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DAVID CHIN

Unlike most of Dr. Lam's piano students, I started playing piano relatively late in life. Instead of being 5 or 6, I touched the keys of a piano for the first time when I was 8. But even so, I would not consider the true beginning of my training to be until I was around 10. The piano teachers early on were too nice, too lenient, and lacked the ability to teach the fundamentals that are required to actually go far and achieve success.

When I first visited Dr. Lam, I thought I had learned at least something about the piano because I had already been a student for two years. However, my technique, my form, my posture, and my feel of the music were non-existent. It was so bad that Dr. Lam hesitated to take me as a student. But with a little persistence from my mom, and a great deal of kindness from Dr. Lam, she agreed to teach a 10-year old, with horrible piano habits (stiff and raised shoulders, a supremely stubborn straight pinky, hunched back, a knack for accenting every forte note, among others), how to play piano from scratch. And to be honest, in the beginning I was frustrated. Why were all these subtle things necessary or important? Couldn’t I play a piano and produce music just fine without any of those adjustments? However, Dr. Lam was persistent and it was hard to ignore the awards and accolades showered upon her other students. So I trusted her and bought into her teaching.

With time, I began to experience success and won some awards myself. However, more importantly, I came to appreciate and love music in a way that I never could before. I began to realize that each piece had a life of its own. Varying underlying rhythms mimicking heartbeats; pianissimo, calm, peaceful, and beautiful flowing notes like a gentle stream that can crescendo into the strong, powerful, and roaring noise of an overflowing river following a sudden storm.

However, Dr. Lam is not just a piano teacher. She becomes involved in the lives of her students. She cares deeply of her students. Beyond teaching me to love the piano, and the music that I played, she taught me discipline, the value of hard work, to practice, practice…and practice. And as you can see, although I am supposed to be writing a biography about myself, I cannot say enough about Dr. Lam and express how grateful I am that she took a chance on me and became a part of my life.

Now a little more about myself: I recently graduated from Georgetown University in May of 2012. I obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biology and minored in Science, Technology, and International Affairs. Since graduating, I have started working at the National Institutes of Health conducting research on the genetics of various auto-inflammatory diseases. I do some cool things that I think most people will not get to do in their lifetime. I sequence patient DNA to help provide diagnoses and to search for disease causing mutations. This is however, a temporary stop as I plan on applying to medical school soon. Although I do not play piano competitively anymore, I find that playing piano not only helps me think, but is also the most relaxing activity I can do when I am stressed. I love finding sheet music to songs that I hear in movies, TV shows, and on the radio, from classical to pop, and everything in between. Also, for those young Romeos out there, being able to play the piano well can really impress the ladies!