Chinese Youth Says|The financial planner of the top Canadian bank, his dream is to teach children to sing
She is a financial planner for Fortune 500 companies and the Toronto-Dominion Bank of Canada;
She has studied piano and vocal music since she was a child, and opened her own vocal studio outside of work. From 5 year olds to 75 year olds, she is her students.
In 2019, she participated in the "Water Cube Cup" Chinese Song Contest. With an affectionate "Luhua", she stood out from more than 30,000 players around the world, entered the top six in the adult group, and won the bronze medal;
Since then, she has been actively involved in the organization of the "Water Cube Cup" competition. She is currently the Deputy Secretary-General of the Organizing Committee of the Toronto Water Cube Chinese Song Contest", helping more and more people realize their musical dreams. Won a single award in the "Cube Cup" Chinese Song Contest...
In this issue of "Chinese Youth Talk", Liu Yutong from Toronto, Canada tells us her story.
The following is Liu Yutong’s narrative:
This year's "Water Cube" Chinese Song Contest has just ended. The girl from Montreal, Canada won the gold medal in the adult group of the overseas competition.
When I knew the result, I was very excited. I was a judge for the final of the Montreal competition this year. At that time, this player left a deep impression on me.
The music competition is not only an assessment of music skills, but also many aspects, such as stage expression, players' psychological quality, song selection, and how to find their own unique style in many masters and perform them perfectly.
It was not easy for the players we selected to walk along the way.
I believe that they are all rookies with ideas and ideas, and I hope to see them go further and further on the road of music.
I myself participated in the "Water Cube" in 2019.
At that time, I wanted to sing songs for more than ten years, and I wanted to give myself some challenges and motivation.
When preparing for the finals in Beijing, it was a group activity. After dinner, everyone started to prepare for the competition. One or two people worked together until the early morning, and no one went back to rest.
(Data map: In 2019, Liu Yutong participated in the "Water Cube Cup" Chinese Song Competition)
Because it is the finals, the players all want to come out with the best works.
Everyone was very united and helped each other and made suggestions to each other.
I have to record a song many times in my phone, and it takes a long time to scroll through the list on the screen to see the next song.
Because I like to record my voice to find shortcomings and improve it, listening to the original vocals repeatedly is another way to learn.
Art must not be flawed at all, it must be perfect within the scope of one's own ability.
Practice 10 times, 100 times, 1000 times.
"Water Cube" is a very serious and serious game.
The pace of the event is very fast, the time line is very full, and there is no room for sloppyness. To achieve good results, you really have to pay a lot.
Due to the high pressure and jet lag, I could only sleep 4 hours a day at the time, but the speed of improvement was also very fast, and the effect of the day could catch up with the previous month.
When I finally recorded the song, I set off at five o’clock in the morning and went back to rest almost the next morning. I spent the whole day in the recording studio, because I had to record a song that was not in my own domain within a few hours, but I like challenges.
A player in the youth group said that she likes this feeling and does not want to leave it. I feel the same way.
Art itself is very beautiful, it makes people intoxicated, forgetful, and forget about time.
My understanding is that art belongs to the highest need in "Maslow's theory of needs", that is, self-realization.
Friends who want to experience this wonderful feeling can give it a try. It's not a good idea, haha.
After participating in the 2019 "Water Cube", I decided to devote myself to the organization of the competition.
From the players to the staff, it is a kind of progress and growth.
I am very happy to use the experience I gained as a "player" to help more people.
There are 200 people registered for the Toronto Division this year, and I am very happy to see the increasing influence of the "Water Cube".
But the organization also faces many difficulties.
For example, the workload in a short period of time is relatively large. Registration management, accompaniment collection, player notification, judge organization, score calculation, on-site communication and coordination, etc., is an accompaniment and a registration form for every player. A transcript.
For me, it means 200 accompaniments, 200 registration forms, and 200 transcripts.
