Revisiting a forgotten passion

Piano schools for the elderly are offering many a chance to reignite their love for a musical instrument that was once considered a luxury item that few could afford, Zhou Wenting reports.

Zhang Lingxin, a 65-year-old retired school teacher in Shanghai, can now play two piano songs, Auld Lang Syne and Butterfly Lovers, or Liang Zhu, the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet, after learning the piano for two years.

"I loved music when I was a little girl and learning to play the piano was my childhood dream. But having a piano was a luxury back then. Very few families could afford one," Zhang says.

"Now, when I get the chance to play the piano, I feel that my childhood dream has finally come true. The children of today may not feel the same way," she says.

Two decades ago, Shanghai became the country's first city where community schools offered piano lessons to the elderly. Every year, nearly 2,000 piano classes are organized. According to official statistics, about 100,000 senior citizens have participated in these classes.

Lyu Lunyu from the teaching department of the administration of Shanghai's community schools for the elderly says that most of the senior citizens in these classes never had the chance to learn the piano during their youth.

"A very small number of them learned piano for a short time during their childhood or teenage years but stopped as the parents didn't believe that it was a worthwhile pursuit," he says.

Although she thoroughly enjoys playing the piano, Zhang lamented that she is not able to pick up the discipline as quickly as she would like. She says she envies how quickly her grandson has progressed since he started to learn the piano two years ago at the age of 6.

"Playing the piano is about having the mind process a piano score before sending signals to our 10 fingers. But for us the elderly, the whole process is very much slower. Very often when I focus on my right hand, my left hand goes idle," she says.

Zhang pays only 200 yuan ($28) per semester to attend a two-hour piano class at a community elderly school once a week. Most of the students at this school, she says, are aged between 60 and 80 and have little or no experience in playing music. These elderly students start by learning the basics, such as the proper way to sit and hand gestures, and practice for at least two hours a day. Assignments are given during each class to help students execute what they have learned.