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Summertime, a Fantale's Quick Branch Switch.
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Summertime, a Fantale's Quick Branch Switch.
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Sheri Grant.
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Welcome back to another episode of the PianoPod. Here, tradition meets innovation. We bridge the
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timeless beauty of the piano with the dynamic pulse of today's world. I am your host, Yukimi
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Sang. By the way, the introduction you just heard was a haiku crafted by Sheri Grant,
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a multifaceted artist hailing from Taiwan and now making waves in New Zealand as a concert pianist,
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cellist, poet, and festival organizer who is our esteemed guest for today's episode.
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Sheri will take us to the magical world of poetry with a special focus on the art of haiku. She'll
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also share her insights into the intricate relationship between poetry and classical music,
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offering a unique perspective on how these two forms of art converse with each other.
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Later in the show, we'll be joined by a very special guest, Zoe Grant, Sheri's daughter, who
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at the tender age of 10 is already showing remarkable talent as an artist. So stay tuned
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for an episode filled with insight, inspiration, and incredible talent. So before we invite them,
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let me read short bios of our today's guests. As artistic director of four festivals since 2019,
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Sheri has been actively performing both in New Zealand and overseas as a pianist, although she
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was trained primarily as a cellist. Many composers have written music for Sheri to premiere since
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2019. She is also the mother of four children who often perform in concerts with her. Sheri has
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published poetry books, edited haiku and rengai journals, hosted online poetry gatherings, and
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judged several haiku competitions. And with her youngest daughter, Zoe Grant, Sheri have appeared
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in numerous interviews in five countries since 2021 with a goal of building the next golden age
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where they will touch and inspire at least a billion people around the world with their
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creativity. Sheri is currently planning the 2024 Vio Latino concert tour in South America,
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Scrabbing 2025 festival, as well as Hill and Carr festival in 2026. Her events are generally
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multidisciplinary where several art forms are combined. So here we are today to delve into
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Sheri's fascinating journey as a pianist, cellist, and poet, exploring how her multifaceted career
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has interwoven, fostering collaboration, and yielding exquisite creations. Before we dive in,
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a warm welcome to new listeners and big thank you to our faithful TPP fans. Don't forget to rate and
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review the show on your favorite podcast platform. I am thrilled to welcome Ms. Sheri Grant to start
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our conversation. Please enjoy the show. You are listening to the Piano Pod where we talk to the
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brightest minds in the industry about how they are bringing the piano into the 21st century.
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So here we are with Taiwan born New Zealand concert pianist, cellist, poet, and festival organizer
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Sheri Grant. Welcome Sheri. Thanks for being here today. Thanks for reminding me. We met through
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Facebook, I think. And then I think you saw one of the posts I made about my previous guests. Was it
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about Alison and Carlos Fransetti? I don't remember my previous guests. Yes. Do you know them or no?
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Not so well. I just saw it just by chance. And then that's how we started our conversation.
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And as we had the conversation, you told me you are also a poet. And I was like, so inspired
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and impressed. Sheri, you are a touring musician and your musical career started as a cellist.
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Then your love of music expanded to piano. And from what I read, you have always had a love for
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languages, particularly in English. And you've picked up passion for poetry in recent years.
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And passion is actually an understatement. You became a poet. I mean, not only did
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you start writing poetry, but you know, how many poems did you publish?
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I don't know how many published, but over 70 journals and anthologies in a very short time.
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I've been writing for a bit over three years, maybe a fortune for now. And it's like, yeah,
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I've written over 4000 poems. Oh, my goodness. Wow. That's quite impressive. So how in the world
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did you decide to become a poet? I've always enjoyed reading poetry, but I didn't even know
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I had this. It's almost like discovering one's superpower. But it's actually ever since after
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the first lockdown. So I think COVID was bad, but not all bad. It's actually getting people to
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actually calm down and actually maybe discover some extra things that they didn't know they could do
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before. But you're already doing extra things like, you know, being a cellist and pianist. And
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you also have four children, right? Yeah, four kids. Oh, wow. That's a lot. And then I hear your
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children are also very musical and artistic. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, they play a different woodwind
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instrument, even though I was actually dreaming of a string quartet, which fell through and they
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turned into a woodwind quartet. Oh, wow. That's so, so cool. Do you ever play music with them?
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Yeah. And we do a lot of online concerts. And sometimes I just say, yeah, come and play,
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perform with me. Actually, there's one coming up in a few days at my house. We're going to do that
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one hybrid fashion. So a composer friend of mine is coming visiting from China, but he's actually
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a New Zealander and another clarinet player friend and we're joining force and playing just,
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pretty much just works by this composer. His name is Rose Carey. Wonderful. Sounds like music is
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really very much a big part of not only your life, but also your family's life. And music playing is
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casually there. You know, it's not like a big effort. Or maybe, I don't know, you as a mom,
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you have to sort of tell them how to play. It's the hard part. These days, I just like,
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yeah, as long as you're prepared for your lessons, then we're all good. I'm actually,
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I used to get them to do competitions a lot when they were younger. But now it's just like, yep,
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yeah, you already know. And I actually went through the string instruments and piano as well,
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but they all settled on the different woodwind instruments. So I'm not going to push them to
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try and learn too many instruments. But they're playing their instruments. That's awesome.
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So before getting deeper into our conversation on your career, your new career as a poet,
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in order for our listeners to understand your multifaceted career, I think our conversation
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should start with your musical journey. So can you share it, how it all began? What connects these
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diverse aspects of your career, like together? Yeah, so that's with my training when I was young.
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So my parents sent me to these like a special school and all the way through to end of high
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school. And then I actually, we just moved to New Zealand. And I was thinking, oh, no more music.
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So in Taiwan, you had to do a lot of academic work. And on top of that music as well. And that's
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like, yeah, it's a lot of pressure. But I moved to New Zealand, I thought, well, what can I do?
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Back to music, I went so and I actually because we had to choose just one instrument, I used to
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play two instruments, but not, yeah, not very well, I think, at the time. But yeah, I chose
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cello because that well, you can join the orchestra and there's seem to be more opportunities for
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chamber music. And it's just a little bit less lonely. Right. Oh, as a piano, I get it totally.
