Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • [APPLAUSE]

  • LANG LANG: Good morning.

  • Thanks for being here.

  • I'm very happy to be here for the second time.

  • But the first time I wasn't on this stage.

  • I was just visiting the office.

  • It's a very cool office, I must say.

  • And so I prepared some morning songs for you to wake up.

  • So a few Chopin pieces.

  • I will start with one of the very beautiful nocturnes and

  • then one or two etudes, and then a Chopin waltz.

  • So hopefully, we will get really waked after 20 minutes

  • of performance.

  • Thank you.

  • [APPLAUSE]

  • [PIANO MUSIC - CHOPIN]

  • [APPLAUSE]

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Hello, I'm Jeff Spurgeon from WQXR, New York's

  • classical station, 105.9 FM, online at wqxr.org.

  • You may not know, because nobody told you,

  • this is Lang Lang.

  • He's a classical pianist, reasonably well known

  • all over the globe.

  • And it's quite a wonderful thing to hear you play.

  • Let me ask you, what was your warm-up for

  • this just this morning?

  • Did you warm up this morning?

  • When's the last time you touched a piano?

  • LANG LANG: I didn't warm up.

  • I woke up around 10:20.

  • I'm like, oh, god.

  • And we were running like crazy down the street to get here.

  • And I'm really grateful that you are here

  • today waiting for me.

  • And thank you very much.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: It's really wonderful.

  • [APPLAUSE]

  • JEFF SPURGEON: It's extraordinary to have all that

  • music just in your hands, just at your command.

  • But that's what you do.

  • LANG LANG: By the way, Rubinstein said-- one of the

  • greatest pianists.

  • And he said he has 60 piano concertos in his head.

  • And basically during his 70s or 80s he said

  • just call me up.

  • Wake me up in the middle of the night-- like,

  • let's say, 4:00 AM--

  • and I can play whatever piece you want, in concert level.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Well, I believe it.

  • But so can you.

  • But so can you.

  • He had a little more practice over time than you so far.

  • But you'll be there.

  • In China, Lang Lang is credited with influencing some

  • 40 million kids to take up classical piano.

  • Now, I know that 40 million is not maybe a

  • huge number at Google.

  • But still, it's a reasonably large number of people to

  • persuade to take up.

  • And when you think about all the pianos that have to be

  • made, and all the music that has to be printed, and all the

  • lessons that have to be paid for, I would say that you are,

  • without question, classical music's greatest job creator.

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • JEFF SPURGEON: I don't think there's anybody who's going to

  • do more than that than you are.

  • Lang Lang's new album on the Sony label is "The Chopin

  • Album." It contains, at its heart, the Opus 25 set of a

  • dozen etudes, studies for piano, that you have been

  • studying since I think you were what?

  • Eight is when you started to play those things?

  • LANG LANG: Yeah, I started to play the Chopin

  • Etudes when I was eight.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Took them on the road when

  • you were 12 or 13?

  • LANG LANG: Yeah, I played the complete etudes when I was 13.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Right.

  • LANG LANG: And it was very tiring to play those pieces.

  • I mean, it drives me nuts and drives my neighbors nuts.

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • LANG LANG: I really feel bad about it, you know.

  • Recently, I started practicing at my apartment here and

  • started practicing the Chopin etudes.

  • And then my neighbor knocked at my door.

  • And he said could you stop?

  • Could you stop?

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Really?

  • Did they really?

  • You're making that up.

  • LANG LANG: No, no.

  • I mean, there's a one neighbor who knows who I am, so she's

  • always like, oh, that's really wonderful.

  • But then another neighbor, I think, living downstairs--

  • because I always like to practice after 11:00 to find

  • inspiration.

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • LANG LANG: And this lady, I think she

  • hate me all the time.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: So you've been playing these since you were

  • eight, playing them in public since you were 13.

  • Why record them now?

  • Why not a little earlier?

  • Why not wait a couple more years?

  • Maybe the wine will mellow a little more in the bottle.

