My musical journey

Every Monday afternoon, I take my son to piano lessons after finishing work. This is also an opportunity for me to learn music theory from a teacher as a spectator, even though the piano is not the instrument I play.

I did not have similar opportunities during my childhood. When I was very young, I had few toys. One of my favorite activities was role-playing, using toilet paper and rubber bands to make fake people. During the first year after my dad came back home, he bought an electronic keyboard for my eldest sister, which was why I always thought he favored her more.

However, I would occasionally imitate my sister and sit in front of the keyboard to play a simple tune, such as "Ode to Joy." Around the same time, I could play a nursery rhyme on a harmonica, though I still did not understand how to read sheet music. I played songs by ear and through practice.

A couple of years later, I got a bamboo Dizi. I was almost immediately attracted to its pleasant sound. Dad was said to be an amateur flutist, so he began to teach me. Meanwhile, I bought a couple of music books to learn the techniques along with music theory by myself.

When my seventeenth birthday came, my parents bought me a very expensive xiao flute. At first, I refused it as it cost too much, but Mum and Dad insisted on giving it to me as compensation for a childhood that was lacking toys. They also bought a very cheap erhu which broke after just half a year.

Since then, playing the xiao flute had become my favourite hobby. I liked to play it on the balcony of my dorm during my years in Xi’an, and it gave me much pleasure and decorated my university life. I only stopped for a couple of years when I first came to Australia, but I couldn't hold out for longer, so I picked it up again and often played it on the lawn close to Indooroopilly State High School. It soothed my heart when I was lonely, especially when I was isolated and bullied on campus, or when I had quarrels with my grandmother.

When I was still studying, I was eager to finish my degree as soon as possible; however, my supervisor continually said there were too many spelling and grammar errors in my thesis and would not allow me to submit it. I was very frustrated because I knew I couldn’t improve my English to correct them in a short time. I didn't want to do anything but find something that I was interested in. I went to a music store nearby and bought a classical guitar. From then on, the classical guitar became my favourite instrument, and it has accompanied me through all those difficult times.

To me, Dizi is like my first lover in the good old days. Xiao is like my ex-partner who has lived with me for a long time and now is still one of my very best friends. The classical guitar is as if a lover that I am now dating for.