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But are you like from a musical family? Like because you are creating a musical family with
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yours children? Well, not all actually, my parents, they don't know how to play music. But
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however, my dad, even though he couldn't actually play music himself, he was able to train like one
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of the best, I think, marching bands, they always like wonder competitions in Taiwan. So I think
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he's just like, he's got a musical year, even though he didn't have to train himself. And because
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of that influence, I think I've been very comfortable as a pianist, as the accompanist,
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as the accompanist, or they call it like a piano, what collaborative pianist these days,
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when was the time you realize, oh, I want to pursue piano, are you both active cellist and
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pianist? cello is taking a bit more of a backseat because you have to spend time to practice like
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every day. And a fact that I really don't like traveling around, especially overseas with the cello,
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it's just too much hassle. Yeah. And actually, my cello had a little bit of we accidents coming back
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from the UK once when yeah, when I was younger, and fingerboard just fell off because it was too dry.
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After that, I just said no more. I'm going to become a pianist. So I don't have to travel with
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the cello anymore. Or I actually got to borrow the cello sometimes when I was actually to solo
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concerts in America a few years ago, two years ago, I was able to borrow some really nice cellos.
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And I didn't want to return them at the end, but I had to. One of them was made in the 1700s.
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The reason because you were able to shift to piano was because you had also training
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in piano as almost like a secondary instrument as a child.
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That was a requirement, but I was never very good at it because I think I was just so tense. It's
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hard. Hard to actually, yeah, I can play fast, but not very well, I think.
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So when was it like you decided to put more effort and focus on piano?
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Actually, I started playing again at the start of 2019. As soon as the youngest kid turned five
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and started school, I said, Oh, I'm free. I started doing all the planning, all these festivals and
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concert tours. I did a tour in Wellington and Auckland, just around New Zealand with the
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principal of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, the principal violist, Robert Eshworth.
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But before that, I played in the whole festival and invited my friend from the United States,
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from New York City, principal violist from the Met to perform with me. That was my first time
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coming back on stage. I performed with somebody, like a big shot. I was not.
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Is that the 100 Years Journey concert tour in 2019?
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Yeah, that was the second event. The first event was the War and Peace festival.
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So that was actually my very first festival. That was the only in-person festival as well.
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I actually put together an art exhibition and I shifted to like three places. I even did one
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in Wellington. There was arts and also poetry. I invited a lot of friends from Auckland, the poets.
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You're already thinking to do sort of multidisciplinary collaboration, I guess,
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not just the music, but inviting. In my first festival, I also had a really,
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really diverse program. There was one concert that was now totally just jazz.
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And there was one that's just for singers and one that was just string and just with wind.
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And one of them was Chinese traditional instruments. And I performed in one of the
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pieces as well. All sorts of Chinese traditional instruments. It's really amazing finding all
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these locally.
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Then also, you've done so many different projects, but one caught my eye was Child of the Sun,
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a celebration of Catherine Mansfield in song, world premiere of works of New Zealand.
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So I know you have such a love for Catherine Mansfield, who also played a musical instrument,
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but she was a writer. She was a poet, right?
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Oh, not just poetry. I think she was more renowned for her short stories.
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Oh, I see. Okay. Now we're going to dig deeper into her story, but tell us about this concert,
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I guess.
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Okay. That was the world premiere of new works. Actually, I ended up receiving 19 songs for
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metal soprano and piano from 12 New Zealand composers. And that the whole project actually
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took only about three months, about three months from the finish of, you know, like the
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conception of the idea to the world premiere in Indonesian. So it's pretty amazing. I worked with
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a really fine metal soprano. I think she's originally from America, maybe, Tessa Romano.
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And then the School of Music at the Otago University in Indonesian, they helped a lot
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with the concert, promoting it. And we had a lot of interview and publicity around there
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in Indonesian. I really liked the city.
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I think you were showcasing the composers from your country, New Zealand, no?
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Yeah.
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Yeah. So can you introduce us to New Zealand composers?
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There are so many, but they are pretty much unknown to the world. I think it's a real shame.
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That's why I play concerts around, especially taking my, also my idea last year was 2023.
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I designed a program called Catch-23. So instead of Catch-22, you had Catherine Mansfield in this
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Catch-23 position. She was, yeah, she, well, actually her life was a little bit of a mess,
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I think, her personal life, but her works was, yeah, amazing.
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So it was Catherine Mansfield themed. So you took her poetry or poems and then put music to
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the, all the composers put music to it. So what it is?
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Yeah, that was for Charles the Son, but for Catch-23 is really just showcasing composers
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from Catherine Mansfield's time and also contemporary New Zealand composers.
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So I chose 23 pieces and then I had multimedia presentation of New Zealand artworks
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and paired with my own published Shofu poetry, mostly haiku, and along with the music. So each
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piece I can just use my remote to change the slate. And everybody really, really enjoyed that.
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They thought it was really quite interesting seeing that instead of just dozing off in.
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You've been doing this really creative way of engaging audience, right? So like, it's not just
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this traditional way of performing, playing music and displaying this beautiful composition, but also
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you're using art, visual art and presentation and plus a, you know, reading poetry to more engage
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with your listeners, audience. I think that's how we inspire one another.
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Just like, yeah, it's not just, they're all the same in principle. All the arts are the same.
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Then just tell us a little bit more about the fest, because since you are a festival organizer,
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so I'm curious about, you mentioned about war and peace arts and music festival 2019 and
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you really have this love for viola. So it was like a collaboration with violists,
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as you mentioned. Tell us why you love viola so much. You're a cellist, you're a pianist,
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but you have this love for viola. Why is that?
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When I was little, I always wanted to be a violinist because I thought, well, the repertoire I love
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so much and there is such a huge repertoire to choose from. And then I only got to pick the
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cello because I was too slow. And then carrying the cello is a major thing, right? It's really
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quite difficult for a little kid. But later on, it was actually after my eldest child started
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playing the viola and then I discovered how amazing the viola actually is. It's like combining the
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violin and the cello and actually, but they only have like the mid range.
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Let's talk about other festivals. Like you had Hindemith and Copeland International Music Festival
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2021. That sounds interesting. And also you did the Scrabbing 150 in 2022. And you're also a
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board member of Scrabbing Society of America, which I became a member of. I'm very proud.
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I'm so glad you joined us.
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Yes, I did. Anyway, so let's start with the Hindemith and Copeland International Music
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Festival. What was it all about? Obviously it was about Hindemith and Copeland, but...
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Actually, not just about them. It was more about their pupils. So I was showcasing. Actually,
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I did that whole festival online and not a lot of people joined in, but that's okay because that was
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my first tent of doing an online festival. And that was actually during an Auckland lockdown.
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So I couldn't go anywhere. So I had to do the whole thing online. And yeah, just like...
