劉超祺博士部落格

http://hkmusichome.com/lunwen/MUSIC_FROM_THE_DIVINE.htm

 MUSIC FROM THE DIVINE: ANALYSES OF MUSIC COMPOSITIONAL PROCESSES OF BACH, MOZART, BEETHOVEN AND CHOPIN ON STANDPOINT OF SELF PRACTICE EXPERIENCE                                      

                                           Essay, Photography and Drawing by Dr.Chiu-Kay Lau

 I.        Prelude 

The writer expresses his support to the Chinese Piano Competition 2008 and 2009 hosted by New Tang Dynasty Television. One of the reasons, the writer thinks, is that New Tang Dynasty Television intends to promote the divine music culture through holding the international piano competitions. By the divine music, it is said that music is the art enlightened by God or the Holy One from the divine. The aims are to praise God or the Holy One and to set up an authentic culture passed down from God in the western countries.

 II.    The Creative Process

 By the writer’s point of view, there are three origins of creative inspirations. They are: 1) from the Holy Ones (Gods or Buddhas) (神、佛); 2) from human beings; and 3) from demons or evil spirits (魔). It is attempted to introduce the process of the first origin, i.e. from the Holy One(s), in this paper.

 In this paper, only the sphere of the music composition is discussed. There are four phenomena in the music composition. First, Gods or Buddhas pass musical works to men through transmitting musical ideas to men’s brain consciousness. Men’s brains sense the inspirations. Men then write down the musical ideas from memory only, or from memory together with the help of their compositional techniques. Second, Gods or Buddhas pass on musical scores to men through transmitting musical inspirations to men’s brain consciousness. Men can sense the musical inspirations through imagining the scores in the brains. They then write down the scores from memory, or from memory together with the help of their compositional techniques. Third, men “hear” the music from Gods or Buddhas. They dictate what they have heard from memory, or from memory together with the help of their compositional techniques. Fourth, Gods or Buddhas pass on musical works to men through transmitting musical scores to men’s brain consciousness. Men can “see” the scores. They then write down the scores based on sight, memory, or memory and their compositional techniques. Fifth, men “see” music performances passed on from Gods or Buddhas. Men dictate what they have seen and heard, or write the music down based on memory and their compositional techniques.

Gods or Buddhas deliver messages to people through one or more of the following means: 1) through ones’ brain consciousness, so that people may be aware of them; 2) through the hearing mechanism of other dimensions, so that people may “hear” them; and 3) through the visual mechanism of other dimensions, so that people may “see” them.

 III.              Personal Divine Experiences

 A.  Abilities from Practicing Falun Gong

 The writer has practiced Falun Gong since April 2002. He has opened the celestial ears since December 2003. Since then, he sometimes “heard” Falun Gong Exercises music, speech sounds and music from other dimensions. The hearing with the celestial ears is the ability for one to hear sounds from other dimensions. It is supposed to be the innate potential of the human beings. One loses it because one is deeply lost in this material world. It is only through the practice, one can return to one’s original and true self. When one conforms to the Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, the nature of the Universe, this natural potential can be re-opened again. The writer re-opened his celestial ears through practicing Falun Gong. He sometimes heard speech sounds and music from other dimensions through his celestial ears. The speech sounds were so different from those of this world. He could tell apart that the speech sounds were not from this world even in the first time. However, the music appeared similar to the traditional music as we have heard in this world. In the beginning times when he heard the music, he would search for the sources. After he had discovered no-one around be able to hear the music, he realized the music being from other dimensions. He heard it through the celestial ears.

The writer has opened the third eye since April 2004. Since then, he saw different images from other dimensions, including the glittering gold and jade vied Master Lee, the Scriptures of Zhuan Falun: Turning the Law Wheel turning to dazzling colours with sparkling golden light or sparkling red light, the mountain view where Master meditated and viewed the world quietly, the life episodes of my wife and me, some sceneries of different places on earth and different colours of students’ piano scores in different dimensions. The images were from vague to clear, and from black and white to color. Through dreams, the writer saw literary creation, movie creation and music performances of orchestral works from other dimensions. They were really lifelike. The third eye is the ability to see the images passed on from various dimensions. Like the celestial ears, the third eye is supposed to be the innate potential of the human beings. We lose it because we have been deeply lost in this material world. It is only through the practice, one can return to one’s original and true self. When one conforms to Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, the nature of the Universe, this natural potential can be re-opened again. The writer opened his third eye through practicing Falun Gong.

 B.  Musical Experiences from Divine

 The writer perceived music from the Divine many times. They are described in details as follows:

 1.  Celestials Performing Music in Churches

 The writer saw sceneries in dreams through his third eyes and heard music and songs in dreams through his celestial ears. One summer night and one autumn night in the year 2004, the writer watched twice in dreams more than a dozen music performers performing in music ensembles respectively.

 The performers stood or sat high and low around the platforms of churches. They played percussion instruments, one piece of music in each dream. The instruments included a grand piano, some instruments looked like the glockenspiels, metallophones, vibraphones, xylophones, marimbas, chimes and celestas, and some unknown, big or small instruments resembling those just mentioned above. The instruments were novel, grand and splendid. The music performed was complete, distinctive, unusual, attractive, pleasant the ears, rich in tone colours, graceful, glorious and magnificent. When the performers were playing music, they used not much facial expressions, body movements and gestures to express the music. They moved the writer by the music itself. There were no fast notes in the music. Their hands kept quite still and did not move much. But, the beaters moved swifter than their hands to produce notes. The tones were extraordinarily delicate, sparkling, beautiful and expressive. Even though the percussion instruments produced sounds by beating, the notes produced were incredibly smooth and were with consistent dynamics. During the whole course of playing the percussions, the performers stood or sat properly, and no big body or hand movements could be observed.

The performers were young men and ladies. All the performers wore long white robes. They appeared to be gods, celestials or angels from another upper dimension to the writer. Although the performances were inside the churches, the background was tremendously white and bright. Against the reflection of snow-white walls, the light was even more dazzling. The whole scenes astonished him in the dreams.

 After the performances had stopped, the writer woke up then. The writer realized that he could not compose such excellent music. He wondered how he could dream such distinguished performances. When the first time he saw the music performance in the dream, he had not thought of writing it down. When he saw the music performance in the dream the second time (this performance was different from that of the first time), he knew that he should write it down. However it was in the middle of the night, he did not want the piano sound to wake his family up. When he really woke up that morning, his memory about the music was very vague. He searched the notes repeatedly, restlessly from side to side on the piano keyboard. He could hardly find out the exact notes. After having struggled on the piano keyboard for half an hour or so, he could mark down nothing. What he had got was lament with signs, disappointment, distress and torment. He did not want to write down anything just by guessing. That would become a personal composition only. So, he gave up the task at last.

 Later, when divine experiences were gained more and more, he realized that the music was from the Divine. Another thing he wants to raise is the overall sound effect of the music heard in the dreams. The music sounded sparkling and bright like bells, even though the music was performed by various instruments. He guesses that some Christians in the past might hear some music from the Divine, like him. They felt that the music sounded like bells too. That may be one of the reasons why there is a bell ringing tradition in the Catholic Church.

  2.  The Awakening

 The Awakening(醒覺) was composed on 19th May 2005.

 The melodic idea circled around in the writer’s head many times in the past half year before the compositional date. The writer first did not realize that it might be something from the Divine. The idea, which the writer transcribed it spontaneously into absolute sol-fah names, became clearer and clearer, louder and louder, and livelier and livelier in his head. Gathering the experiences from the dreams mentioned above, he noted that it might be a piece of music transmitted from the Divine. The writer then decided to write it down. Since what he perceived was only melodies and the melodies were very pure and simple, he added only very simple chords to back up the melody. This was the first piece of music from the Divine that he noticed, and he thus titled it Awakening.

 The music is a simple but a little lively air. The melody is built only on the first three notes of C major. However, it sounds graceful. It is in one-part form with only two eight-bar phrases. Hei, a little girl Falundafa practitioner, was assigned to play this piece of music in the Hong Kong Special Educational Needs, Mainstreamed and Academically Talented Children and Youth Performing Art Gala 2007.

 3.  The Mind with Righteous Thoughts

 The Mind with Righteous Thoughts(正心) was composed on 19th May 2005.

 After writing out The Awakening, the idea of the melody of this air came to the writer’s head suddenly, immediately and softly. The writer transcribed it into absolute sol-fah names spontaneously. He realized that it might be another piece of music transmitted from the Divine. He was in his piano room that time. As the melody was still flowing in his mind, he played the melody out on the piano and then wrote it down immediately. The idea transferred to him that it is a piece of piano music.

 The music is a simple air in one-part form with only four four-bar phrases. The whole music comprises of the first five notes and the leading note of A major. It is flowing in character, but still conveys a mood of peace.

 4.  The Awakening with Righteous Thoughts

 The Awakening with Righteous Thoughts(正覺) is the piece that the writer heard repeatedly and involuntarily from the other dimension through his celestial ears some days before 29th October 2006. It came to his mind repeatedly when he was relaxing, watering plants or gardening, or when he was feeling light, calm and having less distracting thoughts, and the environment was quiet and peaceful. It was a complete piece of music with only melodies when the writer heard it. It was very soft. It sounded like played by some Chinese beaten and stringed instruments. Different instruments were played in unisons. At first, the writer did not aware of it. It sounded to his brain frequently for some days. The music became louder and louder, and clearer and clearer as days gone by. He finally realized that it might be some music transmitted to him specially. He decided to write it down. He then wrote it down and fitted in simple chords to match with the clear and pure mood of the music. It was completed on 29th October 2006 .

 This piece of music sounds like a piece of Chinese music with the mood of Zen (Buddhist meditation) (佛、禪). The tones move upwards and then downwards along the C Ionian mode. It was the first music that the writer heard from the other dimension through his celestial ears. The writer never dreamt of writing this style of music before. It was later performed by Hong Kong Falundafa little practitioners and/or Hong Kong Music Home for Handicapped Normal Talented Children Limited students in the Hong Kong Falundafa Practitioners Sharing Conference 2006 and Hong Kong Special Educational Needs, Mainstreamed and Academically Talented Children and Youth Performing Art Gala 2007 respectively.

 5.  God is with Us

 God is with Us(神與我們同在) was composed on 24th April 2007.

 The music emerged to the writer’s brain in large numbers suddenly and naturally in some beginning to mid days of April. It sounded to his mind when he was watering plants, gardening or cleaning the house, or when he was feeling light, calm, tranquil, relaxing and has less distracting thoughts, and the environment was quiet and peaceful. The theme kept developing in his brain. Then, the accompaniment figure came out. The music heard was light, but the inspiration was strong and it lasted for several days. The melody was played together by different instruments in unisons. The chords were very consonant. The music was very harmonious. The writer realized ultimately that it might be another music transmitted specially to him from the Divine. The music was quite familiar to him. He checked for some days to see whether it was an old music or not. He found out that it was new and decided to write it down. It was then harmonized, following the pattern inspired.

 This music sounds sacred and is like a piece of western classical music in the Romantic style. The writer was certain that he might not be able to write such a good music out. The music was orchestrated for Hong Kong Music Home for Handicapped Normal Talented Children Limited students and Hong Kong Falundafa little practitioners to perform in the Hong Kong Special Educational Needs, Mainstreamed and Academically Talented Children and Youth Performing Art Gala 2007.

 6.  After the Master

 After the Master(隨師) was composed on 8th May 2007.

 While the writer was practicing the Falun Gong Fifth Exercise, an unstable emotion was aroused and a melody sounded in his brain suddenly and involuntarily. A music compositional inspiration was generated in his mind. The melody flowed strongly and he could hardly stop it. When the melody flew in his mind naturally, he transposed it to sol-fah names automatically. After the exercise, he wrote down the melody and completed the whole composition, following its compositional implications. After the inspiration, the writer had a strong will to practice after the Master. After the Master was thus entitled.

 The music is simple and pure, and is like a children’s song. It is built on a five-tone scale, i.e. the first five tones of the C major scale. The music is simple and harmonious. The melody in the bass part follows the melody in the treble part. It simply signifies that the practitioners follow their Master. In order to match with the beginners’ instrumental levels of the Hong Kong Falundafa little practitioners, the work was basically simple. The music was orchestrated to the instruments which the Hong Kong Falundafa little practitioners could play. The music was played by the Hong Kong Falundafa little practitioners on 13th May 2007 , i.e. the Hong Kong Falundafa Day 2007.

 7.  The Calm Mind

 The Calm Mind (清心) was composed on 22nd June 2007.

 That day, the writer was reading some music. This piece of music flew suddenly into his mind. He felt light, calm, tranquil and relaxing, and the environment was quiet and peaceful at that moment. He noticed it immediately. He transcribed it into absolute sol-fah names and at the same time played it out on the piano. He then wrote it down. It came out to his mind as a piece of piano music, in the form of a capriccio. It stays quiet and harmonious all the way through, in a different degree of quietness. He wrote this piece of music down effortlessly and without much thinking.

 Yue, a girl Falundafa little practitioner was assigned to play this piece of music in the Hong Kong Special Educational Needs, Mainstreamed and Academically Talented Children and Youth Performing Art Gala 2007. On 29th July 2007 , when she was practicing the music, she saw through her third eye the sparkling golden words of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance and some Zhuan Falun Scriptures on the back of her right hand in the other dimension.

 8.  The Assimilation to Nature

 The Assimilation to Nature(同化)was another piece of music composed on 20th July 2007 when the writer was reading some other music scores.

 The musical idea of this piece of music came suddenly and involuntarily to the writer’s mind. He felt light, calm, tranquil and relaxing, and the environment was quiet and peaceful at that time. The inspiration was so strong that he noted it immediately. He played it on the piano, following the in-coming inspiration. The ideas kept coming and developing in his mind. He kept playing it out on the piano until the whole music completed itself. He then wrote it down. It came out as a piece of piano music.

 This piece of music is harmonious and is built on consonant chords. It is imitative. The bass part acts as an echo to the melody in the right hand part. It seemed to tell that something in the dimension below is assimilating and imitating something in the higher dimension. The music is quiet all the way through. The performer has to keep his/er mind tranquil, peaceful and calm in order to play the music well.

 Yiu, A little boy Falundafa practitioner, was assigned to play this piece of music in the Hong Kong Special Educational Needs, Mainstreamed and Academically Talented Children and Youth Performing Art Gala 2007.

 9.  Peace and Pureness

 The writer knew that there would be the Asian-Pacific Regions Falundafa Practitioners Sharing Conference on 29th December 2007 . The writer had to conduct the Hong Kong Falundafa little practitioners to play an instrumental ensemble in the Conference. One day after, when the writer was practicing the Falundafa Fifth Exercise, his mind became unstable. His emotion was aroused strongly and an inspiration came to his mind powerfully. A whole piece of music then formed in his mind suddenly. After the whole musical idea was conveyed to his mind, he became peaceful and quiet again. After the Exercise, the writer drafted the music down. The music was called Peace and Pureness(清淨), which was completed on 17th December 2007.

 This piece of music is a piece of modal music. It is harmonious with consonant chords. It was orchestrated for the Falundafa little practitioners to perform in the Asian-Pacific Regions Falundafa Practitioners Sharing Conference.

 10. Violin and Piano Performances in Dream

 At 2:00 a. m. of 2nd January 2008 , the writer dreamt a male performer playing the violin and a female performer playing the grand piano. The music was a violin piece with the piano accompaniment. The two performers dressed in white robes and shone brightly. The stage and the background were very white and bright too. The writer postulated that they were two gods, celestials or angels. The writer was an audience watching their performance, but he did not appear in the dream. The performance was excellent in the writer’s angle. After their performance, the female performer and the writer played a piano duet with two pianos. This piece of music was different from the former one.

 The articulation techniques of the performers from the Divine were worthy mentioning. They used not much facial expressions, body movements and gestures to express the music. They moved listeners by the music itself. Concerning the piano playing, the female performer played with finger-tips. Even in fast running passages, her hands kept quite still and her fingers seemed not moving much. Her fingers did not move conspicuously. Her fingers moved a little, but there were lot of fast notes coming out. Her touch was steady. The notes sounded incredibly delicate, smooth, beautiful and expressive. Her fingers seldom jumped, and staccato notes were uncommon in the music. During the whole course of playing the piano, she sat properly, and no big movements could be observed. Concerning the violin playing technique, the male performer did not show much facial expressions, body movements and gestures to express the music too. All the movements were small. The right hand holding the bow moved upwards and downwards, but he could play lots of notes with one bow. The left hand fingers moved a little even in fast running passages. Both hands and fingers moved very little and many fast notes would come out. His finger-tip movements were not conspicuous even in fast running notes. The notes, of course, were particularly clean, beautiful and expressive. During the whole course of playing the violin, the performer stood properly, and no big movements could be observed.

 The writer was too involved in watching the performance and playing the duet that he forgot to memorize the music. He was not aware of it being an inspired music from the Divine, but through the dream. He noticed it after he woke up for few minutes. He could only remember the coda. However, he felt asleep again unconsciously. When he woke up again in the morning, he failed to remember even the coda.

 11. The Serene Cultivation

 The Serene Cultivation (靜修) was composed on 17th October 2008.

 When the writer was conducting private individual piano lessons to students, this piece of music came to his mind suddenly. This melody came to his mind many times in piano classes quietly. After the writer was aware of the inspired idea, he decided to write the melody down. The melody is tranquil. He fitted the melody with simple chords to suit the simple and harmonious character.

 This piece is a simple piano music in one part form with four four-bar phrases and a four-bar codetta. The melody comprises of the first three notes of G major, but it appears to be an elegant and lovely air. The music was thus entitled Still Practice.

 Kam, a little boy Falundafa practitioner, was assigned to play this piece of music in the Hong Kong Special Educational Needs, Mainstreamed and Academically Talented Children and Youth Performing Art Gala 2007.

 12. An Rondino Inspired in Dream

 An Rondino Inspired in Dream(一首在夢中受啓示的小迴旋曲) was composed on 28th November 2008.

 On 27th November before dawn, the writer was still asleep. A piece of music repeated to sound in his brain. He changed the in-coming inspirations into the singing sol-fah names unconsciously. He then became half sleep and half wake. The music kept repeating and he kept transcribing it into sol-fah names unconsciously. Even until he totally woke up, the same music kept circling around his brain. He kept transcribing it into sol-fah names naturally as before. The music and sol-fah names came to him softly in the beginning. They became louder and louder as they repeated over and over again in his brain. They sounded so noisy eventually that made the writer’s brain overwhelmed and headache. He decided to get up and write the music down finally. At the moment when he decided to get out of bed, the inspiration stopped suddenly. His brain fell into a complete quietness again. The whole process exceeded more than half an hour. He then got up and drafted the music down.

 The music is in the simple rondo form. It is like the early Baroque style. The writer attempted to search all the related music that he heard and played. No one piece of music was like it. In his understanding, it was another piece of music from the other dimension. To the writer, the harmonies transmitted were not clearly perceived, but the melody was extremely obvious. He could tell that the music sounded extremely harmonious. Therefore, the writer harmonized it with harmonious chords which demonstrated the nearest effect.

 This piece of music was performed publically in the Christmas Show 2008 by Yiu, a grade three girl piano student of Hong Kong Music Home for Handicapped Normal Talented Children Limited.

 13. A Bagatelle That Appreciated in Dream

 ABagatelle That Appreciated in Dream(一首在睡夢中欣賞到的小曲) was composed in 1st January 2009.

That early morning, the writer dreamt. In the dream, he walked into a room. Inside the room, a girl, dressed in shining white gown, was playing a traditional record with a traditional record player. She seemed to be a goddess, a celestial, or an angel. The dream was very real. The details were very clear and were in color. The writer, while listening to the music, exclaimed with admiration that which composer on earth could possibly compose this excellent piece of music. The instrumental sounds were unfamiliar to the writer, near to the combination sounds of the saxophone, oboe and clarinet. It was exotic, but harmonious. The melody moved against a flowing melodic figure in the bass.

The music seemed something not from the composers of this world. The writer focused on figuring out who would be the composer and he was not aware of the music being inspired from the Divine in the dream. When he woke up, he realized that the music would be the one from the Divine only after some seconds of thinking the music over and over. He could only remember the first four phrases as the result.

14. The Spring Has Her Master

The Spring Has Her Master (春有主) was composed on 9th January 2009.

In the afternoon of one day before, when the writer practiced the Fifth Falundafa Exercise in the group practice, some musical ideas flowed one after another like floods into his mind. The inspirations were very strong. The writer could hardly constrain it. The music kept coming one after another, and one after another. He tried to draft them down all after the exercises, but he could only remember the last one at last.

On 13th January, the writer was reading Deciphering the Last Three Stanzas of the Plum Blossom Poem in the Essentials for Further Advancement II. In the Scripture, it was written “with a courtyard of gorgeous flower, the spring has her master” (一院奇花春有主). When he read up to this sentence, this music sprang up into his mind again. So, the writer used “The Spring Has Her Master” (春有主) in the Plum Blossom Poem (梅花詩) as the title of this piece of music.

The music is basically traditional Chinese in style. It is harmonious with a similar accompaniment figure in the bass running against the melody. It is in one-part form comprised with four four-bar phrases and a simple two-bar introduction.

15. A Piece That Heard and Watch in Dream

A Piece That Heard and Watch in Dream (一首在睡夢中聽到和看到的樂曲) was composed on 15th January 2009.

In that early morning, the writer made a dream. In the dream, he heard a harmonic progression of only two chords repeated continuously. The chords progressed from very soft in the beginning to very loud ultimately. He woke up gradually and remained relaxed. He listened attentively and analyzed the two chords carefully. After remained awaken for a while, he felt asleep unconsciously. He dreamt again. In the dream, he saw his piano student, Yin, play the two-chord progressions out repeatedly. The two ostinato chords played by Yin were exact to what he had figured out.

The writer woke up again. Even there were only two chords repeated in ostinato, he decided to write them down as a complete piece of music. Anyway, it was something inspired from the divine. At that moment, the melody came unexpectedly and it was transcribed into sol-fah names by the writer automatically. He was aware that the Holy One transmitted the accompaniment and the melody one after another. His job was to fix the accompaniment to the melody and made it into a complete piece of music. The whole inspiration process lasted for around half an hour.

The writer thinks that he saw scenes in the dream through his third eye and heard music in the dream through his celestial ears. The music is Chinese in style and is basically built on the Chinese pentatonic scale.

16. A Study with a Picture Inspired in Dream

A Study with a Picture Inspired in Dream (一首在睡夢中有圖畫啓發的練習曲) was composed on 17th January 2009.

A day before, in the morning, just before the writer woke up, he was still in bed. A melodic idea with an Alberti Bass accompaniment came to his mind suddenly, involuntarily and strongly. He woke up. He thought the music over and over again. He believed in that moment that it was like a piece of classical music played by one of his piano students before. He then ignored it. That night, he tried hard and still could not remember the music. He realized that it was not a piece of music that he was familiar with, otherwise he could recall it.

One day later, in the morning of 17th January, the writer was still sleeping. The same musical idea came to his mind again naturally. It developed into a piece of complete music in his mind like that happened in the previous morning while he was in half sleep and half awake. The inspiration was strong too. An image related to the music appeared in his mind. He could clearly saw that it was a small hill on the left connecting to a large hill on the right. He realized immediately that the picture was an image to help him memorize the inspired music. The small hill signifies a short introduction, with a small rising and falling arpeggio passage. The uphill of the large hill signifies the first section of the music with the melody in ascending arpeggios. The downhill of the large hill signifies the second section with the melody in descending arpeggios. The third section repeats the first one. There was no need to remind him through the picture. So, there was no third hill after the second. When the music nearly ended, the writer felt headache. He felt very painful when the music was completed.

The writer could not stand the headache and got out of bed to draft the music down. At the moment when he got out of bed, the headache was gone. The headache seemed to wake him up to write down the music. He then wrote the music down with the help of the inspired image.

The music is built on interlocking broken chords and solid chords. It appears like a study.

17. A March Composed in Dream

A March Composed in Dream (一首在夢睡夢中創作的進行曲) was written on 1st February 2009.

On 31st January, the writer dreamt that he had to do some rhythmic exercises with students. A march was needed. He then composed a march in the dream. He composed this march effortlessly and finished it within a very short period of time. The dream was very real to him and was in color.

Since the music was the writer’s composition, he could remember it firmly. It is lively, beautiful and harmonious. He wrote it down easily after he woke up.

18. Doh Ray Mi

In the early morning of 17th February 2009 , the writer made a dream. In the dream, he heard a piece of music. It was Doh Ray Mi of the Sound of Music. After the repeated and careful examination of the music, he confirmed in the dream that it had to be Doh Ray Mi. He was very certain about that the dream was an ordinary one. The music was not the one from the Divine. He then ignored the music.

When he woke up in the next morning, he could remember the first four notes only, i.e. 3/4 d. s l ｜d - - ｜etc. He thought the music over and over again. He found out eventually that there are no interlude songs in the Sound of Music having this beginning. He regretted that he might have possibly missed that piece of music from the Divine.

19. A Song for Violin in Dream and A Song for Piano in Dream

A Song for Violin in Dream (一首在睡夢中學習到的小提琴歌曲) and A Song for Piano in Dream (一首在睡夢中學習到的鋼琴歌曲) were composed on 27th February 2009.

In the early morning that day, the writer made a dream. He heard a piece of music played by the violin. After the violin music had finished, the same piece of violin music sounded again, but this time with the piano accompaniment. The complete violin score and the beginning part of the piano accompaniment score appeared in front of his eyes. When the violin music started, the piano accompaniment started too. The whole violin score appeared and the piano accompaniment score started to appear, following the music. He could hear the music, see the violin score as well as the piano accompaniment score simultaneously, but he did not see the performance. A voice told him that the piano accompaniment was built on counterpoints. When the music was played up to the third phrase, i.e. the repetition of the first phrase, he told the voice that he understood how the piano part being composed. (The writer wondered why he said such thing to the voice. The normal way that he would do was to watch the whole image till to the end, even though he knew what to compose. But, he did differently in the dream.) At that moment, the music stopped suddenly.

Then a middle-aged man appeared, sitting at the upright piano. On the piano stand placed a piece of paper, on which a simplified number score of the same piece of violin music was shown. Only the melody of the music was indicated with numbers, i.e. 1 representing doh, 2 representing ray etc. Underneath the number score were the complete words of a song. The man sang the song out in Putonghua or Mandarin while he was playing the melody on the piano. From his thickness of voice and his singing range, the writer understands that he was a tenor. He sang very beautifully. The writer thought that the music first performed with the violin was extremely excellent. But, when he heard the man sing with words of the same music, it was far more excellent. That astonished him totally. He felt spell-bounded. He was so concentrated in watching the man singing that he forgot to remember the words. He could only remember the first two words, i.e. 縈縈 (pronouncing “jing jing” in Cantonese and “ying ying” in Mandarin or Putonghua ). They mean “surrounding”. The song was about the beautiful scenery which was ruined afterwards unfortunately. It was beautiful but with a little pathetic. The man sang with benevolence, pity and mercy (慈悲). It seemed to the writer that he sang with Bel Canto from his style of singing. When the man was singing the song, the whole scene was brighter and clearer than before. The writer inferred that the man was a god, a celestial or an angel.

As mentioned above, the singer was a tenor. He sang with Bel Canto, a style of the traditional Italian operatic singing. Even though the words were in Chinese, the song was not Chinese-like. He did not sing it with any one of the Chinese folk song singing styles. He used not much facial expressions, body movements and gestures to express the music, comparing to the singers on earth. He moved the writer simply by his voice and the music. He sang easily and effortlessly. He did not need to breathe much. His voice was incredibly smooth, clear, sonorous, beautiful and expressive. During the whole course of singing and playing the melody on the piano, he sat and sang properly, and no big mouth, breathing and body movements could be observed. The whole environment was in the state of tranquility, serenity and harmony.

20. The Music from Beethoven and Christian Church Inspired in Dream

The Music from Beethoven and Christian Church Inspired in Dream (在睡夢中從貝多芬和基督教堂會啟示的樂曲) was completed on 28th April 2009.

In the early morning of 3rd March 2009 , the writer made a dream. In the dream, he performed the piano on the stage of a concert hall which was very bright and clean. Only the stage appeared in the dream. He did not see the seats for audiences. He played the first movement of a piano sonata by Beethoven. He played perfectly well. After the repeated and careful examination of the music, he affirmed that it should be one of the Beethoven’s piano sonatas. Since it was a Beethoven’s works, he paid no effort to memorize what he had played. After the performance, he went to the street. He heard a piece of music. It was so good that he concentrated to appreciate the music and did not pay any effort to memorize the music. He then went into a Christian church where he heard a piece of violin music. The church was white and was very bright inside. The music was like a piece by Bach. He said to himself in the dream that he recognized the music and knew how the music was going on. The dream then stopped.