  • Why decide to do these now?

  • LANG LANG: Ever since I'm 30, I like to do some more

  • repertoire which I played a lot when I was a kid and also

  • putting in some new pieces.

  • I actually thought to do the 24 etudes to

  • complete the cycle.

  • But actually, I thought maybe I should do something, not

  • just technical pieces, but also very artistic pieces

  • combined for the Chopin first solo for me to

  • record and also to hear.

  • I was actually watching the video that I did when I was

  • 13, playing the complete etudes.

  • And I find a few wrong notes.

  • I'm like, yeah.

  • But I'm now playing a few of those pieces, like the "Winter

  • Wind" and the "Ocean" etudes.

  • Now it feels slightly easier--

  • slightly.

  • So that seems like a good sign.

  • After 17 years of practice, my technique is going somewhere.

  • But more importantly, it's the musical sense.

  • There are so many new things I'm trying to interpret in

  • this album to try to find different colors, like you

  • have here, different levels of colors and the combination of

  • the styling of Chopin, and the romantic period of repertoire.

  • And especially last year, I did Liszt.

  • So I thought this was a nice momentum to do Chopin.

  • So next year will be very different.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: What's next year?

  • LANG LANG: Next year I will do Prokofiev and Bartok.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Wow.

  • OK.

  • LANG LANG: So it's very, very different--

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Gnarly.

  • LANG LANG: --approach.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Yeah, totally different.

  • A totally different world.

  • There's some unusual pieces on this album.

  • The "Andante spianato" and "Grande polonaise." big

  • favorite of yours, done with orchestra sometimes, but

  • there's the solo version.

  • You've always liked this piece?

  • LANG LANG: Not really.

  • I mean, when I was a kid, I hated it.

  • Because no matter how great the works are, if there are so

  • many pianists playing the same piece not at a very good

  • level, then you will feel kind of bored.

  • And so that exactly happened when I was a kid.

  • I heard so many interpretations of this piece

  • that I got totally overwhelmed.

  • And I didn't like it.

  • Then I came to America.

  • And I studied at Curtis in Philadelphia.

  • Do you know the Philly cheese steak?

  • It's pretty good.

  • Anyway, in Philadelphia, a boy from Kiev, he also studied

  • with the same teacher as me, Gary Graffman.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Gary Graffman.

  • LANG LANG: And he played in the student recital.

  • I was shocked by his playing.

  • I'm like, wow, this piece is spectacular.

  • And then I started to loving this piece.

  • Thanks to him, of course.

  • And so sometimes one amazing performance really changes

  • your entire view of a work.

  • And that's what happened in the "Spianato" and "Grande

  • polonaise."

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Nocturnes.

  • You played, actually, a wonderful cross-section of the

  • album just a few minutes ago.

  • There's a piece on this album.

  • It's the last selection.

  • It's called "Tristesse." And it features a singer named Oh

  • Land who is from--

  • LANG LANG: Sweden, I think.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Sweden.

  • She lives in Williamsburg, because most people do.

  • LANG LANG: Yeah, Brooklyn's getting big.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: It's beautiful.

  • And can you tell me the story of this?

  • Because it's from a film, "Tristesse."

  • LANG LANG: Right.

  • We did a film during the Chopin year called "The Flying

  • Machine." So it's basically adapted to a novel about

  • Poland today.

  • And it's compared to Chopin's days.

  • So actually, I was an actor in this movie.

  • And my partner was Heather Graham from "Austin

  • Powers," the girl.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Yeah, Heather Graham.

  • Many, many faces lit up when you said those words.

  • LANG LANG: But that one was pretty classic.

  • I need a hungover thing.

  • I miss the baby, yeah.

  • And so that film, actually, was quite inspiring, because

  • it was Chopin's music, and takes the

  • journey of a piano, actually.

  • The piano became a flying machine.

  • So we take the kids over the world.

  • And so the theme song, we actually thought the

  • "Tristesse," which is Opus 10, Number 3, etudes, is such a

  • beautiful melody, which I played second to the last.