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So I had to do a lot of research and then finding out who the pupils were. I actually did a few
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interviews as well. And I invited Festival Patron, a very famous composer, also the pupil of both
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of the composers, Mr. Samuel Edler to be the Festival Patron. And he accepted that and did
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an interview with me. I think it was the second time I ever interviewed anyone. That was with
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Mr. Edler. And I'm actually going to try and do another festival for him later on.
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Great. And then Scrabbing 150. Tell us what this festival is about. Obviously about Scrabbing.
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That was actually Scrabbing's 150th birthday. So that was two years ago in 2022. And then I
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thought, wow, that's very important. He's my favourite composer ever. And I just really wanted
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to celebrate him. And actually, I wanted to be able to learn all his pieces. And actually,
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just before the festival, I curated, I played 40 Scrabbing pieces online in a concert. And that
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was the best attended concert I've ever had. Probably because my host was quite famous. And
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I had 15.4k people actually listening online. My goodness. You said your husband is famous?
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No, no, no, the host. Oh, your host. Oh, I see. They're not concepts. And I think maybe on the
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metaverse, or maybe she's doing something to do with that. So I think there are a lot of people,
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Kim. And yeah, became curious. And I'm just happy to be pushing Scrabbing music out to anybody in
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the world. You don't have to be a musician to be able to appreciate his music. It's just like
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really magical. I listen to his music all the time, every day. I can kind of understand because
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you're a poet and his compositions are known for poetic. So I'm sure you have so much really
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relate to his music. No? Yeah, yeah, I have actually found that a lot of people that I
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tried to showcase, they end up being all my favorite composers or people that are like musicians
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and poets, or philosophers. So it's all connected somehow. So once again, your love for Katherine
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Mansfield went into this festival, International Katherine Mansfield. That was last year. That was
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her centenary. So she died 100 years ago. Yeah, I see. Okay, so let's discuss who this woman was.
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Who was Katherine Mansfield? She was originally from New Zealand, actually. That's also part of
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the reason I wanted to celebrate her. Because some people I've spoke to didn't realize she was even
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a New Zealander. But of course, I think earlier on, people were kids here, school kids, they were
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required to read her works. Maybe not so much, not so much like that these days. But yeah, her short
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stories are extraordinary. But what I love even more are her actually her like letters and journals.
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And I've actually written a book I can quickly show you here called Bean Katherine. So my first
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book, I dedicated 100 poems to her. And this is half of the 50 poems in here I wrote in 50 days.
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That's the compilation of poems, right? About Katherine Mansfield. Yeah. Oh, wow. So it's just
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mostly actually inspired by her. Well, it's not just poetry, some of them by her poetry and some
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of them, most of a lot of them actually by her letters. She was so sincere, I think. And quite,
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yeah, she's got a sense of humor. And she's very observant of everything. And but she had a very
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short life. She died at 34. Who was this woman to you? What's the strong connection? And not only
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she was a writer, but also she played a musical instrument. I think I really identify with her
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because she was like, raised racing one country and she really wanted to go out to another country.
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And then she just didn't want to be in New Zealand. She's always like, not much happening and
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that here and she really wanted to be in Europe to kind of just study and then maybe her talent
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actually shifted to writing later on because I believe that her parents thought she was not very
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good. And they didn't want her to be just a second second rate cellist in the end. And I thought,
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wow, my parents are so bad at the same. Yeah, I complained at some point. They say, well, why are
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you still playing music? You just need you're just a mom. You need to take care of the kids.
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But I think I want to show them that I can do this. I can do all these things,
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even though I'm a mom as well. I want to read her works. Also, I'm curious to read your book.
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What's the title of the book again? Being Catherine? That's being Catherine. I still
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I'm yet to put it on Amazon, but it's not quite available overseas just yet. But I will try and
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make that happen soon. Oh, yeah, that would be wonderful. I would love to read it. The purpose
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of this book is to pick people's interest to actually go and read her works because these
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were inspired by her and tells a little bit of her story. It jumps from place to place. Yeah.
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You decided to do this big festival. So what what's the inspiration? What inspired to do it?
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Oh, because I just feel so important. It's like, yeah, normally you need a whole team
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of people and maybe to promote and to do everything. But I'm the person who wants to do everything,
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I guess. I made it my mission to actually promote her and actually New Zealand along with it.
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So I guess I'm the self appointed cultural ambassador for New Zealand somehow.
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I made all the Catch-23 concerts free last year so that people get to listen to New Zealand music.
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From your rich background as a classical musician to your recent exploration into poetry,
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how do you find the creative process of music and poetry intertwined? And how has this transition,
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you know, from being a musician and you're still a musician, but into a poet influenced
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your perspective on your musical career? I find a lot of similarity like play music,
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especially like chamber music, because I've always been more of a collaborative pianist and
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chamber musician until 2022 when I actually played my first solo recital because somebody
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suggested that I should play solo. Why should I just be playing chamber music? So that was actually
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I started playing solo piano only since 2022. And yeah, why I'm saying that it's very similar is
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that I'm really into writing rengué, which is like a short form, a more modern kind of
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renkuu, the Japanese renkuu. It's like a series of only the rengué only has six verses of haiku.
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And it's like writing with a group of friends, usually it's two people. So back and forth,
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back and forth, I actually got invited to give a workshop and a presentation at 2021, I think 2021.
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Yeah. Sorry, the Haiku Society of America, the president actually found out that I was writing
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haiku, rengué. That was only maybe one week into my, yeah, after I've written my first rengué,
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but somehow they just invited me to give a workshop. And I think maybe almost 200 people attended
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online. So I knew not very much about rengué at the time, but very quickly, I had less than two
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months, maybe a month and a half, I quickly invited a lot of people, I probably invited 50 people to
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write rengué with me. And quite often I wrote multiple ones, multiple poems with different people
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at the same time. So it was really fun. It's like playing chamber music, right? Going back and forth
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really quickly, you have to read your music and you have to express it, you have to match. And yeah,
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it's so much fun. I highly recommend it. So now that you talked about rengué and everything,
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so I would love to learn a lot from you today about haiku. Although, you know, I am a Japanese
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native, I'm Korean, my grandparents are Koreans. And then, you know, I was raised as a Korean,
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but obviously I was born and raised and educated in Japan. So I learned about haiku and then tanca.
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And, but honestly, I wasn't really interested at the time. And then I was more obsessed about,
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you know, English. So I have to learn from you. So at the beginning of our conversation,
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you told us briefly how you became a poet in recent years. And but what exactly is the tipping
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point that you immersed into this art form? Oh, that was straight after the very first lockdown
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in New Zealand. And we just came out of lockdown. And I guess I had some ideas, but it was not clear.
