Senior Aaron Hong's summer experiences in Zhuhai, China, teaching music with DukeEngage

If you are a pianist, have you ever had to move your own piano onstage and wire it into a massive portable sound system before your performance? This is one of the many firsts that I went through during my experience in DukeEngage Zhuhai in China. This program gave me a lot of firsts: first time performing in front of 2500 people, first time teaching, first time managing sound for a show, and so many other things that I can’t list them all. No pictures or videos would ever do justice when I talk about my DukeEngage experience. The truth is, I discovered beautiful human connections when I reached out to engage with people through my music making.  

The DukeEngage Zhuhai “empowerment through the arts” program is located in Zhuhai, once a small fishing village and now the third largest city in Guangdong Province with a population of over 1.6 million. Zhuhai is in many ways a perfect microcosm of 21st century China. The purpose of this arts education program is to open the minds of young Chinese students through a series of arts classes, all of which integrate leadership, self-confidence and self-expression. On the other hand, it also gives us, the Duke students, many opportunities to get deeply involved in a community and to be able to contribute and make a difference in other people’s lives. It also offers the opportunity to test out and verify ideas and knowledge I’ve learned at Duke. This experience has brought new perspective to my life.

During the two months of service on the site, my assignment was to teach a singing class in addition to teaching English. Ironically, I haven’t sung since elementary school and I have never taught a class before in my life!  However, Hsiao-Mei, our program director, assured me that I would learn along the way and my lack of experience in teaching and singing would not be a concern. What mattered was that I could work with the students and make learning fun. Despite that, I struggled during the first few days of teaching with no concrete plan, except I knew that at the end of eight weeks, we, the Duke students, would help produce a final show that all the young Chinese students participating in Duke’s extra curricular classes would come up on stage to perform in.

The students in my class were from 7th and 8th grades and they were rowdy and hard to control. Yet, once we finally selected which songs to sing and started a warm-up schedule, things were much easier. As someone who grew up only performing music, I found that teaching music was actually fun. I focused on teaching the music, while my DukeEngage partner (who actually participates in singing groups on campus) focused on teaching the lyrics and the style. Often, she would be at the front drilling lyrics and melodies into the students’ heads, while I was accompanying at the piano to help the students memorize the melodies. I would also play during the singing warmups to make sure the students sang on pitch. What I learned from this experience is that being a pianist is not just about playing the right harmonies; it also plays a vital role in creating excitement for the group and keeping the singers together. It’s a simple job, but a very important one. I never expected to be a great teacher, but I was able to help the students learn their songs for the final performance. It was incredibly rewarding to see the progress as we improved over the weeks.

One of the most memorable parts of the program was our final show. The days leading up to it were intense and hectic. Each of us had to play multiple roles: performer, teacher, stage crew, and many other countless duties. We worked day and night to put our program together. As the only person with experience with sound editing, I was put in charge of the sound and music for the performance. However, nothing was quite in order at our first dress rehearsal since all the equipment for the sound system hadn’t arrived yet. The piano couldn’t be plugged in, so I had to improvise. I played from my phone a pre-recorded track of myself playing the music into a microphone, so everyone could hear. I was glad that worked! Fortunately, the sound system was set up for our second dress rehearsal the next day, and the piano could be plugged in. But the piano was in the classroom. I looked around and spotted a few Chinese students to help me move the piano on stage. Also, as the person in charge of sound, I was responsible for setting up microphones for each act of the entire show. Most of the acts were easy to set up. However, it was difficult setting up the microphones for my singing class. No matter how we arranged the microphones on stage, the choir just couldn’t be heard from the audience. That day we were at school until around 7 pm, when we finally realized the problem with the old equipment and found a microphone setup that actually worked.

The day of the performance was just as nerve-racking. First, it had rained all day. This posed a problem since we were performing on an outdoor stage, and there was nowhere to go if it rained during our show. Second, we were still finalizing logistics, from MC skits to backstage roles. For me, I was still trying to finalize logistics for sound, as well as coordinating with the lights person for lighting effects for the show. Surprisingly, just as we were about to start, it stopped raining long enough for us to set up.

During the show, I had to manage the sound, communicate with the lights person, and play the piano with my singing class. To my relief, everything went very smoothly; there were no hiccups in the show. All of the acts were amazing. Finally, it was my students’ turn to perform. Performing in front of over 2500 people was very exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. We did our best and the singing was wonderful!  When we finished, we were drenched and saturated with wet t-shirts because of the unbearable heat and humidity, but I could see the students smiling as they exited the stage. To my surprise, I also saw tears on some of my students’ faces. Many of them realized this would be the last time they would see us. After all, school was finished, and we were leaving for America in two days. There were lots of pictures taken and hugging exchanged. It was a bittersweet moment.

Near the end of the program, I was reminded of one of the mottos of DukeEngage: “challenge yourself and change your world.” Reflecting back, my world was definitely changed due to this experience. I never thought my music background and my presence at the school could be so meaningful to the students. “We have been waiting for you this whole year!” one student said to me when I first arrived. In the next few weeks, we developed friendships with the students. I came to China thinking I would teach English and art classes, which I did. Yet, soon I realized that I did much more. I found myself to be a teacher and a mentor, a musician and magician who could use music to connect people who do not even share the same culture and language. More importantly, I helped my students create their own voices. Many young Chinese students started asking for my advice about their educational decisions and were also interested in my life in America. I was glad that I could share my music experience and personal stories with them. We were in Zhuhai for only two months. Although it seems like a long time, it felt too short. Near the end, I received so many heartfelt thank-you notes from my students. One even made a scrapbook for me. I never felt so appreciated like this before. I am truly humbled by their kindness. It was them who changed my life and made me realize the power of music. I received so much more than I could ever imagine. This has been the most meaningful summer of my life.