The writer woke up and thought over the music from the beginning. He could only remember the beginning part, i.e. the introduction, of what so called the Beethoven’s sonata. He found out that no one Beethoven’s sonata begins like the one in the dream. He then noticed that it might be a piece of music inspired from the Divine. Since he could remember the introduction of the music only, he then drafted it down. He forgot completely the second piece of music. He then drafted the third piece of music down up to the note inspired. The music written down starts with the Beethoven-like introduction, then rests for two bars indicating the missing music heard on the street, and follows the theme of the violin music from the Christian church.

21. Revelations from Score Transfigurations

In 7:45 a. m. to 8:00 a. m. of 6th May 2009 , the writer made a dream. In the dream, he had to go through a piano practical examination. In a big examination room, there were around a dozen examinees who sat in front of the upright pianos. A piano examination book was placed on the piano stand of each upright piano. Every examinee had to choose three pieces from the piano examination book to perform. The writer was one of them. He opened to the first piece in the book. The scores were in black and white, but the scores and the pages dazzled brightly. He had never seen this music before. Though he was not familiar with the piece, he kept playing the music. He tried the music on the piano up to half of the first page. Since he had not seen the music before, he did not play it well. Later he realized that he did not need to play this one because there were some more pieces in the book for him to choose.

The writer turned to the next piece which was the Beethoven’s Sonatas for the Pianoforte Opus 49 Number 1. The scores were in black and white, and the scores and the pages dazzled brightly too. He knew this piece perfectly well. He decided to play this one. When he started to play the music, the score changed suddenly. The music turned out to be strange to him. Because he was not familiar with this new piece, he turned the pages to the next piece. It was the Beethoven’s Sonatas for the Pianoforte Opus 31 Number 2, Movement Three, The Tempest. The scores were in black and white. The scores and the pages dazzled brightly either. When he tried to play the music, the music scores changed suddenly again to another piece, as happened before. Then, he turned to the third piece of music. It was a piece from Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words. The scores were in black and white as well. The scores and pages dazzled brightly as before too. Since he was wondering what had happened before, he did not notice which Mendelssohn’s piece it was in the dream.

After he woke up at eight o’clock that morning, he pondered the matter concerning the transfigurations of the scores for a while. He caught the theory behind finally. The conjectures of transfiguring scores are explained as follows:

1)     The writer supposed that the same score (or the same thing) as one sees in this earthy dimension would appear differently in another dimension. When the writer first saw the familiar scores, they appeared in the form of this earthy dimension. In the moment when he tried to play the music, the scores of another dimension appeared in front of his eyes. Thus, the form of the scores changed. It transfigured into another scores. Since he had no experience of seeing music scores in different dimensions before, he was certainly not familiar with the scores transfigured.

2)     It is hypothesized that any creative works must possess different forms in different dimensions in the Universe. Their forms, words, pictures, images, sounds, music and their meanings etc. are completely different in different dimensions. When one creates a thing in one dimension, another thing(s) corresponding to that thing is (are) formed in other related or corresponding dimension(s). The higher dimensions the things belong, the better, the more beautiful and the more delicate will be the things. It is because the higher the dimensions, the better and the more delicate particles the dimensions carry. The writer boldly suggests that there should be different pieces of music with the same title or by the same composer in different dimensions. When a composer composes music in one dimension, another piece(s) of music form naturally in other related dimension(s). The writer, by means of his third eye, should be able to see through the music scores of different dimensions. When he sees the scores appearing the same as we see the ones on earth, he sees them in this earthy dimension. What he sees is exactly an ordinary individual sees. When he sees through to another dimension, the same piece of music appears and sounds differently. The higher the dimensions, the better will be the music and the brighter, the more dazzling or more colorful will be the scores.

3)     All the dreams, including this one, are in splendid color. In the dreams, the writer felt the music being extremely marvelous, graceful and noble etc. The sceneries were exceptionally sparkling and bright. He was always totally spell-bounded by what he saw. Even the music was simple in the dreams, it was excellent enough for him to get astonished and shocked. When he wrote the music down, he found that he could hardly write down the exact music from sound. He admits that this was partly because of his music memory power. Apart from this, the music sounds the poorest and the color of the music scores appeared the dullest in this earthy dimension. It is sensed that this earthy dimension is the lowest in the whole immense Universe.

4)     The writer had several experiences concerning recognizing the music wrongly in the previous dreams. In the past dreams, he thought that the pieces of music were Doh Ray Mi, one of the episodes in the Sound of Music, and one of the Beethoven piano sonata. But, after he woke up, he discovered that they were not. He had this explanation. In the dreams, he did hear Doh Ray Mi and play a Beethoven sonata respectively. While he was hearing Doh Ray Mi and playing the Beethoven piano sonata in the dreams, the Holy One transmitted the music of the other dimensions with the same titles to him. After he woke up, he studied what he saw in the dreams and what he had in his mind. He ascertained that they were completely different. The dream this time gave him a revelation, the writer guesses. The same pieces of music appeared and sounded differently in the dreams and after he woke up. In fact, they were the same pieces of music coming from different dimensions. He once suspected whether he remembered the music wrongly. As far as he could remember, he checked carefully and repeatedly whether the music was new or not in the dreams. That he judged or remembered the music wrongly is ruled out by the writer.

22. A Musical Phrase Seen Through the Third Eye

A Musical Phrase in the Bass Clef Seen Through the Third Eye (一句透過天目看到在低音譜號上的樂句) was written on 27th May 2009.

In the early morning that day, the writer saw a Chinese poem. It was believed to be the poems transmitted from the Divine. He read the poem once in the dream. But, after he woke up at around 9: 05 a .m. , he failed to remember even one word of the poem. He was very sorry about that. At this moment, as he was awake, but still with his eyes closed, a single row of music staff appeared clearly in front of his eyes. The score lasted for few seconds. When he tried to get a piece of paper to copy it down, the image disappeared suddenly. He had to have moved the visual nerve of his naked eyes to block the channel of his third eye. The image reflected to his third eye then vanished.

The writer saw clearly with his third eye that the music was in bass clef. It was with three flats, in E-flat major. It was in 3/4 time. The phrase lasted for four bars. There were no phrase marks, expression marks, tempo mark and metronome mark on the staff. He composed the answering phrase to make the melody complete. A simple accompaniment was written to make the music complete.

C.  Analyzes of Divine Music

1.  Analyses of Believed Divine Musical Works

Based upon the divine experiences described above, the writer sums up the following analyses:

1)      Divine ideas came to the writer while he was usually relaxing, watering, gardening, cleaning the house, reading music scores, practicing Falundafa Exercises, dreaming, half sleeping and half waking, just waking up from sleep, or feeling light, calm, tranquil and having less distracting thoughts. Only when people are in these states of minds of feeling relaxing, lightness, calmness, tranquility, or of having less or no distracting thoughts, the messages from other dimensions can penetrate into the brains.

2)  Divine ideas came when the writer was usually in the environment of tranquility, calmness and peace. He was either practicing the Falundafa Exercises, gardening, watering plants, reading music scores, sleeping, half sleeping and half waking, or dreaming. When he was doing such things, it was usually in the mornings, at nights, at mid-nights or in early mornings. Since he was living in a detached house in a rural area, those periods of time were exceptionally quiet. It is easier for one to relax and stay calm to perceive divine ideas if one lives in a place away from crowds and business. There is one thing worthy mentioning. It is supposed better to keep one’s mind clear and stay out from distracting thoughts in practicing Falundafa exercises. The Holy One must understand this perfectly well, the writer guess. Why did he keep receiving music from the Divine when he was practicing Falundafa exercises? The possible explanation is that he was too busy with personal business and works related to Falundafa those days. His mind was not quiet enough to perceive divine music. Another explanation is that the Holy One tried to give him a hint. The inspired music was related to Falundafa practice.

3) The writer received many inspirations in dreams. He saw performances, sceneries, a simplified number music score, Chinese lyrics and heard music in dreams through his third eye and celestial ears. All the dreams were very real to him. The details were very clear and all were in full colours, just like colour movies. The sceneries that involved gods, goddess, celestials, angels and/or churches were exceptionally bright and shining. To write down inspired music from dreams is challenging to composers. One has to memorize all the music, save it in the brain and write it down till one wakes up. The writer sometimes failed to do so. If the divine music comes when the composer is free, or with the paper or the piano around, the composer can play out or write out the music spontaneously. Why did the Holy One choose dreams to transmit music to the writer? One possible explanation is that he was too busy with personal business and works related to Falundafa those days. His mind was not quiet enough to perceive divine music.

4)  When divine ideas were transmitted to the writer, he felt that they came into his mind suddenly, automatically, unexpectedly and involuntarily though naturally. The inspired person can hardly know when divine ideas come. Divine ideas always come naturally and automatically. Men always feel that divine ideas come suddenly, involuntarily and unexpectedly. If divine ideas want to come, then they come. If divine ideas want to go, then they go. It is impossible for men to fore-tell, and much more impossible to control. Even though when the writer was practising Falundafa exercises, ideas sometimes came strongly. He should try his best to keep his mind stately when practicing Falundafa exercises. As a matter of fact, ideas came to him uncontrolably. And after he had realized that the ideas might come from the Divine, he welcomed the ideas instead.

5)  Divine ideas came to the writer naturally and spontaneously. The writer got them effortlessly. Men would feel that they come just like miracles. Men get it without thinking, searching for it and paying anything for it. Men are in the uninformed and unexpected states of minds. The only thing that men need to do is to notice and perceive them. Divine inspirations differ from the inspirations out from human thinking. One would feel that the inspired ideas are very excellent. They are far better than those one can think of and compose. One may feel that one is unable to think or compose the music out even. One may feel that one would not compose such styles of music in one’s compositional life. Or one may feel that one is even not in the state of mind of composing when inspirations come.

6)  One can hardly tell where divine inspirations come from. They should be beyond men’s ability to explore. When the writer heard music in the first few times, he suspected the music being from somewhere around him. After searching for it and asking people around him about it, he discovered it not from the existing surroundings. The music was not from his inner self or imaginations either. It should be from the other dimensions other than from this earthy dimension. The performances or the images appeared and the music sounded suddenly before him. The performances and the music in dreams were so splendid that he could hardly compose them out in reality or in dreams. It is supposed that the music inspirations should be transmitted from the Holy One beyond this dimension to him through dreams. The music came to him as ideas sometimes. He was not thinking about music or not thinking those pieces of music at those moments. The ideas came suddenly and involuntarily. The music was not the music that he usually composed. For examples, he did not think of composing the Buddha meditation-like (佛、禪) music, sacred music, exotic music, violin music, traditional Chinese music, songs, and the music in the Baroque style, Classical style and Romantic style etc. in those periods of time. He had no intention in writing those pieces of music either. (He usually composed simple classical music, children’s music or studies for the piano method book and/or for student concerts that time.) He could not tell actually where those ideas came from. He postulated that it should be from the other dimensions or from the Divine. He saw them through his third eye and heard them through his celestial ears.

7)  Divine ideas came to the writer sometimes softly and sometimes loudly and strongly. He could feel that he was inspired. The powers and energies were so strong that sometimes made him feel headachy. The writer could hardly stop the pain. He could sense the powers and energies of the inspirations. He learnt from experiences that the powers and energies were not from him. They were from somewhere else outside him. When receiving music from the Divine, men may feel strong powers and energies. This is part of the awakening process. Through these strong powers, energies or senses, men understand that divine ideas are coming. It takes time and experiences for musicians to note the coming divine ideas. The powers and energies usually last long till to the end of the inspired music. Then the powers and energies stop suddenly and automatically after inspirations.

8)  Another way that was used to wake the writer was the duration of the inspirations. In order to let him be aware of inspired ideas, they were transmitted to his mind repeatedly and continuously. Sometimes, the same inspired music lasted for several days. This happened usually in the beginning stage of his divine experiences. The music came to his mind continually day after day until he noticed it. Sometimes, the whole process of the inspiration lasted for a long period of time, say, more than half an hour without intermittence until he noted the divine ideas.

9)  The writer sometimes felt that inspired ideas came in large numbers. They came one after another like floods. His mind was filled with ideas, music or sol-fah names of the music suddenly and automatically. He did not need to think about the music. Musical ideas would come and develop themselves in his mind. Themes, melodies, accompaniments, developing sections, introductions and codettas came one after another naturally. He got them effortlessly. After the inspired music had finished, ideas stopped automatically. He knew that he should write the music down.

10) Another way used to wake the writer was to arouse his emotion. Just before inspired ideas came, his emotions became unstable sometimes. He could hardly constrain them. The power was so strong that he could feel the difference between the normal very unstable emotion and the inspired aroused emotion. Strong compositional inspirations would be then generated naturally in his mind. He, in the beginning, as an inexperienced divine ideas receiver, misunderstood those inspired aroused emotions. As more such experiences were gained, he sensed its significance. It is the signal telling the inspired person that the inspired music is coming. After the inspired music, his emotions stopped automatically. He became quiet and peaceful again automatically.

11) Divine ideas transmitted to the writer through three sensory channels, i.e. feeling, hearing and vision. The first channel is the sensation or feeling. Divine inspirations sometimes came to his mind in the form of ideas. The inspirations were so strong that he could feel and sense them. Before ideas came, his emotions might be aroused and became unstable. After the inspirations, his emotions would calm down themselves automatically, out of his control. During the whole course of the inspirations, he could sense the powers and energies empowered from somewhere on him. After the inspirations, the powers and energies ceased automatically. They were beyond his control. He could feel his impotence in this situation. The second channel is the auditory mechanism. The writer could hear the music through his celestial ears. He heard the inspired music in the quiet daytime, at nights, while he was sleeping, half sleeping and half waking, or in dreams. He could hear melodies alone, accompaniments alone or the music in full. The music transmitted to him was very clear even though it sometimes was very soft. It was sublime, graceful and sometimes grand. The tones were exceptionally delicate, graceful and fine. The third sensory channel is the vision. The writer saw sceneries in dreams or in the daytime through his third eyes and heard music through his celestial ears. He watched large ensembles playing, piano solos or duets, violin solos with or without piano accompaniments, solo singing with the piano accompaniment, the image related to the music, music scores and simplified number music scores with Chinese lyrics in dreams and in the daytime. The performances and images were very clear. The gods, goddess, celestials or angels and churches were very bright. The dreams were so real that he seemed to watch plays, high-definition three dimensional color movies or actually play a part in the dreams.

12) The tone quality was the first thing in the music that attracted the writer’s attention and interest. The tones of the inspired music heard by the writer were distinctively fine, sublime, noble, graceful, illusory, pure, and sometimes spiritual, grand, magnificent and majestic. The song was beautifully and elegantly sung. The moods were clarifying. They varied from simple, light and quiet to magnificent and grand.

13) The music sounded extremely harmonious. The music inspired to the writer varied from Chinese music played in unisons to western fully harmonized music. In fact, most of the music was in unisons. Even though there was music with harmonies, it sounded so harmonious that it seemed to have no harmonies. That made the writer study further why the traditional Chinese music was mainly played together in unisons. It is postulated that some Chinese composers in the old time might hear the music that passed down from the Divine being performed in unisons.

14) The music inspired to the writer was based on various scale systems. It was either built on the beginning three notes or five tones of the western diatonic scales, the western diatonic scales, the Chinese pentatonic scales, modes or the chromatic scales.

15) To the writer, the inspired music was either only melodies, melodies together with accompaniments at the same time, accompaniments after melodies, melodies after accompaniments, melodies with Alberti Bass accompaniments, melodies with broken chords or solid chords accompaniments, melodies with melodious figures accompaniments, subjects with counter-subjects, themes developing to complete pieces of music, progressions of two ostinato chords in the accompaniment, the full music, the piano music, the violin music, the western orchestral music, the Chinese orchestral music or songs. The musical ideas or the music were usually transcribed into absolute sol-fah names by the writer automatically and spontaneously.

16) The music seemed not to be played by the instruments of this world. The instruments, such as the grand piano, the upright piano and the violin, looked exactly the same as those on this earth. They sounded similar, not exact, to those on earth too; otherwise the writer could not identify them. The sounds were distinctively fine, bright, sparkling, as well as reserved and reticent. Since they came from higher dimensions, the sound qualities had to be exceptionally beautiful. Some other musical instruments, such as the glockenspiel, metallophones, vibraphone, xylophone, marimba, chime and celesta, looked similar to those on earth. There were some unknown, big or small instruments resembling those percussion instruments just mentioned above. No matter what kinds of the instruments they were, their sounds were extremely graceful and exquisite. They were extraordinarily excellent beyond comparison. As mentioned above, the music inspired to the writer varied from the Chinese music played in unisons to the fully harmonized western music. However, most of the orchestral music heard, including the music with the western styles, perceived like being played in unisons, even the music played with different musical instruments. There seemed no second voice, no second melodic lines, or no harmonies in the music. The music performed by various instruments sounded tremendously harmonious, balanced and harmonically simple. That made the writer study further why the traditional Chinese music was mainly played together with different instruments in unisons. The Chinese composers in the old time might hear the music that passed down from the Divine being performed in unisons. Therefore, the music that they composed even for different traditional Chinese instruments was played together in unisons. Furthermore, different instruments played together sounded unified, justified, consistent, and round to each other. No one instrument would protrude out or had a more prominent position than the others. They could mingle in together to form one united tonal quality. That always made the writer difficult to tell which part of the music came from which instruments in the instrumental music performed with many instruments.

17) The structures of the music inspired to the writer were usually four-bar phrases. Some phrases might be five bars, six bars or eight bars. Few were of different length. Anyway, they sounded very balanced in length. Four four-bar phrases usually formed a section. Some were exceptional. The second or the middle sections might be longer since they might act as the development sections. In some music, the melodies kept flowing to a dozen to two dozen bars and formed independent sections. The forms included the one part form comprised with four phrases usually, two part form, three part form, rondo, capriccio, march and song form. The music was sometimes with introductions, episodes and/or with codettas, or with subjects and counter-subjects. The music was either in the form of the air, march, art song, folk song or children’s song. No matter what structures the music was built on, the music sounded balanced and proportionate. The structures were regular and simple, without much changes or varieties.

18) The writing techniques of the music inspired to the writer were manifold. The music was modal, diatonic and/or chromatic. The works were orchestral, songs, or for the piano or violin. The music was basically built on a melody with an accompaniment. Sometimes, the music was imitative. The melody in the bass part followed the melody in the treble part. It signifies that the practitioners follow their Master in the highest, or something or someone in the lower dimension follows or imitates something or someone in the higher dimension. Sometimes, the melody was accompanied by the chordal progression in the ostinato with two chords repeating continuously. Sometimes the melody was accompanied by the Alberti Bass accompaniments, broken chords accompaniments, solid chords accompaniments or melodious figures. Sometimes, the music was contrapuntal. There were a subject and a counter-subject in the music.

19) The styles of the inspired music heard by the writer were diverse. They included the western Baroque style, Classical style, Romantic style, the traditional Chinese style, air or bagatelles, march, study, art song, folk song-like and children’s song-like styles.

20) There were sacred and secular music inspired to the writer. There are titles for the music. Some are abstract music. When the writer got the inspired music, there were sometimes the ideas relating to the titles coming up to his mind. He thus used them as titles for the music. Some music is related to Falundafa practice, some related to God, and some related to Buddha. The music was entitled accordingly. Some are just absolute music. He used the situations in which the music was initiated as titles. Sometimes, the structures and forms of the music suggested certain meanings, and the music was thus entitled accordingly.

21) The music that the writer has got from the Divine is basically simple and short. The technique required to play the music is not demanding. The music is around the beginning to the intermediate levels. The players were the Hong Kong Falundafa little practitioners and/or Hong Kong Music Home for Handicapped Normal Talented Children Limited elementary piano students. The music was for them to perform in public performances and concerts. On the other hand, the writer is making a piano method book for the piano students of the beginning to elementary grades. Most of the writer’s music will be put into this piano book. The writer believes that the Holy One has known already the functions of the music and what levels of piano students will play the music.

22) The writer watched music performances performed believed by gods, celestials or angels of other dimensions and played music together with them. The music was really expressive and touching. It moved the writer deeply into his inner most soul. He was always astounded and amazed by the music. It was noticed that they performed music with not much facial expressions, body movements and gestures. Their facial expressions, body movements and gestures were much less than the pianists on earth. The music moved him certainly not by the performers’ facial expressions, body movements and gestures, but by the music performed out itself. To achieve this, he assumes, the divine performers had to possess instrumental virtuosi; practices of stylistic performances; devoted souls in making music; high morality, noble personality and intrinsic qualities; the mind cultivation of being with the Law, the Way, the Logos or the Holy One of the whole Universe; and the will to express the Holy One with the music. In addition, the instruments were superbly formed. The particles of their dimensions were awfully fine or delicate, so that they can carry superbly fine music through their dimensions purely, clearly, elegantly, brightly and with exceedingly high qualities. The music was at least the total outcome of all these incredibly high standard characteristics mentioned. These characteristics are beyond the knowledge and understanding of the human beings, the writer guesses.

23) The articulation and performing techniques of the performers from other dimensions worthy noting. As mentioned above, they used not much facial expressions, body movements and gestures to express the music. They moved listeners by music itself. Concerning the piano playing technique, the divine performers played with fingertips. Even in fast running passages, their hands kept quite still and their fingers seemed not moving much. Their fingers did not move conspicuously. Their fingers moved a little, but there were lots of fast notes coming out. The touch was steady. The notes sounded incredibly delicate, smooth, beautiful and expressive. Their fingers seldom jumped, and staccato notes were uncommon in the music inspired to the writer. During the whole course of playing the piano, the divine performers sat properly, and no big movements could be observed. Concerning the violin playing technique, the divine performers did not show much facial expressions, body movements and gestures to express the music too. All the movements were small. The right hands of the divine performers holding the bows would move, but they could play lots of notes with one bowing. The left hand fingers of the divine performers moved only a little even in fast running passages. Both their hands and fingers moved very little and many fast notes would come out. Their finger-tip movements were not conspicuous even in pieces with fast tempos. The notes, of course, were particularly clean, beautiful and expressive. During the whole course of playing the violin, the divine performers stood properly, and no big movements could be observed. Concerning the percussion instrumental playing, the divine performers used not much facial expressions, body movements and gestures to express the music too. Even in fast running passages, their hands kept quite still and did not move much. But, the beaters would move swiftly to produce fast running notes. The tones were extraordinarily delicate, sparkling, beautiful and expressive. Even though the percussion instruments produced sounds by beating, the notes produced were incredibly smooth and were with consistent dynamics. During the whole course of playing the percussions, the divine performers stood or sat properly, and no big movements could be observed.Concerning singing, the singer sang with Bel Canto. He did not employ country folk song, modern folk song or pop song singing techniques. He used not much facial expressions, body movements and gestures to express the music. He sang easily and effortlessly. He did not need to breathe much, but the resonance was extremely good and resounding. His voice was incredibly smooth, clear, sonorous, beautiful and expressive. During the whole course of singing and playing the melody on the piano, he sat and sang properly, and no big mouth, breathing and body movements could be observed.

24) The writer could occasionally feel strong activating forces behind him to push him to do something during receiving inspirations. The force would sometimes arouse his emotions to an unprecedented height that made him aware of the coming inspired ideas. When he noticed the inspirations, the uprising emotions would decline. The force would sometimes make him headache, so as to make him get out of bed to draft the music down. When he got out of bed, the headache would die away. The headache seemed to wake him up to write down the music as soon as possible.

The above analyses are based on the writer’s personal divine experiences and his understandings about the Universe. The writer understands that there should be millions more kinds of music in the whole Universe. The music inspired to him by no means represents the music of the whole Universe. His analyzes, if correct, are only part of them. In the whole course of the analyses, the writer tried to be objective.

2.  Writer’s Compositional Process

The writer tried to sum up the whole course of composition of the divine inspiration from his divine music experiences. It is recapitulated as follows:

The first step is the awakening. One has to be aware of the inspired ideas. There may be times that one’s emotions would be aroused before the inspirations come. This is the signal telling one that inspired ideas will come immediately. This is the creative emotion, not the ordinary temper emotion. One has to be alert and mentally ready to perceive divine ideas. Then, ideas, sound, voices, music, words, scores, performances, images or sceneries may come automatically into one’s (celestial) mind, celestial hearing or visual mechanisms. The incoming ideas may be very light and short, the incoming sound, voices or music may be very soft and short, and the incoming words, scores, performances, images or sceneries may be very vague and short. One has to pay attention, and at the same time keep still and calm, to notice and perceive them. The incoming music may come as ideas in one’s mind. One can tell apart whether the incoming ideas are personal compositional ones or from the Divine. The inspired ideas usually come to one involuntarily. If one is not thinking or imaging the compositional matters or thinking things other than the incoming music, the incoming ideas are possibly from the Divine. One has to learn from repeated divine experiences.

The second step is the perception. After one awakes divine inspirations, one must perceive them attentively, quietly and patiently. The inspirations may come into one’s mind through different means. One may sense ideas, hear sounds, voices or music, or see performances, sceneries, music scores, words or images. Whatever comes to one’s mind, one has to keep calm, and sense, hear and/or watch patiently and peacefully. Do not be scared! Try to observe every detail. If the incoming sound, voices or music is very soft and/or short, the incoming ideas are very light and/or short, or the incoming performances, sceneries, music scores, words or images are very vague and/or short, one has to pay extra attention to perceive them. Do not ignore every minute detail! If the voices or music heard, or the performances, sceneries, or images seen are excellent and grand, one must not forget to memorize them besides listening and watching them with admirations. Do not be dumbfounded too much! The sounds, voices or music heard may be very loud, one has to listen patiently and tranquilly either. They may be too loud to make one feel headache. Do not be upset! It is suggested that one must perceive every detail and memorize it as firmly and carefully as possible. The course can be commented as unexpected or even miraculous.

The third step is the acknowledgement. Whenever one notices divine inspirations coming to one’s mind, or hears sounds, voices or music, and/or sees performances, sceneries, images, scores or words of songs, one has to judge whether they are from the Divine or not. They may be only the composer’s own creations, from the composer’s own imaginations, or the reappearance of existing works of other composers. One possible way is to determine whether the incoming sounds, voices or music, and sceneries, performances, words, images are perceived through the celestial ears and/or through the third eye. The writer would sometimes make wrong judgments. He thought wrongly that certain works perceived were from some composers in the past, but eventually they were from the Divine. He thus did not care to memorize the coming ideas, and eventually missed them. Sometimes, the writer had to check them out from music scores to see whether the incoming inspirations being old or new. The celestial ears and the third eye may perceive something that has happened in the past.

The fourth step is the memorization. The above-mentioned steps would pass swiftly in one’s mind. When divine inspirations come, one has to be aware of them, perceive them and acknowledge them. These processes may take only few seconds or even less. Memorization is a hard job to the inspired person. If divine inspirations come to one when one has a piece of paper around, one may write them down spontaneously without holding the inspirations in the brain. This cannot always be achieved. There is an occasion that if one moves physically or moves one’s mind, the incoming inspiration may cease. If divine inspirations come to one when one has a musical instrument and a piece of paper around but does not want to interrupt the incoming ideas, one can play it and write it out immediately after the inspiration. In this case, one does not need to store the inspirations in the brain long. But still, it is not easy to dictate the music out after hearing or seeing. However, the inspirations sometimes may cease if one’s mind moves to other things. Once, when the writer wanted to get a piece of paper to writer down the music while the score still existed through his third eye, the image disappeared gradually within few seconds. If inspired ideas come to one when one has not an instrument and a piece of paper around, one has to hold the music long in the brain. In this case, how much music one can dictate down depends on how well one can memorize the music. It is a demanding technique for a musician. In the case of the writer, the incoming ideas or music would be spontaneously transcribed into absolute sol-fah names by the writer. The absolute sol-fah naming is a system re-devised by the writer to name and sing notes with absolute pitches, based on the traditional incomplete solfège system. The absolute solfège system will be introduced later in Section XI: Writer’s Piano Teaching Attempt.

