Thai Tue Nghi is performing in the final night of the national "Festival Piano Talents 2024" competition.

Thai Tue Nghi is the daughter of Ms. Phung My Hanh, an architect who was trained, worked and studied in Japan. However, Ms. Phung My Hanh is a famous person in the music industry in Hue as a tea room owner specializing in organizing large and small music events for domestic and foreign singers in recent times. The most recent are the performances of artist Trinh Nam Son. That means Tue Nghi is also a bit of a "family heiress" and not an amateur.

Ms. Hanh said that Tue Nghi started learning piano seriously in October 2023, which is only about 6 months old. "When I took Tue Nghi to apply for piano lessons, she was only 4 years old," Ms. Hanh recalled. At that time, the teacher said that she was still young, so her finger bones were not strong or strong enough to press on the heavy piano keys. She was afraid that if her finger force was too strong on the piano, her bones would not develop well and would be misaligned, so she encouraged her to play gently on the electric piano. However, when she tried it on the acoustic piano, seeing that she was enthusiastic and not struggling at all, Ms. Hanh decided to let her learn right away.

“What I was most worried about was that at that time she could not read, so she would have difficulty accessing the musical notes and beat symbols written on the sheet music. But I did not expect that she could read and remember very well. Another worry was that for a 4-year-old child, sitting still to concentrate on doing something usually did not last more than 5 minutes. But I did not expect that Tue Nghi could always stay focused and persevere for an hour to finish practicing the lesson,” said Ms. Hanh. Of course, the achievements that Tue Nghi had must be attributed to her mother’s efforts and “hard work” is the word Ms. Hanh used when talking about the process of learning piano with her daughter Tue Nghi. Ms. Hanh always sat next to Tue Nghi while she practiced. With every new and difficult musical phrase, the mother and daughter had to sit together for an hour to practice until they could play it before leaving the piano.

In the recently concluded national “Festival Piano Talents 2024”, in all 3 rounds, Tue Nghi was in the same group with contestants aged 9 and above. Therefore, Tue Nghi’s winning of the Gold medal in the competition can be considered a miracle. And this miracle comes first of all from the factor, as commented by Ms. Huong Giang, Lecturer of Hue Academy of Music - Tue Nghi's piano teacher, "she has a sense of music, a natural rhythm in her head and a very good sense of music. Tue Nghi's playing is soft and soulful compared to her age. Along with that is her performance style, greeting very dignified and confident when going on stage. But more than that, in contrast to when she was practicing, every time she went on stage, when many people were attentively enjoying, listening, clapping, Tue Nghi completely became a different person, her playing began to emphasize and attract... For Tue Nghi, going to the competition is just like performing for everyone to hear, not a pressure to compete at all!".

Ms. Phung My Hanh jokingly said that Tue Nghi - the only 5-year-old contestant to win the gold medal of the national "Festival Piano Talents 2024" competition was an "unexpected incident". At first, the mother and daughter came to the competition only with the mindset of "gaining a little experience", because Tue Nghi was the youngest contestant in the competition and had a very short time learning piano compared to her seniors in the competition groups. “So the medal is first of all the motivation for Tue Nghi to always strive and practice constantly. And it is also a joy and happiness for me. The first time Tue Nghi went to the ocean and achieved success, it means that her hard work, practice and talent are recognized, noticed, and known for big and small performances in Hue and the whole country in the future. This is also the motivation and inspiration for other fathers and mothers who have been wondering whether it is appropriate for their children to learn piano at such a young age, and whether they will gain anything…”, said Ms. Hanh.

Tuong Minh