How we started…….. Around mid-2018, I had the vision of forming a piano trio (piano, violin and cello) to improve our skills. I explored this possibility with Marie (piano) and Joyce (cello). Amazingly, Marie replied that she had the same vision (synchronicity!) and with Joyce, we formed the Trio. We love Mendelssohn’s two piano trios, especially the No. 1 in D minor. Benjamin Zander of Boston Philharmonic taught a master class on this music in which we learned a lot. This piece demands high skills and will take us more time to practice. To select “repertoire”, we used CMNC – Recommended Piano Trios as the guide. We started with Beethoven piano trio in Bb-Major, Op. 11 “Gassenhauer.” This is my third time to play “Gassenhauer” and we performed the 1st movement in Marie’s family concert this summer. In addition to classical music, we also practiced Taiwan folk songs and Church gospel songs for future performing in community services. Among these songs, the trio 《最後的住家》, in memory of the missionary Dr. Mackay, requires high skills. The Bach Amazing Grace blends the Bach cello suite and the gospel song “Amazing Grace”, two musics that were spanned over centuries. Marie plays recorder besides the piano and cello. She selected a couple of Telemann’s trio sonatas to start this new series together with Mozart’s piano trio K-254 . We used sight-reading in practicing these easier music pieces. Sight-playing combines two unique skill sets: music reading and music making. After sight-playing, (or prepared in advance for more difficult pieces), our practices moved toward more on the interpretations — dynamics, phrasing and balancing as well as each instrument’s skills – fingerings, bowing, intonation and balances, etc. Playing trio is a wonderful experience. It improved our skills, both individually and as a trio. We want to continue share the experience with our musical friends. (by Admin 10/20/2019)