The fifth step is the drafting out. After the perception and the memorization of the inspired ideas or music, to draft them out initially is a must. In this process, one has to dictate as more as music and as quickly as possible before one forgets the details. Since the writer has gathered divine experiences, he always has pencils and paper around him. There may be gaps, writing mistakes, short forms or missing parts in the music since the inspired music may be incomplete, the inspired musician may forget some music parts, and/or the inspired musician may remember notes wrongly etc. The writer drafted out the notes by re-transcribing the sol-fah names back into notes, marking down the sol-fah names on paper, or writing down brief descriptive words. The draft may be the skeleton of the music in which the composer has to fit in missing parts in the final writing out. Or the draft may be the finished music if the composer is inspired the full music and s/he can memorize it thoroughly and mark it down on paper correctly.

The sixth step is the playing out. The inspired composer may want to try out the music on the musician’s manageable musical instruments. In the writer’s case, the instrument is the piano. One may need to try the music out from the drafts on the instrument to make sure whether s/he drafts down is what s/he actually hears from the Divine. It is suggested that the piano is the most appropriate instrument if the composer is capable of mastering this instrument well. If there are any missing parts in the music, the composer has to fill them in during the time of playing out the music. In filling in the missing parts, s/he must base on the styles of the inspired compositions to try the music out on the instrument. If the missing notes are the parts that the composer forgets, s/he has to figure out the missing parts as near as to what s/he hears in the first place on the piano. To composers, playing out the music on instruments is nearly a necessity, but may not be a must. It is to ensure that the music does not go wrong. If the composer possesses a perfect absolute pitch, an extraordinary musical memory, an excellent technique in the playing back music after listening to music once, an exceptional good skill in counterpoint and harmony, and a high compositional talent, s/he may not need this step always.

The seventh step is the writing up of the compositions. If the composer has made drafts, has tried out the music on the piano and has composed back the missing parts on the piano, s/he has to write the music down before his/er memory on the music declines. If there are still any missing parts in the music, the composer has to fill them in on paper. If there are still certain parts that the composer forgets, s/he, based on the styles of the inspired compositions, has to compose them out nearest to what s/he hears from the Divine in the first place. If the music written down is exactly the same as the inspirations, it is the most perfect. The writing up and the finalizing the music usually take the composer a long time, if the music is not fully inspired and remembered. To decide only one note or one phrase, it may take the composer hours or even days to do so, not to mention to write out a section or a whole piece of music. Corrections and re-corrections happen frequently if the composer has only a faint memory on the inspired music. The difficulty lies on whether the notes are really the ones that the composer has heard from the Divine. If the original notes can hardly traced back, the composer has to inevitably compose them according to his/er compositional technique. This is why the composer’s abilities in absolute pitch, musical memory, playing back music after hearing, counterpoint, harmony and composition are crucial in writing out the music from the Divine. Even though the composer’s abilities in absolute pitch, musical memory, playing back music after hearing, counterpoint, harmony and composition are extremely terrific, suitable notes are always difficult to find either. The composer usually thinks that the invented parts are not as good as the original divine music. The time in the writing up may be very difficult to the composer sometimes. One may undergo the difficult time of strenuous irresolution, meticulous efforts of music analyses and re-analyses, unbearable hardship of loss, desperation, depression, or even self-accusations for not writing out the original divine music.

The above descriptions are the writer’s compositional process based on the music inspired from the Divine. The process is personal. It, by no means, represents the compositional processes of other composers who had divine musical experiences. However, the writer found out that the western classical composers who had musical experiences from the Divine confronted similar experiences like the writer’s. This is the reason why he can analyze their music and their compositional processes in the angle of the divine music.

3.  Other Considerations

The writer always evaluates whether the inspired music is from personal composition inspirations, from imaginations, or from divine inspirations. How he tells apart the inspirations being from the self or from the Divine is totally personal and subjective. It may vary in situations. If the inspiration is from the writer, he should be in the state of thinking the music or should be about to think of the music. The composer would compose actively. S/He can hold the inspiration. S/He can manipulate the music. His/er mind is in the state of thinking, figuring out or composing music. On the contrary, if the inspiration is from the Divine, the composer will not be in a state of thinking the music or will not be about to think of the music. Ideas or inspirations come naturally and suddenly. They emerge out from nothing or from a void thinking. One gets them effortlessly. One does not need to think of the music. One needs not to do anything. Inspirations just come. If they want to go, then they stop and go. No one can foretell, hold, control or stop them. After music compositions, the composer may think that s/he never think of composing those kinds of music or may not compose out such kinds of perfect music. It does not imply that the compositions are difficult and grand. However, the music must be noble, sublime, elegant, graceful, pleasant to the ears, and exceeding ones’ expectations. The composer usually would exclaim with admiration. S/He needs not think of the music. S/He even has no time to think of the music. What in his/er mind is to figure out how to drop the music down with as little errors as can be. S/He is only the middleman to dictate the music. The composer is mainly passive in the whole course. If inspirations are not complete or the composer forgets part of the inspired music, s/he has to fill the missing parts out, using his/er compositional technique. Since the music is not from the composer and s/he has heard the splendid inspired music, s/he would feel great hardship to complete the music. His/er mind focuses on how to compose the music nearest to what s/he heard in the first place, but not to sound good to his/er musical understanding. Strictly speaking, the pieces are not his/er compositions. At most, s/he is only the compiler. If the music is from the composer, it should be easier for him/er to finish the music. S/He composes what please him/er. The nature of these two types of compositional processes is basically different. The aim of composition is basically different too.

Another major difference concerning the compositions inspired from the Divine or from the composer is reflected in the finished musical works. To the writer, all the pieces inspired from the Divine are short. Most of them are one part form. Some are short because the inspirations were short. Some are short because the writer could only remember that long. If the works were from his inspirations, he would lengthen the pieces of the one-part form to three-part form or lengthen the rondino to rondo. All the pieces inspired from the Divine are very harmonious. Different instruments played the same melodies in unisons. Consonant chords are used to harmonize the melodies. If the music was composed from the writer’s inspirations, more complicated and dissonant chords would be used as usual. Different melodic lines would be assigned to different instruments. The two ostinato chords would be replaced by more chords. The music, in the writer’s compositional style, is much more enriched and thickened. Under the divine inspirations, different sorts of music based on modes, traditional Chinese style, western Baroque style, Classical style, Buddhism Zen etc., and various kinds of sacred music, orchestral works, songs and violin music were written. If the music was inspired from the writer, he would focus on composing children’s piano music for the purposes of teaching, public performances and making publications. He had no time and no need to experiment different styles at that time. The major techniques used would be the western traditional and contemporary compositional techniques. There were pieces of violin music inspired from the Divine. If the music was inspired by the writer, he would give the parts to the flute instead of the violin.

One more thing the writer has to clarify, i.e. the compositions in his dreams. The writer has to say more on whether the music in the dreams was composed by the writer or inspired from the Divine. In one of the dreams, he personally wrote the March. But, other than this dream, the writer was only the audience or the performer rather than a composer. As a spectator, the writer saw sceneries, music performances, music scores, images etc. in his dreams. He postulated that the Holy One transmitted the music to him through dreams. He saw and heard the music playing and performances through his third eye and celestial ears.

Based upon the writer’s experiences about dreams, he would like to discuss the nature of dreams further. Firstly, we all make dreams. Some dreams are in black and white, and some are in color. Some are clear and some are vague. Some may reflect what happen in our daily lives, and some may reflect what we think, and so forth. These are ordinary dreams which are parts of our brain functions. Some dreams that one may remember after waking up and some one may not. Secondly, there are dreams that reflect the images and sounds from other dimensions. In this case, the dreams are incredibly real. They must be in extremely bright full color, much sharpener than one watches programs from the high-definition television. The sounds and music must be tremendously clear and graceful, much more pleasant than hearing sounds and music from the high-fidelity sound equipment. Thirdly, there are dreams that one cannot say they being really dreams. While one is sleeping, the images from other dimensions reflect or transmit to one’s space. One can then perceive the images and sound. One seems to see and hear something in dreams and one seems in the dreaming state. One has to see the images through one’s third eye and hear the sound through one’s celestial ears. The images are much sharpener than the high-definition three-dimensional images, like watching live theatrical plays. The sounds and music are much clearer than the high-fidelity multi-sound tracked sounds, like listening to live performances. But, in fact, one is not dreaming. One is in bed, and may be in the half dreaming, half sleeping and half awaking state. Fourthly, there are souls in every human being, namely the master soul (主元神), the subordinate souls (副元神) mainly. The master soul, in Chinese, is what people generally call the soul or the spirit (靈魂) in the western countries. The master soul dominates one’s thinking and behavior. Thinking and behavioral control is governed by the master soul instead of by the mental process of the human brain. The brain is only a centre or a carrier to transmit message from the master soul. A complete person consists of a human body and souls (especially the master soul). The master soul can work in this mundane world as well as in other dimensions. Sometimes, what the master soul and the subordinate souls have done in other dimensions would reflect into people’s dreams of this earthy dimension. What the writer have stated here in this paper about his divine experiences are the last three kinds of dreams, i.e. the dreams, the dreaming states echoing images and sounds from other dimensions perceived through his third ears and his celestial eyes, and his master and subordinate souls’ living experiences with lives in other dimensions. The first kind of dreams described above is the ordinary dream. The third kind of dreams cannot be called dreams. They are one’s experiences from other dimensions reflected to one’s mind while one is in bed. The second and the fourth kinds of dreams are lucid dreams. They are one’s experiences from other dimensions or from the Divine transmitted to one’s mind through one’s dreams. The above classification of dreams is based on the writer’s experiences on dreams.

There are two interesting things worthy mentioning related to the writer’s vision and hearing. The first thing is his eye-sight. He is short-sighted, about -375 degrees both eyes. He needed no glasses to see well in dreams because he saw through his third eye. The third eye was the natural ability and is now the supernatural ability of the human beings. It is not affected by any problems of the present body of this earthy dimension. It is a perfect perceptive mechanism functioned through other dimensions. This may be the evidence showing that the writer was seeing divine images, not the images in this earthy dimension, through his third eye. The second thing is the writer’s hearing. Although he can train all his students to develop absolute pitch, he does not possess stable and reliable absolute pitch. With his naked ears, he cannot always hear exact pitches. However, through his celestial ears, he can perceive exact pitches perfectly well. The celestial ears are perfect ears. They were the natural ability and are now the supernatural ability of the human beings. They hear sounds from other dimensions. They are not affected by any problems of the present body of this earthy dimension. It is a perfect perceptive mechanism functioned through other dimensions. They cannot be damaged or malfunctioned like the naked ears. That is why there were various keys recorded down from the divine music by the writer. This may be the evidence showing that the writer heard divine music from other dimensions, not the music in this earthy dimension, through his celestial ears.

Furthermore, Yue, a little girl Falundafa practitioner of six years of age informed the writer that when she was practicing the piano music, The Calm Mind, one day at home, she saw through her third eye the sparkling golden words of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance and some Zhuan Falun Scriptures on the back of her right hand in the other dimension. This gave evidence that the music may be inspired from the Divine.

4.  Writer’s Missions

There was a particular time that the writer received divine music. The writer supposed that there should be certain purposes for the divine music transmitted to him. He perceived some of the divine music one to two months before the little Falundafa practitioners’ and/or the Hong Kong music Home students’ public performances, i.e. the Hong Kong Falundafa Practitioners Sharing Conference 2006, Hong Kong Special Educational Needs, Mainstreamed and Academically Talented Children and Youth Performing Art Gala 2007, the Asian-Pacific Regional Falundafa Practitioners Sharing Conference 2007, and the Christmas Show 2008 respectively. The performers were the Hong Kong Falundafa little practitioners and/or the piano students of Hong Kong Music Home for Handicapped Normal Talented Children Limited. He guessed that to have the music performed in those occasions is one of the main reasons of delivering the musical inspirations from the Divine to him. And he achieved that.

During the period of writing out of this English paper, he received many more pieces of the divine music. The purpose, he postulated, is to broaden his vision on this divine aspect, so as to enrich the content of this paper and make this paper more persuasive. Furthermore, he is going to present this divine topic to the public and scholars in some international or local music, psychology, religion or education seminars and conferences. During the period of writing out of this paper, he received many more pieces of the divine music of different styles, and experienced various ways of inspirations. They are to deepen his understandings on this field, the writer assumed. Before he can analyze the composers’ divine experiences thoroughly, he has to experience it well first. He feels that he is appointed by the Holy One from the Divine to do this job, i.e. to disclose that the music by eminent composers in the western authentic music culture was inspired from the Divine. The writer senses that the Holy One in the high dimension is around him to lead him to do this task.

The music that the writer has got from the Divine is basically simple and short. The technique required to play the music is not demanding. The music is around the beginning to the intermediate levels. The writer is making a piano method book for the piano students of the beginning to elementary grades. Most of the writer’s music will be put into this piano book. The writer believes that the Holy One has known already the functions of the music and what levels of piano students will play the music. The writer will certainly put all those inspired music into the piano method book.

As mentined above, the music inspired to the writer is comparatively simple, but extraordinary harmonious and beautiful. It gives the writer a message that simple can be perfect and simple is perfect. The basic essence of the nature, the Truth, Forberance and Compassion, may be simple and harmonious. Anything that conforms to the nature may be simple and harmonious. In this material world, everything is going complicated and antagorized. People think complicatedly and antagoristically. People’s relationships become complicated and antagoristical and so forth. The music inspired to the writer, contrary to this complicated and antagorized world, was basically simple and harmonious. This sugests to composers that good and beautiful music that accords with the nature is fundamentally simple and harmonious. The writer senses that he has the obligation to say this to the world.

Furthermore, even the divine performers have to possess instrumental virtuosi; practices of stylistic performances; devoted souls in making music; high morality, noble personality and intrinsic qualities; the mind cultivation of being with the Law, the Way, the Logos or the Holy One of the whole Universe; and the will to express the Holy One with the music in order to compose and play excellent music in their worlds. They played music in churches. This is the key message which the writer got from his divine experiences. This should be the major trend in the music development in this world in the future. The writer feels that he should proclaim this to the world.

IV.     Western Composers with Music from the Divine

A.   Introduction

Plato(c. 423 -348 B.C.) indicated clearly that music is the divine culture. “It is the essence of order and leads to all that is good and just and beautiful (1).”

B.   Divine Experiences of Bach

1.  Introduction

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a German composer and organist. He was the first composer who wrote music systematically with the well-temperament. Before the well-temperament, musical instruments were tuned to the natural temperament. Under the natural temperament, the notes within an octave carry different tonal distances. Some notes may be higher while some other may be lower. Music can hardly be modulated to any keys. The well-temperament is a system to divide an octave into twelve equal parts. Each part is a semitone apart from each other. In this way, the music can modulate to any keys since every note carry equal tonal distance. He was thus called The Father of Music. He was the leading composer in the Baroque Period (around 1600-1750). Three Preludes and Fugues from Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, the most important keyboard works by Bach, were selected in the final of the Chinese International Piano Competition 2008. The competitors played one of them only. In the Chinese International Piano Competition 2009, Bach (with Ferruccio Busoni piano transcriptions): Chaconne, from Partita for solo violin No .2 in D minor, BWV 1004 is assigned. The Partita was another Bach’s important piano works next to The Well-Tempered Clavier.

2.  To the Only God be Glory

Bach noted that music was "a gift from God, not a human gift (2)." Scholars generally commented that Bach’s saying was religious and was influenced by the Christianity reformer Martin Luther (1484-1546) (3). “According to Christian cosmogony, the Creator animates all things, including music (4)." Chafe suggested that the “artists of the Baroque period had meanings of expressing basic relationships between art and transcendent meaning (4).”As Bach said, “true music” (is) called “the recreation of soul (5).” “Music is an agreeable harmony for the honor of God and the permissible delight of the soul (6).” Dreyfus commented that Bach’s compositional process showed “the sense of intelligence adhering strictly to the rules he considered God-given (7)”. Christoph Wolff tried to compare Bach to Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727). Wolff pointed out that “Bach’s harmonic and contrapuntal complexity, his progressive exploration of the most extreme manifestations of musical science as he knew it, offered to him as much evidence of the spiritual reality of God in nature as Newton’s researches (8)." No matter the music was scared or secular, Bach always signed “S. D. G.” on the scores. That means “to the only God be glory (8)”.

From the above quotations, the writer suggested that Bach gained divine inspirations. Bach noted that music was "a gift from God, not a human gift (2)." It was not just religious. He actually stated the fact and expressed his sense on divine music. He meant that he could compose such excellent music. It was not from his personal compositional technique, but from God’s enlightenment. Music was not men’s invention. God handed down music, musical ideas or compositional inspirations onto him. His creativity was thus enlightened and enriched.

Although Bach’s compositional technique was from self-study (Hurwitz, 2008), he had “gift” and inspiration from God. This enabled his compositions to show “the sense of intelligence adhering strictly to the rules he considered God-given (7)". So, there were no mistakes in his personal music manuscripts, even though he might have numerous revisions during the compositional process ( Stuttgart , 2008). As indicated by Wolff, Bach’s music is the music in science which is comparable to Newton ’s discovery in science. Bach’s compositions go along with the law of the nature well. They are “the spiritual reality of God in nature (8)”.

Thus, in Bach’s musical works, no matter they were sacred or secular ones, Bach always signed in “S. D. G.”. His works offered “to the only God be glory (8)." His works were sacred and spiritual. It was not because he was the Christian who followed Martin Luther’s Christianity reform, but the direct musical revelation from God. Moreover, his belief in the Lutheran Christianity did not bring him spiritual life styles. He drank, smoked and enjoyed material lives as before (Hurwitz, 2008). It was just mentioned that the “artists of the Baroque period had meanings of expressing basic relationships between art and transcendent meaning (4)”. Just like Bach, he “had meanings of expressing basic relationships between art and transcendent meaning”. The main reason is that he sensed the direct musical revelation from God.

As mentioned above, Bach learnt composition mainly from self-study (Hurwitz, 2008). Before Bach’s ten years of age, his parents passed away and he had learnt to play string instruments. After ten years of age, Bach was fostered by his eldest brother Johann Christoph Bach (1732-1795). Bach learnt clavierchord and pipe organ from him. He became a professional musician when he was fifteen years old. Because of his duties, he had chances to study the compositional techniques of various great musicians and Baroque composers, such as a French musician at Duke Cell’s house, German performer and composer Pietrich Buxtehude, Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi (c. 1675-1741), and the violinist and composer Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) etc. Bach’s compositional skills were mainly from self-study. Those compositions were not abundant. They might not be enough for Bach to learn adequate skills to develop his compositional technique. It is implied that Bach developed his composition technique through studying his own music passed on from the Divine. He had “gift” and revelation from God. This made his compositions show “the sense of intelligence adhering strictly to the rules he considered God-given (7)". Therefore, Bach would offer all his compositions “to the only God be glory (9)."

C.   Divine Experiences of Mozart

1.  Introduction

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was an Austrian composer, pianist, violinist, violist as well as a conductor. He was praised as the “Child Prodigy”. He was brought by his father to tour around Europe to give public performances when he was only six years of age (i.e. in the year of 1762). So, he could expose himself to different compositional styles of different countries since he was very young. His music is simple, natural, graceful, elegant, spiritual, refined and aloof. He was a representative composer in the Classical Period (around 1750-1830, i.e. the post-Baroque to the pre-Romantic period). The first movement of any one of the Mozart’s Sonatas for the Pianoforte (except K.331 and K.545) was selected for the preliminary screening stages of both the Chinese International Piano Competition 2008 and 2009. The sonatas for the pianoforte are the most important piano works of Mozart.

2.  Live with God

Mozart described his relationship with God like this:

 “…… I live, with God ever before me. I recognize His omnipotence, I fear His anger; I acknowledge His love, too, His compassion and mercy towards all His creatures, He will never desert those who serve Him (10).”

“I am entirely submissive to the will of God (11).”

“I dare not bury the talent for composition which a kind God gave me in such generous measure (12).”

Like Bach, Mozart expressed his closed relationship with God. He prayed to God everyday (Kerst & Krehbiel, 2001, No. 112, p. 37). He knew that he “live(d) with God (10)”. Since God was always with him, he could communicate with God. “(He) recognize(d) His omnipotence, (he) fear(ed) His anger; (he) acknowledge(d) His love, too. His compassion and mercy towards all His creatures (10)”. He had faith that God “will never desert (10)” him. He acknowledged that “the talent for composition which a kind God gave (him) in such generous measure (12).” So that,he served God through composing music. He “dare(d) not bury the talent for composition which a kind God gave (him) in such generous measure (12).” Mozart understood that God would “never desert(ed) those who serve(d) Him (10)”. Since he got the talent from God and was willing to serve God through composing music, he was “entirely submissive to the will of God (11).” Summing up the above expressions to God from Mozart, the writer postulated that his affection for God, like Bach, was not just religious. Mozart got divine inspirations in composing. He sensed that God gave “the talent for composition” to him “in such generous measure (12)”. He could compose such excellent music. It was not from his personal compositional skills, but from God’s enlightenment. God transmitted music inspirations to him. He knew God’s existence. He could communicate with God. He “recognize(d) His omnipotence (10)” from his personal experiences with God.

3.  Controversy on Mozart’s Compositional Process

How Mozart composed has been a controversy (Wikipedia, 2008a ). He was only fifteen or sixteen years of age, or even a child. He was just like a white paper. How could he get creative inspirations? And the compositional techniques were so diversified (Hoffman, 1997).

There is one point of view. Mozart was described as the “images of the divinely inspired creator, the self taught genius …… (13)”. The speed of composing music was tremendously fast (Zaslaw, 1997). He could hear music in his brain (Kerst & Krehbiel, 2001, p. 9). His musical ideas sprang up continuously in his brain. “Once I have my (he had his) theme another melody comes (came) (14).” When he composed music, he just wrote down musical ideas in his brain like torrents of water rushing down mountains. Even the compositions were written down in their preliminary manuscripts, they were perfect, without any errors (Kerst & Krehbiel, 2001, p. 7). The compositional process was like miracles (Rothstein, 1995; Penrose, 1989). He possessed superb compositional skills, perfect absolute pitch and admirable memory on music. Therefore, he could keep the music firmly in his mind. He wrote the music down when he had spare time (Kerst & Krehbiel, 001, No. 7, p. 12). He could compose music in his mind and wrote down the music accurately (Ballasch et al., 1992; Kerst & Krehbiel, 2001, No. 18, p. 14; Wikipedia, 2008b). He did not need to refer to a main score in order to write down the orchestral parts of a symphony (Wikipedia, 2008b). Only Antonio Salieri (Some scholars claimed that the relationship of Antonio and Mozart was not significant. Their relationship was not as close as it was described in the movie or the theatrical play Amadeus), Mozart’s friend as well as his enemy in composition, knew well that Mozart was a lofty and outstanding composer. He could effortlessly compose music that transcended the world and belonged to the heaven (Rendall, 2008). That was why in such short twenty years of composing music in his life, he could composed so great amount of musical works (Zhang, 1998). There were over 600 compositions of Mozart were listed and numbered in the thematic catalog compiled by L. von Kochel in 1862 (Ballasch et al, 1992).

There is another completely opposite point of view concerning how Mozart wrote music. Mozart was strenuous, laborious, causing mental fatigue and time consuming in his compositional processes. Scholars with this point of view (for examples, Zaslaw, 1994 & 1997; Konrad, 2006) held that a letter published in Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung by the publisher Friedrich Rochlitz was fake. It was written like this in the letter:

“When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone, and of good cheer; say traveling in a carriage, or walking after a good meal, or during the night when I cannot sleep; it is on such occasions that my ideas best and most abundantly. Whence and how they come I know not, nor can I force them. Those ideas that please me, I retain in…… memory, and accustomed, as I have been told, to hum to myself. If I continue in this way, it soon occurs to me, how I turn this or that morsel to account, so as to make a good dish of it, that is to say, agreeable to the rules of counterpoint, to the peculiarities of the various instruments,……”

“All this fires my soul, and provided I am not disturbed, my subject enlarges itself, becomes methodized and defined, and the whole, though it be long, stands almost finished and complete in my mind, so that I can survey it, like a fine picture or a beautiful statue, at a glance. Nor do I hear in my imagination the parts successively, but I hear them, as it were, all at once…… When I proceed to write down my ideas, I take out of the bag of my memory, if I may use that phrase, what has previously been collected into it, in the way I have mentioned. For this reason, the committing to paper is done quickly enough, for everything is, as I said before, already finished; and it rarely differs on paper from what it was in my imagination (15).”

These scholars believed that this above-mentioned letter was false. The main reason is that Mozart’s compositional processes mentioned in this letter was entirely different from those mentioned in Mozart’s other large amount of letters handed down to generations. These large number of letters passed down indicated that Mozart was strenuous, strained, laborious and time consuming in composing music (Zaslaw, 1994 & 1997; Konrad, 2006; Wikipedia, 2008a ). These scholars pointed out that the viewpoint of Mozart having miraculous compositional technique was based on this forged letter.

This group of scholars stated that Mozart always drafted before he composed. Even though Mozart just wrote down music stored in his brain, he had to strain his wit to do so. He needed to find out musical ideas from the piano (Ballasch et al., 1992). Without the piano, he could hardly compose (16). He had to “immerse myself (himself) in music”. He had to “think about it all day long”. He had to “experiment”, “study” and “reflect” (17). Some works might take many days, weeks, months or even years to finish (Zaslaw, 1997). He always made drafts. There were different layers of drafts, including simple preliminary drafts using free strokes, more complete drafts with some voice parts missing out, and drafts nearly finished. Stewart (2006) expressed his view concerning Mozart’s compositional processes.  “The reality of Mozart’s creative approach is, ……. Hard graft by modern scholars has shown that Mozart’s works were the product of hard graft. Divine inspiration may have played its part, but surviving sketches, revised versions of pieces and passages in letters suggest that there was no shortage of perspiration involved in his compositional process (18).”

There was another story concerning Mozart’s compositional process. Whenever Mozart went to sleep, he always wore a pair of glasses. A friend asked him why. He replied that he would think of the melodies of some musical works in dreams. He could not see the scores clearly if he did not wear glasses. After he woke up the next morning, he would forget the melodies in the dreams (Guo, 2008). From this anecdote, the writer infers that Mozart usually perceived divine music in dreams. He got used to wear glasses when he went to sleep. In the dreams, he saw music scores. If he only composed music in dreams, he certainly knew the music perfectly well. He needed not see scores in order to remember the music, not to mention to wear glasses. Or there should not be any scores for him to see if he imagined the music out of his mind.

4.  Solutions to Controversy

Concerning the two extremes of Mozart’s compositional state, the writer could not think out any solutions until 22ndSeptember 2008 . When the writer was practicing the Falun Gong Fifth Exercise, an idea came to his mind suddenly. Having thought over the idea repeatedly afterwards, the writer was aware that the idea should be on the right path. The writer then adopted the idea to analyze Mozart’s two contradictory compositional states. That idea was stated as follows: What described in the letter about Mozart’s compositional processes published in 1815 well reflected the composer’s state of inspiration from the Divine. The letter might be from Mozart’s hand. If the letter was not from Mozart, it might be from someone who witnessed Mozart to compose and/or who understood clearly how Mozart composed through talking to Mozart. Therefore, it is appropriate to make use of this letter to analyze Mozart’s compositional state.

It is attempted to analyze how the content of the letter, which was published in 1815 and was considered fake, well reflected Mozart’s state of inspiration from the Divine. In the letter, it was written that “When I am (he is), as it were, completely myself (himself), entirely alone, and of good cheer; say traveling in a carriage, or walking after a good meal, or during the night when I (he) cannot sleep; it is on such occasions that my (his) ideas best and most abundantly (15). This explains that ideas from the Divine come to one’s mind when one feels light, calm, tranquil, relaxing, and has less distracting thoughts. Only when people are in these states of minds, the messages from other dimensions can penetrate into the brains. This letter is right in the sense of telling the state of one’s mind when inspirations come to one from the Divine.

In the letter, Mozart used “(his) ideas best and most abundantly (15)” flowed in his mind and musical ideas “(fired his) soul (15)” to describe the moment of the divine experiences. This process is what the writer calls the awakening process. An awakening is a process in which musicians notice inspirations from the Divine transmitting to the brains or minds. The awakening processes that Mozart underwent were “abundant” and strong. The awakening process is crucial to musicians with divine experiences because s/he must be aware of inspirations. Inspirations may come quietly or strongly. If the musician does not aware of coming inspirations, s/he would certainly miss them. The letter was right in mentioning that Mozart underwent awakening processes in perceiving the divine music.