  • And so we transcribed that to the theme song, so we got this

  • beautiful voice.

  • Her name is pretty fun, Oh Land.

  • So in the beginning, I didn't know if it's a he or a she.

  • Then when I heard the voice, I most certainly said, it's she.

  • And she did a wonderful job.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: It's a sweet song.

  • And a lot of popular songs have been

  • written on Chopin themes.

  • LANG LANG: Yes.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: And this is another one, which is great.

  • Your foundation, let's talk about that because that's such

  • a big deal.

  • The Lang Lang International Music Foundation, it's going

  • great guns.

  • You had some kids, I think, from part of that program on

  • "The Tonight Show" recently?

  • LANG LANG: Yeah, two weeks ago, I was on Jay Leno.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Four minutes of classical music on network

  • television.

  • It was extraordinary.

  • It was four whole minutes.

  • It was amazing.

  • LANG LANG: These days, it's hard to get

  • classical music on--

  • JEFF SPURGEON: That's exactly right.

  • LANG LANG: Anyway, I mean, Jay is a good friend.

  • And I mean, his name is Jay Jay now, you know, after--

  • JEFF SPURGEON: After Lang Lang.

  • Right, sure.

  • LANG LANG: Oh, my god, he has 400 cars.

  • Anyway, let's not talk about that.

  • So we actually had a very fortunate selection of

  • wonderful tenants from the Los Angeles area.

  • I mean, some of the kids, actually, I know them before,

  • because they performed with me, my foundation, actually.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: They were young kids, too.

  • There were 10 of them.

  • So Lang Lang played.

  • You play some "La companella," and the E-flat waltz that you

  • heard part of here.

  • And then 10 kids, five other Steinways around in the room,

  • and they all joined you for the Mozart "Ronda alla Turca."

  • LANG LANG: Yeah, Turkish March [HUMS TUNE].

  • I'm sure you know it.

  • And it was so beautiful that I really enjoyed

  • working with them.

  • But the way they played, it was magnificent.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Yeah, very sweet.

  • LANG LANG: And I mean, I thought everyone watching our

  • next generation perform, it's a special moment.

  • And for me, it's very inspiring.

  • And that's what our foundation is wanting to do, to work with

  • the next generation of artists, and helping them to

  • support them to achieve their dreams, just like many of the

  • mentor helped me when I was very young.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: So it's about helping the next generation,

  • not necessarily about classical music.

  • I mean, it is classical focused, I think.

  • LANG LANG: Yeah, it will be a focus on classical and piano.

  • But at the same time, we will also do some event, let's say,

  • with the Grammy people and VHI people.

  • So we are trying to break the boundaries through this

  • wonderful project.

  • And I created this 101 Pianists project.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: You have 100 pianists with you on stage?

  • Is that the idea?

  • LANG LANG: Yes.

  • And 50 pianos, so people play four hands.

  • So the reason is that--

  • JEFF SPURGEON: That's also a great job creator, too, just

  • for the movers.

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • LANG LANG: Yeah, the movers were quite happy about it.

  • But the reason we want it is that as a pianist, we always

  • practice by ourselves.

  • It's sometimes very lonely.

  • You are in a dark room, much darker than this room.

  • And I practice hours, hours.

  • And it's hard training.

  • And for kids, it's important to have a partner.

  • So two kids on one piano, so they can talk a little bit.

  • It's like doing your homework, that type of thing.

  • And then the teachers can teach

  • them how to play together.

  • And in the end, we all get together and play

  • and enjoy the music.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: The music-making, yeah.

  • October 30 at Carnegie Hall, the Lang Lang International

  • Music Foundation is having a big benefit concert in the

  • evening with Joshua Bell, and Dee Dee Bridgewater, and the

  • formerly mentioned Oh Land.

  • LANG LANG: And Alec Baldwin.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: And Alec Baldwin will be the host.

  • And some scholars.

  • So what's going to happen that night?

