要能夠享受彈奏鋼琴，先問一下自已，為什麼要練琴？當然我們都知道一定要先練，才會彈得好然後才能夠享受。如果這就是你的答案，那能夠享受彈奏鋼琴，只是遲早的問題。

          生產鋼琴的目的，是讓大家，包括彈奏者与欣賞者，都能夠讓身心得到安撫。絕對不是讓彈奏者利用鋼琴作為他們炫耀自已的一種工具。更不是讓欣賞者覺得能夠聽一場鋼琴獨奏會，則可以提昇自已在社交上的形象。

         其實，彈奏鋼琴，就是能夠達到自我的境界，這也是很多人迷上彈琴的原因。我這裏並不是指鋼琴專業的演奏家或是老師，有很多鋼琴迷，從商，工，餐飲業，律師，醫界等等，真是各行各業都有。大家的程度並不見得有多好，彈出的音樂也不見得有多動聽，可是他們只要有空，就會練一下。偶然在party時，客串一下，真正能夠獨樂樂不若与眾樂樂。

        彈琴時，不管身在何處，也不在乎有旁聽者，都能繼續專注維持自我。只要了解在天堂裏，所有的靈魂都是平等的，所以所有的音樂大師們絕對不會在他們的譜上寫著：此曲只限貴族欣賞……因此，只要有靈魂的，都有資格欣賞由美麗靈魂彈奏的音樂，包括動物，植物。

        彈琴很棒並不等於好聽，彈琴好聽也並不代表很棒，如果彈琴很棒等於很有名和賺很多錢，而琴彈得好聽卻是有內心的舒適与喜悅，那麼有錢有名不一定就代表有內心的平順与喜悅了。

     Very often people ask me which brand of piano do I prefer to play on ?   My answer is I , of course, enjoy playing a good piano regardless of the name brand.  I love to browse through used piano warehouses because there are countless pianos grands and uprights and there are so many name brands that I even do not know about and not mentioning all those carved wood works on the piano bodies and legs !

     A good piano , is not only a piece of combinations of wood and cast iron, brass and steel wires and top quality wool and etc.    A good piano ( can be either upright or grand , big or small )  has its own character , or say …… life !  It is a living art created by human hands, I should say that it has the highest technology with human passion in it .  

     If you believe that the plants you care for everyday have spirits in them , if you talk to them out loud or just in your mind , don’t you feel that your plants do understand you and they do depend on your everyday’s greeting.   After years and years of loving care your plants will only grow more and more beautiful !  and you, will become happier all along !   

     That is how I treat my pianos , when I practice , I feel that they understand what I need spiritually and after days and days , months and months, years and years practice my pianos give me back rewards.    If I do not practice , there will be no rewards !  But if I do, the rewards may not come right away but it surely will come sooner or later !  I kneel down in front of the keyboards regularly , yes, down to my knees, well …. to clean the dust off the pedal board and that little space on the floor as well underneath the pedal board.    I also clean the inside of my pianos even the sound board.   

     I have my personal piano technician in Taipei who takes care of my pianos.   Besides the tuning, he also checks all the specifications of the action and the condition of hammer heads.      One month before my recital he will do the very detail checks on the action and one week before the actual performance  he will recheck it again and when my piano is moved to the stage at the concert hall , all he will do is the fine tuning !   

     The main purpose that I keep on giving piano solo recitals is because I feel very regretful that my beautiful 9 footer concert grand cannot sing out properly being cramped in my small apartment in Taipei city.   That’s why I will bring my beloved concert grand into a 2000 seats concert hall with the highest grade of acoustic and let my piano sing her heart out !   :) 

     I never use any pianos as a tool to gain my personal fame and reputation, I love the piano and when I play a good piano, she talks to me !  I do not punch, attack, beat , pound or do anything rough to make the piano feel uncomfortable. When I play a fortissimo , I hug the piano as I would hug my pet .   

      Therefore, when you play on a piano , if you feel that you can play musically so naturally then you know you are on a good piano.    But , of course, first keep up our daily practice , yes…… days after days, months after months, years after years and only then, when you play on a good piano you will know for sure !!!

Some of you know that I like cars…  Here’s a classic - an Alfa Romeo…  But that is NOT me driving…

Very interesting blog on classical music!!!

      在這地球上的人類，都具備了包括善与惡的人性。藝術是站在善的這邊，而金錢及名利的追求，卻到頭來免不了和惡起了共鳴。如何從善與惡取得平衡，是我們共同努力的目標。      音樂是不分國界的語言，只要用純真誠懇的心彈奏或歌唱(各種語言)，雖然聽不憧歌詞的內容，可是我們都會覺得說耳動聽，這就是我們擁有性本善的最好的証明！

      有善就必定有惡，就好比有陰陽的太極圖，有時候黑色比較多，有時候白色比較多，平均看起來卻又是等量。因為我們原本就心中存有善，所以我們都喜歡站在善的一邊，為什麼惡人卻又層出不窮呢？這就是自然律中平衡的原理，我們只是慶幸沒有屬於惡的一方。做善事有善報做惡事有惡報，不過何時報應卻不是我們所能控制的，往往惡報是發生在下一代的身上，而善報也可能是等你上天堂時再領取。

      有人性就免不了有瑕疵，所以，BACH寫的作品，不斷訓練我們對善的追求，Mozart讓我們回歸純潔，Beethoven訓練我們的毅力，Czerny提醒我們謙虛的重要性。有了這些基礎，自我的善才會更美麗的發揮，美化了我們週邊的靈魂 (包括寵物和花草)。

我現在已經很輕鬆因為錄音的部分已經完成了。

我在舊金山剛完成錄音的部分。希望三個月後就可以上市了。我目前所有的CD可以在 http://alexandersung.com/discography.php 上找到。

請看我在YouTube上彈琴的情形。

     We see people meditate worldwide and some of us believe and some don’t.   Let’s look at all religious buildings like churches, temples all built with high ceilings which help us to gain the power direct from God .   I enjoy sitting on the bench when I walk by a church no matter where I am , If I am in the Orient, I walk into huge temple and find a quiet spot just to stand there .    I cannot say to you how long you should stay because each time I feel a bit different . That’s why sometimes longer up till maybe 40 min. sometimes shorter like 5 min.  My purpose is just to feel first of all the quietness of the building and then I begin to gain calmness and I begin to feel good. I highly recommend everyone to try this, and, it does not cost you a penny.

     Calmness means peace , it brings our thinking into positive.   Like playing the piano, when we are so occupied with our fingers ( and plus our right foot for the pedal) we always become tense because we do not want to play the wrong keys and therefore we cannot hear what we’ve played.  But if we first to have a clear mind which means bring out our inner calmness ( like comfort our pets or the infants ) then when we play the keys again we begin to be able to hear the music.

     Meditate, specially in a church ( or temple ) let us understand more and more the power from God,  the power of goodness, the power of true love !  If we want to experience further, music, yes, go to good music by Bach,Mozart, Beethoven,Schubert……all the greatest masters and lets feel the power of love from heaven ! 

Here’s me with some young fans after a concert at the National Concert Hall (台北音樂廳將會) in Taiwan in April.  It was a great event and I was so happy to see so many young people in the audience.