It was stated further in the letter that the inspired ideas to Mozart were like “a good dish”, “a fine picture or a beautiful statue”. It was “methodized and defined”, and the “best” to Mozart’s understandings. The music was “agreeable to the rules of counterpoint”, so that it was harmonious. It fitted “to the peculiarities of the various instruments (15)”, so that it was accordant with instruments and well orchestrated. From the Divine, the music must be extraordinary “good”, “fine”, “beautiful”, harmonious, well orchestrated, “methodized and defined”. It was far so good that must be out of Mozart’s compositional ability and imagination. The letter was right since it could tell the distinctively fine nature of the divine music.

In the letter, it was also stated that “Whence and how they come I (he) know(s) not, nor can I (he) force(s) them (15).” This is another characteristic of the inspirations from the Divine. One cannot foretell when the divine inspirations come. Musical ideas always come naturally, automatically but suddenly. One can hardly know, and is even impossible to control when they come and go. This letter was right in the sense of telling the natural and sudden coming and going state of divine inspirations when inspirations come to one from the Divine.

In the letter, it was described that musical “ideas that please me (him)” would “retain in (his) memory”, “so that I (he) can survey it, like a fine picture or a beautiful statue, at a glance. Nor do I (does he) hear in my (his) imagination the parts successively, but I (he) hear(s) them, as it were, all at once (15)”. From this excerpt, it is not difficult to understand that Mozart obtained divine inspirations effortlessly. He kept those ideas that “please(d) him”. The letter was right in reporting the composer’s role in receiving divine ideas.

In the letter, it was mentioned that “Those ideas that please me (him), …… how I (he) turn(s) this or that morsel to account, so as to make a good dish of it, that is to say, agreeable to the rules of counterpoint, to the peculiarities of the various instruments,…… (15)”. “All this fires my (his) soul, and provided I am (he is) not disturbed, my (his) subject enlarges itself, becomes methodized and defined, and the whole, though it be long, stands almost finished and complete in my (his) mind, …… Nor do I (does he) hear in my (his) imagination the parts successively, but I (he) hear(s) them, as it were, all at once …… (15)”. In these passages, it was described that the divine ideas included musical themes, enlarged subjects, defined long or short phrases, sections, the whole long music, parts or even all voice parts of the whole orchestral works. The music “enlarged itself”. It “became methodized and defined” and was “agreeable to the rules of counterpoint, to the peculiarities of the various instruments (15)”. The whole music, although was “long, stood almost finished and complete in his mind (15)”. This letter is also right in the sense of giving detailed information about the length and depth of the divine inspired musical ideas.

In the letter, it was described that musical “ideas that please me (him)” would “retain in (his) memory”, “so that I (he) can survey it, like a fine picture or a beautiful statue, at a glance. Nor do I (does he) hear in my (his) imagination the parts successively, but I (he) hear(s) them, as it were, all at once (15)”. It is clear that the divine inspired music flew in his mind as “ideas”. It appeared as notes so that he could “survey” it. It sounded like a performance so that he could “hear” it. This letter is right in the sense of telling the three common modes of transmitting ideas to composers from the Divine, i.e. through hearing, seeing and ideas flowing in the mind.

In the letter, Mozart’s compositional process was indicated. “When I (he) proceeds to write down my (his) ideas, I (he) take(s) out of the bag of my (his) memory, if I (he) may use that phrase, what has previously been collected into it, in the way I have (he has) mentioned. For this reason, the committing to paper is done quickly enough, for everything is, as I (he) said before, already finished; and it rarely differs on paper from what it was in my (his) imagination (15)”. It was affirmed that Mozart trimmed and sorted out musical ideas in his mind. When he really composed, he just took out the music in his memory and scored it down on paper. He could dictate it down without any mistakes. This point coincides with his extraordinary musical memory, perfect absolute pitch and super compositional technique. There was a letter from Mozart to his father describing Mozart’s similar compositional to scoring processes. He said that he had to “write with all speed; the composing is (was) finished, but not the writing out (19)”. It was suggested that Mozart wrote music very fast under the divine inspirations in this letter.

Mozart expressed that “All this fires my (his) soul (15)”. From the beginning when Mozart got his musical “ideas” “best and most abundantly (15)”, “retained musical ideas that pleased him in memory (15)”, and up to compose music in his mind till the music “becoming methodized and defined (15)”, God had been guiding him to compose music. God aroused Mozart’s emotions and excitements to compose and the music was developed so splendidly and fabulously. Mozart felt astonished, marvelous and excited about all these experiences. The inspirited ideas are usually so splendid that makes composers feel incapable of composing it out. This letter is right in the sense of indicating Mozart’s response of astonishment when receiving divine inspirations.

With regard to the time, modes, content and paths of handing down music from the Divine to musicians, the letter was telling that the compositional process of a musician from receiving inspirations from the Divine to writing down music. Coping with Mozart’s extraordinary musical memory, perfect absolute pitch and super compositional technique, Mozart should be the only composer referred to in that period. Since the letter was accurate in all the above-mentioned aspects and those above-mentioned aspects were not familiar to people those time, the possibility that the letter was written solely through imagination was rare. The writer postulates that the letter might be from Mozart’s hand. That he wrote down his compositional process in a letter was natural. If it was not from Mozart, it might be from someone who was familiar with how Mozart composed. He or she should be always by the side of Mozart, should have talked to Mozart about how he composed, and should have observed how Mozart composed. Otherwise, someone wrote the letter for Mozart just only through imagination, and at the same time, with all the details of the divine music totally correct. This possibility was extremely low, or even impossible. Therefore, this letter can be employed to study the compositional process of Mozart, whoever wrote this letter.

5.  Mozart’s Compositional States

Overview the above-mentioned literature, the writer upholds that there were elements of the divine music in Mozart’s compositions. Mozart composed at least under the following four conditions.

The first condition was: God passed down the musical themes, phrases, sections, the whole music, or even the full orchestral works with all the voices to Mozart through “ideas” flowing in his mind for him to aware of, through “notes” appearing in his brain or in his dreams for him to “see”, and/or through musical performances in his consciousness for him to “hear”. His musical ideas sprang up to his mind continuously. Once he had his theme in his mind, another melody came to his mind (14). “The whole (music), though it be long, stands (stood) almost finished and complete in my (his) mind (15)”. Relying on the extraordinary musical memory, perfect absolute pitch and super compositional technique, Mozart copied down the music in his brain on paper like torrents of water rushing down mountains while composing. Even the compositions were written down in their preliminary manuscripts, they were perfect, without any errors (Kerst & Krehbiel, 2001, p. 7). His compositional process was like miracles (Rothstein, 1995; Penrose, 1989). As what Albert Einstein (1879-1955), the astrophysicist, had said, the music of Mozart "was so pure that it seemed to have been ever-present in the universe, waiting to be discovered by the master (20)."

The second condition was: When God delivered musical themes, phrases, sections or the whole music to Mozart, Mozart “retain(ed)” “those ideas that pleased” him “in memory”. He sorted out and adopted musical ideas, made choices, and composed music in his mind until the music “became methodized and defined” and was “agreeable to the rules of counterpoint, to the peculiarities of the various instruments (15)”. When he really wrote music, he just took out the music in his memory and scored it down on paper. He could dictate it down without any mistakes (15) with the help of his extraordinary musical memory, perfect absolute pitch and super compositional technique. Therefore, his manuscripts were without corrections. As Stewart (2006) indicated Mozart as the “images of the divinely inspired creator, the self taught genius …… (13)”.

The third condition was: God transmitted musical themes, phrases, sections, but not the whole music to Mozart. He might “hum” the music to himself (15). He needed to find out musical ideas from the piano (Ballasch et al., 1992). Without the piano, he could hardly compose (16). Mozart always drafted down compositions. There were different layers of drafts, including simple preliminary drafts using free strokes, more complete drafts with some voice parts missing out, and drafts nearly finished. It depended on how abundant God gave him music. He had to compose the rest of the music, using his own compositional technique and his understanding on divine ideas. Even though Mozart just wrote down music stored in his brain, he had to strain his wit to do so. He had to “immerse myself (himself) in music”, “think about it all day long”, and “experiment”, “study” and “reflect”(17) the music. Some works might take him many days, weeks, months or even years to finish (Zaslaw, 1997), if the works were long and great, and needed a great deal of personal composition. As Stewart (2006) stated that Mozart’s works “were the product of hard graft. Divine inspiration may have played its part (18)”. Although Mozart had extraordinary musical memory, perfect absolute pitch and super compositional technique, it was still difficult for Mozart to compose the music inspired from the Divine, especially on the circumstances that God did not passed down the whole music to him.

Moreover, any composers who have divine experiences may have compositions with solely personal inspirations. The compositions may take the composer a lot of time, steps, attention and effort. Mozart might felt difficult, strenuous and laborious in composing under this condition. This was the fourth condition on which Mozart composed music.

6.  Points to Notice

It is mentioned above that Mozart wrote a letter to his father on 30^th December 1780 . In the letter, it was mentioned that “the composing is (was) finished, but not the writing out (19)”. According to Konrad (2006), this sentence means that the compositions in manuscripts had been “finished”, but the final versions of the compositions had not yet been “written out”. The writer upholds a different point of view. It means that Mozart had “finished” composing in his mind (Ballasch et al., 1992; Kerst & Krehbiel, 2001, No. 18, p. 14; Wikipedia, 2008a ), but he had not yet “written” them “out” on paper. Due to his extraordinary musical memory, perfect absolute pitch and super compositional technique, Mozart certainly had more than adequate ability to compose music in his mind. He had to “write with all speed (19)”, since the music was inspired from the Divine.

It was said that Mozart saw notes of melodies in his dreams. He had to wear glasses before he went to bed, so that he could see the scores clearly in his dreams. God transmitted music to him through dreams. Since he was short-sighted, he had to wear glasses in order to see well. The writer saw music scores, performances, sceneries, images in his dreams too. The Holy one transmitted music to him when he was like in the dreaming states. The writer is short-sighted, about -350 degrees both eyes. He needed no glasses to see well in dreams because he saw through his third eye. The music scores, performances, sceneries, images in his dreams were from other dimensions. His dreams were not really dreams. The Holy One transmitted images and sound to him while he was sleeping. He underwent all the incidents like making dreams. But in Mozart’s case, God reflected notes in his dreams of this earthy dimension. He saw scores in dreams with his naked eyes. That is why Mozart needed glasses and the writer needed not.

As mentioned above, Mozart’s compositional technique was mainly from self-study. Stewart (2006) pointed out Mozart as the “images of the divinely inspired creator, (and) the self taught genius (13)”. First of all, Mozart learnt music and composition from his father Leopard Mozart (1719-1787), and counterpoint from music theorist Givonnio Battista Martini (with an alternate name Padre Martini of Bologna , 1706-1784). Then Mozart studied the musical works of predecessor composers, such as Silesian composer and harpsichordist Johann Schobert (c. 1735-1767), German composer Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782) (the son of Johann Sebastian Bach), Italian symphony composer Giavanni Battista Sammartini (1698-1775), German composer Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Mozart’s music learning experiences might not support him to be a representative and influential composer in the Classical period. From the writer’s point of view, Mozart’s compositional technique was from self-study, not from studying the musical works of predecessor composers, but, practically from the study of the inspired music to him from the Divine.

As stated before, Albert Einstein (1879-1955), the astrophysicist, had said that the music of Mozart "was so pure that it seemed to have been ever-present in the universe, waiting to be discovered by the master (20)". The meaning of this sentence can be discussed deeper. Einstein raised the point that the music of Mozart “seemed to have been ever-present in the universe”. If “the universe” referred to this earth, and music “seemed to be ever-present” in the dimension of this earth, many persons on earth could hear the music, not only Mozart. So, “the universe” did not refer to this dimension on earth. Einstein upheld the “General Theory of Relativity”. It was stated that there are many dimensions in “the universe”. There should be lives or living things in different dimensions of “the universe”. If there are lives or living things in different dimensions, there might be music existed in those different dimensions. Therefore, the hypothesis, that music "seemed to have been ever-present in the universe”, can be tenable. Another hypothesis that the music in “the universe” “was so pure” is believable because the writer had experiences of hearing the music from other dimensions. The divine music from other dimensions is really “pure”, graceful, noble and sometimes splendid, grand and amazing. In the General Theory of Relativity, it is said that there are different time modes in different dimensions. There is a querry whether music or sound can penetrate through different dimensions. If music or sound can, when it penetrates from one dimension to another dimension, their frequencies would change. It is due to the different time and space in the different dimensions. The people on earth can hardly understand the sound transmitted from other dimensions. The writer had an experience of hearing speech sounds tramsmitted from another dimension through his celestial ears. The speech sounded like thundering or noisy old trains passing by, i. e. “kwang kwang lung lung”. He could tell that they were speech sounds from their ups and downs and the rhythmic flows of speech syllables. He was referring the speech sounds from the other dimension to the speech he was familiar with on earth that time. The writer postulated that those sounds were speech sounds from the other dimension with the time faster than that on earth. The writer could not actually tell the pronunciations. The speech sounds were like a heap of meaningless noises, like speech sounds in old discs played too slowly. Another possibility would be like speech sounds in discs played too fast, if the time in the other dimension is slower than that on earth. Then the speech sounds are like a series of high pitched noises. Music when transmitting from other dimensions to the dimension on earth should be like this too, the writer guesses. If one can hear or sense music, or see the notes or pictures transmitting from other dimensions, God have to regulate the music or the images in order for one to be aware of through the hearing, visionary or sensory mechanisms. Therefore, there should be an essence of God’s intervention. God transmitted music to Mozart, so that Mozart could “discover” music and notes from “the universe”. The music of Mozart was from the Divine.

From all the literature quoted above, the writer postulated that God really transmitted music to Mozart. His creativity was thus enlightened and enriched. It was because God wanted to develop apositive and authentic culture in the western countries, so as to show the existence and glory of God. God was with people on earth and took care of people’s development at least in that time.

D.   Divine Experiences of Beethoven

1.  Introduction

 2.  Beethoven’s Divine Musical Experiences

Beethoven described his creative experiences in music as follows:

“…… Then the loveliest themes slipped out of your eyes into my heart, themes which shall only then delight the world when Beethoven conducts no longer (26).”

“I always have a picture in my mind when composing (the Pastoral Symphony), and follow its (stave) lines (27).”

“Does he believe that I think of a wretched fiddle when the spirit speaks to me (28)?”

“In order to become a capable composer one must have already learned harmony and counterpoint at the age of from seven to eleven years, so that when the (musical) fancy and emotions awake one shall know what to do (compose) according to the rules (29).”

“I must accustom myself to think out at once the whole (of the music), as soon as it shows itself, with all the voices, in my head (30).”

“I carry my (musical) thought about me for a long time, often a very long time, before I write them down; meanwhile my memory is so faithful that I am sure never to forget, not even in years, a theme that has once occurred to me. I change many things, discard, and try again until I am satisfied. Then, however, there begins in my head and the development in every direction, and, in as much as I know exactly what I want, the fundamental (musical) idea never deserts me,…… it arises before me, grows,…… I see and hear the picture in all its extent and dimensions stand before my mind like a cast, and there remains for me nothing but the labour of writing it down, which is quickly accomplished when I have the time, for I sometimes take up other work, but never to the confusion of one with the other.” “You will ask me where I get my (musical) ideas. That I cannot tell you with certainty; they come unsummoned, directly, indirectly,……I could seize them with my hands,…… out in the open air; in the woods; while walking; in the silence of the nights; early in the morning; incited by moods, which are translated by the poet into words, by me into tones that sound, and roar, and storm about me until I have set them down in notes (31).”

Overview the above literature, the writer had no doubts about that Beethoven had divine inspirations in his compositions. The above quoted literatures are thus analyzed to understand the content of Beethoven’s musical experiences from the Divine.

Beethoven showed that music came to his mind as “the (musical) fancy and emotions awake (29)” in his brain. He might “have a picture in my (his) mind” “and follow its (stave) lines (27)” in composing music. The music would “show itself, with all the voices, in my (his) head (30)”, so that he could sense, hear and/or see the music in his brain. The music “begins (began) in my (his) head and the development in every direction, and, …… it arises (arose) before me (him), grows (grew), …… I (He) see (saw) and hear(d) the picture in all its extent and dimensions stand (stood) before my (his) mind like a cast (31)”. Or in some cases, “the spirit speaks (spoke) to me (him) (28)” in guiding him to compose. God transmitted creative musical ideas to Beethoven, like He did to Mozart. God would arouse Beethoven’s creative “fancy and emotions” to compose. God let Beethoven sense musical ideas in his mind, hear the music, see the images and scores of the music, or even let “the spirit spoke (speak) to him”, in order to guide him composing. Beethoven’s letter was right to point out the three major modes of receiving ideas from the Divine, i.e. to sense musical ideas, hear the music and see pictures and scores. In addition, he got “the spirit” to guide him.

After all, how did Beethoven get musical ideas? Beethoven “cannot (could not) tell you with certainty; they come (came) unsummoned, directly, (and) indirectly (31)”. This point is similar to the state of Mozart. It is the characteristics of getting ideas from the Divine. Men can hardly know when divine ideas come. Divine ideas always come naturally and automatically. Men always feel that divine ideas come suddenly, “unsummoned, directly (and) indirectly (31)”. Men “cannot tell with certainty (31)”. If divine ideas want to come, then they come. If divine ideas want to go, then they go. It is impossible for men to fore-tell, and much more impossible to control. Beethoven’s letter stated rightly the natural and sudden coming and going state of divine inspirations.

In Beethoven’s letters, it was mentioned that “…… Then the loveliest themes slipped out of your eyes into my (his) heart, …… (26)”. He had to “accustom (himself) to think out at once the whole (of the music), as soon as it show(ed) itself, with all the voices, in (his) head (30)”. He “carr(ied) (his) (musical) thought about (him) for a long time, often a very long time, before (he wrote) them down; meanwhile (his) memory (was) so faithful that (he was) sure never to forget, not even in years, a theme that (had) once occurred to (him). (He) change(d) many things, discard(ed), and tr(ied) again until (he was) satisfied. Then, however, there (began) in (his) head and the development in every direction, and, in as much as (he knew) exactly what (he) want(ed) (31)”. Beethoven got divine inspirations effortlessly. He wanted “as much as” he could. Beethoven’s letter was right in expressing the effortless role of the composer in receiving divine ideas.

Beethoven could tell the occasions where divine ideas penetrated into his mind. They came to his mind when he was “out in the open air, in the woods, while walking, in the silence of the nights, early in the morning (or) incited by moods (31)”. This explains that divine ideas come when people feel light, calm, tranquil, relaxing, and have less distracting thoughts. Only when people are in these states of minds, the messages from other dimensions can penetrate into the brains. Beethoven’s letter is right in the sense of telling the calm state of one’s mind when inspirations come from the Divine.

It was stated in the literature that the inspired ideas to Beethoven were “the loveliest themes” and the “themes which shall only then delight the world (26)” to Beethoven’s understanding. From the Divine, the music must be extraordinary “lovely” and “delightful”. It was far so good that must be out of Beethoven’s compositional ability and imagination, like Mozart’s. The letter was right since it could tell the distinctively fine nature of the divine music.

Beethoven mentioned in his letters that divine musical ideas included “the loveliest themes” “which (should) only then delight the world (26)”, “a picture in (his) mind” “and its (stave) lines (27)”,  “a theme” “and the development in every direction, and, in as much as (he knew)……, the fundamental (musical) idea never (deserted him), …… it (arose) before (him), (grew), …… (He saw) and hear(d) the picture in all its extent and dimensions (stood) before (his) mind like a cast (31)”, and “the whole (of the music), as soon as it (showed) itself, with all the voices, in (his) head (30).” From those literatures, the writer can tell that the musical ideas God inspired Beethoven were very abundant. In addition to “the loveliest” and “delightful” musical “themes”, and “fundamental (musical) ideas” “growing” into themes, phrases and sections, inspired ideas included various and ample “developments in every direction”, and “the whole (of the music)”  “with all the voices”. He had “pictures”, stave “lines”, and “the spirit” to help him too. The Beethoven’s letters were right in recording the width, depth and the on-going processes of the divine musical ideas perceived.

Beethoven used “the (musical) fancy and emotions awake(29)” to describe the moment of the divine experiences. When inspirations come, the musician would certainly experience “awakening” processes. He mentioned further that “themes slipped” “into (his) heart (26)”, and “tones” would “sound, and roar, and storm (39)”. The “awakening” might be weak or strong. To musicians with divine experences, “Awakening” processes are important and crucial, and otherwise, s/he is not aware of any inspirations. The inspirations may come quietly or sometimes come strongly. The musician must “awake” that inspirations are coming. Like Mozart, Beethoven underwent awakening processes too.

3. Beethoven’s Compositional process

Beethoven described the compositional processes of the divine music. The compositional processes were diversified. Five ways can be deduced at least from the literature.

The first way was stated as below. Take the composition of the Pastoral Symphony as an example. Beethoven “always (had) a picture in (his) mind” “and follow its (stave) lines (27)”. God guided Beethoven to compose by enabling him to see “a picture” “and its (stave) lines”.

The second way was: Violinist Schuppanzigh complained to Beethoven that one violin piece of Beethoven was difficult to play. Beethoven replied to Schuppanzigh in a letter that he thought “of a wretched fiddle when the spirit (spoke) to (him) (28)?” “The spirit” guided Beethoven to compose in the circumstances when the piece was difficult. The piece was so difficult that the “fiddle” would become “wretched”. From this case, we know that “the spirit” would guide Beethoven to compose if the pieces were difficult.

Beethoven’s third way of composition was this. Beethoven mentioned that “In order to become a capable composer one must have already learned harmony and counterpoint at the age of from seven to eleven years, so that when the (musical) fancy and emotions awake one shall know what to do (compose) according to the rules (29).” When divine ideas came, Beethoven needed to use his learnt skills in “harmony and counterpoint” to compose music especially in the situations when divine ideas were not the complete piece of music, the writer guesses.

The fourth ways was: Beethoven indicated that “(he) (had to) accustom (himself) to think out at once the whole (of the music), as soon as it (showed) itself, with all the voices, in (his) head (30).” Beethoven knew clearly what the whole pieces of music were. God gave the whole music to Beethoven. After God had inspired Beethoven “the whole (of the music)” “with all the voices”, Beethoven “(had to) accustom (himself) to think out at once the whole (of the music)”. So that, the finished works did not get away from what God had inspired him in the beginniong of the composition. Or Beethoven would try his best to make his compositions as close as possible to the inspired music. The music from the Divine, from Beethoven’s point of view, was the most perfect music.

The fifth way that Beethoven composed was described as follows. This passage describes about how Beethoven composed in detail. He expressed that “(he) (carried) (his) (musical) thought about for a long time,  …… before (he) (wrote) them down; …… (he was) sure never to forget, not even in years, a theme that (had) once occurred to (him). (He) change(d) many things, discard(ed), and (tried) again until (he was) satisfied. Then, however, there (began) in (his) head and the development in every direction, and, in as much as (he knew) exactly what (he) want(ed), the fundamental (musical) idea never (deserted him), …… it (arose) before (him), (grew), …… (he saw) and hear(d) the picture in all its extent and dimensions (stood) before (his) mind like a cast (30)”. After Beethovenhad received divine ideas, he, relying on his extraordinary musical memory, had been memorizing them firmly until “(he) (wrote) them down”. When he was inspired “a theme” from the Divine, “(He) change(d) many things, discard(ed), and (tried) again until (he was) satisfied”. He then had “in (his) head” “the development in every direction, and, “in as much as” “he wanted”. “(he knew) exactly what (he) want(ed)”. Once he had a “fundamental (musical) idea”, …… it (arose) before (him) and (grew)” into a complete piece of music. Moreover, (he saw) and hear(d) the picture in all its extent and dimensions (stood) before (his) mind like a cast”. He composed and developed music in his mind. He did not forget the inspired theme, so that the music, during the courses of compositions, would not get away from the inspired intentions. One more factor which allowed Beethoven to achieve this was that he could “see” and “hear” the “full extent and dimension” of the music. He followed God’s guidance in composing music. Depending on his amazing musical memory, perfect absolute pitch and distinguished compositional skills, he made musical compositions, utilizing divine ideas. The music was usually finished or almost finished in his brain.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) mentioned that when Beethoven composed music, he obtained the guidance and the highest power from God. Beethoven, like Brahms himself, could see musical themes, harmonies and orchestrations in the mind (Zhang, 1998, pp. 22-23). Beethoven became deaf when he was about 28 years of age. Under this circumstance, he could listen to voices from God much attentively and clearly. That is why his latter works are greater than his former works.

After composing in the brain, the rest of the work for Beethoven was to write the music down on paper. Beethoven indicated that “there (remained) for (him) nothing but the labour of writing it down, which (was) quickly accomplished when (he had) the time, for (he) sometimes (took) up other work, but never to the confusion of one with the other.” “(He) could seize them with (his) hands, …… which (were) translated …… by (him) into tones that sound, and roar, and storm about (him) until (he had) set them down in notes (31).” It was easy for Beethoven to write down the music. What he had to do was to write down the finished composed music in his mind from memory. The job could be “quickly accomplished when (he had) the time”. Although there were various finished and unfinished music of different length in his mind, he never confused to one another. Sometimes, he might not have time to write down the finished music in his mind on paper. The music would “roar and storm about (him) (in his mind) until (he had) set them down in notes”. The “roaring and storming” music in his mind made him unbearable. This was a sign to get Beethoven into copying down the music on paper. From this standpoint, the writer postulated that God valued the works written through or by Beethoven. He hoped to urge Beethoven to write down the music as soon as possible.

After all, the writer infers that God transmitted music to Beethoven because God wanted to keep developing a positive and authentic culture in the western countries. It was to show the existence and glory of God. God was with people on earth and took care of people’s development at least in that time.

4.  Music as a Higher Revelation

On the other hand, Beethoven, like Bach and Mozart, expressed his close relationship with god. His expressions are indicated as below:

“Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy (21).”

“I know however, that God is nearer to me than others. I go without fear of Him. I have constantly recognized and understood Him (22).”

“Nothing higher exists than to approach God more than other people, and from that to extend His glory among humanity (23).”

“In praise of Thy goodness I must confess that Thou didst try with all Thy means to draw me to Thee (24).”

“…… for art and science only can raise man to godhood (25).”

From the above quoted opinions together with the divine experiences of Beethoven analyzed above, it is suggested that Beethoven’s opinions were not only religious. But, they actually reflected that God was really with him always, like Bach and Mozart. He “confess(ed) that Thou didst try with all Thy means to draw (him) to Thee (24)”. “God is nearer to (him) than others”. God contacted and communicated with him directly, so that he “constantly recognized and understood Him”, and he was not “fear of Him”. “Nothing higher (existed) than to approach God (23)”. According to Beethoven’s viewpoint, God “(drew) (him) to Thee” through making music “a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy (21)” and inspiring him in the music composition, in order “to extend His glory among humanity (23)”, “in praise of Thy goodness (24)” and “raise man to godhood (25)”.

Furthermore, Beethoven concluded his whole life with these expressions:

“Ah! It seemed impossible for me to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt upon to produce; and so I prolonged this wretched existence (32). ”

“God, who knows my innermost soul, and knows how sacredly I have fulfilled all the duties but (put) upon me as man by humanity, God and nature will surely some day relieve me from these afflictions (33).”

“Freedom, …… progress, is the art-world as in universal creation, …… (34).”

“Only in the divine art is the lever which gives me power to sacrifice the best part of my life to the celestial muses (35).”

Beethovenstated clearly that“God (knew his) innermost soul, and (knew) how sacredly (he had) fulfilled all the duties (put) upon (him) as man by humanity (33)”. Beethoven understood that “God (knew his) innermost soul” and he was called by God “to produce” music inspired from the Divine. He acknowledged that this was his mission on earth. “Only in the divine art is the lever which (gave him) power to sacrifice the best part of (his) life to the celestial muses (35)”. “Muses”, from the traditional Greek legend, were the gods in heaven who took care of the affairs of music. Beethoven pointed out clearly that music is a“universal creation”, “the divine art” and belongs “to the celestial muses”. Because Beethoven had the “divine art” experiences, they gave Beethoven the “power to sacrifice the best part of (his) life” to “fulfill all the duties (put) upon (him)” by God, i.e. to compose music inspired from the Divine. The purpose was “to extend His glory among humanity (23)”. Finally, Beethoven exclaimed for that “Ah! It seemed impossible for (him) to leave the world until (he) had produced all that (he) felt upon to produce; and so (he) prolonged this wretched existence (32)”. He was borne on earth to write the divine music for people. He eventually “sacrificed” “the best part of (his) life” to complete this “duty” “sacredly”.

