed to practising and improving. Some incentives from Mary helped, who would reward Alex with sweets as she progressed in her playing.
Reaching grade 6 is when harder challenges were encountered; learning scales and all the “technical stuff” was the least enjoyable part of her journey to becoming an accomplished pianist.
However, reflecting on it, Alex recognises that it can only ever be later on when you are able to play complex pieces, begin professional performances or study at degree level that you realise why you had to do it, and it becomes more than worth it.
She shares that by far the best thing about playing piano is when you learn all the notes of the piece and can use the score directions to manifest your own interpretation of the work onto the piano.
Another highlight of her musical career to date is using what could be seen as disadvantages, a small hand-span and RSI, to discover and share pieces from lesser known composers.
Being classically trained, of course Alex has studied and played all the household names – Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin – but throughout her degree she’s relished choosing pieces that are not on the standard ABRSM set list but finding alternatives.
By doing this, she has discovered Spanish composers and pieces they have written for piano that fit her hand-span well. This is surprising since Spanish composers tend to compose for guitar, which when transposed onto piano results in pretty large chord spans.
So, to be able to play Mallorca ‘Barcarola’ by Isaac Albéniz, which he originally wrote for piano, was something quite special for Alex, who is half Spanish.
She shared how much she has enjoyed being able to celebrate Spanish music and at the same time encourage other pianists who may also have a smaller hand-span, that there are wonderful pieces out there to play.
My dream piano? One with no discrimination. I would love an all-rounder that can play any and all genres of music. I appreciate a piano with clarity of sound, vibrant and clear, that is not too heavy handed. For me, it’s all about sound – how will this piano sound in my space and can I control the resonance?
