China's first suona doctor tells of 'tiger parents' teaching style

(Dan Tri) - Chinese artist Liu Wenwen (34 years old) is the first person to have a doctorate in suona in the country of a billion people. Recently, she revealed the strict upbringing that her parents gave her.

Liu Wenwen has performed in many places around the world and always conquers the audience with her traditional Chinese musical instrument. Liu Wenwen is considered a pride of traditional musical instrument artists in the country of a billion people.

In addition to performing, Liu is also a lecturer at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (China). She is the first person to have a doctorate in suona in the country of a billion people. Recently, the female doctor revealed the very strict upbringing that her parents gave her.

Tiến sĩ kèn suona đầu tiên của Trung Quốc kể về cách dạy của cha mẹ hổ - 1 — Chinese artist Liu Wenwen (34 years old) is the first person to have a doctorate in suona in the country of a billion people (Photo: SCMP).

Liu was born in Shandong Province, into a family of suona performers. Her father is the seventh generation of suona performers, and her mother is the twelfth generation of suona performers, imitating human speech and animal sounds.

Liu is an only child, so from a young age her parents encouraged her to continue the suona playing tradition on both sides of her family. She started learning to play the suona at the age of 4.

Her parents wake their daughter up at 4-5am every day to go to the park to practice, taking advantage of the quiet early morning space and not disturbing the families living nearby.

At first, Liu was very resistant to her parents' direction because her friends often teased her that her family was "full of trumpet players serving at weddings and funerals."

Liu only changed her attitude towards learning to play the suona after hearing famous Chinese artist Liu Ying perform. She was fascinated by Liu Ying's sound and artistic performance style.

At the age of 13, through some introductions, Liu Wenwen had the opportunity to meet her idol Liu Ying and began to be directly taught by the male artist how to perform the suona in an artistic style.

Every week, Liu Wenwen's parents travel nearly 1,000km from Shandong to Shanghai so she can learn to play the trumpet directly from artist Liu Ying.

At that time, even the weekly travel expenses were a challenge for Liu Wenwen's family. But what she saw in her parents was perseverance and encouragement within the family, not anger, scolding or backing down when success did not come to her.

Tiến sĩ kèn suona đầu tiên của Trung Quốc kể về cách dạy của cha mẹ hổ - 2 — Liu Wenwen has performed solo on many international stages since 2017 (Photo: SCMP).

The family's efforts eventually paid off, as Liu Wenwen was admitted to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 2008. After earning a bachelor's degree in suona, Liu Wenwen continued to study and hone her performance skills to become a world-class artist while also earning a master's and doctorate in suona.

Liu Wenwen has been performing solo on many international stages since 2017. She uses her suona playing skills to imitate animal sounds to conquer international audiences, surprising and delighting them.

Since 2018, she has been a lecturer at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and is determined to inspire love for the suona among young Chinese people.

Liu has held solo performances that last more than an hour, which shows her remarkable stamina on stage.

Liu used to practice 10-12 hours a day. Now, because of her busy performing and teaching schedule, Liu has reduced her practice time to at least 6 hours a day.

The artist said that she has 8-pack muscles thanks to practicing playing the suona every day. According to her, this practice is more effective than harsh physical exercises.