E.   Interlude

Christoph Wolff reminded that Bach’s “…… belief in God as creator and the perfection of God’s creation were central …… the theme of music being an intermediary between God and the reality of this world …… (36)”, and “…… Mozart’s ability to hear a piece once and then write it all down perfectly; Beethoven’s seemingly unending power to improvise pieces at the keyboard that many witnesses swear were finer than the ones he wrote down …… (36)”. He pinpointed that these masters had the belief and the musical skills to compose music inspired from the Divine.The writer agrees to the poem carved outside an old theatre. It was inscribed as follows: “Bach gave us God’s word. Mozart gave us God’s laughter. Beethoven gave us God’s fire. God gave us Music that we might pray without words (37).” The inscription told us truly the essence of the divine music. These masters’ music was really given by God. This made their music last eternally.

F.   Divine Experiences of Chopin

1.  Introduction

Fryderyk Chopin (name alternately Frederic Francois Chopin, 1810-1849) was called The Poet of the Piano. He was the Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He was also called the Polish national music composer. He was one of the most important composers in the bloom of Romantic Period (1830-1900). At that time, Poland was invaded by Russia . He loved his country heartedly. His music always showed his praise for the beauty of the Polish scenery, the simplicity of the Polish people, and his ardently love for his country. The country was further wished to become prosperous, strong and free in his music too. All these features enable his musical works to be more touching to listeners. Chopin’s ballads and piano sonatas were included in the final repertoire of the Chinese International Piano Competition 2008. Competitors might choose one of them. They all are Chopin’s matured and difficult works. No Chopin’s works was included in the Chinese International Piano Competition 2009.

2. Chopin’s Divine Musical Experiences

Like Mozart, Chopin played the piano at the age of three and composed at seven. His compositions included dances, marches and the Polonaise in Bb at that time (38). It is known that creative ideas or inspirations come from the accumulation of knowledge. How could Chopin compose at this young age? Where did Chopin’s ideas or inspirations come from? There may be queries.

George Sand (the pen name of Aurore, Madame Baronne Dudevant), Chopin’s girl friend, had lived together with Chopin for nine years. She was a famous French novel writer. She truly described down Chopin’s compositional processes. They are as follows:

“His creation was spontaneous, miraculous. He found it without searching for it, without foreseeing it. It came to his piano suddenly, complete, sublime, or it sang in his head during a walk, and he would hasten to hear it again by, tossing it off on his instrument. But then would begin the most heartbreaking labor I have ever witnessed. It was a series of efforts, indecision, and impatience to recapture certain details of the theme he had heard: what had come to him all of a piece, he now over-analyzed in his desire to write it down, and his regret at not finding it again "neat," as he said, would throw him into a kind of despair. He would shut himself up in his room for days at a time, weeping, pacing, breaking his pens, repeating and changing a single measure a hundred times, writing it and effacing it with equal frequency, and beginning again the next day with a meticulous and desperate perseverance. He would spend six weeks on one page, only to end up writing it just as he had traced it in his first outpouring (39).”

George Sand mentioned Chopin’s compositional processes in her books called A Winter in Majorca (1841) and Story of My Life (1853) respectively. They are quoted as follows:

“His genius was filled with the mysterious sounds of nature, but transformed into sublime equivalents in musical thought, and not through slavish imitation of the actual external sounds (40).”

Chopin stated the processes of composing the Piano Concerto Opus 11. They are indicated as follows:

“As something has involuntarily crept into my head through my eyes, I love to indulge it, even though it may be all wrong (41).”

“There are certain times when I feel more inspired, filled with a strong power that forces me to listen to my inner voice, and when I feel more need than ever for a Pleyel piano (42).”

There were divine essences apparently in Chopin’s works, like Mozart’s and Beethoven’s, seen from the above-mentioned quoted passages. Similar methods are employed by the writer to analyze Chopin’s creative processes, like those used in analyzing Mozart’s and Beethoven’s. The five phenomena are explored as follows:

The first phenomenon is like this: George Sand observed that Chopin had musical ideas“sang in his head during a walk”. This phenomenon was like those happened in Mozart and Beethoven. George Sand’s observation proved that divine ideas come to musicians when musicians feel light, calm, tranquil, relaxing and have less distracting thoughts. Only when people are in these states of minds, the messages from other dimensions can penetrate into the brains. George Sand’s observation was right in the sense of telling the calm state of one’s mind when inspirations come from the Divine.

The second phenomenon is as follows. George Sand noticed that musical ideas “came to his (Chopin’s) piano suddenly (39)”. Chopin observed that musical ideas “involuntarily crept into (his) head through (his) eyes (41)”. Like Mozart and Beethoven, Chopin did not know beforehand when musical ideas came. They came “suddenly” and “involuntarily” “into (his) head”. This phenomenon was similar to the states of minds of Mozart and Beethoven. It is the characteristics of getting ideas from the Divine. Men can hardly know when divine ideas come. Ideas always come naturally and automatically. Men always feel that divine ideas come “suddenly” and “involuntarily”. If divine ideas want to come, then they come. If divine ideas want to go, then they go. It is impossible for men to fore-tell, and much more impossible to control. George Sand’s and Chopin’s observations stated rightly the coming and going state of divine inspirations.

The third phenomenon is stated below. George Sand once described Chopin’s state of mind when musical ideas came to him. “His creation was spontaneous, miraculous. He found it without searching for it, without foreseeing it (39).” To Chopin, divine musical ideas were “spontaneous” and “miraculous”. They came naturally, without thinking, “without searching for it, (and) without foreseeing it”. They come to men just like miracles. Men get it without paying anything for it. The only thing men need to do is to perceive the messages or the music attentively. George Sand’s observation was right in telling the uninformed and unexpected state of mind of the musician.

The fourth phenomenon is that George Sand described the moment when Chopin perceived the divine music. She mentioned that “His genius was filled with the mysterious sounds of nature (40)”. Chopin indicated the moment he perceived the divine music. He said that “there (were) certain times when (he felt) more inspired, (he) filled with a strong power (42)” in his mind. George Sand used “filled with the mysterious sounds of nature” and Chopin used “filled with a strong power” to describe the moment of the divine experiences. When inspirations come, the musician would certainly “feel more inspired”, and their minds are “filled with strong powers”. Only under this situation of having “a strong power”, musicians would sense an awakening process. Like Mozart and Beethoven, Chopin underwent strong awakening processes too.

The fifth phenomenon is: Chopin received divine musical ideas through his feeling and hearing mechanisms. He said that musical ideas “involuntarily crept into (his) head through (his) eyes (41)”. When inspirations came, he “(felt) more inspired (42)”. Chopin perceived inspired ideas through “feelings”. George Sand detected that ideas “sang in (Chopin’s) head (39)” and Chopin’s head “was filled with the mysterious sounds of nature (40)”. Chopin noted that he had “to listen to (his) inner voice (42)”. Chopin could hear the music, “sounds” and “voice(s)” from “nature” and his “inner” self. Chopin perceived divine music through the hearing mechanism too. The literatures pointed out correctly that Chopin perceived the divine music through the major two means of feeling and hearing mechanisms. However, unlike Mozart and Beethoven, Chopin could not receive divine music through the visual sensory mechanism. That is to say Chopin did not see any images, scores or performances during divine inspirations.

The sixth phenomenon is about how good musical ideas inspired from the Divine to Chopin were. It was stated by George Sand that the inspired ideas to Chopin were “complete” and “sublime (39)”. From the Divine, the music must be extraordinary good and “sublime (39)”. It was far too good that must be beyond Chopin’s compositional ability and imagination. The phenomenon was like those of Mozart and Beethoven. George Sand’s comment was right since she could observe the distinctively fine nature of the divine music.

The seventh phenomenon concerns how Chopin proceeded to compose music after he had got inspirations from the Divine. Chopin related that “there are (were) certain times when I feel (he felt) more inspired, filled with a strong power that forces me (him) to listen to my (his) inner voice, and when I feel (he felt) more need than ever for a Pleyel piano (42).”George Sand had a more detailed description concerning Chopin’s compositional processes. She described that “His creation was spontaneous, miraculous. He found it without searching for it, without foreseeing it. It came to his piano suddenly, complete, sublime, or it sang in his head during a walk, and he would hasten to hear it again by, tossing it off on his instrument. But then would begin the most heartbreaking labor I have (she had) ever witnessed. It was a series of efforts, indecision, and impatience to recapture certain details of the theme he had heard: what had come to him all of a piece, he now over-analyzed in his desire to write it down, and his regret at not finding it again "neat," as he said, would throw him into a kind of despair. He would shut himself up in his room for days at a time, weeping, pacing, breaking his pens, repeating and changing a single measure a hundred times, writing it and effacing it with equal frequency, and beginning again the next day with a meticulous and desperate perseverance. He would spend six weeks on one page, only to end up writing it just as he had traced it in his first outpouring (39).” She witnessed again that “his genius was filled with the mysterious sounds of nature, but transformed into sublime equivalents in musical thought, and not through slavish imitation of the actual external sounds (40).”

3.  Chopin’s Compositional Process

The writer would like to break down Chopin’s compositional process into the following steps. The first step was: God “inspired” musical ideas “completely” and “sublimely” to his mind “with a strong power”. God even allowed him to hear the music sometimes. George Sand, who knew nothing about the divine experience, felt astonished and great about Chopin’s reception of the divine music. She regarded that Chopin was “filled with the mysterious sounds of nature” and “miraculous”.

The second step was: After Chopin had perceived the divine music, he wanted to get hold of it. “He would hasten to hear it again by tossing it off on his instrument”. “There (were) certain times when (he felt) more inspired, filled with a strong power that force(d) (him) to listen to (his) inner voice, and when (he felt) more need than ever for a Pleyel piano (42).” He wanted to own a Pleyel piano. To Chopin, only to own the most excellent and could be accurately tuned piano that time like Pleyel was crucial to find out the exact tones of the original divine music. Since the music was “complete” and “sublime”, Chopin felt difficult to play back or to write down the whole music that he perceived just once. Hence, from that time on, he “toss(ed) it off on his instrument (39)”. That would be “the most heartbreaking labor” George Sand had “ever witnessed (39)”. “It was a series of efforts, indecision and impatience to recapture certain details of the theme he had heard (39)”. He intended to write it down “completely” and exactly as what he had perceived, since it was the music from the Divine. It was the best music in his understanding.

The third step was: When Chopin failed to write down the music “completely”, or when he forgot some details of the music, he would “over-analyzed in his desire to write it down (39)”, and he would felt “regret at not finding it again neat (39)". It “would throw him into a kind of despair (39)”. “He would shut himself up in his room for days at a time, weeping, pacing and breaking his pens, repeating and changing a single measure a hundred times, writing it and effacing it with equal frequency, and beginning again the next day with a meticulous and desperate perseverance. He would spend six weeks on one page, only to end up writing it just as he had traced it in his first outpouring (39)”. The scores were corrected, altered or amended frequently and greatly. It might take Chopin a long time to do so. When he remembered or re-heard the music, even the music had been published, he insisted to make changes. He was aimed to produce the divine version of the inspired music. Although Chopin had excellent compositional skills, he had to undergo “the most heartbreaking labor”, hardship, numerous “repeated” corrections, time-consuming amendments and “despair” to write out pieces of “sublime” music from the Divine. Mozart sometimes underwent that kind of hardship in writing out the divine music too. According to the literature, the difficulties that Chopin went through were greater than those of Mozart. George Sand’s observation was accurate in describing the psychology and the demanding compositional technique of the composer. This is the seventh, as well as the last phenomenon. It is sometimes not easy to write the divine music out, especially when extended pieces of music appear to the musician only once.

4.  Comparing Chopin’s Compositional Process to Mozart’s and Beethoven’s

There was a phenomenon happening in Chopin concerning the writing out of the music. As what George Sand had noted, Chopin “would hasten to hear it again by, tossing it off on his instrument. But then would begin the most heartbreaking labor (she had) ever witnessed. It was a series of efforts, indecision, and impatience to recapture certain details of the theme he had heard (39)”. The music was not originated from Chopin, but from the Divine, like that of Mozart and Beethoven. To write out music was “the most heartbreaking labor” to Chopin. It demands a musician’s extremely high abilities in musical memory, compositional technique and absolute pitch. This difficulty happened in Chopin, sometimes in Mozart, but not in Beethoven. There are three main reasons for that.

The first reason is: Mozart and Beethoven had extraordinary musical memory, but Chopin had not. Mozart mentioned that he could “retain” the music “that please(d) him” in his “memory”. He could compose music in his mind until it “(stood) almost finished and complete in (his) mind, so that (he could) survey it”. “When (he) proceed(ed) to write down (his) ideas, (he took) out of the bag of (his) memory (15)”. Mozart could keep the music firmly in his mind. He then wrote the music out when he had spare time (Kerst & Krehbiel, 2001, No. 7, p. 12). He could compose music in his mind and wrote down the music accurately (Ballasch et al., 1992; Kerst & Krehbiel, 2001, No. 18, p. 14; Wikipedia, 2008a ). There are other supporting examples. Mozart wrote out the violin parts of the Violin Sonata in G, K. 379/ 373a and the Violin Sonata in Bb, K. 454, and kept the piano parts in his head, since the time was not enough for him to write out the whole pieces of music. He then played the piano parts from memory in the performances (Wikipedia, 2008a ). Another instance of Mozart’s powerful memory was his memorization and transcription of Gregorio Allegri”s “Miserere” in the Sistine Chapel when he was fourteen years old. Even though he had a second chance to hear the Miserere performance again to check errors, and even though he might have seen a copy of Miserere earlier (Solomon, 1995), he was generally considered as a musician with excellent musical memory (Wikipedia, 2008a ). Beethoven indicated that he could “carr(ied) (his musical) thought” “often for” “a very long time, before (he wrote) them down”. He was “sure” that he “never” “(forgot), not even in years”. He could compose music in his mind “until (he was) satisfied”. The “writing” “down” of the music could be “quickly accomplished” “when (he had) the time”. He “never” “(confus(ed) “one with the other (31)”. Beethoven had an excellent musical memory. Conversely, when Chopin received inspired music, “he would hasten to “toss it off on his instrument. But then would begin the most heartbreaking labor (George Sand had) ever witnessed. It was a series of efforts, indecision, and impatience to recapture certain details of the theme he had heard: what had come to him all of a piece, he now over-analyzed in his desire to write it down, and his regret at not finding it again "neat," as (Chopin) said, would throw him into a kind of despair. He would shut himself up in his room for days at a time, weeping, pacing, breaking his pens, repeating and changing a single measure a hundred times, writing it and effacing it with equal frequency, and beginning again the next day with a meticulous and desperate perseverance. He would spend six weeks on one page, only to end up writing it just as he had traced it in his first outpouring (39).” Comparing to Mozart and Beethoven, Chopin had a poorer musical memory, so that to dictate down music was “the most heartbreaking labor” to Chopin. To dictate music from divine inspirations is a challenging job even to musicians with excellent musical memory, not to mention to musicians with less extraordinary musical memory.

The second reason is that Mozart and Beethoven possessed perfect absolute pitch, but Chopin had not. This made Chopin extra difficult to dictate music from the Divine. Mozart could compose music in his mind, keep piano parts of violin sonatas in his head and play, and write down music accurately from memory (Ballasch et al., 1992; Kerst & Krehbiel, 2001, No. 7, p. 12; Kerst & Krehbiel, 2001, No. 18, p. 14; Wikipedia, 2008a &b). Like Mozart, Beethoven could also compose music in his mind, and write down music accurately from memory (31). They both had perfect absolute pitch. It is universally accepted that absolute pitch helps to identify and produce tones. Only those musicians who have excellent memory for pitch can dictate or play back music from memory after even one hearing (Lau, 2004, p. 241). Otherwise, a composer without perfect absolute pitch or without sound absolute pitch like Chopin, he could not avoid to “hasten to” “(toss) it off on his instrument (39)”. The task became “the most heartbreaking (39)”. “It was a series of efforts, indecision, and impatience to recapture certain details of the theme he had heard (39)”. He would “over-analyze in his desire to write it down (39)”. He would “regret at not finding it again (39)”. It “would throw him into a kind of despair (39)”. It is a difficult task for musicians even with good absolute pitch to dictate or play back music from the Divine.

The third reason is as below. Mozart and Beethoven could see the images, scores and performances of the inspired music, but Chopin could not. Mozart could “retain” musical “ideas that please (him) (15)”, “so that (he could) survey it, like a fine picture or a beautiful statue, at a glance (15)”. The inspired music appeared as notes so that he could “survey (15)” it. To Beethoven, inspired music came to his mind as “the (musical) fancy and emotions (awoke) (29)” in his brain. He might “have a picture in (his) mind” “and follow its (stave) lines (27)” in composing. The music would “show itself, with all the voices, in (his) head (30)”, so that he could sense, hear and/or see the music in his brain. “(He) (saw) and hear(d) the picture in all its extent and dimensions (stood) before (his) mind like a cast (31)”. Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) mentioned when Beethoven composed music, Beethoven could see musical themes, harmonies and orchestrations in his mind like him (Zhang, 1998, pp. 22-23). Beethoven could sense musical ideas in his mind, hear the music, and see the images and scores of the music. Furthermore, in some cases, “the spirit (spoke) to (him) (28)” in order to guide him to compose music. But, to Chopin, he “(felt)” “inspired (42)”. Chopin perceived inspired ideas through “feelings”. George Sand detected that ideas “sang in (Chopin’s) head (39)” and Chopin’s head “was filled with the mysterious sounds of nature (40)”. Chopin noted that he had “to listen to (his) inner voice (42)”. Chopin could hear the music, “sounds” and “voice(s)” from “nature” and the “inner” self. Chopin perceived the divine music through the feeling and hearing mechanisms only. However, unlike Mozart and Beethoven, Chopin could not see images, scores or performances of the inspired music. Therefore, the writing out of the inspired music was “the most heartbreaking labor (39)” to Chopin.

G.   Musical Talents of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin Being a Gift Inspired from God

Bach declared that music was “a gift from God, not a human gift (2)”. Mozart acknowledged that his “talent for composition” was “(given)” “by” “God” “in such generous measure (12).” Beethoven viewed that God “(drew) (him) to Thee (24)” through making music “a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy (21)”. George Sand related that Chopin’s “genius was filled with the mysterious sounds of nature (40)”. Bach, Mozart and Beethoven all claimed that their “talent(s)” in “music” “composition” were from God. They were not just religious sayings. they reflected the composers’ divine experiences. Their music was directly inspired by God. Chopin and George Sand were not religious. George Sand referred Chopin’s music compositional “genius” was related to the “nature (40)”, since Chopin and George Sand had no idea about the Divine.

In Bach’s musical works, no matter they were sacred or secular, Bach always signed in “S. D. G.”. His works were offered “to the only God be glory (8)”. It was not because he was a Christian. He understood that his musical talent was from God and his compositions were inspired from God. His works exerted “basic relationships between art and transcendent meaning (4)”. “Music is an agreeable harmony for the honor of God and the permissible delight of the soul (6)”. It was “God-given (7)”. His job on earth was to compose music inspired from God. It was logical that he offered all his works back to God. This was the result from his direct musical revelation from God.

Mozart served God through composing music, like Bach. He“dare(d) not bury the talent for composition which a kind God gave (him) in such generous measure (12).” Mozart understood that God would “never desert(ed) those who serve(d) Him (10)”. Since he got the talent from God and was willing to serve God through composing music, he was “entirely submissive to the will of God (11)”. He understood that his mission on earth was to write out music inspired by God. It was the result of his divine experiences too, like Bach.

Beethoven said that “God …… (knew) how sacredly (he had) fulfilled all the duties (put) upon (him) as man by humanity (33)”. Beethoven understood that he was called by God “to produce” music inspired from the Divine. This was his mission on earth. He exclaimed for that “Ah! It seemed impossible for (him) to leave the world until (he) had produced all that (he) felt upon to produce; and so (he) prolonged this wretched existence (32)”. He understood that he was borne on earth to write the divine music down for people. He eventually “sacrificed” “the best part of (his) life (35)” to complete this “duty” “sacredly (35)”. The purpose was “to extend His glory among humanity (23)”. This was the wisdom of Beethoven. He knew clearly his mission on earth, i. e. to compose music for God, since his music was inspired by God.

George Sand and Chopin related Chopin’s compositions to the “nature (40)” and “inner voice (42)” respectively. Chopin’s life on earth was to write out the music inspired by the “nature” and “inner voice”. It was his mission on earth too, the writer infers. Since George Sand and Chopin were not religious people, that they refer Chopin’s compositional inspirations were from the “nature”, not from God or from the Divine, is logical.

Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin had the similar mission on earth, the writer infers. Their music was directly inspired by God. Their missions on earth were to compose music inspired from the Divine. The purpose is to show music being “a gift from God, not a human gift (2)”, tolet music “to the only God be glory (8)”,to prove “Nothing higher than to approach God (23)”, “to extend His glory among humanity (23)”, “in praise of Thy goodness (24)” on earth and to establish an authentic music culture in the western countries and/or on earth.

H.   Piano Scores of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin with Divine Colours

From December 2003 onwards, the writer has opened his third eye from practicing Falundafa. In the piano tuitions with some of his piano students, the black notes of some of the scores on the white pieces of paper appeared unexpectedly to the writer different luminous colours on the snow and shimmering white pieces of paper. The snow and shimmering white paper was the paper in the other dimensions that was much whiter than the white paper in this earthy dimension. And the paper in the other dimension was like glistening light white light. The glistening white paper was not as shinny as the luminous scores. In that time, the students were playing the piano to the writer who was sitting next to them in the individual piano classes. The piano books were placed on the piano book stand of the piano. The printed black notes were turned into different colours gradually and suddenly in the other dimensions seen by the writer through his third eye. When the images began to stop, they disappeared gradually. That means the notes and the staves changed from black to glittering colours gradually and fainted away gradually to black notes again. The tempo marks and the expression marks between the staves seemed not appear in the scores from the Divine. The students played the music as usual and they could not see the notes changing to divine colours.

In the piano tuition of a boy student Yan on 22nd September 2005 , Yan’s piano scores appeared bright and sparkling red glittering on the snow and shimmering white sheet of paper suddenly. They were the notes of the two pages of a piece from Bach’s Sinfonia, a piece from Mozart’s Sonatina and a piece from Beethoven’s Bagatelles. They lasted for few to more seconds. Before that time, the writer saw suddenly Yan’s many other different piano scores appearing bright pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet shining on snow white sheets of paper many times respectively. The images lasted for few to 20 seconds.

On 15th October 2005, the notes of the two pages of a piece from Bach’s Anna Magdalena’s Bach’s Notebook of another piano boy student, Tai, appeared bright and glittering red in front of the writer’s eyes suddenly. It lasted for about three seconds.

On 19th November 2008 , the notes of the two pages of Bach’s Invention Number 15 of a piano girl student Wing’s piano book appeared bright and glittering red to the writer suddenly. The similar images happened to many other pieces of other classical composers besides this one in the same tuition. They lasted more than 30 seconds. The notes glittered the most brightly and grandly among all.

On 17th December 2008, the notes of the two pages of Beethoven’s Sonatina in F minor Wo047/ 2 in another girl student Hoi’s piano book turned into bright and glittering red in front of the writer’s eyes. It lasted not long, only for two seconds. Even though it was short, the image was clear and astonishing.

On 19th December 2008 , when the writer was conducting the individual piano tuition to the first girl student, Wing, just mentioned, the similar image came to the writer’s eyes again. When the girl student played to the second line of Bach’s Sinfonia Number 10 in F Minor, and at the same time when the writer was looking at this second line of music, the notes of the whole line turned into very bright and glittering red. When she played into the third line, and when the writer looked at the third line at the same time, the notes turned back to black gradually and everything became normal again.

From the writer’s experiences and understanding, three brightness levels of colours from the Divine seen through the third eye can be summed up. The highest brightness level is the bright and glittering gold. In 3:50 p.m. of 1st August 2004 , when the writer turned the page of the Zhuan Falun, the two whole pages of the black Zhuan Falun Scripture Words turned suddenly into the dazzling color with extremely bright and glittering golden light. The two whole pages looked extremely splendid and magnificent. It lasted for few seconds first. The Words then became less bright. The writer kept reading from the first line onwards, the Words of that sentence and the following sentence were turning into the dazzling color with bright and glittering gold light again, following the eye-sight of the writer. After the writer finished reading, the Words of the former second sentence started to turn back to the black color. The Words that he was reading dazzled the most. The whole image ceased gradually soon after he had finished reading those two pages. All the Words became black again and everything was back to normal again. The whole process lasted for few minutes. The Scriptures of Zhuan Falun dazzled most with the bright and glittering gold among all because the Zhuan Falun is the Holy Book in which the Law of the Universe is inscribed. The Words are golden in color because the golden color is regarded the most prestige and esteemed among all colours, the writer understands.

The second highest brightness level is the bright and glittering red. In 5:15 p.m. of 17th May 2009 , the Scriptures of Zhuan Falun dazzled with the bright and glittering red suddenly. The writer was surprised why the Words changed into glistening red. The nerve of the naked eyes was moved and the image stopped. It lasted for three seconds. The Words turned into black again. There had been many times, as mentioned above, that the notes of some of the piano scores of certain composers, including Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin, were turned into extremely bright and glittering red. Generally, all the notes and the stave lines of the two whole open pages dazzled with an extremely bright and glittering red. There happened only once that only one line of notes and staves turned red. This happened when the girl student was playing that line and the writer was looking at that line. The tempo marks and the expression marks between the staves seemed not shown when the scores were turned into glittering red, as far as the writer had noticed. They seemed to disappear in the images. The golden color gives the writer the impression of holiness, dignity, nobleness, grandeur and magnificence while the red color gives him the sense of prominence, brilliance and splendor. Both the golden and the red colours dazzled in front of the writer’s eyes. But the degree of shininess can be accepted by the bodily eyes as well as the third eye. There is a phenomenon that the piano scores of the music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin (and some other prominent classical music composers) appeared sparkling red in the other dimensions seen through the writer’s third eye and the writer presumes that their music should be from the Divine. This is one of the evidences showing their music being inspired from the Divine. The Holy One seemed to give the writer this signal in order to inform him the music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin being inspired from the Divine.

The third, and the last, highest brightness level is the sparkling pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Some of the piano scores were sometimes turned into bright and sparkling pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet for the writer to see through his third eye. The white paper was changed into snow and shimmering white paper too in the other dimensions. The sparkling pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet were the colours of the scores appeared in the other or possibly the other higher dimensions. From the writer’s understanding, one sees the notes in black and white in this dimension. They may appear in different colours in other dimensions. Those scores seen through the writer’s third eye glistened brightly too. The writer proposes that the images were from the higher dimensions than the earthly dimension. Not all these colours were very bright. Some were brighter than the others. However, all these colours were not as bright and shinny as the sparkling golden and red colours. This implies that the things with the sparkling golden and red colours are from even higher dimensions than the things with the sparkling pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, according to their brightness levels inspired to the writer.

From the writer’s divine experiences and knowledge, there should be various colours in every dimension, or even more than the colours on earth. That means there should be golden, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet etc. in every dimension. Since their dimensions are higher or much higher than this earthy dimension, their colours are much impressively brighter, more shining and glittering. It is postulated that the higher dimensions are the colours reflected to the writer’s third eye, the brighter and the more luminous the sparkling colours are. According to the writer’s divine experiences and the brightness levels of the colours seen through his third eye, the sparkling golden color should be from the highest dimension, the sparkling red color should be from the less higher dimension and the sparkling pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet should be from the least higher dimensions.

One more thing that readers may want to know is the score editions showing divine colours. The piano scores that showed with divine colours to the writer were all from the Alfred Masterwork Editions. Even though the writer included piano books from different music publishers in the piano syllabus of Hong Kong Music Home, only the Alfred Editions gave the writer the above-mentioned divine images of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. There is another edition that showed divine colours to the writer, but it is the scores of other composers.

I.   Codetta

One of the three preludes and fugues in Bach: Well Tempered Clavier,and one of Chopin: Ballades or the first movement of any one piano sonatas by Chopin were arranged in the final repertoire of the Chinese International Piano Competition 2008 held by New Tang Dynasty Television. The writer assumes that it was not a coincidence. There may be something that the writer can figure out.

