Cape pianist keyed into success

When Bonan Wang was a little girl in China, her mother took her to her piano lesson once a week. Yifeng Ren pedaled a bicycle with a cart behind for her daughter. The trip took an hour each way. Even when it was raining or snowing, Bonan never missed a lesson. Though they lived in Wuhan, a sophisticated city of 7 million people in central China, they traveled far because Ren wanted the best teacher for her daughter.

Earlier this month at Truman State University in Kirksville, the 16-year-old Bonan outplayed 17 other talented high school juniors from around the state to win the first-place prize in the Missouri Music Teachers Association competition. She was judged the best pianist of her age in the state.

Crammed with trophies

Winning competitions is not new for Bonan. The top of the upright piano in her Cape Girardeau home is crammed with trophies and awards from her school career. Among them are math awards, the President's Education Award given by Bill Clinton for her academic prowess, an outstanding musician award from the Louisiana Music Teachers Association, and a second-place award she won two years ago in an essay contest sponsored by the People's Daily, a Chinese newspaper with a worldwide circulation of 4 million.

She always makes straight A's.

In most ways, Bonan is like any other 16-year-old girl in America. She has braces on her teeth and laughs easily.

But she doesn't care anything about going to football games and she doesn't drive, though mainly because her parents don't think she should yet because she didn't grow up around cars the way American children do.

Bonan's family moved to Cape Girardeau from Baton Rouge, La., in the summer of 2001, after her father received his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University. At Central High School she is a member of the French Club, the Beta Club and is on the varsity of the Central High School team that competes in the University Scholar Bowl. She also belongs to an organization called the Political Interest Group and is a member of an Amnesty International group.

She is well aware of China's poor human rights record. "I care about a lot of issues," she said.

She's a member of the Humane Society, even though the only pet she's allowed is a turtle named Pig.

She speaks both Chinese and English and is learning French.

She also plays piano every Wednesday night for choir rehearsal and every Sunday for services at the First Baptist Church. She attends the church.

You wonder if there's anything Bonan can't do well.

"I'm not very athletic," she admitted.

She wishes she could ice skate. She tried once but fell down half a dozen times. To Bonan, that is failure.

Started piano at 4

Neither of Bonan's parents is musical, but her mother, a university professor when they lived in China, was aware of the ability of music to stimulate a child's brain in other areas. She started Bonan on piano lessons when she was 4 even though few Chinese families can afford a piano.

"We took a risk," she said.

Bonan's father, Dr. Shaojun Wang, is now an assistant professor of industrial and engineering technology at Southeast Missouri State University. He was not then as convinced of the value of learning the piano.

"I didn't expect her to play so good," he said. "Now I see this result. I'm very happy."

The members of the Wang family emigrated to America in phases, with Shaojun coming to America first in 1995. He was joined by his wife a year later. Bonan followed the following year and her maternal grandparents, Yanghe Ren and Shengyuan Tang, three months later. Bonan now has a 3-year-old American-born sister, Ellen.

Getting to lessons is easier now that she and her family live in Cape Girardeau. She is driven to Southeast Missouri State University, where Dr. James Sifferman guides her through the intricacies of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin.

Sifferman is a concert pianist himself who was recommended by Bonan's music teacher at school, Dina Strickert.

Like a Rams receiver

He says Bonan is a good example of "the value of music in education." The skills she has developed playing the piano, particularly the necessity of powerful concentration, serve all her interests, he says.

"When you're on stage in performance whether a recital or competition, the concentration level has to be constant," Sifferman said. He compared it to a Rams wide receiver going out for a long pass. "If he takes his eye off the ball one second, he'll probably drop it. Performing at piano is very much the same way."

Bonan puts her success in competitions this way: "Sometimes when I'm playing, I'm not aware of my surroundings. When I focus, I do well, not when I start thinking about the outcome."

She plays the cerebral, contrapuntal music of Bach well but also responds to the passion in Beethoven, Sifferman said. "Beethoven grabs you by the throat," he said.

Chopin's music is actually her favorite for its combination of passion and delicacy.

In China, few families can afford to have a piano so the instrument is a prestigious one to play. Because each family is allowed only one child, the competition for their child to excel is strong.

"They all hope they will have a Beethoven in the family," Bonan said, laughing.

She now practices an hour each day but didn't like practicing when she was just starting. "I just wanted to go outside and play," she said.

During the first year, her mother often sat next to her daughter to make sure she practiced. But as her abilities increased, Bonan said, "I began to enjoy it because it could sound pretty."

The fast and the furious

At good as she is, she doesn't expect to make music her career.

"It's better for me if is more of an avocation," she said. "It helps my self-esteem and it's really a good stress reliever. If anything has upset me, I pound out some fast and furious music."

Stanford, Yale and MIT comprise the short list of universities Bonan hopes to attend after she graduates from high school. She plans to major in psychology and international relations and minor in music and is sure she wants a doctorate.

In Chinese, bo is the word for encompassing or doctorate. Nan means south. Wang means king. When she was a little girl, Bonan used to tell her mother's university colleagues she was the "king of doctors in the south part."

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182