Text/Picture Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter Wang Junjie
You can only move two fingers on your left hand, but can you still play the piano? Cheng Chuli from Huizhou is a cerebral palsy patient. Affected by the disease, her 18-year-old left hand is stiff and spasmodic, unable to stretch and grasp normally, and only two fingers can move.
In 2019, with the help of charity piano teacher Mei Xiaogang, Cheng Chuli became connected with music. Now four years later, with her 7 moving fingers, Cheng Chuli passed the Level 5 piano exam, won the first prize in the competition, and received many admirations and praises. From a little girl with low self-esteem hiding in a corner to a confident performer on the stage, piano and music gave Cheng Chuli another possibility in life.
"It turns out that I can also play the piano"
html On May 18, in a piano competition in Huizhou City, Cheng Chuli was the last to appear.At first no one paid much attention to this girl in a white dress. Her piano skills were the same as her appearance, plain and gentle, nothing amazing, until more and more viewers noticed Cheng Chuli's left hand - her wrist was bent at 90 degrees With only two fingers tapping the keys, everyone's eyes finally focused on the girl, and the chatter turned into admiration, until there was silence, and the gurgling music of the piano flowed out. When the song ended, the judges and audience all stood up and applauded Cheng Chuli.
For Cheng Chuli, this is a moment when her dream comes true, and the teacher Mei Xiaogang standing in the audience is already filled with emotion. The starting point of the
story was in 2019. Mei Xiaogang, a piano teacher who is enthusiastic about public welfare, decided to select 1-2 children of Huizhou sanitation workers to teach piano for free. Among the 14 candidates, Cheng Chuli’s talent was not outstanding, but she showed Because of his strong yearning and desire for music, Mei Xiaogang chose her. At that time, he did not know that Cheng Chuli was a cerebral palsy patient.
Faced with the opportunity that fell from the sky, Cheng Chuli's mother Yu Xuehua was at a loss what to do. Yu Xuehua is an ordinary sanitation worker who has never read a book. She brought her children to participate in this selection. She just wanted to "expose the children to a new environment and see the world." She never expected that her daughter, who can only use her right hand, would really Go learn to play the piano.
Yu Xuehua found Mei Xiaogang, hoping to give the opportunity to other children without having to "waste" it on Chu Li. "My daughter can only move one hand and can't play the piano..." Before Yu Xuehua finished speaking, he was Mei Xiaogang interrupted, "No problem, I can teach." Mei Xiaogang had previously taught a student with severe autism and successfully passed the Level 10 piano exam. He has the confidence to teach all kinds of special children well.
Cheng Chuli clearly remembers her impression when she saw the piano for the first time, "It's very beautiful, and I really want to sit in front of the piano." Before that, she had only seen piano performances on TV. She envied the performer with his fingers flying, and she just Dare to associate yourself with the piano in your dream. Until I pressed the keys with my fingers for the first time, the music came, ding-ding-dong-dong, crisp and sweet, and the dream seemed no longer out of reach, "I really have hope of learning the piano! I can really play the piano too!"
"A teacher and a doctor"
Due to the influence of cerebral palsy, Cheng Chuli's left hand has been stiff and spasmodic since she was a child. Yu Xuehua remembered that when she was a child, Chu Li often clenched her left hand into a ball and could not break it open no matter how hard she tried. As she got older and the treatment progressed step by step, Chu Li could slowly stretch her left hand, but that was all. Her left hand was always hanging low, unable to exert any strength, like a flower wilted by frost. How can a left hand like
play the piano? Mei Xiaogang could only hold Chu Li's fingers with his own hands and lead her to practice key by key. "There is no good way, just keep practicing. If you can't do it once, you can't do it ten times, and if you can't do it ten times, you can do it twenty times." "Mei Xiaogang is a strict teacher with high requirements. Cheng Chuli often cried when she was scolded.