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And one day I was just thinking, well, it felt really, I had this urgency, I really,
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really need to write this down. And I wrote my first ever poem. And it's Yeah, hold on. That's,
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I think it's called darkness of the night or something. And then after that, and within the
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next five days, or no, actually, maybe five days, I wrote, I don't know, at least five more poems.
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And I can't remember the exact number. And I thought, actually, I feel like this is what
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another way of expressing myself apart from like being a musician. And my English is sort of good
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enough to do that. So I actually got to know I got to know another haiku poet in New Zealand. She's
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also she was an editor of a journal. And then I just did like email correspondence with her. And
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she sort of just very gently told me about this form and that form. And there's some journalists
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this competition that you should try out. And then there was really nice. Yeah, her name is
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Patricia prime. And I really great for us just like a great mentor to me. It's really the
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mentorship or somebody that you meet who changes your life. My youngest daughter Zoe, she does that
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with me. So we host a lot of like haiku. Actually, ring a gathering internationally. We do it
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regularly. This is the third year. And yeah, I think not all maybe we've been doing it since 2021.
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Yeah. You know, I actually started really liking reading poetry. But it happened,
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like in my adulthood, and I was on the New York City subway. And then there was like a poetry
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like posted on the subway car. And all of a sudden, I just felt this emotions, right? As I was
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reading. And it just, I don't know, it's almost like, like, like listening to music. And then,
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you know, this hits me, right? And people told me when they came to my kitchen, these three
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concerts is that, well, you look at just three lines, but it makes you think so much. And it
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makes you think about your own experience and how that just resonates with you. I think that poetry
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is really powerful, especially haiku, but haiku is just another form. Right. So speaking of that,
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so you you write haiku and then you also write rengai and then other forms too. So, and then you
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also created this form nonaku. Yeah, nonaku. Okay. I know haiku, but for those who are still like,
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you know, trying to figure out the differences. So what's haiku? Haiku is a traditional Japanese
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form of shōfōn poetry. In Japanese, it's actually not written in, I think traditionally it was just
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in one line, but then people know where to divide it into sort of three sections. So it's actually
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three lines. And the modern haiku, unlike the traditional one, actually works better in Japanese,
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but not so well in other languages. It's in five, seven, five syllables for each line, but it doesn't
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apply in English, especially like it just feels so long if you try and fill it out. So maybe, maybe
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you get more four or four, six, four. It's not really set. So we are these days for modern haiku,
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we just say short, long, short is like the standard, but you can also break that. And you actually,
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in haiku, you don't even have to be in three lines. I think from one line to four lines,
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you can all qualify as haiku. So there's no set like numbers of like syllables.
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I think that's the thing that's actually making it really stiff. I see, because in Japanese,
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I think it was very strict, has to be five, seven, five. Yeah. And I think that really puts people
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off. Now it's just a lot more flexible. I think in Japanese actually works really well for five,
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seven, five. But in English, it just feels so long. A lot of modern haiku and you just can't
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spend a very long spender one. It's still taught that way around the world. People still say haiku
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is five, seven, five. But now it's the journal. We're actually, Zoe and I, we're journal editors.
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And we just say, well, we don't mind if you want to send us five, seven, five. We'll still look at
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it. They were very accepted too. Wow. Now, also I, there is a variation of haiku, longer version.
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It's called tanka that I remember five, seven, five, seven, seven in syllables. In English,
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we just do like a short, long, short, long, long. I wrote some tanka that actually got accepted in
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journals as well, but less often because that has actually quite different. It's very emotional.
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Do you have like a haiku that you can read? Sure. I have a, it's actually just a one line haiku
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here. It's actually somewhat music related. It was published at the Cold Moon journal in November,
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2021. It's very short. It's called, it's just in one line. A kettle's memory, perfect pitch.
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I'll read that again. A kettle's memory, perfect pitch. So the kettle, if you use session one,
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it kind of blows a note, but it remembers the same note. You said that's nonaku? Monoku,
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monoku, just a stitch. So it's just one line. I really like monoku because unlike in three lines,
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everything's kind of clear, but in one line, there are so many possibilities. Like if you divide,
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put, group these words together, and then that part are, you just like, if you put like a comma
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somewhere else, it becomes a different meaning. So sometimes it's like that. So it's, yeah, haiku
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sounds so much potential. At first, when I started reading haiku and trying to write, I was very
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descriptive. And I was just thinking, well, what's so, it's only like some, so few words. What can
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you say with so few words? And when people be sort of starting to repeat other people's ideas, but
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no, the more you dive into it, the more you find. And yeah, and then you can actually tell
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that really good haiku, why are they good? They're actually, they can be very emotional,
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and it just hits you, right? And not so good haiku that you can also tell.
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It's a really difficult art. Okay, now, do you have any example of rengai?
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Renge, maybe best read with Zoe.
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Okay, so let's invite Zoe. Hi, Zoe. Hi, how are you?
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Good.
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Great. Thank you so much for being here. I know you had school and then you got out of school early
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just for this, and I appreciate you. And Zoe is already a professional poet, and also she is quite
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an artist. You drew pictures for the book, The Bat Girl, right? Yeah. And so many other things,
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and you also collaborated with your mom already. Oh yeah, that's the book. Yes. So we're going to
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talk about that book. But before that, let's do the rengai session. So can you guys read that rengai
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poetry? This is possibly the first rengai by me and Zoe that got published, I think. So it was
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published at Failed Haiku Issues 71, November 2021. It's called Failed Haiku because it was actually
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just taking sendu. Sendu is a different type. Haiku is mostly about the nature, so not so,
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but sendu is more humorous and it's about people more. So it's a different focus. So that's why
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it's called Failed Haiku because it's not haiku anymore. Okay, so this one is called Encore.
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Fashion week. All the rodents out for a catwalk. Little ballerinas. Too much makeup on.
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Encore. They shout. He just wants to go home. Speech night. Forgetting what to say next.
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Paparazzi. A dog comes sniffing. New movie. I write my doll's script.
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So the main thing for people to do in a rengai is you have to link and shift. So you kind of get
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inspired by something in the first verse and then first haiku and then the next person needs to take
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that and kind of, yeah, write something starting from that, but then going away from it as well.
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So it's got so much possibility. Yeah. You never know what's going to happen next.
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Yeah, this just blows my mind. But is it, so you were going back and forth between you and then Zoe.