  • Just a big bunch of music making, I guess?

  • LANG LANG: Yeah.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Do you collaborate with everybody?

  • Are you doing something with Dee Dee Bridgewater?

  • LANG LANG: Yeah.

  • So here I start to play some Chopin.

  • And then with Josh, we play the Grieg Piano Sonata.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Is he Jay Jay also to you?

  • LANG LANG: Josh Josh.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: OK, just checking.

  • LANG LANG: And then in the second half, we start with

  • four hands, six hands, eight hands, and 10 hands.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: On one piano?

  • LANG LANG: No.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: OK, just checking.

  • Just checking.

  • LANG LANG: Yeah, 10 hands on one piano.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Well, you'd know each other very well by

  • the end of the piece.

  • You'd be very familiar.

  • LANG LANG: Sounds like subway in New York, yeah?

  • JEFF SPURGEON: That's right.

  • You are a master.

  • At the age of 30, you are a master

  • recognized around the globe.

  • But are you still a student?

  • And do you see any of your old teachers?

  • Gary Graffman was your teacher at Curtis.

  • I know you've done a little bit of

  • work with Daniel Barenboim.

  • LANG LANG: Absolutely.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: When you see them, do you play for them and

  • ask them for their thoughts?

  • Is it a lesson?

  • Do they give you notes?

  • How does it work at this level where you are in your stage of

  • artistry with these older mentors, I

  • guess you'd call them?

  • LANG LANG: Yeah, I mean, my teachers were--

  • and still are--

  • Gary Graffman, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniel Barenboim.

  • And they helped me tremendously, not just

  • technically.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: I was going to say, they're not going to say,

  • you missed the E-flat on the 40th bar.

  • That's not what they do.

  • So what do they--

  • LANG LANG: Well, sometimes they do that, too.

  • But because the great musicians, like those names,

  • they are much more focused on the understanding and also on

  • the traditional interpretations, so they will

  • show you how the traditional sound.

  • And then we will start discussing about new

  • possibilities of how we recreate those moments, the

  • traditional lines.

  • And then they will help me to find out my ways.

  • I will start to explore some of my ideas on those passages

  • how I'm going to do it.

  • And obviously, we know that in music, there are certain

  • styles, but there's not certain rules.

  • And so basically there are a lot of alternatives.

  • And the important thing is how to organize the alternatives

  • and how to balance them, having a right pause.

  • And this is the challenge because you can do a lot of

  • interpretations.

  • But even it doesn't balance, if it in the end doesn't make

  • sense, then all those feelings are wasted.

  • And so first, you should explore, and then you need to

  • limit your interpretations into certain ways.

  • And then in the concert, you start everything new again,

  • try to get inspired from the actual stage and to recreate

  • new feelings, new emotion, but aware of the tradition lines,

  • which will hold every interpretation in the right

  • speed and right pause.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Well, you're part of that tradition.

  • You're recreating it and making it

  • new at the same time.

  • I should say, too, that there's time for questions

  • from all of you here at the end a little bit.

  • Just think of your question.

  • LANG LANG: Hold the line, hold the line.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Yeah, exactly.

  • I've wondered about the transition from Chinese

  • culture to Western culture for you in music as well, because

  • you grew up playing this music for a very long time.

  • For me, Chinese classical music is a little bit strange

  • and maybe a little bit difficult to listen to,

  • because I haven't had as much experience with it.

  • You've been steeped in both traditions.

  • Do you hear them the same way?

  • Or do you switch sort of from one to another?

  • And you've put them together, too.

  • Because you've done lots of piano transcriptions of

  • traditional Chinese pieces that weren't

  • thought of on the piano.

  • LANG LANG: Just like this, when you hear American music,

  • when you hear German music, when you hear African music,

  • it's different.

  • But at the same time, it's all called music.

  • It's like language, you know.

  • In the end we try to expressing similar subjects,

  • similar feelings, but using different wording and

  • different language.

  • That's a bit like the music world.

  • I mean, obviously, you need to switch fast with the taste of

  • music making.

