Today I went to Dream Mall to attend Veronica's book signing event. Her new book is titled Because of Chopin. Although I had already known something about her background, it was touching to hear from herself sharing about her own stories - how she found her dream and archived it. Veronica hoped that through her stories, everyone could listen to their hearts, find what s/he really wants, and try to reach their goals. You can do better than what you think you can. This is what Veronica encourages us.

今天我參加Veronica (以下稱: 維若妮卡)《因為蕭邦：夢在羅馬許願池》新書發表會。真是獲益良多啊!  儘管我對維若妮卡音樂求學路早已略有所聞，畢竟台灣像她這樣非科班出身卻能考進皇家音樂院的鋼琴家應該不多，但沒想到親耳聽見她的見證分享，竟然如此動人。維若妮卡希望藉由她的心路歷程，每個人都能靜下心來聆聽自己真正想要追求的夢想，然後永於圓夢。她表示: 「你所能完成的可以比你想像的還要大。」維若妮卡如此勉勵每個人，真是鼓舞人心啊!

 

 

(The way that Veornica looked at her toy piano is really cute! 維若妮卡看著她的玩具鋼琴思肘的樣子頗為可愛呢!)

Veronica wasn't like most other Taiwanese musicians who had formal education at music schools. Although she started her piano lessons at the age of 6 and continued 6 years, she had to give up her piano lessons at the age of 12. Her parents felt that studying music was useless. As a result, she spent most of her time studying in her youth. Of course, for someone who loves music so much, she felt sad that she had to stop learning piano. It wasn't until the age of 16, she went to Europe with a school tour. They travelled from the UK to Continental Europe, where the last stop for them was Rome. She stood in front of a fountain and wanted to make a wish. It is said that if you threw a coin from your left shoulder, you would come back to the fountain. Back then, Veronica didn't know what her dream really was. However, the trip to Europe made her fall in love with European architecture and art. Therefore, she studied the humanities at the University of Edinburgh. That's where her life started to change.

誠如剛剛所述，維若妮卡並非科班出身的音樂家。她的鋼琴教育雖然啟蒙地早，從6歲一直學到小六，但是升國中之際，因為傳統價值觀的束縛，在父母的安排下，她只好忍痛放下鋼琴課程。就這樣整整7年她沒在碰鋼琴。然而，在她16歲那年的歐洲之旅，她就深深被歐洲藝術殿堂感動。那年16歲懵懵懂懂的年紀，她知道如果將硬幣從左邊肩膀丟往許願池，日後有機會可再訪許願池。然而她當時心想的是她的夢想。也因此後來遠赴英國愛丁堡攻讀建築史和藝術史。她在英國期間，也努力透過他人介紹，在名師的指導下，重拾鋼琴。

 

Besides studies, she learned piano from famous piano teacher in London and Edinburgh. Her teacher in Edinburgh suggested Veronica attend a Music Festival in Spain, where she would meet with many music prodigies. That's when she met Marianna Prjevalskaya. Veronica said that although all of those kids indeed were good pianists, only Marianna Prjevalskaya's music was the most touching. One day, she asked Marianna Prjevalskaya what brand her piano was. (In the music festival, some piano players got rich parents who could afford to buy a flat in London and Steinway & Sons Pianos.) However, Marianna said that she wished that she could have a piano! She told Veronica that she only got an electronic piano. Her father was a violin player in an orchestra in Spain. Sometimes if the rehearsals finished early, her father would phone her and then Marianna could play the real piano. That made Veronica speechless. Marianna always knew that she wanted to be a pianist, and she knew that she could be one of the top pianists. That's something Veronica lacked – belief in herself. That night, Veronica went to beach. She made a decision: she wanted to be a musician.