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So you both wrote it. The line that you read is written by Sherry and then the line. So it was,
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oh wow, is that how it works? Yeah, back and forth. It's a lot of fun, but you can also have,
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because it's six verses, you can even write solo rengai by yourself, which is not as much fun,
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by the way. But the standard is two people, but you can also have three people writing two
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two verses each, but also taking turns. And then you can also have a six people version,
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which is just like each person contribute one. So it's, I think it's this highly social thing to do.
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It's really a lot of fun. And then you can improvise. Oh yeah. Improvise. Wow. It's totally
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about improvising. I can write very fast. Sometimes I can finish a rengai maybe within 20,
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30 minutes with friends, just online. We've been doing a lot online and sometimes I do multi rengai.
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It's like I do with a lot of people or the same person, but we write say, well, if somebody gives
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me six or 10 starting verses, I probably reply to all of them. They're all different. And then
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we just carry on. And then we end up with like 10 rengai at the end of the exercise. And then we're
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just, yeah, we just send them off to different journals. And then sometimes the journalists
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take them. That's really great. And then Zoe and I, we actually started our own rengai
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journal called Raining Renge. So this is the issue one we started last year.
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Wow. What is that? Yeah. A lot of people submitted from around the world and it's just a whole bunch
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of maybe over 20 rengais. And there was an essay. I wrote an essay as well. Renge has got a history
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of about 30, 31. I think it's about 31 or nearly 32 years old now. It was made by my friend,
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00:40:24,240
Gary Gay. And we host these sessions twice a year to invite, well, we invite guest speakers to come
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00:40:30,640
in and talk about haiku or rengai or anything. Haiku is short form poetry related. And then
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00:40:37,200
we write together and we've been getting, because it's certainly about 20 people, 20 to 30 people
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00:40:37,200 -->
00:40:43,520
each session. And we run two sessions each time we do it. We do it twice a year. It's called
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00:40:48,640
International Renge Gathering. It's quite popular. We've done five of those. I think the sixth one's
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00:40:56,000
coming up this April. I'm looking forward to that. Wow. It's like a totally jam, right? Like an
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00:41:03,520
improved jam. Yeah, jamming with people except with words. Jam sessions. And then at the end of it,
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00:41:09,840
you have a product. You can send it to journals and all. I just say, just send it to us, to Renge
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00:41:09,840 -->
00:41:16,080
Renge and we can publish it. Oh my goodness. I don't think I can ever do that. My mind is
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00:41:16,080 -->
00:41:23,440
mind blowing. But Zoe, this is incredible. How do you like doing this? It's very fun.
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00:41:29,440
Yeah. And then have you been writing your own poems and everything since you were a little,
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00:41:29,440 -->
00:41:37,360
little kid? Yeah, since 2020. Since 2020. Wow. That's like four years ago. So yeah.
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00:41:45,840
She was six years old. That's when we actually wrote Batgirl. So it was like maybe five or six
375
00:41:45,840 -->
00:41:52,400
months work with her. These were actually particularly poems that I wrote with her or
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00:41:59,680
inspired by her. Is it okay if she reads one of them? Yes, please. It's raining cats and dogs.
377
00:42:00,240 -->
00:42:06,960
It all started with a single dark cloud. This cloud feeling lonely invited friends over for
378
00:42:06,960 -->
00:42:12,960
a party. In their drunken uproar, the clouds started fighting. They began throwing cats and
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00:42:12,960 -->
00:42:20,800
dogs at each other. After hurling thunder and lightning, little Zoe, who never had a pet,
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00:42:27,600
came outside with a great big box, collected raindrops filled with cats and dogs. The next
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00:42:34,720
day she put up a sign which said, pets for sale with free ginger ale. Many customers queued up.
382
00:42:34,720 -->
00:42:40,960
So the next time when it pours, I wonder what other animals will drop from the sky.
383
00:42:41,520 -->
00:42:49,520
Perhaps goldfish or sheep I get to bring home and keep. So we were kind of exploring the rhyming at
384
00:42:49,520 -->
00:42:57,040
the time and she did this great picture for it too. So that was her, Zoe, trying to collect
385
00:42:57,040 -->
00:43:04,000
cats and dogs in the raindrops. I don't know if you can see. Wow, beautiful. Thank you so much
386
00:43:04,000 -->
00:43:10,800
for reading. Wow. It just comes from your heart, your impression about the storm, the rain.
387
00:43:12,000 -->
00:43:18,000
I can almost hear the music. It was actually inspired by a song, right? You had to learn at
388
00:43:18,000 -->
00:43:23,440
school. There was kind of on and off. We had a lot of lockdowns, but that was in between lockdowns,
389
00:43:23,440 -->
00:43:28,480
I think. And it was also called it's raining cats and dogs. And then we saw, oh, okay, we can use
390
00:43:28,480 -->
00:43:33,840
this. And then we write a poem about it, inspired by it. Yeah, it has nothing to do with the song
391
00:43:33,840 -->
00:43:40,720
anymore. But we just made our own versions. That's actually all what my poems were about. I take one
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00:43:40,720 -->
00:43:47,440
thing and turn it into something else. So I see an artwork and then I feel inspired by it. And I write
393
00:43:47,440 -->
00:43:55,600
some poem inspired by that. Or even it can be news from the day. But I can really sense that
394
00:43:55,600 -->
00:44:03,120
vibe from you. Like, that's why you have such a multifaceted career. You take one instrument
395
00:44:03,120 -->
00:44:10,480
and that inspired to go to the next and so forth. And so, Zoe, are you still writing poetry?
396
00:44:10,480 -->
00:44:19,760
Not so much anymore. But I do still do it. Okay. And then do you still like drawing? I know you
397
00:44:19,760 -->
00:44:27,520
drew a lot of drawings in the book, Batgirl and then also maybe other books as well. Yeah.
398
00:44:27,520 -->
00:44:33,920
And then are you still playing? You're playing musical instrument, which one? I'm playing the
399
00:44:33,920 -->
00:44:41,840
flute. Wonderful. Zoe's actually been involved with a lot of these festivals with me, maybe since
400
00:44:42,480 -->
00:44:50,880
the Square, I've been here for 50, 2022. She read 250 short form poems, mostly haiku, during the three
401
00:44:50,880 -->
00:44:58,720
days. We did a lot of recording. So she was very patient. I had to make all the selections. It was
402
00:44:58,720 -->
00:45:05,360
about sound and music. So I was looking everywhere online and journals and things. And then the
403
00:45:05,360 -->
00:45:12,560
hard part was getting all the permissions from poets, all 250 of them. And then Zoe recorded them.
