[00:00.00]Unit 5 Rhythm
[00:06.22]Lesson 3 Experiment in Folk
[00:10.72]Kong goes for folk!
[00:14.39]The famous classical pianist,Kong Xiangdong,
[00:18.51]surprised his fans last week,
[00:21.03]by giving a concert combining classical music
[00:24.08]with Chinese folk music.
[00:27.14]Kong explained that he tried this
[00:29.41]because he wanted to create something new.
[00:33.27]"As a musician,playing the same music
[00:36.55]in different cities of the world
[00:38.48]is very boring,"says Kong.
[00:41.98]He also feels that playing Chinese folk music
[00:45.26]on the piano can help bring it
[00:47.56]to the rest of the world.
[00:50.62]Music has always been part of Kong's world.
[00:54.33]As his mother was a great music lover,
[00:57.14]he lived with music from birth.
[01:00.19]But it wasn't always easy
[01:01.67]for the young Kong Xiandong.
[01:05.02]His mother couldn't buy him a piano
[01:07.10]until he was seven.
[01:09.26]She had to draw piano keys on a piece of paper,
[01:13.14]so that he could learn to play
[01:14.88]as early as possible.
[01:17.34]The 5-year-old Kong would practise on the paper
[01:21.07]piano as his mother clapped the rhythm.
[01:25.33]He was made to practise the piano so much that,
[01:28.65]at times,he thought about giving up.
[01:31.76]However,he didn't quit,
[01:33.72]and he became a great pianist.
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