Global odyssey: behind the artistry of Angela Cheng

American Music Teacher, Feb-March, 2005 by Andrew Hisey

Family Influence

I asked Angela how her life as a performing musician has changed since the birth of her daughters. She laughed as she said, "Children change everything! But seriously ... they give me a new perspective on what life's all about." Given her own early musical blooming and the new genetic infusion from the Chow side, there's been plenty of push to get the girls started early. They've both begun piano lessons, and their instinctive responses to music--humming, moving, singing, recognizing Mom's pieces on recordings--offer ample evidence that they love music, "But they hate to practice ... Dad has to play the bad cop." Spending as much time away from home as her performing schedule demands, practice time must do double duty--part working to nurture musical mastery and part cherishing a warm family closeness--when Angela is home.

Motherhood and juggling the demands of career and family also have taught Angela that twenty minutes actually is a significant chunk of time. Even the smallest window of opportunity can yield both pleasure and results. Gone are the days when it wasn't worth starting to practice unless several pristine and empty hours stretched ahead, waiting to be filled.

It would be hard to imagine that teaching and motherhood have not cross-pollinated to some degree in Angela's experience. She is passionate that her students pursue music because they love it--not for the achievement or the applause, but for its own sake. She wants them to view life and its potential opportunities realistically, to study as much and as broadly as they possibly can, to stay open to new experiences and ideas. Her words could apply equally to her wishes for her children. Both her aspirations and her actions speak her commitment to passing the love and knowledge of music to a new generation.

Angela also honors the essential connection between teaching and learning, between giving and receiving. Though apparent opposites, they are integrally connected, like two sides of the same coin or like an image and its negative. "Teaching has really helped my playing and vice versa. Teaching often helps to clarify for me what I am trying to accomplish in my own playing. There is nothing more exciting than seeing a light bulb go on.... I want to be the Menahem Pressler in my students' lives." Conversely, "To be a good teacher, you must first be a good player and performer, you must have the experience and be familiar with the process yourself."

In many ways, Angela has "made it." When asked if she had any plans for the future, any big projects in store, what she wants to accomplish, her reply again circled to a refrain that, to me, seems truly refreshing. "I just want to stay excited and happy and madly in love with what I'm doing." When asked if she had any words of wisdom for AMT readers: "We should feel grateful and privileged to be doing what we are doing, to do what we love as our profession, to be free and able to share the music we love with audiences, students and families."