404
00:45:13,520 -->
00:45:20,880
Wow, that's great. Hey there, TPP family. The Piano Pod is now into our fourth season,
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00:45:20,880 -->
00:45:27,920
and it's all thanks to you. Since 2020, you've been with my journey with the TPP, exploring this
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00:45:27,920 -->
00:45:33,680
burning question. How do we make classical music resonate with today's audience in fresh and
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00:45:33,680 -->
00:45:40,320
captivating ways? Four years in, and the journey has been nothing short of magical. The Piano Pod isn't
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00:45:40,320 -->
00:45:47,120
just a podcast, it's a movement, a space where pianists, composers and educators brainstorm,
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00:45:47,120 -->
00:45:53,840
debate and reimagine classical music's place in our fast paced world. We're together on a mission
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00:46:00,640
to ensure classical music doesn't just survive, but thrives in our modern age. But here's the thing,
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00:46:06,960
to keep bringing you these insightful bi-weekly episodes, I need your help. Every bit of support
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00:46:06,960 -->
00:46:13,600
goes into the podcast essentials, from hosting to high quality recording tech, and the countless
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00:46:13,600 -->
00:46:19,440
hours behind the scenes. So do you want to be part of this journey? Click the PayPal link in the show
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00:46:19,440 -->
00:46:27,040
notes or head to the pianopod.com to donate. And as a token of appreciation, I will personally mail
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you the Piano Pod's snazzy logo sticker. So hit the subscribe button, spread the word, and let's
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00:46:34,720 -->
00:46:40,080
continue our mission and journey as classical musicians. Now let's continue with the show.
417
00:46:40,880 -->
00:46:47,760
Yeah, let's talk about what's next for you guys. So I've done Screa, I've done Katherine Mansfield,
418
00:46:47,760 -->
00:46:56,480
Hindemith and Copland. Next is back to Screa, but actually this year I was going, I was planning to
419
00:46:56,480 -->
00:47:02,320
have a festival as well, but then I thought, well maybe it's a good time to have a break from
420
00:47:02,320 -->
00:47:11,200
festivals because I'm also planning a concert tour to South America. So in 2022 I toured Canada
421
00:47:11,200 -->
00:47:17,760
and America. In 2023 I toured Asia, so that was Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Taiwan I only had
422
00:47:17,760 -->
00:47:23,760
one week, I was like 20 years I haven't been back to Taiwan, one week, three concerts in three cities,
423
00:47:23,760 -->
00:47:29,440
so that was a whirlwind. And then this year is going to be South America, maybe three countries.
424
00:47:29,440 -->
00:47:38,080
So it's always like after the international viola congress, I go off and do a tour afterwards. So
425
00:47:38,080 -->
00:47:44,880
this time I'm actually collaborating with a violist from the Netherlands, his name is Emelien Stem,
426
00:47:44,880 -->
00:47:52,480
and yeah we're just going to play 10 new works by 10 composers originally from South America,
427
00:47:52,480 -->
00:47:58,960
but all living overseas. So it's got a theme of like diaspora, so it's called viola-tino,
428
00:47:58,960 -->
00:48:09,040
viola-tino, and yeah, but at the same time we're going to try and showcase poetry, very short,
429
00:48:09,040 -->
00:48:18,560
not haiku, but shorter poems by poets from those countries and also artworks. So I'm still
430
00:48:18,560 -->
00:48:25,840
organizing that because there's a lot of permissions to get, people don't always reply, so I just send
431
00:48:25,840 -->
00:48:30,960
out so many. Right, and then also you mentioned that you are trying to build a cultural bridge
432
00:48:30,960 -->
00:48:36,880
between Australia and New Zealand. Yeah, that was supposed to be this year's festival because I want
433
00:48:36,880 -->
00:48:45,520
to celebrate the New Zealand composer, New Zealand and Australian composer Alfred Hill, and maybe his
434
00:48:45,520 -->
00:48:52,640
155th birthday this year, but it doesn't matter, and also the number doesn't matter so much. I was
435
00:48:52,640 -->
00:48:57,360
just thinking, well it's time for people to recognize this composer because he's not really
436
00:48:57,360 -->
00:49:04,160
recognized very much anywhere, but then I thought, well maybe I need a little bit more time because I
437
00:49:04,160 -->
00:49:11,360
want to build that bridge and I've got this project also, it's called Dialogues Down Under,
438
00:49:11,360 -->
00:49:18,000
so I want to try and get, invite New Zealand composers to write for Australian, maybe youth
439
00:49:18,000 -->
00:49:23,760
ensembles, and then vice versa, so Australian composers to write for New Zealand ensembles,
440
00:49:23,760 -->
00:49:31,200
and all our choirs, so concert bands or brass bands, you know, it can be any configuration,
441
00:49:31,200 -->
00:49:35,760
but I think that would be really fun to build that bridge and getting, you know, the Sydney
442
00:49:35,760 -->
00:49:42,720
Conservatorium, maybe to work with New Zealand School of Music, that sort of thing, and I also
443
00:49:42,720 -->
00:49:48,880
want to put on like maybe like Alfred Hill International String Quartet Competition,
444
00:49:48,880 -->
00:49:54,160
but that requires time and funding, which I'm going to try and find, so I think I need an extra
445
00:49:54,800 -->
00:50:01,120
two years to try and, yeah, secure that, hopefully, and I'm still a team of one, pretty much.
446
00:50:01,920 -->
00:50:08,160
I have some advisors and Festival Petrol, but I think it's about time I start building a team
447
00:50:08,160 -->
00:50:15,680
to try and do different works, because I am the organizer, I'm the performer, I'm also the promoter,
448
00:50:16,160 -->
00:50:18,080
all sorts of things, yeah.
449
00:50:18,080 -->
00:50:26,880
So Zoe, what do you think of your mom? Your mom is a power woman, she has such, she's a source of power, no?