It’s very busy and tired, but the enthusiasm of so many people and their love for music is really touching. This is also the result of this brand’s ten years of accumulation. All I can do is use my actions. To support this brand and all the players, this love of music is very precious and needs to be cherished and cared for.
There is also a sense of responsibility.
To do it well, to be down-to-earth is more important than ambition.
Work should be done bit by bit, solving any problems encountered, and making corresponding changes when encountering changes.
Song, we must work hard to practice well; things, we must take responsibility.
I think I can do it myself first, and then inspire more young people to join in.
I hope that what the children get from the "Water Cube" Chinese Song Competition is not only musical skills, but also humanistic feelings.
I wish I could do more and more.
I came to Canada in 2014 to study as a graduate student, and now I am working as a financial planner (Financial Planner) at the Toronto-Dominion Bank.
This job sounds lofty, but it is actually quite rigorous. There are many certificates to be tested, and there are a lot of details about retirement planning and tax planning.
I myself prefer to do some activities or music-related things. Basically, except for work, I spend all my time on music.
I opened my own vocal music studio, and I am particularly passionate about teaching students, because singing can express a lot of things, which is also one of the charms of music.
I have organized students to participate in hundreds of performances and competitions.
I look at the students as if I looked at myself.
I take them to performances and competitions, to experience various stages; I watched them come on stage for the first time, tell them their mentality on the stage, and help them prepare under the stage; I tell them what vocal and vocal performances are, and the background of the songs What is it, how to use sound scientifically, how to understand and read music...
I will be there for all of their performances or competitions, and I will come back to make a review summary.
I watched them grow, watched their typhoon mature, watched them slowly and confidently express their singing, and saw that little "singer" grow up gradually.
My youngest student is 5 years old.
Can a 5-year-old child understand vocal music lessons?
When I teach children, I encourage and guide them more. I have to be more patient. I am generally very gentle.
Learning vocal music is not the same as learning other musical instruments. The vocal cords are invisible and invisible. How can we make them understand the vocal technique?
I will use metaphors from children's lives to tell them.
For example, what is "stable breath"?
I took a paper towel and told the students that "stable breath" means that you can blow this piece of paper. Every time you blow it out, it is stable and motionless. Students will have a concept of "stable breath".
In fact, children can understand very quickly, and it will be easier for older teenagers.
The happiest thing is to receive feedback from parents.
"I have only attended classes 10 times, and I obviously feel that my child has made a lot of progress, and I feel that I have made a very correct decision."
A mother of a piano tenth grade student said to me, "Teacher, she likes learning to sing with you very much, she herself offered to continue learning to sing with you, and she is very happy."
Some parents told my daughter that she was selected into the choir, "Thank you so much for your hard work. I feel that all the efforts are worth it."
I want to see children grow up on the way of singing.
I will strictly demand, but attentively care, require their skills and training, care for their dreams and love.
The oldest of the students should be 75 years old this year.
The elderly will have a deeper understanding of works, because they have more experience in life and it is easier to express works and emotions.
Elderly people like it too, want to sing to their grandchildren and create a Chinese song environment for them.
Many children born or raised in Canada need to learn Chinese outside of class. Learning Chinese songs will make it easier for them to come into contact with Chinese. Chinese lyrics are also good materials for children to learn.
There are also many foreigners who like Chinese music very much.
There are many foreign audiences in my solo concert.
One time after the end of the show, an old foreign couple came to the backstage supporting each other to find me and told me that they like my songs very much, and they also like Chinese music very much. It is a different kind of taste. I hope there will be more opportunities to hear it. .
Financial planners and music studios, one is a career, the other is a dream.
My dream is to still love to sing when I am an elderly person, to be able to sing forever, and to bring more people to love to sing together.
Dreams are on their way, and dreams cannot be given up. What if they come true one day?
(Source of the manuscript: China Overseas Chinese Network WeChat Official Account ID: qiaowangzhongguo Author/Editor: Li Mingyang)