  • But in the end of the day, for example, I grew up both in

  • Chinese traditional music and the Western classical, because

  • my father plays erhu, which is Chinese melody.

  • Recently, I found a different interesting thing of the

  • difference between a fork and chopsticks and the difference

  • between erhu and violin.

  • Do you see the similarity?

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Yeah, I understand.

  • LANG LANG: The erhu has two strings.

  • And violin has four.

  • And chopsticks--

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Two.

  • A fork, usually four tines.

  • LANG LANG: So here I go.

  • So that's the difference.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Very good.

  • That's a very good answer.

  • I mean, one of the things with your foundation, you're

  • helping people to explore classical music.

  • Do you feel like you can make people like classical music?

  • I feel like sometimes it's a sales job.

  • Nobody says, oh my god, you've got to hear rock and roll.

  • You won't believe what this stuff is.

  • Nobody says it.

  • But about classical music, sometimes people say, oh,

  • well, if you haven't heard it, you should maybe listen to a

  • little bit of it.

  • Do you feel like you're ever having to sell

  • it, the idea of it?

  • LANG LANG: I mean, one experience I

  • got was pretty funny--

  • two experiences.

  • The first was seen in America, and then I'll

  • talk about China later.

  • So first, in America.

  • I came when I was 15.

  • And then I was in a regular high school in Philadelphia,

  • all those dudes and [INAUDIBLE], you know.

  • And then they asked me, what do you do

  • here in this country?

  • Oh, I'm studying classical music.

  • They were like, classical music?

  • What is that?

  • Oh, I know, I know.

  • Are you playing the dudes who's already passed

  • like 500 years ago?

  • You do his work?

  • I say, yeah, it's kind of like that.

  • I said, just think about Shakespeare.

  • He's dead for many years.

  • He passed, but still his work is a classic, right?

  • So then I know we have a serious problem.

  • And then a few years later, I went back

  • to China for concerts.

  • And then during the CD signings, this one guy came

  • and was like, I saw that you are recording the

  • same label as Mozart.

  • So you see, it's totally opposite.

  • But somehow, it's quite funny.

  • So in a way, that gives us the room to have some work to do.

  • But I don't think we need to sell this art because

  • classical music is so wonderful.

  • People sometimes don't know it.

  • That's it.

  • We just need to--

  • using social media networks and platforms.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Can you give an example of social media?

  • Just kidding.

  • Just kidding.

  • It's Google Talks.

  • It's Google.

  • It's Google Talks.

  • Sorry.

  • LANG LANG: Yeah, I mean, remember a few years ago,

  • YouTube had a YouTube symphony orchestra competition?

  • And it was a big phenomenon on the internet.

  • And I had a great privilege to be the

  • ambassador for the project.

  • And so in the future--

  • today even, when I tweet or Facebooking--

  • I start to share some of the musical thoughts, not just

  • talking about food and movies, but to share a little bit of

  • feelings to the music I play.

  • And then I share some of my favorite links of the great

  • musicians perform to try to inspire some fans to listen.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Very good, thank you.

  • All right.

  • There are microphones over there.

  • So if you have questions, please go to a microphone.

  • And we'll line you up and knock you down with Lang Lang.

  • AUDIENCE: Hi.

  • My name's Samir.

  • I'm here at Google.

  • I am a father.

  • I've got a five-year-old and a two-year-old.

  • And for better or worse, my kids are into popular music.

  • LANG LANG: Good for you.

  • AUDIENCE: Yeah.

  • I'm wondering--

  • so making them sit down and listen to better music, to

  • classical music, feels a little heavy handed.

  • LANG LANG: Oh, thank you very much.

  • AUDIENCE: It feels a little heavy handed.

  • I was wondering, what have you found really works with kids

  • to get them engaged and interested in new kinds of

  • music, in particular, classical music?

  • LANG LANG: There are a few composers which I felt quite

  • have a really good connection to kids.