450
00:50:26,880 -->
00:50:36,400
Yeah, but next year I'm going to see if I can get back to performing in America, and because I want
451
00:50:36,400 -->
00:50:44,240
to celebrate Screabin's 110th, yeah, since he died, I think we should celebrate that, and I would
452
00:50:44,240 -->
00:50:52,800
really, really like to see International Piano Competition for Screabin happening, maybe the
453
00:50:52,800 -->
00:50:59,200
first one ever in America next year, if that's possible, I want to try and organize that, and
454
00:50:59,200 -->
00:51:06,400
maybe I see a lot of, maybe new works inspired by Screabin, or a bit of crossover, maybe jazz
455
00:51:06,400 -->
00:51:13,680
people, I actually incorporated a little bit of jazz, there was one lecture about Screabin and jazz,
456
00:51:13,680 -->
00:51:22,080
but if you play Screabin's music in a jazz fashion and vice versa, so yeah, that's a lot of fun, and
457
00:51:22,080 -->
00:51:29,120
maybe get some transcriptions going on, getting other instrumentalists, then pianists to know
458
00:51:29,120 -->
00:51:38,160
Screabin somehow, yeah, that would be my goal, and maybe if I can, I want to find alliances from
459
00:51:38,160 -->
00:51:46,720
around the world, I want to build a Screabin empire, so, well, I think there's a Screabin
460
00:51:46,720 -->
00:51:54,320
Association in the UK, and there's one called Screabin Club in Netherlands, and there's
461
00:51:54,320 -->
00:52:00,320
potentially also one in Croatia, I don't know if it's still active, and the one in America's
462
00:52:00,320 -->
00:52:05,920
actually just revived two years ago, when we did that festival, we revived it at the same time,
463
00:52:05,920 -->
00:52:13,120
it's always been inactive for maybe over 10 years at that time, and I want to build one, especially
464
00:52:13,120 -->
00:52:19,280
for New Zealand, Australia, and Asia, but this time, if I'm going to South America, I might talk
465
00:52:19,280 -->
00:52:26,320
to the pianists there and composers there and see if they want to do something about building a
466
00:52:26,320 -->
00:52:33,040
Screabin society there too. Oh wow, amazing, wonderful, well, you know, when you're, you
467
00:52:33,040 -->
00:52:38,160
come to the United States, just if you're in a New York City area, just let me know.
468
00:52:38,160 -->
00:52:46,320
I really appreciate my friend Joel Petridge, because he was the host for my very first solo
469
00:52:46,320 -->
00:52:53,360
piano concert recital at the Clavier House. Oh yeah, Clavier House. And actually, I'm dedicating
470
00:52:53,360 -->
00:53:01,360
this 2025 Screabin Festival to his memory, I guess, and hopefully, yeah, he'll remember it.
471
00:53:01,360 -->
00:53:10,400
Yeah, he passed away last year. Yeah, I guess, Mr. Project of Scarlatti, the only Scarlatti
472
00:53:10,400 -->
00:53:19,360
555, you can imagine what that's going to be about. So Scarlatti 555 now, because I think it's time
473
00:53:19,360 -->
00:53:28,560
to, yeah, for people to look at his music again, and I want to see if I can find 555 pianists or
474
00:53:28,560 -->
00:53:35,200
harpsichordists to participate in this project. You know, videos from around the world,
475
00:53:35,760 -->
00:53:42,720
and each person doing a different keyboard sonata by Scarlatti, and I'm pairing it with Scraabin
476
00:53:42,720 -->
00:53:50,000
just because the last name starts with the same two letters. Tell me about your 100th
477
00:53:50,000 -->
00:53:59,360
day challenge or something. Yep, yep, yep. So recently I was down with COVID, unfortunately,
478
00:53:59,360 -->
00:54:06,160
but the nice thing that came out of it is I started writing a reading place with, well,
479
00:54:06,160 -->
00:54:12,160
with the writing place in mind, maybe at the end of this exercise. So I've said myself,
480
00:54:12,160 -->
00:54:18,960
well, in the next 100 days, I am going to read 100 plays, but you know, plays that are
481
00:54:18,960 -->
00:54:29,280
range from, say, 50 pages to the longest one I've seen, maybe 150 page thereabouts. So I aim to do
482
00:54:29,280 -->
00:54:36,480
one a day. So if I don't, I have to catch up somehow. And I'm actually on target. Today is
483
00:54:36,480 -->
00:54:43,440
day 15, and I'm about to start reading my 15th play, and it's really amazing. I mean, I was
484
00:54:43,440 -->
00:54:50,080
doing poetry before, but I mean, there is a limitation because only very, very short space,
485
00:54:50,080 -->
00:54:56,720
you probably don't have enough space where it's to express everything. But I think in the play,
486
00:54:56,720 -->
00:55:02,160
you can even talk about your hopes, your philosophy, and a lot of things can go in there.
487
00:55:02,160 -->
00:55:07,760
I really appreciate this exercise. And this is not like set by a school or teacher,
488
00:55:07,760 -->
00:55:13,200
let's say by myself, a challenge to myself. I want to see if I can do this and at the end,
489
00:55:13,200 -->
00:55:18,240
maybe write a play and people are looking forward to it. So I share my progress on Facebook every
490
00:55:18,240 -->
00:55:24,080
day. So we're coming toward the end of this conversation. But speaking of philosophy,
491
00:55:24,080 -->
00:55:30,800
you mentioned, so I have like one or two philosophical questions. So one is, in the
492
00:55:30,800 -->
00:55:37,600
era of this dominated by popular music, what are your thoughts on maintaining the relevance of
493
00:55:37,600 -->
00:55:43,920
classical music and ensuring the thriving of the industry? I was thinking a bit of a fusion is
494
00:55:43,920 -->
00:55:51,440
actually not a bad idea and introducing it to a younger crowd. But how to actually make it
495
00:55:51,440 -->
00:55:57,920
interesting is the I think it's the hard part. So maybe getting the young kids to promote them
496
00:55:57,920 -->
00:56:03,440
themselves. So that's why I get my kids to actually perform and maybe it's going to be
497
00:56:03,440 -->
00:56:10,400
a little bit more appealing for the kids to see the kids performing, but not because they are
498
00:56:10,400 -->
00:56:20,080
pushed to perform in the setting of like, say, a competition. This is we're doing it for fun. I
499
00:56:20,080 -->
00:56:26,400
think we have forgotten a lot about like playing music for fun. That's why I really want to be
500
00:56:26,400 -->
00:56:33,280
that's why I really bring us back to the next actually the next golden age, which is about,
501
00:56:33,280 -->
00:56:38,320
you know, there's like a lot of people inspiring one another. They're all different disciplines.
502
00:56:38,320 -->
00:56:44,960
So it could be a poet or musician, then painter or all sorts of philosophers. They're all in the
503
00:56:44,960 -->
00:56:50,320
house or at a cafe and they're all talking and they're just, yeah, getting ideas from
504
00:56:50,320 -->
00:56:55,440
from another person. I think it's really essential. So I'm doing house concerts now.