Bach was called “The Father of Music”, since he was the first composer to use the well-temperament systematically and in large numbers in composing music. He was thus the innovator of the modern classical music in the western music history. He had great esteem for religious sentiment. He served and “(glorified)” “God (8)” through composing music. These are the highest ideals in the divine culture. It is reasonable to postulate that the host institute regarded Bach as the early stage in the divine music.

Chopin was one of the representative composers in the bloom of Romanticism. Soon after his death, i.e. after Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), a representative composer in the Post-Romantic Period, the human musical culture stepped into the extreme personalization. The divine essence in music decreased. Human nature or even the nature of the demon or the devil increased gradually instead. Moreover, the piano works of Brahms is not as influential as those by Chopin. Chopin devoted all his life in writing piano works mainly. He has been the major composer who wrote mainly piano music so far, more than 240 pieces (Piano Society, 2009). He is also the composer who initiated the basis of modern piano tone color (43). General music lovers know Chopin’s works more than Brahms’. Therefore, it is understandable that the host committee took Chopin’s work as the later stage in the divine music.

V.     Western Musical Instrument from the Divine-Piano

The Piano is called the “the King of the Musical Instruments” among all western musical instruments. Its ancient ancestor was the dulcimer. The dulcimer possessed the embryonic form of producing sound like the piano, i. e. to strike on the compound strings in the resonant box with hammers. The dulcimer, appeared first in the Book of Daniel 3: 10 inthe Old Testament of the Bible. It is stated in the Book of Daniel 3:10 that “people played dulcimer together with the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut and psaltery to worship the golden image” (44). It was a musical instrument more than five thousand years ago from now. It had been used in ritual services or ceremonies to worship Gods from the Divine. The dulcimer grew even more popular after the birth of Jesus Christ. It was widely used to worship God in churches (45). In the Baroque Period of the western art, a painter called Gehard de Jode painted an angel playing the dulcimer in a music ensemble. The painting was called The Concert Tapesty. It was painted in 1600 (46). The dulcimer, inferred by the writer, was an instrument from the Divine. God taught men on earth to make the instrument in order to praise and glorify Him, and to establish an authentic instrument in the western authentic culture.

Around 1400, the dulcimer was improved to become the clavichord. Around 1511, the clavichord was developed to become the virginal. Around the end of the seventeenth century, the virginal was made better to become the spinet. Around the eighteenth century, the spinet was ameliorated to become the harpsichord. In the years of Bach and the young Mozart, musicians played the harpsichord and the clavichord. The outer appearances of these two instruments were like that of the modern grand piano, but their sizes were much smaller than that of the grand piano. The harpsichord was sounded by plucking strings up within the sound box. The sound of the clavichord was produced from striking strings down in the sound box with hammers. The sounds of both instruments were weak and soft, like the classical guitar.

When Mozart was grown up, he played the fortepiano or alternatively called the pianoforte. For the most of the time in life, Mozart played the fortepiano. An Italian technician called Bartolommeo Cristofori (1655-1731) invented the fortepiano. In 1709, he combined the mechanisms of the harpsichord with fixed strings and the clavichord with hammering functions to devise the fortepiano. This instrument was named the Gravicembalo col piano e forte which means a dulcimer (or a harpsichord) being able to produce soft (piano) and loud (forte) sounds. Its abbreviated form of name was the fortepiano or the pianoforte. The outlook of the pianoforte was like that of the modern grand piano too, but about one-third smaller. The instrument was sounded when the hammers stroke down the fixed compound strings set in the sound box. It had five octaves, ranging from the G three octaves below the middle C to the G three octaves higher than the middle C. It could produce loud, soft, gradually louder and gradually softer sound effects. The dynamics produced were louder and brighter than those of the harpsichord and the clavichord.

Up to the eighteenth century, i.e. the era of Beethoven, the size of the pianoforte became larger. Tones were broadened towards the two extremes. In 1770, Stein, in Augsburg , invented the rapider up and down movements of the hammer. The sound box was resonated with a more resounding effect. In 1783, Broadwood, in London , designed the damper pedal (loud pedal) and the soft pedal to the pianoforte. The devise strengthened the tone colours, and the loudness and softness outcomes of the instrument. It had a new name, called the hammerklavier, which means the clavier (the clavichord or the keyboard instrument) based on hammers. However, the instrument was commonly called the piano that time. The sounds produced were brighter, louder and more resonating than those produced from the pianoforte.

Until the nineteenth century, i.e. the era of Chopin, a piano near to the modern piano was produced. In 1821, Sebastien Erard in Paris improved the repeating function of hammering. This invention enabled the hammer striking down the string swifter, more responsive and more powerful. In 1825, Alphaeus Babcock in Boston improved the capability of resisting strength of the string board. This design enabled the resonance enhanced, tones resounding and rich, and the strings being more accurately tuned and accurate tones lasting longer. In 1830, Alphaeus Babcock improved the string board and sound box further. He developed further the soft pedal, the sostenuto pedal and the damper pedal. The piano tones were solider and richer. In those days, there were two models in Europe , i.e. the Viennese Piano and the English Piano. The tone of the Viennese Piano was lighter and clearer, whereas the tone of the English Piano was thicker and more abundant. Up to the later half of the nineteenth century, the modern piano based on the Alphaeus Babcock’s design in 1830 appeared in Europe . It combined the best quality of the Viennese Piano and the English Piano (47).

Bach is the major composer for the clavichord in the Baroque Period. Mozart is the major composer for the pianoforte in the Classical Period. Beethoven is the major composer for the pianoforte and hammerklavier in the period linking the Classical Period to the Romantic Period. Chopin is the major composer for the piano in the Romantic Period. Around 1830, it is entitled the Decade of the Piano. The piano works dominated the music culture in Europe . Chopin was the major contributor. What he played was the Viennese Piano model (48). The piano was evolved from the dulcimer, which had transcendent and spiritual essence. From the Divine experiences of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin, the writer thinks that God had been looking after this instrument for centuries and inspired composers to write out music for this instrument. And the piano, according to the writer’s point of view, is the divine instrument. It is for playing music from the Divine to serve, praise and glorify God, and to establish an authentic music culture in the western countries and/or on earth.

The writer dreamt angels, celestials or Gods playing the piano in four of the dreams. The first two times occurred in one summer night and one autumn night in the year 2004. The writer watched twice in dreams more than a dozen musicians performing in music ensembles respectively. They sat high and low around the platforms of churches. They performed music with percussion instruments, one piece in each dream. The instruments included a grand piano, and some instruments looked like glockenspiels, metallophones, vibraphones, xylophones, marimbas, chimes, celestas and some unknown, big or small instruments like those just mentioned above. The performers were either young men or young ladies. All the performers wore long white robes. They appeared to be angels, celestials or Gods to the writer. Although the performances were inside the churches, the background was tremendously white and bright. Against the reflection of snow-white walls, the light was even more dazzling. The whole scenes and performances astonished him in the dreams.

At 2: 00 a .m. of 2nd January 2008 , the writer dreamt a male performer playing the violin and a female performer playing the grand piano. The music was a violin piece with the piano accompaniment. The two performers dressed in white robes and shone brightly. The stage and the background were very white and bright too. The performance was excellent to the writer. After their performance, the female performer and the writer played a piano duet with two grand pianos. This piece of music was different from the former one. The writer postulated that the violin and piano players were two angels, celestials or Gods.

In the early morning of 27th February 2009 , the writer made a dream. He heard a piece of music played by the violin. After the violin music, a middle-aged man appeared, sitting at the upright piano. The man sang the song out while he was playing the melody on the piano. He sang extremely beautifully. The writer thought that the music first performed with the violin was very excellent. But, when he heard the man sing with words of the same music, it was so, so excellent that astonished him very much. He felt spell-bounded totally. The song was about the beautiful scenery which was ruined afterwards unfortunately. It was beautiful but with a little pathetic. When the man was singing the song, the whole scene was brighter and clearer than before. The writer inferred that the man was an angel, a celestial or a God.

In the above described four dreams, there were the grand piano appearing three times and the upright piano appearing once. The pianos were played by angels, celestials or Gods. The writer assumed that they were some Holy Beings from the Divine. He can tell this from their robe wearing, dazzling bodies, sparkling backgrounds and extremely perfect performances. He guesses that those images were hints signifying the piano being the musical instrument inspired from the Divine.

VI.   Influences of Music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin

A.   Influences on Human Beings

As the music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin was inspired from the Divine, it is interested to know whether their music is beneficial to human beings. Researches had proofs for that. The music of Bach can stimulate human brain functions, enhance learning abilities, creativity (Lim & Xia,1999；McMaster, 2006; Sarkamo, 2008) and attention (Lim & Xia,1999；ThinkQuest, 1999; Sarkamo, 2008); improve cognitive and physical abilities (Menezes, 2000); stabilize emotion (Sarkamo, 2008); and bring people a lofty sentiment and a deep reverence to God (Lim & Xia, 1999). Dr. George Lozanov made use of the Baroque music with Bach’s music included at one beat equaling to 60 to enhance people’s auditory memory. It was found that it improves memory at least by 25% (Lozanov, 2008). It was known that slower Baroque music including Bach’s music “can create mentally stimulating environments for creativity and new innovations” since the “music can affects the brain waves” (McMaster, 2007).

The music of Mozart can promote the human intelligence development, cognitive ability (Shaw, 2000; Hughes, 2001; Jausovec et al, 2004, 2006; Lahiri & Duncan, 2007), higher-level thinking skills (ThinkQuest, 1999), memory (Lim & Xia,1999; McMaster, 2006), attention (Lim & Xia,1999；ThinkQuest, 1999; McMaster, 2006; Ho et al, 2007; Zhu et al, 2008), visual brain activity (Norbert & Habe, 2004) and spatial-temporal reasoning skills (Rauscher et al, 1993; Rauscher et al, 1995; Wilson & Brown, 1997; Viadero, 1998; Johnson et al, 1998; Jausovec et al, 2007). The spatial-temporal reasoning skill is the ability to form mental images in the brain from physical objects or to see patterns in space and time. The skill is important to engineers and architects in perceiving proportions, geometry and some mathematical and scientific concepts (Viadero, 1998; Weinberger, 1998).Sutoo and Akiyama (2004) found that an increase in dopamine in the brain is correlated to the reduction in rats’ blood pressures. Mozart’s music is effective in reducing the blood pressure, as a result, in increasing the dopamine level. People’s tension can thus be reduced.

Dr. George Lozanovmade use of the Baroque music with Bach’s music included and the Mozart’s music at one beat equaling to 60 to enhance the student’s right and left hemispheres of their brains. It was found that the music can “maximize learning and retention of information”. It was to stimulate their abilities in learning foreign languages. It was found that they learnt nearly 1000 words or phrases a day. Their average rate of memory was 92%. The music increased the students’ learning effectiveness by 85% to 100% within 30 days. The students could keep the memory of the words and phrases nearly up to 100% after four years (O’Donnell, 1999).

Beethoven’s music can stimulate the brain development and raise the interactive functions of the right and left hemispheres of the human beings (Azar, 2008). Stroke patients of the early stage, after listening to Beethoven’s music few hours a day and listened for three months, achieved 60% progress in the verbal memory comparing to 18% progress for the stroke patients who listened to audio books and 29% improvement for those who had nothing to listen to. Stroke patients got another 17% improvement in attention too. It was found that listening to Beethoven’s music can activate brain cells. New nerve fiber networks can grow from the brain cells again. Beethoven’s music helps to “enhance cognitive recovery” and “prevent negative mood” too (Sarkamo, 2008).

Children, after listening to Mozart music for ten minutes, got their spatial abilities increased for about 15 minutes. Moreover, the children, who were offered music training including learning to play simple melodies by Mozart and Beethoven, gained marks around 30% higher on the tests of spatial-temporal reasoning than those who did not attend any music training, and those effects did not decrease even over time. It seemed that greater gains can be achieved by learning about it than merely listening to it (Copley, May 2008).

The music of Chopin can augment the perceptive ability, sympathy and feeling for love (Lim & Xia, 1999; McMaster, 2006).

It was found out that the music of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven and Chopin can decrease the epileptiform brain activity of epilepsy patients (Hughes, 2002; Lahiri & Duncan, 2007). The decrease of the epileptiform brain activity of epileptic patients implies that the number of epileptic spasms decreases. Thus, the symptoms of epilepsy can be improved.

B.   Influences on Animals, Plants and Water

As the music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin was inspired from the Divine and is beneficial to human beings, it is interested to know further whether it is beneficial to animals, plants or other materials or not. Researches had answers for that too. Plants that listened to rock and roll could grow very tall, but they were not healthy in appearances. Their branches and leaves drooped and extended away from the music. They even died within 16 days. Plants liked Bach’s music more. They grew healthily. Their branches spread towards Bach’s music (Retallack, 1973). Nearly all the mice after having finished the tunnel chose to go to the music box playing Bach’s music rather than to the music box playing rock and roll (O’Donnell, 1999).

The mice that listened to the Mozart’s Sonata for the Pianoforte K. 448 finished the multiple T-maze faster and with fewer mistakes than those listening to the minimalist music, than those listening to the white noise, or than those having nothing to hear (Rauscher, 2007). The mice that had listened to rock and roll would kill each other while those having listened to Mozart’s music did not do this. The mice that listened to rock and roll spent 20 minutes more in running the maze post-test than in the maze pretest. Those that had nothing to listen spent five minutes less. Those listened to Mozart’s music spent 8.5 minutes less (Rauscher, 2007). All the mice that listened to heavy metal music killed one another while the mice that listened to Mozart’s music for 10 hours a day showed improvements in the maze-solving abilities (Copley, 2008).

The music of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and Chopin can make water crystallize more perfect than the pop music, metal music, and rock and roll can (Nagayasu, 2002, 2004).

VII.   Influences of Piano Music on Human Beings

The piano and its ancestors have been the major musical instrument in the western authentic music culture since the Renaissance Period. As the piano is the instrument evolved from the dulcimer, and is believed a musical instrument from the Divine, it is interested to explore whether this musical instrument is good to people. There are answers in the researches concerning the piano music and the piano learning. Researches are inclined to show that the piano learning and the piano music are beneficial to the human beings.

The pre-school children received the piano tuition, singing tuition, computer tuition or no tuition for eight months. It was found that only the children having the piano tuition gained significant improvements in the abstract thinking skills and spatial-temporal reasoning ability. The spatial-temporal reasoning ability is good to students in learning mathematics and science. The improvement gained from the piano learning is even greater than that from the computer training (Rauscher et al, 1996). The children of six years of age, after having received the piano tuition once a week for nine months, their intelligence scores raised by seven marks in average more than before they attended the piano tuition. They gained 2.7 marks in average more than the children attending the drama and the children attending no classes (Schellenberg, 2004).

Primary two students, who received the piano tuitions once a week for six months, gained 34% scores more in the puzzle test than those having no piano tuitions. It was also found that the piano learning can enhance the spatial-temporal reasoning ability in the brain. The spatial-temporal reasoning ability is important in learning mathematics and science (Graziano et al., 1997). Some other primary two students, who attended the piano tuitions once a week for four months, got an average score of 27% more in the proportional mathematics and fraction test than those who learned English or those who did not learn the piano and English. It was postulated further that the piano learning can promote the spatial-temporal reasoning ability, or the conversion of the physical objects in space and time, and the visualization of the physical objects (Graziano et al., 1999). The students of 10 to 11 years of age, who learned to play the piano for two years, showed significant improvements in speech, mathematics and especially in the spatial concept. Those who did not learn to play the piano had no significant improvements in such areas (Costa-Giomi, 1997).

The musicians who learned to play the piano before age seven, developed the nerve fibers 12% thicker in the corpus callosum between the left and the right hemisphere than the ordinary people did ( Sharon , 1996). The pianists, who have learned to play the piano before the adolescent, possess larger spaces in the brains to accommodate the perceptive abilities of the fingers. The fingers are more dexterous and quicker in actions. Their hand-eye co-ordinations are better than those pianists playing the piano after the adolescent (Sandra, 1995). Twenty pianists, who had played the piano for 15 to 21 years and practiced the piano 10 to 40 hours a week in the time of running the experiment, and 13 non-musicians in their 20’ s were invited as subjects. The auditory areas of their brains were examined. It was found that the piano learning can promote people’s brain activities and the cognitive structure of the brain. The younger the musicians start their musical trainings, the larger are their areas of the brain activities (Pantev et al, 2007).

It was pointed out in another research that the students who had learned to play the piano for three years got higher esteem than those who did not learn the piano (Costa-Giomi, 1999). It was reported that patients who listened to music, including the piano music, would experience less post-surgical pain than those who did not (Copley, February 2008).

VIII.   Postlude

The western classical music is generally accepted as the authentic music culture in the western countries. Great classical composers, such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin, are representatives among all in the authentic western music culture. The meaning of authenticity, according to The New World Encyclopedia, is as follows:

“Authenticity is a philosophical concept that denotes the genuine, original, true state of human existence. ……The authentic life is often described as a life of freedom, joy, meaning, value and happiness. …… the recovery of the authentic self requires a radical reexamination of cultural context, habitual lifestyles and the ways of thinking. …… authenticity is: something to be pursued as a good intrinsic to the good life. …… A revelatory state, …… alters radically one’s relationship with others (God and/or people). Carries with its own set of moral obligations (49).”

The music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin “denotes the genuine, original, true state of human existence”. It is deeply rooted in the western culture for centuries and it involves the “cultural context, habitual lifestyles and the ways of thinking”, and “moral obligations” of the people of the western countries. It brings people “the good life”. It is in “a revelatory state”. It is based on the “relationship with God”.

When Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was asked how he conceptualized the Theory of Relativity, he replied like this: “It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception (50)”. Music was the “driving force” for him. And the authentic music was from the Divine. Bach composed music in “an agreeable harmony for the honor of God(6)”, employing the well-temperament. He founded the basic direction of the music composition in the western culture. Mozart composed music, using pure, graceful, flowing and refined melodies matched with simple and clear accompaniments. He set up the main compositional model of melodies with accompaniments. Beethoven united the characteristics of musical instruments and personal sentiment to music. He enhanced music to an art of vitality and power, and accomplished that “Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy (21).” Chopin developed an exquisite, dignified and grand tone colour to the modern piano. He raised music to a noble, virtuoso and lofty realm. These composers all successfully carried on the past heritage and opened up the future in the western authentic music culture, under their inspirations from the Divine and their “(entire submission) to the will of God (11)”. Their music became the important assets of the western culture under their “fulfill(ment)” of “all the duties” “(put) upon” them by “God (33)”.

In an overview, the host institute has really done a very great job. In addition to help to develop and advance the western authentic music culture, they are trying to open up a new era in which the idea of the divine culture is brought up to the public through hosting this Chinese International Piano Competition 2008 and 2009. The writer expresses his support to the Competitions. He does hope that more and more pianists would attend the Chinese International Piano Competition 2009 and the host institute may host more similar competitions in the future.

IX.     Suggestions for Interpretation

Koelsch (2008) pointed out that the performance from the pianist can move people, but the same piece of music played by the computer cannot. Even unmusical listeners showed clear electric activities in their brains in response to musical changes when the piano sonatas were played by pianists rather than by a computer. It was revealed that the human emotional responses elicited by computerized music are not as strong as listening to the same pieces of music performed by professional pianists. The brain is more likely to respond to musical meanings and musical emotions when the music is performed by pianists rather played by computers. The brain activities showed that when pianists played pieces of music with feelings and expressions, listeners, though unmusical, would perceive the music as meaningful. As the Hungarian musician and music educator, Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967) expressed that “music is the manifestation of the human spirit (49)” ( Brest , 2007). Bryan (1998) indicated that positive music can arouse listeners’ positive emotions and feelings, so as to initiate positive decisions in solving social problems.

To interpret the music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin well is challenging. First of all, the pianist must have “dedicated practice and quick mastery of (the) piano (52)”. S/he can “hardly” “(feel) a sense of inadequacy (52)” in playing the piano. S/he must possess“a passion for the piano (52)”, like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin did. One has to have the piano virtuoso in order to play any music at will. Bach was an organist, clavichordist and harpsichordist. Mozart was a clavichordist, harpsichordist and fortepianist. Beethoven and Chopin were pianists. These four masters were pianists-composers. Another contemporary Romantic composer, Bartholdy Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1849), praised Chopin’s piano performances that “there is something fundamentally personal and at the same time so very masterly in his playing that he may be called a really perfect virtuoso (53)”. Thus, a competent pianist must have high virtuoso in performing the piano. This is the basic level to be a competent music performer.

Besides the superb technique in the piano playing, a competent pianist must grasp the styles, background and characteristics of the compositions. As what Beethoven had said, “when the true pianoforte virtuosi played it was always something homogeneous, an entity; it could be transcribed and then it appeared as a well thought-out work. That is pianoforte playing; the other is nothing (54)”. A “true virtuoso (pianist)” must “always” express the “homogeneous” style of the composition, and perform the music as “an entity” and “a well thought-out work”. The pianist thus can express well the essential spirit of the composition. This is the second level of being a competent music performer. It is still the basic requirement of being a competent pianist. These techniques can be acquired from reading music books and listening to audio or video recordings of piano or music masters’ performances.

Music performers must blend themselves with music together in the whole courses of the performances. Takahashi & Miller (2007) discovered that protein sequences can be converted into classical music. Molecular biologists “can get an auditory signal for every protein”. “Since every protein has a unique sequence”, every protein has its unique auditory signature”. “One can hear the sequence of the protein”. It is postulated that when people listen to or perform music, the proteins of the human cells absorb music and develop to protein sequences. When performers make music, they must and need to perform music as the whole persons. To listen to high quality music in the daily lives is utmost important. Chopin was called “the Poet of the Piano”. It is to say that Chopin understood the piano better than anybody else (55). George Sand described Chopin’s piano technique like this: “he was able to plunge his audience into profound bliss or into an abyss of sadness, as his music gripped one’s soul …… (56)”. A successful performer can play out the music that can grasp the attentions, emotions and “soul(s)” of listeners tightly. Then, the performer can be said to interpret the music well, and can be said to be “a pianist of conviction (57)”. This is what Chopin had suggested: “Put all your soul into it. Play the way you feel (58)”. This is the third level of being a competent music performer.

Furthermore, the intrinsic qualities of the performer, for examples, the culture, morality, cultivation, character, emotion and behavior etc., can influence the level of interpretation. The performer inevitably plays music as a whole person, i.e. with all these intrinsic qualities. That is why there was a research proclaiming that music is the “Mirror of the mind” (Bianco and Grigoini, 2007). They, as the physicians, discovered a significant similarity between the distributions produced by music compositions and brain activities from statistical analyses. Only the “really perfect virtuoso (53)”performer with high intrinsic qualities, devoting to perform the music as “an entity” and “a well thought-out work (54)”, “(putting) all (his/er) soul into it (and playing) the way (s/he) feel(s) (58)” can make the high quality music. And only the high quality music can touch the inner part of the listener’s soul. This is the fourth level of being a competent music performer as well as the basic level of being a successful music performer.

Moreover, there are divine connotation in the works of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. According to the writer’s experience, if the performer wants to express the divine essence of the music, the performer needs to nurture a true, compassionate and forbearing soul, and to cultivate to the mental state of being with God and nature. As Mozart expressed that “(he) live(d) with God ever before (him). …… (He) recognize(d) His omnipotence, …… (He) acknowledge(d) His love, too, His compassion and mercy towards all His creatures, He will never desert those who serve Him (10).” Beethoven knew that “God (was) nearer to (him) than others. (He went) without fear of Him. (He had) constantly recognized and understood Him (22).” “Nothing higher exist(ed) than to approach God more than other people, and from that to extend His glory among humanity (23).” Every note that comes out from the performer must be sacred, natural, pure, noble, dignified, clean, gracious and grand, similar to those heard from the Divine. It can only be achieved through practice. Even though it is completely impossible to play out divine tones from musical instruments of this earthy world, the performer has to try to convey this mood, sense and feeling to listeners, so as to move listeners’ souls. As how to achieve to this level, ideas suddenly came to the writer’s mind like torrents at 12:45 p. m. of 5th February 2009 while he was doing the Falundafa Third Exercise in the group practice. After pondering upon the ideas, the writer considered that the incoming ideas were excellent and decided to put them down in this paper. The inspirations are as follows: As a successful performer, one has to cultivate one’s personalities. One needs to keep one’s mind true, clean, pure, fine, noble and dignified. That is to say to nurture one’s mind with righteous thoughts. One has to stay far away from the desire for materials. For examples, one must not hanker after enjoyment in this material world. One must get away from wicked habits, such as wine, smoking, drugs and sex, since the physical damage will lead to the mental disorganizations. One must not fight for self benefits, fame, gain and wealth. One has to get back to the original true, compassionate and forbearing self. On must cultivate one’s mind to godhood. Then, the music performed out is near to the characteristics of the music inspired from the Divine. Otherwise, if the performer aims at playing the music for getting prices, there must be essence of the mind for the competitiveness inthe music. If the performer aims at playing for getting higher reputations, there must be essence of the desire for personal fame in the music. If the performer aims at playing for getting more money, there must be essence of the wish for the personal interest in the music. If the performer aims at playing for evincing one’s virtuoso technique, stage image, personal attraction etc., there must be essence of the will for showing off in the music, and so forth. All these unrighteous essences make the performances impure, non-dignified and non-gracious since the performer’s mind is not pure and right. Only the “really perfect virtuoso (53)” performer with high intrinsic personal qualities, and a pure, clean and healthy mind and spiritual soul, devoting to perform the music as “an entity” and “a well thought-out work (54)”, “(putting) all (his/er) soul into it (and playing) the way (s/he) feel(s) (58)” can make a higher quality music. And only this level of the high quality music can touch the deeper part of the listener’s soul, i.e. the more inner part of the true, compassionate and forbearing self. This is the fifth level of being a competent as well as the second level of being a successful music performer.

Finally, the purpose of expressing music is the ultimate as well as the crucial matter to consider as a successful music performer. According to the writer, the will to express the Holy One is the only purpose in music performances since the music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin was from the Divine. To express the Holy One, the tones must be sacred, natural, pure, noble, dignified, clean, gracious and grand. The performer must possess a true, compassionate and forbearing soul, because the truthfulness, compassion and forbearance are the nature of the Universe. The “true music” is “the recreation of soul (5)”, as Bach has said. To express the Holy One implies to express His purity, beauty, elegance, nobility, grace, wonder and grandeur, as they are the music characteristics perceived by the writer from the Divine. The music performed, no matter it is sacred or secular, is to praise and glorify Him. As Bach has said, music is "a gift from God, not a human gift (2)". No matter the music was sacred or secular, Bach always signed “S. D. G.”, meaning “to the only God be glory (8)”. Mozart “dare(d) not bury the talent for composition which a kind God gave (him) in such generous measure (12).” He composed music to serve and glorify God. According to Beethoven, “Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy (21)”. He “(had to) confess” that music is “in praise of Thy goodness …… (24)”, “…… for art and science only can raise man to godhood (25).” Music is from the Holy One or from the Divine and should be performed to express and praise Him. On the other hand, if the performer expresses him/erself only in music performances on the condition that the performer him/erself possesses a soul with righteous thoughts, what the music expresses at most is with the essence of men only. If the performer expresses him/erself only in music performances on the condition that the performer him/erself possesses a soul with unrighteous or wicked thoughts, what the music expresses is neither with the essence of the Holy One nor men, but with the essence of the evil spirit, the devil or the demon. Only the “really perfect virtuoso (53)” performer with high intrinsic personal qualities, and a pure, clean and healthy mind and spiritual soul, devoting to perform the music as “an entity” and “a well thought-out work (54)”, “(putting) all (his/er) soul into it (and playing) the way (s/he) feel(s) (58)” with a goal to express the Holy One can make the highest quality music. And only the highest quality music can touch the deepest part of the listener’s innermost soul since the music, passed down from the Divine, can transcend the earthy dimension and echo back to the Divine. This is the sixth, the last and the highest level of being a competent music performer as well as the third and the last level of being a successful music performer.

The writer, by this chance, expresses deeply once more his support to the Chinese International Piano competition 2008 and 2009 held by New Tang Dynasty Television. He does hope that they will host this kind of competitions always in the future. The writer encourages and appeals that competent Chinese pianists please enroll for the Chinese International Piano competition 2009 as soon as possible. Interested pianists can visit http://piano.ntdtv.com for the detailed information.

X.     Inner Structures of Music

As described above, it is suggested that the performer has to develop: a) piano virtuosi; b) stylistic performances; c) devoted soul in music; d) high morality, noble personality and intrinsic qualities; e) the mind cultivation of being with the Holy One and nature; and f) the will to express the Holy One. According to the writer’s point of view, these essences would certainly evince in the music and performances. Readers may query how these essences can be perceived.