  • One is Tchaikovsky, pieces like "Nutcracker" or "Swan

  • Lake." And Mozart, Mozart probably is the best composer

  • to inspire the kids.

  • And Chopin, also, I would say is melodic.

  • But you wouldn't start with Wagner's "Ring Cycle," right?

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • LANG LANG: That's a little hard.

  • So good luck.

  • Maybe there's some new Lady Gaga coming out.

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • AUDIENCE: Hi, quick question.

  • Along those lines, I have a four and a six-year-old.

  • LANG LANG: Baby time.

  • AUDIENCE: And they just start and stop things, especially my

  • six-year-old daughter.

  • She's interested now in piano.

  • How do I get that going, keep that going?

  • Because I imagine there will be challenges along the way.

  • LANG LANG: First, get a good teacher.

  • That's very important.

  • And very important, if you have time, please take her to

  • a kids event, a kids concert.

  • I'm sure Carnegie does a lot of those

  • things and Lincoln Center.

  • Or take her to some of the concerts

  • that other kids perform.

  • Because for me, it was the same.

  • The reason I start liking performance when I was very

  • young is because all my friends were musicians, and

  • they were actually playing something.

  • And we can actually play together, like, two pianos or

  • three pianos.

  • Or violin, play a trio, a little trio.

  • And music's like language.

  • We need a communication.

  • We need to use our language.

  • You know, if you learn a new language, if you don't use it,

  • you're not interested, and you forget about it.

  • So communication is very important.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: I know there's at least one more question.

  • AUDIENCE: I think I could just ask here.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: I'll repeat it.

  • AUDIENCE: First of all, as a Chinese, I am very proud of

  • your-- you know, everything.

  • LANG LANG: Thank you.

  • AUDIENCE: Like [INAUDIBLE].

  • Really good job.

  • My question is do you have any plan to do some record like

  • Bach or something more classic like "Goldberg--"

  • LANG LANG: "Goldberg Variation."

  • AUDIENCE: Yeah, like like that.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: OK, so the question was what are your

  • plans for your next recordings?

  • And will you do Bach, specifically?

  • LANG LANG: I mean, I love Bach.

  • When I was a kid, I played Bach's work every week.

  • And I tried to memorize a work by Bach every

  • week to train my brain.

  • By the way, after that, you can remember every cellphone

  • number you want.

  • And Bach is really, really challenging, but incredible.

  • Certainly, I would love to record the "Goldberg

  • Variation." Certainly, I will do more

  • classic repertoire records.

  • But it needs to be balanced.

  • So this year and last year I did all the romantics.

  • And then next year, it will be contemporary.

  • And then, you know.

  • So I'm trying to balance the recordings.

  • Thanks for bringing the "Goldberg," by the way.

  • AUDIENCE: So there's a lot of talk about--

  • sorry, I'm very tall.

  • There's a lot of talk about bringing

  • classical music to children.

  • And I am, in some sense, a product of that.

  • My father went way out of his way to play classical music.

  • He really enjoyed it.

  • And I hated it as a kid.

  • And I'm here.

  • So that's obviously no longer the case.

  • But I studied, or at least I was taught, classical guitar.

  • And that lapsed for several years while I went to

  • university.

  • And now I'm here, so I guess the lapse was a little

  • worthwhile.

  • But what advice would you give towards adults who have a

  • musical sensibility, who have musical appreciation and, I

  • guess in my case, have or, in more general cases, do not

  • have some degree of musical training?

  • Because children are taught at a very early age to begin to

  • play classical music or any music in general.

  • Is there any fear that I should have in terms of lack

  • of dexterity, I guess, plasticity of mind?

  • What advice would you give towards adults who want to

  • begin to hopefully, with a lag, reach the kind of level

  • you operate on?

  • LANG LANG: You are getting deep.

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • LANG LANG: Wow.

  • Adult.

  • I mean, there's an app called Magic Piano, which I

  • co-produced.

  • If you feel difficult to play the real piano, try that.

  • It will be easier to play.

