![]() Throughout his childhood, practice dominated his waking hours and could never be interrupted. “I can talk about everything with her,” Lang Lang tells me. Thereafter, Lang Lang saw his mother only occasionally, which actually strengthened their bond. "I can talk about everything with my mother" Not even his mother who had to watch as her husband spirited their son 400 miles away to continue his studies in Beijing, living in the city’s slum district. The father’s dedication to his son’s career was all-consuming – nothing must come between Lang Lang and being Number One pianist. The former policeman seems to have realised his own failed ambitions through his son – he had dreamed of being a professional musician but the Cultural Revolution forced the closure of music conservatoires – devising the boy’s daily schedule, monitoring his practice, even eavesdropping on other piano teachers as they taught, passing on what he learned to his son. ![]() Practising hard from the age of five is better than practising really hard from 10.”Īnd it “helps” to have a dad like Lang Lang’s. My advice to a parent is that if their child loves to play the piano, they should be strict. “Being the best in my class, in my city, in China. “If I had my time over again I’d soften dad’s approach but not reduce my practice time,” Lang Lang replies, before admitting, ironically, that “music helped me survive my childhood”. ![]() When I meet the pianist at his hotel the morning after his appearance at the Classical BRIT Awards – he played Chopin’s Polonaise, Op.53, in A flat and was joined later by legendary jazz musician Herbie Hancock for a two-piano performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue – I suggest that this punishing regime imposed on a child by its parent may, at another time and in another place, have attracted the attention of his school and social services. Watch Lang Lang play a pink toy piano exclusively for Classic FM… ![]() Home at noon for lunch: 15 minutes for eating 45 minutes of practisingĪfter school: two hours of practice before dinnerĭinner: 20 minutes two hours of practice after dinner 5:45am: Wake up and practise piano for an hour ![]()
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