The writer observed certain characteristics in the music and performances performed believed by Gods, celestials or angels of other dimensions. Their music is really expressive and touching. They perform music with not much facial expressions, body movements and gestures. The music moves listeners certainly not by the divine performers’ facial expressions, body movements and gestures, but by the music performed out itself. To achieve this, he assumes, the divine performers have to possess instrumental virtuosi; practices of stylistic performances; devoted souls in making music; high morality, noble personality and intrinsic qualities; the mind cultivation of being with the Law, the Way, the Logos or the Holy One of the whole Universe; and the will to express the Holy One with the music. The music is the total outcome of all these incredibly high standard characteristics mentioned.

Concerning the piano playing technique, the divine performers play with fingertips. Even in fast running passages, their hands keep quite still and their fingers do not move much. Their fingers move only a little, but there are a lot of fast notes coming out. The touch is steady. The notes sound incredibly delicate, smooth, beautiful and expressive. Their fingers seldom jump, and staccato notes seem uncommon in the music inspired to the writer. During the whole course of playing the piano, the divine performers sit properly, and no big movements can be observed. Concerning the violin playing, the divine performers do not show much facial expressions, body movements and gestures to express the music too. All the movements are small. The right hand holding the bow would move, but they can play lots of notes within one bow. The left hand fingers move a little even in fast running passages. Both hands and fingers move very little and many fast notes come out. Their finger-tip movements are not conspicuous even in pieces with fast tempos. The notes, of course, are particularly clean, beautiful and expressive. During the whole course of playing the violin, the divine performers stand properly and no big movements can be observed. Concerning the percussion instrumental playing, the divine performers use not much facial expressions, body movements and gestures to express the music either. Even in fast running passages, their hands keep quite still and do not move much. But, the beaters would move swiftly to produce fast running notes. The tones are extraordinarily delicate, sparkling, beautiful and expressive. Even though the percussion instruments produce sounds by beating, the notes produced are incredibly smooth and are with consistent dynamics. During the whole course of playing the percussions, the divine performers stand or sit properly, and no big movements can be observed. Concerning singing, the divine singer sing with Bel Canto. He uses not much facial expressions, body movements and gestures to express the music as well. He does not need to breathe much. His month does not open much. The voice is gorgeous, impressive, attractive and grand. The tones are delicate, beautiful and expressive. Even though he sings the words one after another, the words and tones produced are incredibly smooth. During the whole course of singing and playing the piano, the divine performer sits properly, and no big movements and breathing can be observed.

In general, the tones of the music from the Divine are distinctively fine, sublime, noble, graceful, illusory, pure, and sometimes spiritual, grand, magnificent and majestic. Songs are beautifully and elegantly sung. The music sounds extremely harmonious. The instrumental sounds are distinctively fine, bright, sparkling, as well as reserved and reticent. The sound qualities are exceptionally gorgeous and impressive. No matter what kinds of the instruments they are, their sounds were extremely graceful and exquisite. The music performed by various instruments sounds tremendously harmonious and balanced. Different instruments played together sound unified, justified, consistent, and round to each other. No one instrument would protrude out or has a more prominent position than the others. They can mingle in together to form one united tonal quality.

In the imitative and contrapuntal music, or music accompanied with melodic figures or lines, the melodic lines, subjects or counter-subjects do not project out. They mix together to form one united piece of music. Even In the music accompanied by the Alberti Bass accompaniments, broken chords accompaniments, solid chords accompaniments or melodious figures etc., every part of the music mingles together to form an united piece of music.

As one knows a sketch of what the divine music is like, one can have some criteria to judge a good piece of music. If the music is near to the quality of the divine music, the music is considered to have the nature of God.

It is not difficult for a competent musician to judge the technique levels of playing an instrument, including the instrumental virtuosi and the stylistic performances. This is the surface structure of music. It is evaluated by how well and suitability the tones, expressions, phrases, touches and pedals etc are performed and presented. As for the devoted soul in music, the high personal morality, noble personality and intrinsic qualities, the mind cultivation of being with the Holy One and nature and the will to express the Holy One, listeners have to perceive the inner structure of the music performed. The writer can share his experiences in this sphere, though it is hard to tell. For examples, if the performer possesses a competitive will, the music performed out is more aggressive, and sometimes overdoing in expressions. If the performer possesses an unstable emotion, the music performed out is more unsteady, including its rhythmic sense and mood etc. If the performer is resentful, the music performed out is more disorderly, without an united structure. If the performer possesses a gentle personality, the music performed out is calmer and more peaceful, even in fast and lively pieces. If the performer undergo rich life experiences, the music performed out is more expressive, though may sometimes be over-expressive. If the performer is spirited, the music performed out is more energetic etc. The writer has experiences in hearing and analyzing the piano performances of advanced pieces from young pianists. If the children’s virtuoso levels are high enough to play advanced pieces, their performances are even better than those ordinary adult pianists. This is because children possess purer, fresher and more non-distracting minds. They are not polluted much by this complicated, materialized and dirty world as adults. Their natures are nearer to the nature and the nature of the Holy One than the ordinary adults’. Even the performances and works by ordinary adults are considered good, their products are inclined to be artificial, unnatural, sophisticated and secular. The performances or works by ordinary adults, if good, are inclined to be more human-oriented in nature at most. Or may be even worse, the performances and works are demon-oriented, if the artists are full of karma and the artists’ minds are full of wicked thoughts.Inevitably, the artists’ whole inner characteristics will be reflected in the total expressions of the performances or works, e.g. through the music, voices, facial expressions, gestures and all communicative ways etc. An excellent performance or works must have the God-oriented nature. It is commonly believed that a young virtuoso pianist can hardly make or perform music with depth because s/he has minimal life experiences. Only an adult virtuoso pianist with abundant life experiences or with abundant experiences of hardship in life can make or perform music with depth. However, the writer upholds a different point of view. An ordinary adult virtuoso pianist with rich life experiences may make or perform music only with affluent human expressions which are full of postnatal material thoughts. But, a young virtuoso pianist, who may have minimal postnatal concepts, may make or perform music nearer to the true and pure nature of the Nature or the Universe. They, in this sense, can make or perform music with higher levels and connotation. This is what the writer values more in music performance.

The writer have rich experiences in analyzing the inner structures of music, voices, speech, dances, dramas, gestures, sculptures, paintings, writings and mixed media performances from students and performers. He always tries to understand the inner structures of an art. From the art’s inner structures, he evaluates how good the performances and the works are. According to the writer’s point of view, it is utmost important for listeners to develop the skills in understanding the inner structures of an art though the essences are abstract.

XI.    Writer’s Piano Teaching Attempt

1.  Introduction

The writer has been researching in the field of music for years. He acknowledges that there are divine cultural evidences in both the western and Chinese cultures. In his music and piano teaching philosophy and practice, to help students to develop a) piano virtuosi; b) stylistic performances; c) devoted soul in music; d) high morality, noble personality and intrinsic qualities; e) the mind cultivation of being with the holy One and nature; and f) the will to express the Holy One for sure the six main aims.

The writer founded Hong Kong Music Home for Handicapped Normal Talented Children Limited (Subsidiary with Cultivation, Adolescents and Adults Sections) (香港弱能、健全、資優兒童音樂家庭有限公司 [附設教養、青少年及成人部]) on 4th April 1992. The missions are:

1) Educate special educational needs children to become mainstreamed, talented, or outstanding or talented special educational needs children, educate mainstreamed children to become outstanding or talented children; and educate talented children to become outstanding talented children.

2) Educate students to become the ones equipped with cultivated manners, high morality, independent thinking, diligence, high education and culture, the ability to bear and overcome hardship, the capacity to look inside constantly for causes, the mind to employ truthfulness, compassion and forbearance to treat people and things, and the will to contribute to the society.

3) Educate students to become the musicians, pianists, educators and/or researchers with a high level of knowledge, high intrinsic spirit, and/or the ability to develop new knowledge, set up new business, do researches, and/or promote absolute pitch, video-camera-type-of-memory, highly effective cognition, and/or make use of music to enhance multiple intelligence, emotional and behavioral management, and/or to perform and compose music from the Divine.

The writer is a pianist. Teaching piano to students is therefore a major activity at Hong Kong Music Home. Since then, a special piano pedagogy within the Lau Chiu Kay Music Educatherapy (劉超褀音樂教療法) was formulated and put into practice at Hong Kong Music Home. To help students develop piano virtuosi, stylistic performances, devoted soul in music, high morality, noble personality and intrinsic qualities, the mind cultivation of being with the Holy One and nature, and the will to express the Holy Onefor sure a lengthy, extensive and systematic road in the piano teaching at Hong Kong Music Home. It starts with the purchase of the piano up to the instillation of the cultivation culture to students in order to educate pupils as whole persons through the piano education. The methods are described in details as follows.

2.  Piano Purchase

Only a high quality piano can produce tones with accurate pitches and excellent tone qualities. It can be used for an extended period of time and still be in a good condition if kept properly. Even though the tones of a fine instrument on earth are still incomparable to those produced from divine instruments, it is recommended to students’ parents at Hong Kong Music Home to buy the pianos with fine tone qualities. It is suggested to students’ parents at Hong Kong Music Home to buy a brand new Yamaha U1, U3 or U5 upright piano, otherwise a second-hand U1, U3 or U5 upright piano of 90% new is an alternative. Pianos through Hong Kong Music Home can be brought at lower market prices since Hong Kong Music Home is run on low profit basis. An after-purchase service is provided to students. Proper accessories are also needed, such as:

1)  Piano Bench: Adjust to the height that students can place their hands horizontally on the keyboard.

2)  Piano Lid Descender: Make the piano lid close slowly to protect children from hurting due to the sudden falling of the heavy lid.

3)  Table Lamp: Supply light for insufficient in-door lighting, 40 watts, with green lampshade and a milky bulb.

4)  Foot-stool: Support the short legs of children and to avoid fatigue, poor blood circulation and swinging.

5)  Electronic Metronome: Help students to establish a sense of tempo and a steady tempo in playing the piano.

6)     Piano Cover: Protect and beautify the piano.

7)     Piano Key Cover: Protect piano keys.

A good piano must have a good inner structure and sound box, which can produce beautiful tones. The Yamaha U1, U3 or U5 upright pianos can achieve this goal at reasonable prices, though they are not the best piano models available in Hong Kong . That the prices can be affordable by the parents at Hong Kong Music Home is another consideration. For the instrumental performers with out financial difficulty, it is advised to purchase instruments which can produce best tone qualities. The fine tone quality should be the first priority in selecting musical instruments.

3.  Piano Tuning and Maintenance

Accurate piano tuning to A440 is another thing the writer has to take care of in order for students at Hong Kong Music Home to develop an excellent sense of tone colours and absolute pitch. All students’ pianos and the pianos at Hong Kong Music Home were tuned to A440. All the tones, including the highest and the lowest compasses in the piano scale, have to be in tune. A qualified and competent piano tuner was employed to tune all the pianos at Hong Kong Music Home and at students’ homes. All the pianos are tuned at least three times a year. Parents were encouraged to tune their pianos with this contracted piano tuner. Only a well in tune piano can produce the most accurate and beautiful tones. Playing the in-tuned piano was crucial in developing accurate pitches and the sense of good tone qualities. Furthermore, the payments for piano tuning at Hong Kong are cheaper than the local prices in Hong Kong . These precautions are to ensure that all the students’ pianos are tuned by the contracted piano tuner and are well in tune.

To maintain the piano in a good condition is crucial for a student to learn to play the piano well besides the piano purchase and accurate piano tuning. A badly maintained piano may result in poor tone qualities, inaccurate pitches and the short life span of the piano. Therefore, parents and students at Hong Kong Music Home are taught to maintain pianos in their proper conditions. The precautions of the piano tuning and maintenance are described below.

1)     Location

a)     Do not place the piano in a place of great variations in temperature, such as nearby to an air-conditioner, heater, cooker, boiler or stove etc., or against the outer wall or under the window. Do not place the piano in a room without air conditioning or of the highest flat in the house without any devices to protect against sunlight and heat in the summer. It is disastrous to expose the piano to direct sunshine. Try to leave the piano some space away from the wall.

b)     Do not place the piano in a humid place, against a humid wall, near a water tap, or near a window or a door that can be affected by the rainfall. If one lives near the hillside, the riverside or the seaside, one should always turn on the dehumidifier in the piano room.

c)   A dehumidifier is always needed in Hong Kong , no matter whether one lives in the rural or urban area. The humidity level should be adjusted to 60% ±5%.

d)   Do not move the piano unless very necessary.

2)     Constant Tuning and Check Up

When playing the piano, strings are struck. The pitch would certainly be lowered. Even without playing, the piano strings would become loose automatically and the piano would still be out of tune after a period of time. If the piano is bad or poorly maintained, the things would turn bad in a very short period of time. Constant tuning is crucial. The piano should be tuned three times a year, i.e. once in every four months. It is advisable that all students’ pianos are tuned by the contracted piano tuner of Hong Kong Music Home. This contracted piano tuner is a qualified and competent piano tuner who was trained at a piano manufacturing company and has 40 years of piano tuning experiences. He is one of the very few piano tuners in Hong Kong who can tune the piano to A=440 and can tune the entire piano range in tune. He also asks for comparably low charges for the service.

3)     Constant Cleaning

A piano should be cleaned constantly to keep up a good outlook. It makes one more eager to play. The following points should be attended in cleaning the piano:

a)   Use cotton cloth with fine fibre to clean the piano. Use the liquid and cloth that are specially made for the cleaning of the piano. Do not use the cleaning cloth, washing up liquid, wax, water or any detergent for ordinary household use.

b)   Do not attack or press hard on to the piano keys. This can cause the piano to become out of tune. Clean the keys from inside out to avoid dust and dirt dropping into the cracks between keys.

c)   Use small vacuum cleaner to suck away dust and dirt from cracks between keys, wooden frame and the metal framework. Do not use too much force to clean the piano parts. Do this before tuning.

4)     Conclusion

The piano must be taken care of constantly to ensure that is in tune and in a good condition. A well maintained piano can be used for a whole life and still be in a good condition. It is expensive only if one does not treat it properly. Moreover, it helps parents to bring up their children to be a cultured, academically talented, brilliant and useful person. It is more than just worthy.

4.  Development of Absolute Pitch

Absolute pitch, according to the writer, is an innate ability to identify or produce tones with octave designations accurately, with certainty, spontaneously and effortlessly without reference and at least for one timbre (Lau, 2004, p. 217).

It was commonly accepted that absolute pitch is a rare ability (Eaton & Siegel, 1976; Terhardt & Ward, 1982; Halpern, 1989; Miyazaki, 1989; Takeuchi & Hulse, 1993; Gregersen, 1998; Heaton et al, 1999). Bachem (1955) estimated absolute pitch as being in less than one-hundredth of one percent in the population. Terhardt & Ward (1982) approximated a few percent. Profita (1984, cited in Profita & Bidder, 1988) approximated less than 1:1500. Gregersen and Kumar (1996) indicated 1.3%. Moore (1997) estimated less than one percent. Baharloo et al (1998) and J. T. (2000) estimated 1:2000. Terhardt (2000) suggested 3% of the population in Europe and the United States being absolute pitch possessors. In summary, the estimation is from 1:100 to 1: 10000 in the general population.

Absolute pitch occurs more in musicians than in the general population (Sacks, 1995; Travis, 1996). Harris (1926, cited in Petran, 1932) found out that one out of seven (14.3%) students at the Royal Academy of Music could name and sing tones accurately. Révész (1913, cited in Miyazaki , 1988) estimated 3.4% among musicians, and he (1953) quoted that 5% of music students, orchestra-players and piano-tuners in Chicago had absolute pitch. Welleck (1963, cited in Miyazaki , 1988) noted 8.8% among musicians. Vernon (1977) reported less than 5%. Spender (1980) indicated that 87% of specially gifted concert performers had absolute pitch. Miyazaki (1988) approximated that no less than half of the music university students in Japan possess absolute pitch. Burns & Campbell (1994) reported that only a few percent of western musicians possess absolute pitch. Baharloo et al (1998) suggested that 15% of musicians and music students in music conservatories have absolute pitch. Dowling (1999) speculated that 4% to 8% of musicians in western countries and 50% in Japan have absolute pitch. Gregersen et al (1999) found that 24.6% of music students in conservatories, 7.3% in music colleges and 4.7% in university music programmes had absolute pitch. Absolute pitch is more prevalent in Asian (32.1%) than non-Asian (7%) students. The absolute pitch prevalence is higher in students at music conservatories than at other music institutions. Terhardt suggested 8% of students at music conservatories of Europe and the United States being absolute pitch possessors. Bachem (1940) and Richard (1942) pointed out that many great musicians have no absolute pitch indeed. In summary, the estimation of absolute pitch in musicians is around 5% to 25% in western countries and 50% in Japan where early music training is prevalent.

absolute pitch is more commonly found in musical savants (Rimland & Fein, 1988; Miller, 1989; Heaton et al, 1998), autistic (Young & Nettbeleck, 1995; Heaton et al, 1998), blind (Bachem, 1940; Neal, 1983; Welch, 1988; J.T., 2000) and Williams syndrome persons (Lenhoff et al, 2001) than in the general population. Concerning those with the severe learning difficulty, Hill (1977) estimated a 0.06% occurrence of the musical savant. Rimland (1978) approximated 10% of the musical savant in autistic children. Rimland and Fein (1988) approximated the prevalence of absolute pitch in autistic persons is higher than that in the general population, around 5%. From blind samples, Révész (1953) quoted that 14% had absolute pitch, while only 5% of seeing persons had. Neal (1983) found 40% to 60%, Welch (1988) found 76% boys and 46.2% girls, and J.T. (2000) found 58% had absolute pitch.

Stumpf was the first psychologist who discussed the absolute pitch of Mozart theoretically in 1883 and marked the beginning of the scientific examination of absolute pitch (Wedell, 1934). However, many uncertainties, including its nature, processing, training methods, assessment, influencing factors, characteristics and value, are still unanswered. Absolute pitch remains a mystery in science (Siegel, 1974; Brown, 1999; Stary, 2002). Mull (1925) suggested a solution to the query of absolute pitch. The convincing proof comes from the “success in training average individuals in absolute pitch” (p.475). Ward (1999) suggested a similar method. The nature of absolute pitch can only be resolved if “some technique for teaching absolute pitch is developed that would succeed with everyone, or at least with all children” (p.270). Otherwise, most features of absolute pitch can hardly be revealed truly.

Under the writer’s piano pedagogy, all academically talented, mainstreamed and special educational needs children (including autistic, emotional and behavioural disordered, speech delayed, learning difficult, sensory integrative dysfunctional, moderate hearing impaired, severe hearing impaired and asthma children) possessed absolute pitch. The writer should be the first one and the only one who can make all students acquire absolute pitch (Lau, 2004).Under the writer’s piano pedagogy, students develop absolute pitch mainly through singing and thinking of the absolute solfège in practising the piano, sight-playing, singing, sight-singing, music listening, composition, conducting, learning music theory and preparing for piano practical examinations. As a support, parents receive music guidance in the group parent guidance and attend all students’ learning sessions.

5.  Singing Absolute Solfège in Music Learning

Under Lau Chiu Kay Music Educatherapy, there is a naming system in singing solfège, in which one note is associated with one tone with the fixed solfège. For example, the note G would be sung “sol” and D would be sung “ray” in any keys. Even though sol-fah names are common, the naming system is not universal. So, the writer, based on the existing system, has designed a solfège naming system. This is doh-di-ray-ri-mi-fah-fi-sol-si-lah-li-ti-doh¹ (d-di-r-ri-mi-f-fi-s-si-l-li-t-d¹) corresponding to the letter names of C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G-G#-A-A#-B-C¹ with the black key notes having the sharp relationship to white keys and doh¹-ti-te-lah-le-sol-se-fah-mi-me-ray-re-doh (d¹-t-te-l-le-s-se-f-m-me-r-re-d) corresponding to C¹-B-Bb-Ab-G-Gb-F-E-Eb-D-Db-C with the black key notes of a flat nature . If the notes are organized without sharp or flat relationships, d-di-r-me-m-f-fi-s-le-l-te-t-d¹ are used to represent the letter names of neutral relationships C-C#-D-Db-F-F#-G-Ab-A-Bb-B-C¹. The doh is fixed to C. There are octave indications following the letter names or solfège. Take C and doh as examples. The middle C is C_o or d_o. The C an octave higher than the middle C is C¹ or d¹, two octaves higher is C² or d² and so on. Take Bb as an example. An octave lower than the middle Bb is Bb₁ or te_1, two octaves lower is Bb₂ or te₂ and so forth_. Students are taught to identify tones with octave placements whether the tones are in the middle register, one, two, three or four octaves above or below the middle register. It was designed in this way after examining how students approximated octaves. When students sing the solfège, the notes can be too high or too low. They must lower high notes and raise low notes to their singing ranges and sing with natural voices. The basic absolute solfège singing technique in the musical content is illustrated as follows:

Example 1: To sing a musical phrase with absolute solfège

Solfège Singing:        S    s.  l    t  0      d   t   l     fi    s 

In the above example, when students practise the piano, they sing the solfège simultaneously, following the pitches and the rhythm of the notes, i.e. they sing sol when they play the first note and they sing sol again when they play the second note and so forth. They say “rest” in the one beat rest, with the hand playing the music moving up and down once in a beat’s time. They say “rest two three” in the three beat rest, with the hand playing the music moving up and down three times in three beat’s time (moving once in a beat) and so forth. After the slur, i. e. the part marked with a ↑, they sing “up”. This kind of solfège singing lasts for the whole music learning. They sing solfège in every piece except in some music with fast running passages. More ways of singing absolute solfège will be illustrated more specifically on the next section concerning the absolute solfège singing in piano learning.

6.  Piano Learning and Pitch Identification in Piano Playing

The piano is the only instrument formally learnt at Hong Kong Music Home. Students acquire absolute pitchmainly through playing the piano. The piano can be comfortably sat at and played even by young children. Students can play and sing solfège at the same time. The piano range is the widest among all musical instruments.

Students are guided to use the very ends of their finger tips to play the piano so as to produce the noblest, the most elegant and graceful quality tones. The piano instruction begins with black keys. As all the black keys have their own solfège, students have no difficulty to learn them before acquiring white keys. Since the black keys stand out from the white keys in the keyboard, it is easy for new learners to recognize their positions. It is intended that students can develop absolute pitch for black key tones as good as white key tones. In learning the black keys, the beginning lessons of the piano books in the preparatory grade by Palmer et al, Bastien, Kreader et al and Agay contain few exercises in playing all the black keys across the whole piano keyboard. When students play these pages, they sing sol-fah names for the first time and letter names for the second time. They keep singing within their voice ranges even though some pitches go beyond them. This way of singing tones enables them to get use to these two naming systems. After the black keys, students proceed to play and sing piano pieces with black keys and with black keys mixed with white keys. Students are required not only to play and sing the piano pieces, but to play and sing the “Finger Position” as well. They play it twice, singing sol-fah names for the first time and letter names for the second time. All finger positions are played in this way.

Most method books start with white keys. At the beginning of learning white keys, students play and sing notes from the lowest range to the highest range in the entire piano keyboard. Students sing solfège for the first time and sing letter names for the second time. This is to help them memorize pitches as well as the location of notes in the entire piano keyboard.

After playing the white keys in the entire piano range, students proceed to play and sing piano pieces with white key notes. They sing solfège and letter names in the “Finger Positions” if any, but sing only sol-fah names in piano pieces. After the piano pieces specifically designed for black keys, the pieces consist mainly of white key notes. Students have more chance to acquire white keys than black keys except in the pieces with three or more sharps and flats in the latter stage of the piano learning. But the proportion of playing white key notes is far more than playing black keys.

In learning to play scales, students need to sing all notes. Scales sometimes appeared in the contrary motion. On the first occasion, students play the right hand part and sing the right hand notes. At the second time, they play the left hand part and sing the left hand notes. The third time, they play both parts and sing the right hand notes. In the last session, they repeat both parts and sing the left hand part. They seem to be able to notice the lower part notes more. In addition, they have to play and sing the key signature of each scale before playing and singing the scale. For example, in B major, students play the key signature notes both hands, following the exact tonal order on the stave, i.e. F#-C#-G#-D#-A#. Students sing fi-di-si-ri-li simultaneously.

In contrapuntal music, students play and sing one voice after another before playing with both hands. Students practise in the following ways: a) play and sing the notes of the right hand part; b) play and sing the notes of the left hand part; c) play with both hands, singing the notes of the upper part; and d) play with both hands, singing the notes of the lower part. The aim here is that they can identify notes in different voices.

When students play music built on melodies with chordal accompaniments, they sing all the chord notes and the melody with solfège if time allows. They practise the left hand chordal part first, singing all the chord notes and so on. Then, they practise the whole song, singing all the chord notes and the melody and so forth. When they sing chords, they must sing as fast as possible without dragging the music. If the music is fast, students may not have enough time to sing all the chord notes and melodies. They sing chords as usual when they practise the left hand accompaniment. Then, they sing the melody only when they practise both hands.

Singing solfège is an important task in playing the piano under the writer’s piano pedagogy. When students sing solfège in playing the piano, they do not sing the right notes with the right rhythm. They have to sing with required expressions, such as the dynamics, articulations, tempos, expressions, styles, interpretations and so forth. They have to sing musically. Their voices are their most closed and used instruments among all, not to mention the piano. The musicality of playing the piano can be led easier than just playing the piano without singing solfège. They can understand music better with singing solfège certainly.

From the writer’s observation, it appears that students develop absolute pitch through learning the piano and absolute pitch improves their learning to play the piano. Under Lau Chiu Kay Music Educatherapy, absolute pitch is a medium in perceiving and memorizing piano music. From singing or thinking of absolute solfège, students get a fuller understanding of music expressions, tempo and rhythmic sense, not to mention the tonal and key relationships. They sing loudly and play loudly. They sing fast and play fast. They sing expressively and naturally they play expressively. Through singing and playing, they develop a better awareness to tones, a better involvement with music and a deeper devotion in playing the piano. If they can identify tones at the early stage of learning, they will develop more interest and achievement in music and piano playing. Their parents would be more eager to involve and invest their children into this field (Gregersen et al, 1999; Baharloo et al, 2000). Absolute pitch is not an independent ability, but an indispensable component in the music learning and piano playing. With it students seem to progress fast in learning to play the piano (Collier 1983, Slonimsky, 1988; Hall 2002) and have high achievement in the piano performance (Révész, 1925, 1953; Slonimsky, 1988; Willet, 2001; Hamer, 2001).

There is a comprehensive piano syllabus for the piano performance from the preparatory grade to diploma levels. Each grade consists of eight or eight sets of piano books. The syllabus is compiled with reference to the syllabus for the piano practical examinations of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, Trinity College London and the repertories of some piano competitions. It contains piano method books, technical exercises, piano works that enhance ones’ brain functions, intelligence, cognition, perception, attention, memory, thinking, creativity, spatial-temporal reasoning skills, physical abilities, co-ordinations, emotional stability, tension relaxation, sentiment and reverence to God etc., piano works inspired from the Divine, and piano works from Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Contemporary masters.

Piano textbooks are usually accompanied with compact discs or cassette tapes if available. Otherwise, piano instructors would record the pieces for students, especially for those students in the first few grades. The instructor would play the music with singing solfège. The pieces, which students are going to practise in the coming weeks, are recorded or shot by students or parents with MP3s, MP4s, digital cameras or mobile phones. In practising the piano, students listen to the recording of the piece and point at the score for several times. When they are familiar with the notes, they point at the score and sing solfège after the recording. If they know how to sing, they sing on their own. If they can sing the notes correctly (at least sing the solfège names correctly in the beginning stage of learning to play the piano), they start to practise the piano. Even in this stage, students have a good understanding about the music. When they are practising, they have to sing the notes simultaneously. When they feel fatigue, they may sing the notes silently or think of the notes in the way as they sing. Usually, students sing more expressively than playing the piano. In such case, students understand music fuller and express music deeper because their voices would lead them to play expressively. In their next piano lessons, they play the music back with singing solfège simultaneously before their piano instructors. When communicating pitches to each other, students and instructors would sing or name solfège instead of using letter names, preferably with right pitches. For the music of the piano books recorded by instructors, students are advised to listen attentively, look at scores and sing solfège after the music, preferably memorizing the pitches and the music. This process enables students to associate tones to the absolute solfège, and their positions in the keyboard and stave, and to understand the music in detail. In some piano method books, there are compact discs attached. For the books of classical music by great composers, compact discs are paired by the writer. In this case, students have to listen attentively, look at scores and sing solfège on their own after the music, so as to understand the music more thoroughly.