除了攻讀人文課程，維若妮卡積極利用課餘練琴。在老師的鼓勵下，她遠赴西班牙參加國際音樂節，認識來自世界各地的音樂神童，大家互相切磋。她說當時簡直是超震撼，因為那些神童的學琴過程令人感到不可思議。有人的父母可以為了孩子的音樂教育，竟然可以有錢在英國倫敦買房，甚至在德國漢堡挑了史坦威鋼琴，就為了讓孩子練琴。這些神童儘管厲害，但是似乎只有一位俄羅斯的女生Marianna Prjevalskaya琴聲可以打動維若妮卡。有天維若妮卡私下小聲問Marianna Prjevalskaya在家裡是練什麼牌子的鋼琴。沒想到Marianna Prjevalskaya竟然長嘆一聲說: 「我真希望我有鋼琴。」後來Marianna告訴Veronica，她只有電子琴可以練琴。她從小學鋼琴就沒花過半毛錢，6歲起在母親的啟蒙下學習鋼琴，9歲或10歲時候，她的母親就沒有足夠的程度可以教她了。她能在大師班、音樂節上課，都是因為幫音樂節或大師班的小提琴手鋼琴伴奏，交換條件而來的。她父親當時剛考上西班牙管弦樂團擔當小提琴手，如果團練早點結束，父親就會打電話給她，這時候Marianna才能彈到真正的鋼琴。我想不只有維若妮卡，應該所有的人聽完都會目瞪口呆。當維若妮卡向Marianna訴說愛丁堡大學的琴房有時候鋼琴不夠好，Marianna無奈地說: 「總比我的電子琴好吧!」Marianna是個從小就知道自己要當出色鋼琴家的人，在媽媽無法勝任擔任她的鋼琴老師時，Marianna都會聽齊瑪曼等大師彈鋼琴的錄音，然後告訴自己有天也可以。她總是對音樂想像，當真正碰觸鋼琴時，將想像實現在鋼琴上。Marianna對自己要做的事情很清楚。維若妮卡不是不知道自己要什麼，只是她不夠肯定自己。但是透過Marianna的故事，維若妮卡當晚在西班牙海邊時，立志要走音樂這條寂寞艱辛的路。

 

 

Veronica's story about how she entered an international piano competition in Holland was impressive. She wrote it well on her blog. You can either read her blog or her new book.  When Veronica won the first prize, she told one of the judges (the one who could make the final decision) that it must have been very difficult for them to choose who was the best one in this competition. The judge answered, "No. We already knew that you're the best one. We were discussing who should be the second winner and who should be the third winner." The judge also told Veronica, "Maybe they are better pianists than you are, but you're a musician. We all heard your music and your emotions toward music."

  

維若妮卡分享她進入荷蘭的國際學生鋼琴大賽的故事相當精彩。這故事她也鉅細靡遺地寫在她自己的部落格。有興趣的朋友們可以去她的部落格拜讀，或參考她的新作《因為蕭邦：夢在羅馬許願池》。在今天的新書發表會，維若妮卡表示她當時獲得第一名時候，曾問過主評審委員是不是要選出第一名，非常地困難呢? 沒想到主評審委員竟然回答她:「我們早知道妳是第一名。但是我們在討論誰第二、誰第三。」這位主評審也向維若妮卡:「他們或許是比你還優秀的鋼琴家，但是你是音樂家。你的音樂和感情我們都聽出來了。」我聽到這句話時已經熱淚盈眶了。多麼不容易的漫漫長路啊! 

 

 

In the end, Veronica played two pieces of work for toy pianos written by Tiago Videira. One of them was "the sewing machine" and the other "Caldo de Feijão" (bean soup). I really enjoyed Veronica's sharing, and hoefully you will enjoy it, too.

 

她最後為現場聽眾帶來一位葡萄牙鋼琴家特別為玩具鋼琴所寫的可愛小品「裁縫機」跟「豆子湯」，真是大飽耳福啊。維若妮卡的故事真是精彩萬分，感人不已，我也希望可以為讀者們帶來一些感動跟啟發。