Keys and Time: A Boy’s Journey in Melody｜琴键与时光：少年的旋律成长史

这是一篇以钢琴作为讲述者视角的创意写作，描述了它的少年主人Jett学习钢琴的经历。

By Jett

I’m often seen in people’s homes, some are new, some are old. I live in the corner of a home that is beside the cupboard, which is quite quiet. My owner, and main player is Jett, a naughty boy but has an enthusiasm for piano. I arrived when his grandma and his mom decided that he deserved a real, wooden one to replace his old e-piano. But this story begins before that, when he was five and a half years old, when his mom wanted him to stop spending all of his time messing around on Lego. They had visited tons of clubs, but eventually, they chose me. I was really proud that it was me who led Jett into one of his main interests, maybe it’s because of my elegance, maybe for music reasons.

Jett has been sensitive to music since he was 2 or 3, mostly because he had been listening to classical music before he was born. He loves different kinds of music, the graceful violin, the relieved piano, the dense cello besides bang and crashes whoever makes it. Whatever, it brings me happiness, both elegantly melody or just

slapping it (only when Jett was a kid, please, if you have one of me in your home, don’t do this). He enjoyed it a lot, however, his lesson focus needs a bit of concern. Of course, at such a young age he was not able to focus the whole 60 minutes, so that’s why he’s always behind other kids. But Jett didn’t care about it that time, he

only knew that the piano was really fun.

I have been taking piano lessons every week since I was 5. Half a year later, I’m able to play some simple songs, and I’ve explored some more cool things as there’re tons of sound effects on my e-piano and I like to play with it and make a band myself. When I started, my mom was impressed by my childish but talented behaviors.

Neither of us knew then that I had a special, epiphanic skill. When I was 6 my learning institution held a recital and at the end of it, we had a tune competition. The host started picking kids. I raised my hand even though I didn’t know what was going on. I was just trying to be active, because I was really excited. The host picked me. I went on the stage confused, as I was just about to be driven off by him, my piano teacher came to me and explained. “Jett, this is a tune competition, you have to listen and tell me the note you hear.

“But I know nothing about it,” I replied.

“It doesn’t matter, just try your best.”I walked through the stage with the noisy crowd complaining below. I stopped beside the piano, my teacher touched a key and asked me to guess the note. I got it correct, one more, correct again.

“We’ll have to raise the difficulty,” said the host, and then my teacher played a F sharp, which I still remembered, “ I said it out loud. “F sharp.” The hall was silent for 3 seconds. “Fabulous,”' said my piano teacher, and then everybody started to clap. I had accidentally (or maybe it was not by accident) got all the notes correct, even the sharp and flats. This intensive ability was discovered by my teacher 3 years later. It’s called absolute pitch, which means knowing the note of every sound. At that time, I knew nothing, only that I’m a genius, so I got more interested in improving at piano and became more focused on lessons. In my class there were 3 kids, a boy, a girl and me. Two of them were also hardworking, however, it seemed that they did not have as much talent as me and they began to get bored. The girl quit the class due to no longer having interests. My mom was delighted with my learning attitude.

Another year had passed, I learnt super quick, and my mom discovered that I’m spending lots of time playing. One afternoon, my mom brought me to a piano store in a shopping mall, and I went inside to play around. There’re violin, guitars hanging on

the wall. After I turned my head, I saw some odd pianos. I thought they were just higher back e-pianos, but when I lifted up the lid everything looked different. I started to like (describe the outside look/ feel here) piano, it seemed more neat or clear. There was no volume button, no sound effects, but it didn't matter. I was more interested in the keyboard than the other fancy buttons and controls which hooked me at first.

I decided to quit the e-piano lessons and start learning in the store, however, after a few months, the institution had moved away, and I couldn't find it anymore. I panicked, unsure where I could learn this super attractive instrument.

Everything changed when I went to see my mom’s friend’s son’s piano recital. He was only 4 years older than me, but his techniques were way better. Although I can’t remember the song he played that night, it was so impressive that my mom decided that I should follow his teacher. However, his teacher only taught ABRSM Grade 5 and above. I was just a two or three level at that time, so we went to find another teacher but in the same institution.

The place is extremely far away from my home, after walking through a few staircases, we’ve finally arrived. There are 4 rooms in total, I was so excited, the teacher was so nice to me.

She taught me a lot, I started to understand complex rhythm, and harder performing methods. Things never went right all the time, I wasn’t able to focus and practice after I reached a higher level, I was required to add in the paddle, and play the note quite and loud, it was as hard as trying to climb to heaven. My body wasn’t

harmonized; I needed to practice more to make up for my shortage. However, because I wasn’t so interested in repeating jobs, my progress began to slow down. There’s nothing worse than doing the same stuff for three whole weeks.

