Yushi's Music

Yushihouse aims to promote individual thinking and self-expression using arts as channels--music is one such excellent medium. We are honoured to have Gwendolyn Wong to be Yushihouse’s Musician-in-Residence. Yushi’s Music provides a gateway for participants to experience and appreciate the beauty of music.

With her rich musical knowledge and teaching experience, Gwendolyn has designed a series of music courses and talks tailored to students as well as the general public. Our piano courses and public music talks strive to promote participants’ aesthetics development through expanding his/her musical horizon. The well-structured piano courses will allow students to advance in musicality, interpretation, style, and technique, thus laying a solid foundation for them to take part in piano examinations. Our public talks will allow audience to further their understanding and appreciation of music.

Musician-in-Residence, Yushihouse

Gwendolyn Wong, BMus (Hons), BS (Hons)

solo pianist, piano teacher, chamber musician, instrumental/vocal collaborative pianist, music public speaker

Graduated with an honours degree in Piano Performance, Ms. Wong received her professional training in the U.S. under the tutelage of Dr. Lorna Griffitt (Indiana University) and Nina Scolnik (Julliard School, Oberlin Conservatory), from whom she inherited her musical lineage of the renowned world-class pianist Manaheim Pressler. Ms. Wong has both performed in the U.S. and at home as a solo pianist and chamber musi

Being member of MTAC (Music Teachers' Association of California), Ms. Wong has dedicated much of her time to music teaching, and has taught students from beginner to performance level. She is well-read in Piano Pedagogy and has developed her unique teaching methods from the pedagogic principles of Otto Ortmann, Tobias Matthay, Abby Whiteside, Heinrich Neuhaus, Josef Lhevinne, Mildred Portney Chase, Rosalie Levant, and Walter Gieseking.

In addition to her music performance degree, Ms. Wong earned a second degree in Neurobiology and conducted research. As both a musician and scientist, she is interested in Auditory Neuroscience. She has examined sound processing in the brain, particularly, the primary auditory cortex’s role in learning and memory. Her research findings have been published in a peer-review journal. Ms. Wong also holds an avid interest in Music Psychology. Her unique background allows her to combine the science of music with traditional pedagogic principles in her teaching.

With a mission to promote the general public's appreciation of classical music, Ms. Wong gives regular talks on piano technique, piano literature interpretation, piano pedagogy, music and appreciation, music and neuroscience.

Gwendolyn Wong, musician in residence, hosts a series of

talks / discussions / performances

（1）Music and You：A series of talks and informal discussions, mainly in Cantonese, which explore the intricate relations between music and human.

** What is Music?  <21 Aug, 3 p.m.>

An informal discussion on multiple definitions music. We will also talk about possible origins of music, as well as social and biological functions of music. By looking at how some musicians, scientists, psychologists, anthropologists, etc., define music, hopefully we will be able to find its meaning in ourselves.

** Music, Emotion and Physiological Effects  <28 Aug, 3 p.m.>

Do you know the changes that happen to your body when you listen to music? We will discuss how music affects our emotion and causes physiological changes. Come to this session and volunteer to be a research subject; we will conduct a live mini-experiment during this talk.

** Mozart’s Effect and Child Development  <25 Sept (Sat), 3 p.m. repeated 26 Sept (Sun), 3 p.m.>

Parents, does letting your child listen to Mozart's piano sonatas everyday increases his/her IQ? Since a group of researchers found positive effect of listening to music by Mozart in 1993, the media hype and popularization generated a variety of products aiming to improve child cognitive abilities. We will explore the different scientific findings on the effects of music listening and learning in child cognitive development.

** Brain Differences between Musicians and non-Musicians  <2 Oct, 3 p.m.>

Does learning how to play a musical instrument make you smarter? This talk will focus on scientific findings on the neurological differences between musicians and non-musicians.

** Music and Memory  (date & time to be announced)

** Music and Language  (date & time to be announced)

（2）THE LAST SUNDAY OF SUMMER, an A Cappella Performance by The Hot Potters  <29 Aug, 4.30 p.m.>

Summer is almost over, spend the last Sunday of summer with us. We are honored to have invited The Hot Potters, an a cappella group which sings without instrumental music accompaniment. The Hot Potters consists of a solo voice, a soprano, an alto, two tenors, and a bass and vocal percussion. The Hot Potters will sing various English Pop classics songs and do a live demo session with our audience.

（3）Nature in Music (in Cantonese)  <18 Sept (Sat), 3 p.m., repeated 19 Sept (Sun), 3 p.m.>

A music listening and appreciation session where we will listen to how various composers paint the beauty of Nature with music.

（4）Piano Practice Techniques –– technical, for piano players  (date & time to be announced)