  • Because somehow it's played by itself.

  • And you can certainly buy a piano which has a kind of

  • high-tech disk.

  • And then you just push whoever's Chopin, whoever's

  • Tchaikovsky, whoever's Beethoven.

  • And then you can maybe start to see the positions down on

  • the piano and try to follow it.

  • But again, I am really welcoming of adults actually

  • learning an instrument.

  • And especially, you had a musical

  • training before, right?

  • So for you, it will be very easy, actually, to pick it up

  • again, the great work you did before.

  • And maybe now when you do it, you will feel more

  • comfortable.

  • Maybe you will like it more than when you were a kid.

  • And also, you know, classical guitar is pretty cool.

  • And I'm sure when you play, you get some

  • new dates or something.

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • LANG LANG: I mean, that's very encouraging.

  • I know some of my friends, who are adults, study piano.

  • I say, why are you doing it?

  • Oh, I to impress the girls.

  • So I know lots of those people.

  • So it's good encouragement.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Choice of instrument could be important

  • for that, too.

  • You'll get more dates with a guitar, probably,

  • than with an accordion.

  • Just a thought.

  • LANG LANG: Guitar is very popular these days.

  • Probably one of the instruments I can think of

  • more popular than piano, it's probably guitar.

  • I would like to learn it, actually.

  • Guitar, I mean.

  • Maybe I should learn some classical

  • guitar skill from you.

  • AUDIENCE: I'd love to give you a--

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • LANG LANG: I got new lessons from you.

  • AUDIENCE: So the point is a competent teacher, right?

  • LANG LANG: Great.

  • Thank you.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Yes, sir?

  • AUDIENCE: I wanted to ask, when you memorize a piece, is

  • it only technical?

  • Or do you also memorize how you feel?

  • Is it like, before you start playing, do you have to get

  • into the emotion of that piece?

  • Or is just the music getting you there when you hear it?

  • LANG LANG: First, sometimes I hear great music in my ear.

  • Whether it's any type of music, I'm just trying to

  • memorize the melodies first.

  • And I want to somehow play it on the piano.

  • But some work, I know it for many years, and it doesn't

  • mean that you start to love those repertoire right away.

  • Some pieces take a few years to digest.

  • And then you're like, wow, I should do it.

  • So first comes to the general stuff.

  • You read a score after you're really liking this piece.

  • You want to learn it, right?

  • So you learn it from the score, and you play simply,

  • whether just play by your right hand or putting it

  • together, practice.

  • And after that, you are trying to analyzing the piece and

  • using everything you learned from the past.

  • And your head should be like a multimedia screen.

  • Try to pick a lot of elements and try to put those things

  • inside of the music.

  • Because the most important thing is not the note.

  • It's the things behind the note, the

  • meaning behind the note.

  • So the more meanings you're getting, it's better for the

  • first work session.

  • And then later, you're just trying to

  • balance the right ones.

  • And you will know the right ones when you are ready.

  • In the beginning, you don't really know.

  • So you try a lot of things.

  • And then later you will know, wow, this will not work.

  • Because this maybe doesn't fit in the style.

  • And then later, after you really understand the dynamics

  • of the score, you start to recreate things.

  • And then you play for several of your teachers or your

  • colleagues to get more ideas.

  • And then you start looking into this work again.

  • And then you start performance.

  • And when you perform, every day, every time, you should

  • try different things.

  • And after a year, I think, you are ready for recording.

  • AUDIENCE: Thank you.

  • LANG LANG: Lot of alternatives.

  • AUDIENCE: Hi, my name is Zettai.

  • I work in Google.

  • And I actually have the opposite problem from Samir

  • with my two-and-a-half year-old daughter.

  • She actually loves classical music.

  • LANG LANG: Yay!

  • Here we go, yeah.

  • AUDIENCE: She even goes to sleep while hearing Andrea

  • Bocelli and you playing there, which is very nice.

  • And I have a different question.

  • I want to learn playing the piano myself as well.