I was struggling, but I didn’t even think of giving up. After six weeks of suffering, I had overcome my problem, I finally got my left hand and right harmonized, and got to step into a more challenging task——ABRSM Grade 5 exam. I strived to learn new songs, my site reading was not bad, but I needed more time to practice. Soon after tons of practice and plenty of arguing about how to meet the teacher’s expectation, I successfully finished two pieces and was informed that a recital was approaching. I knew my mom’s friend’s son’s teacher was also going to be there, so I had to be locked into my work. I thought if I could do well, she would accept me as her student.

Soon it was the day of the performance. I walked to the piano with claps from the crowd. After that the room was totally silent. I played a piece of Jazz, and to my surprise, I got every note correct. What was once almost impossible for me, I actually did. After a 2 minute recital, the whole thing was over. I thought my mom’s friend’s son’s teacher was going to come and congratulate me, but instead, she offered to be my teacher.

”Jett, you have reached my standard,” she said. ”Would you like to learn with me now?”“Certainly,” I answered calmly but I felt a nervous hesitation inside my brain. The next week, I went to the institution, in exactly the same location, but in a different room. I arrived just on time, there’s a grand piano instead of an upright one in the room which was completely silent. My childish movements suddenly disappeared and were replaced by me quietly trying to do everything correct. The first question my teacher asked was, “What do you want to learn from me?”

”Em, maybe techniques?” I was so panicked at that time but I knew that I couldn’t say ‘I don't know’.

“Sure, then what kind of techniques?” she asked again.

“Techniques about how to play a song well.”

So she spent the first class guiding me how to play loud and quiet (ff,f,mf,mp,p,pp). I actually could play my pieces better and there seemed to be more flow to the music. In such a conductive teaching style, my piece has become more and more dynamic. From topic to topic, I learned a lot in a year. She decided to let me try a really professional competition in Shanghai, so I chose the Beethoven Sonata in C minor, op. 13 ‘Pathétique’. This is not an easy piece, it’s a diploma 1 piece, but I need one more thing before the competition.

When I could play the piece proficiently, she showed me a video about an artist making known music into animations that felt exactly like what it was like in the music.

“If you want to play a piece well, first you have to be expressional and passionate. As the video I’d shown you, you need to have pictures or a video about what each piece is.”

So I started imagining the photos. At first, I found it too abstract, but I found a method to imagine when you heard certain kinds of music. Then I gradually got the idea.

The day of the competition, I was there quite late because I got up late and they moved me from the kids group to the teenager group. When I entered the hall, I was shocked, nearly everyone was older than me. But I had my method, it was what my teacher taught me, which is to use a tissue or something else to clear the keys before starting. Some famous musicians also do this. Soon it was my turn to go up, I slowly walked on the stage. I sat down properly, I changed the seat into a level that I’m comfortable with, I put my hand on my legs, waited three seconds and started playing. The hall was totally silent. The first part was awesome with pictures in my brain, a few mistakes from the recapitulation but fortunately, the judges stopped me just in time. There were still a few other competitors after me, one played pathétique 2 another played tempest 3, which were all from Beethoven, I thought my chance of winning was too low, so I didn’t think about that too much.

A month later, the result came out, which really surprised me that I won the golden metal in the teenager group, that’s the combination of my hard work, my talent and my teacher. My grandma was at my performance too, she thought I was such an expert at this, so she started learning a formal piano in the university of elders, before that she had been learning digitally online with random teachers, now she needs to learn the stave which is way more harder than the simplified version.

Time passed really quickly, it was soon the last class. I was with my current piano teacher as I was going to study abroad in Singapore. Maybe it’s not a coincidence, my mom’s friend’s son is studying in Singapore as well, and we moved to the same condo. I found his piano teacher, who was also the one that my teacher in Shanghai

recommended. I got another piano the first week, and started the lesson the second week. Our teacher lived extremely far away. We arrived at her place in about 20 minutes, and I pressed level 10. From the second I entered the room, I understood that she’s strict, she barely talked to me after class, but the progress is visible. My fingers got stronger and I could control them more and lead the dynamic even without thinking. But I still needed improvement on the tone color, because musicians must have their own style.

My mom said that I should take the ABRSM Grade 8 test before getting my diploma. It took more time to practice: got more to practice, and it took time. We spent 1.5 years on the Grade 8 pieces, and I undoubtedly got Extinction, and then I spent the rest of the time on the production of our school. Our school has production every year. This year we were doing Legally Blonde as our music teacher thought I was going toUWC so she gave out the Keyboard 1 seat to a teacher, but I still joined as a percussion player and I borrowed from the teacher to practice. I let the conductor see my real talent by winning the young pianist of the year.

Luckily staying in the band as a percussionist wasn’t that bad. I got a chance to get a hold on complex timing, which is always useful. However, I had always been chastised by my piano teacher for not focusing on what I’m supposed to do.

My grandma was curious about what I had been learning in Singapore and she planned to visit us with lots of musical questions. I had to move to the storage room, my piano is in my room, so I could always see notes coming out of the room, but grandma couldn’t play two hands together too well. In my memories, I didn’t have such difficulties, and she began to try after I taught her my method which helped her do well in her piano class and she successfully became the class captain.

