World-class pianist Huang Kai-Ying as well as Kimball Gallagher and dancer Amber Gao En-Bei jointly held the "Taiwan 88 Campus Concert Tour" at Neiwan Elementary School on May 6. A variety of games encompassed in the activity successfully led students to step into the world of music, making this international music tour a music class party.
"What is the title of this song?" someone asked. "It is Merry-Go-Round," students answered. When the concert announced its opening, Huang Kai-Ying and Kimball Gallagher performed the piano four hands, aiming to make students submerge themselves into the melody of music so as to further guess the songs. With dancer Amber Gao counting the beats and line dancing, Huang and Gallagher then performed the masterpieces of Georges Bizet, Mozart, Beethoven, Frederic Chopin and Yen Ming-Hisu. Gallapher, on a whim, even improvised a song based on a student's name. Through the back and forth interaction, the contagious vitality and happiness brought by music infused the students with spirits and energy as if every note on the staff were jumping and dancing with them, thereby broadening their international views of music and arts.
The creative idea of "88 Key Concert Tour" derived from the 88 keys of piano, Huang Kai-Ying stated. Huang added that "88 Key Concert Tour" launched the world tour to 26 countries and pinpoints developing countries for advanced promotion of music, social care, and creation of social values, and Taiwan is on the list of extension project with 88 schools across the Taiwan islands scheduled for campus concert tour within the coming 3 years. The campus concert tour is aimed at provoking students' curiosity as well as imagination and widening their international perspectives via an interactive and creative mode of performance.
Through questions and answers or interactive games, the stereotype people have of classical music can be broken, and students can be encouraged to exert their curiosity and take the initiative to perfect the performance while appreciating the music, Gallagher noted.
Along with councilor Zheng Zhi-Hong, Magistrate Chiu Ching-Chun attended the concert at Neiwan Elementary School in the morning, and delivered a certificate of appreciation to the Secretary-general of Chinese Professional Management Association of Hsinchu Zhou Ji-Ren, pianist Huang Kai-Ying and Kimball Gallagher for their arduous effort to introduce and spread the spirit of international arts and cultures to students in rural areas.
"This music concert has been redefined with a transcendental meaning," Magistrate Chiu said, and expressed his admiration for the 3 world-class distinguished pianists and dancer and their special teaching methods. Chiu announced that the Hsinchu County government will offer special invitation to Huang and Gallagher to work as the County Administrative Consultants, hoping that they can put their specialties and interactive teaching to good use so as to promote the County's arts and cultures education and international cultural exchange.
Source: Xie Dong-Yu, Director of Social Education Section, Hsinchu County Government's Department of Education