After half a year of training like this, Cheng Chuli's condition of her left hand has improved greatly. Her ring finger can finally exert force and her middle finger can also move a little. With these two fingers on her left hand and her sound right hand, Cheng Chuli was accepted by the piano and music. After
solved the problem with her left hand, Cheng Chuli's low musical talent was exposed.Her sense of rhythm is weak, and it is difficult for her to master complex rhythm patterns such as syncopation and rebeating. Her memory is also poor, and she often forgets what she has learned. Mei Xiaogang arranged targeted training for her weak areas, and then continued to practice repeatedly. "A child with congenital defects has no other way but to work hard." Cheng Chuli practices piano for four or five hours almost every day, which is the maximum amount of time her left hand can bear.
Yu Xuehua takes her daughter to and from the piano room every day. She feels sorry for her child's hard work in practicing, but she is more sincerely happy. In Yu Xuehua's memory, due to the disability of her left hand and language barrier, Chu Li was ridiculed by some classmates since she was a child. This made her develop an inferiority complex and did not like to socialize with others. When she went out, she always covered her left hand with her sleeve.
music changed everything. After learning the piano, Chu Li's personality became increasingly cheerful. She was no longer afraid of other people's eyes, and she showed her left hand openly, and her expressive ability became stronger and stronger. "Teacher Mei is not only a piano teacher, but also the best psychiatrist." Yu Xuehua said with a smile.
Yu Xuehua went to see every performance of Cheng Chuli, and she wiped away tears every time. The daughter who had been hiding at home all day transformed into a sparkling performer on the stage. Yu Xuehua felt like she was dreaming.
"I will do my best to help you go further"
Cheng Chuli has been studying piano for 4 years. She has passed the Level 5 piano exam and is preparing for the Level 8 exam. Mei Xiaogang bluntly said that this is a big challenge, "I can't memorize the music score, and my speed and strength are not good enough. I still need continuous practice."
Efforts can fill some of the gaps, but they cannot completely eliminate the inherent flaws. It is difficult for Cheng Chuli to pursue the most advanced techniques on the piano. Mei Xiaogang is going to let her practice more popular songs that are well-known and loved by the public, so that she can continuously improve her piano skills and enrich her music library.
Cheng Chuli, 18, has graduated from technical secondary school and needs to consider employment issues. With the mentality of giving it a try, Mei Xiaogang opened a short video account for her. Unexpectedly, the first live broadcast was watched by more than 10,000 people. People were shocked by Chu Li's music and moved by her story. Many netizens said that it is difficult to imagine the difficulties and hardships behind this. Some netizens even sent private messages to Mei Xiaogang, hoping to repost the video to the group of the Royal Conservatory of Music's Junior Class, "Let foreigners see how powerful Chinese children can be."
Cheng Chuli played the piano, and Mei Xiaogang was chatting with netizens in the live broadcast room Interactive, he had never been exposed to a short video platform, so he started to operate the account from scratch, "Everything is for Chu Li." Mei Xiaogang's eyes turned slightly red when he mentioned the students. He admitted that he had been teaching piano voluntarily for more than 10 years, during which he refused many media interviews. He just wanted to be himself and did not want to receive too much outside attention. But in order for Chu Li to be seen by more people, he was willing to make changes.
Cheng Chuli's life is simple and pure. Apart from her parents and family, she only has the piano. Although she is an adult at the age of 18, her heart is still as simple as a child's. Mei Xiaogang still remembers that when Chu Li made money from her first commercial performance, she immediately bought him a big fruit basket; now that there were some rewards for the live broadcast, she immediately bought him a set of clothes. "It's great to have the feeling that my daughter has grown up!"
The emotional connection between people is always two-way. Many people praised Mei Xiaogang's selflessness, but he said that it was Chu Li who "lightened up his education." "Life", as long as Chu Li is willing, "I can teach her to play the piano for the rest of my life and do my best to help her go further."
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