The Musical is going quite well too, I was acknowledged by the teachers, who offered me some opportunities to perform at the assembly and the IGCSE Option night, we missed some of lesson times for rehearsal, even two whole Saturdays, but we got pizza from the teachers during the 4 final performance (including matinee). All of my friends came to see, and I didn’t mess up. I also made many friends in the musical band, who are also talented musicians.

During the Spring break, my whole family went to New Zealand. Grandma was always practicing her pieces in the car (on her leg). She always asked me if she heard something controversial from the tictok or her teacher, and I always answered her questions and usually told her extra music theory. I demonstrated to her once when we saw a piano on the street or somewhere else, and now she nearly conquered the difficulty of playing two hands together. She is ahead of everybody in her class now.

At the end of this term, I was given the keyboard conductor music for the next musical which is Footloose, I got to practice it during the summer, and I’m really looking forward to it.

Jett is doing so well at school, he’s starting to get LTCL (Diploma 2), although he’s soon changing to a Grandpiano in Singapore, which could make him a better tone color, but he treats me well each time he comes back. He plays soft and firm tones which makes me relax. Looking back to the time when Jett still had his birds listening to him playing his favorite instrument, Jett has changed a lot, he no longer smashes me and always cleans me, making me a bright black piano. The graceful melody stays around my strings and hammers, sadly, Jett has no birds now. I really miss him and his cute little birds and he’s now learning the violin himself in his spare time. I’ll still stay in Shanghai as an Upright Piano, hoping one day he will accompany me.

写作导师

Julia Hollingsworth

Julia拥有University of East Anglia（UEA）创意写作（非虚构方向）硕士学位，以及Abilene Christian University英语文学学士学位。此外，她还在Institute of Ongoing Education at Cambridge University完成了创意写作证书课程和文凭课程。2019年，她以本科学术论文荣获德克萨斯创意写作协会颁发的“最佳本科论文奖”。

自2019年以来，Julia一直在教育领域工作。她曾担任小学英语教师，教授阅读、写作和语法课程；也曾为中学生提供阅读与写作辅导。为更好地支持国际学生并拓展自身教学能力，她于2024年完成了“对外英语教学”（TEFL）课程。

目前，Julia正在撰写一本回忆录，讲述她如何挣脱在原教旨主义福音派基督教社区中成长所带来的身份束缚。她的写作多聚焦于家庭关系及亲密关系中的冲突。她喜爱以人物为核心的叙事风格，善于运用对话与场景设定推动情节发展。她尤其偏好融合虚构与非虚构元素的作品。她的心头好包括Carmen Maria Machado的《梦屋》（In The Dream House）、Kathryn Scanlan的《Kick the Latch》以及Toni Morrison的《最蓝的眼睛》（The Bluest Eye）。

Tutor’s comment：

Jeff,

Over the course of Phase Two, Jett did an excellent job improving his characterization and sensory descriptions of place. By choosing the piano as the narrator, and bookending the piece with the object's perspective, his creativity shone through. His willingness to share the difficulties of learning the piano and the work he put into achieving his goal opened up a world of relatability for his readers, even those who haven’t tried this specific hobby.

I especially loved the moments when Jett’s sense of humor was on display. His use of parentheses to add an extra layer to the narrator’s voice, for example, when the piano warned future players “(please, if you have one of me in your home, don’t [bang on the keys])” made the story come to life. It was wonderful to see this story develop into a personal essay of challenge and triumph.

Well done, Jett!

今天的作品来自Story Leading 12-16岁英文创意写作工作坊

"创意写作所追求的人性真实（truthfulness), 无论在虚构还是非虚构作品中，写作者的自我都会呈现，而且需要通过写作不断去逼近。人性里的真实，无论高光的渺小的，骄傲的难堪的，大目标还是小心思，都非常值得书写，也是书写中很重要的真实。有太多的'标化'写作已经阉割了孩子写作的真实感，成为一种标准的文书，就像一个个空洞的模板。”

想了解这个青少年创意写作项目的缘起，可以点击

适用人群：

1、想尝试英语写作的青少年（即将升入或者已经开始初高中学习）；

2、正在青春期中，希望通过对内心对世界进行探索的青少年；

3、未来有志于用英语学习人文专业的青少年；

4、想要形成自己的英语作品用于申请各类海外夏校、专业学术机构及奖项的青少年。

新一期的三个阶段（Stage 1-Stage2-Stage3）秋季工作坊（2025年9月-12月），正在报名倒计时中。

点击查看图片了解详情，可扫码联系Rey老师进行报名咨询。

点击阅读更多青少年创意写作Young Adult Creative Writing Workshop原创作品：

接入全球化的学习体系，在互联网时代不再是需要等到上大学以后才开始的事情。三明治和故事星球Storyland于2020年在英国创立的教育公司Story Leading Education，整合了全球的英文创作资源，将持续在阅读、创意写作、人文社科、艺术、科学等方面将优质的导师团队和项目带给全球各地的中国孩子，形成一个随时、随地可接入的全球创作力社群。

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