Catherine Cheung | 张瑛瑶

Pianist | Teacher

Catherine Cheung is a pianist, composer and teacher based in London

The fear of being spontaneous

I've always hated improvising. I've loved the idea, but I've hated the practical side of it. Why? Because I was BAD at it, and really I still am, but I've finally overcome the fear and the annoyance when I get things wrong. Improvising teaches you to go round the obstacle, to learn to fall and make it seem like you intended it to be that way. In fact that's what a true artist does isn't it? E.g. You make a memory slip on stage (another one of my fears), and you overcome it (hopefully) and the audience is probably oblivious to the five seconds of panic that just happened.

One take improvisation.

I'm very new at all of this so bear with me, but I finally came up with something I thought sounded good enough to share with you all, so I hope you enjoy it! It's a skill I hope to develop over a long period of time, and I look forward to sharing my journey with you.

© Catherine Cheung 2015