  • LANG LANG: Wonderful.

  • Wonderful.

  • That's a great idea, yeah.

  • AUDIENCE: I'm pretty old, you know.

  • I'm 35.

  • And my question is actually two part.

  • First of all, I heard about something

  • called the Suzuki method.

  • But I heard conflicting opinions about it.

  • So I wonder what's your take on it.

  • And the second part, is it--

  • how do you say it?

  • Real ambition to learn to play the piano at such a late age?

  • And to do even something minimum?

  • LANG LANG: It's never too late.

  • Suzuki method, actually, I didn't know that method when I

  • was practicing.

  • And then later, I know the method.

  • But I've been brought up by just playing scales.

  • So I didn't really have any method.

  • Try this method or not.

  • I think that maybe it's important for some people.

  • But it's not necessary to be focused on one method.

  • Because in the end of the day, there's so many ways of

  • playing piano.

  • And you don't want to start with one thing in the very

  • beginning, and you're just stuck with it.

  • AUDIENCE: Yeah, but I understood the Suzuki method,

  • both the father and the child are learning together.

  • I thought that's what--

  • LANG LANG: My father also did that.

  • But it was a different kind of method.

  • He's playing, like, the strict method.

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • LANG LANG: It doesn't matter.

  • But I'm sure it will work for many people.

  • I just didn't brought up by that method.

  • But this is a very challenging way to know what is the real,

  • right beginning method for kids to learn piano?

  • We'll still trying to figure that out.

  • So once I know more about it, I let you know.

  • But seriously, you can always learn piano, no

  • matter how old you are.

  • I have a doctor friend.

  • He's a wonderful doctor, lives in Germany.

  • And he's now, I think, 50 years old.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Good god, 50.

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • LANG LANG: Because he always loved the piano.

  • But he never had money to learn when he was very young.

  • He was focusing on medicine, you know.

  • Then somehow, after he became a very successful doctor, he

  • wanted to establish his childhood dream, which is to

  • play beautiful songs.

  • And so he started to learn piano when he turned 42.

  • Seriously.

  • And he found a teacher who was very young, like, early 20s,

  • but a very good guy, and a very solid pianist.

  • So he started learning from him.

  • And you what?

  • This 50-year-old doctor just made his family archive

  • recording of 10 of his favorite pieces, including the

  • Schumann Traumerei, "Dreaming," including the

  • Schubert Impromptus, including Chopin's Waltz, including

  • Liszt Consolation.

  • So this guy's only learned a few years, but he has his

  • golden Top 10.

  • So he can open a radio show, you know, Top 10.

  • And he plays very beautiful.

  • I mean, the technique maybe is not really there.

  • But he's certainly put his emotions there, which is more

  • important, somehow.

  • And so I'm sure you can do the same.

  • And I'm sure you're much younger than he is.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: One more question.

  • You.

  • AUDIENCE: So given the level of evocativeness that you

  • achieve, I have to wonder, do you have some sort of

  • meditative practice other than at the piano?

  • What are your favorite ways to tap into, say, greater levels

  • of humanity?

  • LANG LANG: I mean, the first really important thing is

  • taking naps.

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • LANG LANG: You're talking about meditation, right.

  • I mean, that's the first thing that come to my mind.

  • Because I'm such a night person, I don't

  • sleep well in the night.

  • I just get over in my mind with some strange ideas.

  • But during the day, I like to take a one-hour nap, and then

  • somehow that calms me down, and I feel great.

  • And also, I think the best way for ourselves to get ready

  • mentally is reading books.

  • Read as much as you can.

  • And also, after reading, take a little walk in a park.

  • Or go to museums.

  • This, for me, is the best way of learning new

  • knowledge and relaxing.

  • And this makes me a much better

  • musician and a human being.

  • JEFF SPURGEON: Thank you.

  • And thanks to everyone here at Google today.

  • And thanks to Lang Lang.

  • Great.

  • LANG LANG: Thanks.

  • Thank you.

[APPLAUSE]

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it