505
00:56:55,440 -->
00:57:02,800
And with my kids and my friends and I'm hoping that, yeah, when the arts intersect, we're just,
506
00:57:02,800 -->
00:57:05,040
yeah, I think there'll be magic.
507
00:57:06,080 -->
00:57:13,600
All right. And then one more. What is your thought on our duty or gift as classical musicians to
508
00:57:13,600 -->
00:57:14,400
society?
509
00:57:15,280 -->
00:57:23,840
So what do you think? I think just we can use our music to touch them, because at the end of my
510
00:57:23,840 -->
00:57:29,520
at the end of my concerts and even just online ones, I had feedback from my audience saying,
511
00:57:29,520 -->
00:57:37,760
wow, this is like, yeah, I felt so touched or moved by this. Yeah, I enjoyed this better than
512
00:57:37,760 -->
00:57:45,040
like big, you know, famous pianists who felt so distant. So I think we really what we should do
513
00:57:45,040 -->
00:57:53,840
is to bring it ourselves closer. We're not like, like a glorious, you know, famous musician up
514
00:57:53,840 -->
00:58:01,840
there, like not approachable. I think that the thing I like about, say, the haiku circle
515
00:58:01,840 -->
00:58:06,160
and the violists is like, they're all very easygoing and approachable people.
516
00:58:06,160 -->
00:58:11,040
There's no such thing as like, I'm so famous, I'm not going to talk to you. Yeah, yeah.
517
00:58:11,040 -->
00:58:17,680
And I have security all around me. No, nothing like that. I think I like talking about things
518
00:58:17,680 -->
00:58:24,080
in my or about the pieces or about different things. I dedicate things in my concerts. I
519
00:58:24,080 -->
00:58:29,520
always like to include a scrap in at the end of my concerts if I can help it, if I get to choose.
520
00:58:30,320 -->
00:58:36,560
So I like talking to my audience and finding out how they feel and interacting. I think
521
00:58:36,560 -->
00:58:42,240
this is really important. Wonderful. OK, this has been really a great
522
00:58:42,240 -->
00:58:47,040
inspiring conversation, Sherry and Zoe. Thank you so much for being here. So but before I let you
523
00:58:47,040 -->
00:58:52,880
go, we have one more thing to do. It's called the piano part rapid by questions. This is part of the
524
00:58:52,880 -->
00:58:57,920
show where I get to ask fun questions to each guest. Now, here's a little twist. As silly as
525
00:58:57,920 -->
00:59:03,680
these questions may sound, your answers may reveal who you truly are. So are you ready?
526
00:59:03,680 -->
00:59:12,400
Do you want to participate as well? Yes, I will ask you a question. And then I want you to answer
527
00:59:12,400 -->
00:59:17,600
them with shortest responses as possible. Question number one, what is your comfort food?
528
00:59:18,400 -->
00:59:26,400
For me, sushi, chicken noodles, chicken noodles. All right. Maybe this this question is not for
529
00:59:26,400 -->
00:59:34,160
Zoe, but how do you like your coffee? Oh, I don't even drink coffee anymore. I like tea. Earl Grey.
530
00:59:34,160 -->
00:59:36,800
I love Earl Grey. How about you? What do you like to drink?
531
00:59:41,440 -->
00:59:48,800
All right. Number three, cats or dogs? Oh, cats for sure. Cats. Yeah, we've got a cat. Cats.
532
00:59:48,800 -->
00:59:55,440
Great. Number four, summer or winter? Summer. I think summer. All right. Next question.
533
00:59:55,440 -->
01:00:01,520
What skill have you always wanted to learn but haven't had the chance to? Maybe this is not for
534
01:00:01,520 -->
01:00:07,920
Zoe because Zoe is still 10 years old. Yeah, my parents always said, why are you not a composer
535
01:00:07,920 -->
01:00:14,000
yet? I think they assume that being a musician, you must be able to compose. So I am yet to be
536
01:00:14,000 -->
01:00:20,000
a composer. I want to compose an opera, but I want to be able to also write librettos. I'm learning
537
01:00:20,000 -->
01:00:27,040
to write a play now. So that would come, but it would take time. All right. Next one. What is
538
01:00:27,040 -->
01:00:34,720
your word or words to live by, Sherry? I think just being curious all the time. Curious. What is
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the most important quality you look for in other people, Sherry? I think it's sincerity and
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01:00:51,200
friendship. I mean, just being able to open yourself up and to two people. Being approachable,
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but I think friendship. And I've learned this a lot. At the start of the journey, the poetry
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journey, I went and just tried to add everybody on Facebook, whichever name I see on the journal.
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01:01:13,360
That was actually proved to be really fruitful because later on I got friends with them and
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01:01:22,080
they submit to our journals or competitions. It's always actually judged a competition on her own
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01:01:28,880
last year. All right. Now two more questions. So name one piece in your current playlist.
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01:01:38,400
Ooh, it's always scrubbing. I'm planning to learn all the 10 smartas. I haven't because I wasn't
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01:01:46,640
actually like a solo pianist until say two years ago. So that's on my bucket list. So I'm listening
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01:01:52,480
to scrubbing all the time. Okay, great. How about you Zoe? Can you name one piece in your create
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01:02:00,960
list? What do you like to listen to? Taylor Swift. Okay. Let me find Taylor Swift. Which one? Which
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01:02:06,320
song do you like? Blank space. Blank space. Okay. I don't know that one I have to listen to.
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So last question, fill in the blank. Music is blank. Music is emotions, but music is everything.
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How about you Zoe? Music is cool. Yeah. Music is cool. That's a great answer. So that concludes
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01:02:35,280
the episode. This episode of the piano pop. Thank you Sherry and Zoe for joining my show today and
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01:02:40,560
sharing your stories, beautiful stories and insights and expertise. So for the piano pause
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01:02:48,480
listeners and viewers, please visit artsinfinitypress.com to learn more about Sherry's work and also Zoe's.
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01:02:53,680
Thank you to my wonderful audience and fans for tuning in. If you enjoyed today's episode,
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01:02:59,040
please rate and review it on whatever podcasting platform you use. Remember to hit the thumbs up
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01:03:03,920
button and subscribe to my YouTube channel. If you are watching this episode on YouTube,
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01:03:08,800
follow the piano part on social media to get the latest piano news via Facebook, Instagram,
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01:03:13,040
TikTok and LinkedIn. I will see you for the next episode of the piano part. Bye everyone.
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01:03:39,280
And thank you and bye Zoe and Sherry. Thank you so much.