Paired with the piano textbooks composed by great masters, videos and compact discs recordings of eminent piano masters are assigned to students to listen to. Take the piano music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin as examples. Andras Schiff (the authority interpreter of Bach’s piano music), Mitsuko Uchida (the authority interpreter of Mozart’s piano music), Wilhelm Kempff (the authority interpreter of Beethoven’s piano music), Arthur Rubinstein and Vladimir Ashkenazy (the authority interpreters of Chopin’s piano music) are recommended to students in order to help them to interpret the piano music of these masters better. These piano virtuosos possessed excellent control of noble, graceful, beautiful and rich musical tones. They were loyal to the composers in the interpretation and showed the excellent balance of the perceptual and the rational. They could play out the spirits of the music of those masters. Furthermore, Andras Schiff could sing out the melodies or subjects of Bach’s music like angels’ voices. Mitsuko Uchida could interpret Mozart’s piano sonatas perfectly into the spiritual and transcendent mood. Wilhelm Kempff could produce rich and forceful tones with strong willpower of the Beethoven’s piano sonatas. Arthur Rubinstein and Vladimir Ashkenazy could express excellently the passionate and poetic atmosphere of Chopin’s piano works. Their performances would help students at least to achieve the second level of interpretation described above. The higher levels would leave for students to develop themselves. These high levels concern a) devoted soul in music; b) high morality, noble personality and intrinsic qualities; c) the mind cultivation of being with the Holy One and nature; and d) the will to serve the Holy one. They are beyond the learning of performing and interpretations from others.

7. Fast Progress in Piano Performance

The writer collected the following data concerning the progress of the piano playing from the students at Hong Kong Music Home (Lau, 2004). Grade three piano students, who practised the piano for a mean of five to six hours a week, took a mean of two years to achieve to this grade and passed the ABRSM grade three piano practical examination. Grade five students, who practised the piano for a mean of five to six hours a week, took a mean of three years to attain to this grade and passed the ABRSM grade five piano practical examination. Grade eight students, who practised the piano for a mean of three to four hours a week, took a mean of five years to advance to this grade and passed the ABRSM or TCL grade eight piano practical examination. Diploma students, who practised the piano for a mean of five to six hours a week, took a mean of five years to attain to this grade and passed the DipABRSM, ATCL, or the ABRSM or TCL grade eight piano practical examination, ready for the DipABRSM or ATCL. They started to play the piano at a mean of the preparatory grade.

Ericsson et al (1993) found that the best violin students of performance majors in the music conservatory spent a total of 10,000 hours in practising the instrument. The lower achieving students accumulated about half of that amount. In the present study, diploma students took five years to get the DipABRSM or ATCL or to be ready for them. These examinations are equivalent to the completion of year one of music majors at the university level. The students accumulated 1300 to 1560 hours practising the piano. They spent 3440 and 8440 hours less than those low and high achievers respectively to attain to the diploma level. Their progress was three to six times faster than that of other music students. They possessed absolute pitch with a mean score of 85.47%. It appears that they may have been helped to do this as a result of having AP as AP is a medium in perceiving and memorizing music.

8.  Good Memory Ability in Piano Performance

The writer collected the following data concerning the piano play back from memory from the students at Hong Kong Music Home (Lau, 2004). Out of 107 students who had experiences in playing the piano from memory, over half (N=71, 66.4%) reported that they could play the music from memory immediately after they had practised the music well with sight. These pieces of music are those in the piano syllabus, examination syllabus or competition repertoire. For those who could not play the music from memory at the first attempt, 55.6% (N=20) practised less than six times to memorize it. Most of them (N=83, 68%) could play one to three pages from memory in the first or first few attempts. Grade five students could memorize pieces of 10 to 12 pages. The long pieces were the piano sonatinas by Mozart, Beethoven, Clementi, Diabelli, Gurlitt, Kuhlau or Dussek. The grade eight or diploma students could play from memory pieces as long as 14 pages after they had practised the music well for two to three weeks. These pieces were from the repertoire of examinations, open competitions or the piano syllabus. They were sonatas or difficult long pieces by Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert or Chopin. These processes were under the witness of the researcher and their parents. It was further found that the higher the students’ piano grades, the longer the music they could memorize (X²=137.55, df=36, p=.000, 2-sided), the more times they needed to memorize the music (X²=70.53, df=45, p=.009, 2-sided) and the higher would be their absolute pitch achievement (r=.70, df=120, p=.000) (Lau, 2004).

The memory that students develop is called the “video-camera-type-of-memory”, the memory model named by the writer. When they practise the piano, the notes are shot into the memory system like images through vision, and at the same time, the tones are recorded into the memory system like tape-recorders through singing and perceiving absolute solfège. They develop this kind of memory during the daily piano practice. In the whole process, absolute pitch is an inevitable agent. The “video-camera-type-of-memory”, an ability to play back music from memory is a by-product of learning to play the piano for students at Hong Kong Music Home. They do not need to do anything specially to get this as long as they follow the writer’s piano pedagogy. Students have it naturally.

9.  Play Back Music after Hearing

The writer collected the following data concerning the piano play back after hearing from the students at Hong Kong Music Home (Lau, 2004). Out of 42 students who had experiences in playing back music after hearing. A total of 79.2% of them reported that they could do this if the music was within their piano standard. Some of them played back in front of the researcher without mistakes. This suggests that the training in the piano playing and absolute pitch under the writer’s pedagogy can help them to memorize and play back the music after hearing. Students can develop excellent memory for music successfully. Playing back music after hearing is a by-product of learning to play the piano at Hong Kong Music Home. They do not need to do anything specially to get this as long as they follow the writer’s piano pedagogy. Students have it naturally.

10.  Music Listening

Music listening is very much stressed on in the writer’s pedagogy. There are three types of music for listening, comprising recordings from piano instructors, cassette tapes or compact discs of the piano textbooks, and the background music for daily lives. The listening of recordings from piano instructors, and the cassette tapes or compact discs of the piano textbooks are described above. Only the stimuli of the background music will be discussed in this section. The background music is played when students are sleeping, waking up, studying, doing fine motor tasks, taking meals or playing games. Most of the music is instrumental or orchestral. These are the music researched well for enhancing ones’ brain functions, such as intelligence, emotional stability, attention, thinking, cognition, co-ordinations, creativity and problem solving etc. They are performed by internationally renowned music performers and orchestras and processed in compact discs by recording companies.

The followings are the guidelines for students and parents of Hong Kong Music Home on the purchase and the operation of the audio equipment for playing compact discs:

1) Things to Notice

Even though the audio equipment sold in Hong Kong is good generally, some points have to be addressed.

a) Buy a digital mini disc (MD) player, a digital motion picture experts group (MPEG audio layer III) (MP3) player, a digital camera, or a digital motion picture experts group IV (MPEG audio layer IV) (MP4) instead of a cassette tape recorder to record, shoot and play the teacher’s demonstration in class. The recording effect of the MD player or the MP3 player is far better than that of a cassette tape recorder. The digital camera or the MP4 are highly recommended since students can see what the teacher is doing like motion pictures. If the music is played through the computer, make sure that the speaker is good enough to deliver high quality musical sound.

b) Buy a good 3-in-1 mini hi-fi set instead of a portable hi-fi equipment. If the family budget permits, buy a hi-fi component set specially designed to play classical music. In a hi-fi component system, there should be at least a control deck, a compact disc player, a video compact disc (VCD) player, a MD player, a DVD player, a tuner, a cassette deck and two to five loudspeakers.

c) There is a selection of sound modes in the portable or 3-in-1 mini hi-fi set. When playing classical music, one should turn to the “bypass” instead of the “hall”, “classical”, “theatre” or “stadium” etc. If there is a “bass boosted” system, turn it off too. The “bypass” effect is the real effect, which the music has when it is recorded in the studio. The original quality is preserved to the greatest extent.

d) Do not listen to music through headphones. The music effect is much better through the loudspeaker rather than through the headphone. There are distortions in frequencies when the music is presented through headphones. The situation is worse if students hear music through headphones in the noisy environment. They would turn the music up. If this happens frequently, the intensified music could certainly destroy their hearing acuity.

e) Buy music CDs, not tapes, if there is a choice.

f) Buy music CDs and tapes at Hong Kong Music Home. All CDs and tapes sold at Hong Kong Music Home are selected to ensure the right choice, high quality and low prices.

g) Do not record music from CDs or tapes to tapes through a portable hi-fi or a 3-in-1 mini hi-fi set. The low recording quality makes the recorded music distorted. Some irritating high frequencies and noises, which may not be noticed by adults, would damage the acute hearing of children.

2)  Remark

The audio equipment is not only a factor that affects students’ piano learning, but also influences their acuity hearing in pitches. It is only through listening to high quality and in-tune music frequently that students can develop high quality tone perception, absolute pitch and an excellent musical sense.

11. Music Activities Supplementary to Piano Playing

Besides the piano performance, other music activities include music educatherapeutic activities (音樂教療活動), sight-reading, singing, sight-singing, composition, conducting, preparation for piano examinations and music theory.It is aimed at teaching students to master these techniques at their early age and at the early stage of their piano learning.

Music educatherapeutic activities integrate educational and therapeutic aspects of music teaching. The music educatherapeutic activities and games include music activities in attention, memory, thinking, language, coordination, perception, communication, emotion and behaviour management and social skills. The activities aim to raise students’ general abilities through music. Public performances are part of the training too. Concerts are arranged each year for students to gain experiences and establish confidence. Moreover, after two to five years of learning, some mainstreamed, autistic, specific learning difficult and sensory integrative dysfunctional children got an intelligence quotient of over 130, i.e. the intelligence quotient of academically talented under the Hong Kong Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Chinese Version. Children with specific learning difficulty usually got an intelligence quotient of 110 to 129, i.e. the intelligence quotient of exceptional intelligence. Many children with severe learning difficulty became the mainstreamed. They were able to integrate into mainstreamed schools successfully. Most of them obtained high achievements in their studies. It was recorded that students had increased 20 to 50 points in the intelligence quotient test within two to five years of study. They were educated under both Lau Chiu Kay Educatherapy (劉超祺教療法) and Lau Chiu Kay Music Educatherapy (劉超祺音樂教療法).

In practising sight-reading, students study the music scores first for seconds until they have the preliminary understanding about the music. They then play and sing the key signature, the right hand part, the left hand part, and then both parts. Finally, they do all the singing in the brain, and just play the music.

In singing classes, students sing children songs, folk songs, Christmas songs and songs composed by the writer. The basic procedures are described as follows. The instructor demonstrates singing the melody in absolute solfège when s/he is playing the melody at the piano. Students listen and memorize the tune, looking at the score simultaneously. When students feel confident about the tune, they sing solfège with the instructor with the help of the piano. Then they sing solfège by themselves and the instructor play the tune. After they feel confident about the tune, they sing the solfège without the piano. They practise in the same way at home. In the next session, they are expected to sing the solfège in tune without the piano. Then the instructor plays the accompaniment and they sing the solfège. The last stage will be singing words.

In sight-singing, students try to develop the technique of singing tunes in tune without the help from any instruments. To achieve this, after the instructor has played the tune on the piano, students, looking at the score, sing the tune with solfège and try to memorize the pitches. Then, the instructor plays the first note and any notes that they sing out of tune in order to assist them to sing. If they fail to sing the melody in tune, they keep practising in these two stages until they can sing the whole tune without any references. It is hoped that with enough practice, they will be able to sight-sing any melodies in tune without any references.

In composition, students are trained sing their compositions out with in-tuned solfège before playing them out on the piano. Students explore the motive of the melody or accompaniment through singing solfège before trying it on instruments and writing it down on the manuscript paper. They compose the whole piece of music through singing solfège alone. After finishing a section or the whole piece, they try it on the piano and did some revision. The aim here is that they can compose with exact tones even though they are without references or the help from music instruments.

In conducting, students sing all the music in absolute solfège before students sing songs, and before or at the time when they are playing music instruments. The instructor or student conductor conducts players and singers to sing their parts in solfège until they understand their parts well. Then, they play or sing the music. The conductor, players and singers communicate pitches to each other with singing solfège. The conductor would sing the music out as players are playing the music at the beginning of the practice in order to help young and special educational needs players to follow the music. The repertoire for conducting is Christmas songs, folk songs and simplified orchestral works arranged for percussion and keyboard instruments.

Piano students would take grades three, five, eight and DipABRSM piano practical examinations held by the Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music, or grade eight and ATCL held by Trinity College London. In the graded examinations of the Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music and Trinity College London, there are four parts, namely scales, arpeggios and broken chords, piano examination pieces, sight-reading (or called playing at sight), and aural tests. In the DipABRSM examination, there are four parts too, i.e. the recital, programme notes, viva voce and quick study (similar to sight-reading). In ATCL, the four parts are technical works, examination pieces, programme notes and aural tests. The same piano teaching and absolute pitch approaches described above are used in preparing scales, arpeggios and broken chords, technical works, examination/recital pieces, sight-reading, and the quick study. They are all started with singing absolute solfège. Students are prepared for aural tests in absolute pitch even though only relative pitch is required.

In teaching music theory, before any written work, students play and sing notes, scales, intervals, chords or music excerpts in absolute solfège. If students cannot catch the exact pitches, the piano is used as the reference. In the piano method books, music theories are given wherever these are needed to explain theories in the piano pieces. Students are not only required to understand them on paper, but to play and sing them. When teachers play back the materials, they have to identify them from hearing alone.

12. Parental Involvement

For parents, the Group Parent Guidance sessions are usually held once in every three months. It was conducted solely by the writer. In the guidance, the ways of bringing up and educating children, the ways of following up children’s school and music studies, and prenatal training are taught. Parents are able to share their opinions and ask for advice concerning every aspect of their children’s development. The topics concerning music, such as the basic knowledge in the piano performance, the value of music, the follow-up methods of children’s piano learning, absolute pitch identification, the piano purchase, the piano tuning and maintenance, and the purchase and operation of audio equipment and compact discs etc. are covered. In the students’ courses on similar topics, the writer gives greater emphasis to the process and the method of training. But in the parent guidance sessions, the writer gives much greater attention to the rationale. Parents would support their children’s learning more if they have a greater understanding of this area. They are encouraged to learn to play the piano and to learn music theory, at least up to the end of the preparatory grade in both spheres. They can also help their children to solve elementary problems at home. This facilitates the progress of children’s learning, keeps up their interest and promotes the parent-child relationship.

The Individual Parent Guidance sessions are held any time when needed. Any parents who wish to have consultations are able to make appointments to see the writer or Miss Lam, who is also an educator in general education and special education. The consultation may be in persons or through telephone calls. In the guidance, parents’ personal difficulties in bringing up and educating children can be dealt with personally. Practice makes perfect. As parents know what to do, they are able to help their children to practise. They are able to help children to solve at least elementary problems in the music learning. Children would be more eager to learn and proceed faster than just learning on their own. As a matter of fact, young and special educational needs children can hardly practise without the help from parents. So, parental support is another very important factor in helping students to learn the piano.

Parents of students aged 16 or under are encouraged to become involved in all the children’s learning activities. They are directed to attend all the classes with their children and follow up their children’s learning at home. Most parents have only elementary knowledge in music. They may not follow well what their children are playing when their children attain higher levels. They may help in some other ways, such as showing support to children, praising their achievement, showing concern about their progress, asking them to practise the piano regularly and doing aural training with them. They are guided to design an appropriate learning environment at home. In addition to designing learning corners or study rooms, they are taught about furnishing music corners with pianos, hi-fi equipment, white-boards with staves, desks and adjustable chairs. Besides books of general knowledge, children are assigned music books to read. Parents are encouraged to read these books to their young children. They are taught to devise time-tables for daily lives, piano practices and music listening.

13. Achievement of Hong Kong Music Home

After the writer has run Hong Kong Music Home for more than seventeen years, following achievements have been found:

A young Falundafa practitioner, learned to play the piano under Dr. Lau for6years, has been the member of Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong, achieved DipABRSM at 11 years of age, possessed absolute pitch, possessed the Video-camera-type-of-memory, and performed his own compositions and Chopin’s Fantasia-Impromptu Op. 66 and Polonaise in A Major Op. 40 No. 1 in concerts.

14. Piano Education as a Practice to Become a Whole Person

As mentioned above, in the writer’s teaching philosophy and practice, to help students to develop piano virtuosi, stylistic performances, devoted soul in music, high morality, noble personality and intrinsic qualities, the mind cultivation of being with the Holy One and nature, and the will to express the Holy One are for sure the six main aims in the piano teaching in Hong Kong Music Home. The above described ways of the piano teaching can educate students up to the level of the cultivation of emotion, behavior, personality, morality and culture are emphasized too in the education to students. They are educated to follow truthfulness, compassion and forbearance as the principle of thinking and behaving. They are taught to keep their minds true, clean, pure, fine, noble and dignified. For examples, they are guided to stay far away from the desire for materials. They are led not to hanker after enjoyment in this material world. They are counseled to get away from wicked habits, such as drinking wine, smoking, taking drugs and sex. They are advised not to fight for self benefits, fame, gain and wealth. They thus can be brought up as whole persons with righteous thoughts, not just music or piano lovers,  musicians or pianists. The same educational principle is conveyed to students’ parents so that they can carry on these principles with their children in their daily lives.

The intrinsic qualities of the performer can influence the standard of the interpretation in the piano performance. If the performer wants to express the divine essence of the music, the performer needs to nurture a true, compassionate and forbearing soul, and to cultivate to the mental state of being with the Holy One and nature. Every note that comes out from the performer must be sacred, natural, pure, noble, dignified, clean, gracious and grand, like that heard from the Divine.As a performer, one has to cultivate one’s personalities. One needs to keep one’s mind true, clean, pure, fine, noble and dignified. Anyone who wants to understand the essence of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, please read Zhuan Falun thoroughly from the very beginning to the very end in order to understand the Law of the Universe.

On the other hand, even though the writer understands that it is impossible to play out divine tones from the piano in this earthly world, he still attempts to guide students towards this sublime principle. It is hoped that the students can be educated on the path to develop the technique to make music sacred, natural, pure, noble, dignified, clean, gracious and grand, like the divine music. Then, the music performed out by students can be nearer to the divine qualities. After all, the works of the composers with divine inspirations occupy the core repertoire of the piano curriculum. The best way is to spread Falundafa to students and parents. The writer, as a teacher of the students, has to practise what he preaches. If students (and parents) step onto the road of practice, their music performed out is approaching the divine nature.

To achieve the spreading of Falundafa to students and parents, some days are scheduled for parents and students to study Zhuan Falun and practice exercises.  More and more parents and students join in the road of the practice. It is hoped that piano students can perform music from the Divine successfully with the personal intrinsic divine nature.

XII.    When Divine Music Met Udumbara

The Udumbara (Youtan Poluo Flower) (優曇婆羅花) in Buddhism is called Pali in Sanskirt, and Udonge (優曇華) in Japanese. The Udumbara can also refer to the blue lotus (Nila Udumbara) flower.

During the course of writing this paper in Chinese, 42 delicate and fragrant Udumbara flowers grew on the stainless steel gate of the car park front garden of the writer’s house on 23rd August 2008. It was stated in the Almanac (《通書》、《通勝》) that this day was good for “Pu Du” (普度) (evangelism). Seven persons who had watched the flowers in his house were touched. They have practiced Falun Dafa since then.

During the course of writing this English paper, there have been more than 786 Udumbara flowers growing successively in the garden of the writer’s house. The Udumbara flowers started to grow on 11th May 2009 . There were 30 Udumbara flowers growing on the aluminum gate of the writer’s house, facing the water front garden. It was two days before Master Li’s birthday. The Udumbara flowers grew just on time. The writer and his wife, Pui Fun, thought that it was the birthday present to Master Li given from the Divine. That was the second time that the Udumbara flowers grew in his house.

A week later, i.e. on 18th May 2009, another 12 Udumbara flowers grew on the other side of the frame of the same aluminum gate. That was the third time that the Udumbara flowers burst in his house. There were totally 42 Udumbara flowers growing out in the whole garden, including the Udumbara flowers blossomed before.

Another week later, i.e. 28th May, 28 Udumbara flowers grew on the iron screen of the screen door, facing the car park garden. That was the fourth time that the Udumbara flowers bloomed in his house. There were totally 55 Udumbara flowers blossomed in the garden, including the Udumbara flowers blossoming two times before.

Not a week later, i.e. 1st June, the maid told the writer and Pui Fun, that there were 45 Udumbara flowers growing on the aluminum gate, facing the swimming pool. They are very happy for that for sure. After they had admired the Udumbara flowers, Pui Fun caught sight of some Udumbara flowers growing on the leaves of the plants near her. They searched the whole garden for the Udumbara flowers. They found out that there were on the leaves at least 94 Udumbara flowers in at least 40 places. The Udumbara flowers grew on the leaves of most of the plants in the garden. That was the fifth time that the Udumbara flowers grew in his house. There were totally 194 Udumbara flowers blossomed in the garden, including the Udumbara flowers blossoming three times before. Nearly in every corner of the garden, there were Udumbara flowers.

From 1st June onwards, the maid, the writer or Pui Fun discovered new Udumbara flowers every day in the garden. Because of their busy work, they had no time to check it everyday. After 11th May, i.e. the day when the Udumbara flowers were first found this year, there were strong winds, heavy rainfall, storms or typhoons nearly daily. After storms, part of the Udumbara flowers disappeared, but more new Udumbara flowers grew out again.

On 4th June, there were 99 new Udumbara flowers growing out from 36 new places on the plants. There were totally 265 Udumbara flowers growing out in the garden, including those still existed.

On 5th June, there were at least 34 Udumbara flowers found in the garden.

On 6th June, there were 10 Udumbara flowers found hurriedly in two places of the garden.

On 7th June, 59 Udumbara flowers were found in 13 places on the plants in the garden.

Another week later, i.e. 8th June, the writer and his wife did not need to go out early for work. They made photos for the Udumbara flowers. At least 167 Udumbara flowers were found to burst out on 54 spots in the garden, including glass frames, iron wires, dead branches and leaves of plants. It was estimated that there were at least 450 Udumbara flowers growing in the garden. Every corner of the garden of more than five thousand square feet was scattered around with the Udumbara flowers.

On 12th June, 11 new Udumbara flowers were discovered unintentionally on the orchid of the front door.

On 18th June, 19 Udumbara flowers were found on the fourth glass pane of the garden closure near the swimming pool. A foot more apart from that spot burst forth another 4 Udumbara flowers on the same glass pane. On the first window pane of the same closure sent forth another 30 Udumbara flowers. On the third glass pane grew another 26 Udumbara flowers. There were totally 79 Udumbara flowers found on the glass panes of that wall facing the sea that day.

On 22nd June, Pui Fun, the writer’s wife, found unintentionally 24 Udumbara flowers on the stainless gate of the car park garden. Around three feet from there sent out another one Udumbara flowers on the same gate. Another foot apart from that one Udumbara flower sent forth another one Udumbara flower on the same gate.

On 26th June, the typhoon would come. The maid cut out the leaves, on which the Udumbara flowers grew, for the writer to keep. A total of 25 leaves were cut. On the leaves 72 Udumbara flowers were found. On the skeleton of an umbrella, 6 Udumbara flowers were seen. A total of 78 Udumbara flowers were discovered that day. There were at least 779 Udumbara flowers found totally so far.

On 3rd July, the storm was coming. The maid cut out the leaves, on which the Udumbara flowers grew, for the writer to keep. A total of 8 leaves were cut. On the leaves 11 Udumbara flowers were found.

On 3rd July, the writer told the maid not to cut out the leaves anymore, on which the Udumbara flowers grew, for the writer to keep, even storms or typhoons came. On 6th July, the maid informed him and Pui Fun that there were 14 new Udumbara flowers found on four leaves of different plants. There were a grand total of 805 Udumbara flowers found successively in their garden till that day. The writer and Pui Fun felt very blessed.

According to the Buddhist Scripture, the Udumbara flower is a rare, conspicuous and spiritual flower from the celestial.

It is cited in The Prajna Paramita (or The Great Perfection of Wisdom) Sultra that “The ordinary human body always keeps inconstant. Wealth is nothing but a dream. Nothing is lacking. The righteous belief is still difficult to pursuit. When there is a chance to hear the wonderful Dharma from the Tathagata, isn’t it as rare and precious as the Udumbara?” (《大般若波羅蜜多經》中又云：「人身無常，富貴如夢，諸根不缺，正信尚難。況值如來得聞妙法，不為稀有如優曇花？」)

According to the Fahua Text, a scripture that explains the Fahua Sutra in Buddhism, “The Udumbara is the spiritual and auspicious flower. It appears once in every three millennia. On such, it is said to herald the advent of the Golden wheel king.” (《法華文句》四上記載：「優曇花者，此言靈瑞。三千年一現，現則金輪王出。」)

From Volume 2 of the Lotus Sutra (《妙法蓮華經文句卷二》), an important Mahayana Buddhist text in the 3rd century, we know that “All Buddhas come into the world. But rarely, and hard to meet; And when they appear in the world, It’s hard for them to speak the Dharma. Throughout countless ages, too, It’s difficult to hear this Dharma. And those who can hear this Dharma—Such people too, are rare, Like the Udumbara flower, In which all take delight, Which the gods and human prize, For it blooms but once in a long, long time. So one who hears this Dharma, gives joyful praise, With even just a single word, Has thereby made offerings, To all the Buddhas of the three periods of time. Such people are extremely rare. Rarer than the Udumbara flower (59).” It is also said in the Lotus Sutra Abstract Chapter 2 Verse 4 upper part that “The Udonge is spiritual and auspicious. It appears once in every three millennia. On such, it is said to herald the advent of the Golden wheel king.” (《妙法蓮華經文句纂要卷二》四上記載：「優曇華者，此言靈瑞。三千年一現，現則金輪王出。」)

It is mentioned in Chapter 42 Volume 5 of the Buddha Sayings Commentary that “The Udonge is the spiritual and auspicious flower. It appears once in every three millennia. On such, it is said to herald the advent of the Golden Wheel King. It is to tell that the Buddha is difficult to meet and such a time is hard to encounter.” (《佛說四十二章經疏鈔卷五》謂「優曇缽。此雲靈瑞華。三千年一現，現則金輪王出。舉此以喻佛待時出難值遇也。」)

It is stated in Volume 8 of The Phonetics and Semantics of All Sutrathat “The Udumbara is a Sanskrit word, meaning the auspicious, spiritual and supernatural flower from the celestial. It does not exist in the mundane world. If the Tathagata or the King of the Golden Wheel appears in the human world, this flower will be moved to manifest due to His great virtue and blessing.” (《一切經音義》卷八曰：「優曇花。梵語。古譯訛略也。梵語正云烏曇跋羅。此云祥瑞靈異之天花也。世間無此花。若如來下生。金輪王出現世間。以大福德力故，感得此花出現)。」)

It is also described in detailed in Volume 6 of The Phonetics and Semantics of All Sutra Continuance that “The Udumbara is a Sanskrit word, meaning the auspicious and mysterious flower from the celestial. It does not exit in the mundane world. If the Tathagata or the King of the Golden Wheel appears in the human world, this flower will be moved to manifest due to His great virtue and blessing.”《續一切經音義》卷六云：「優曇鉢羅。次徒含反。梵語也。舊云優曇。正云烏曇鉢羅。此云祥瑞奇異天花也。世間無此花。若如來下生。金輪王出現。以大福德力故，感得此花出現也)。」

It is indicated in Volume 8 of the Huilin Phonetics and Semantics, a Buddhist scripture from the Tang Dynasty of the ancient China in the early 9th century, that “The Udumbara is the product elicited from the conspicuous, spiritual and supernatural phenomenon. It is the celestial flower and does not exit in the mundane world. If the Tathagata or the King of the Golden Wheel appears in the human world, this flower will be moved to manifest due to His mighty virtue and blessing.” (《慧琳音義》卷八載明：「優曇婆羅花為祥瑞靈異之所感，乃天花，為世間所無，若如來下生、金輪王出現世間，以大福德力故，感得此花出現。」)

According to the Scriptures quoted above, the Udumbara flower is “the auspicious, spiritual and supernatural flower” as well as the ”mysterious flower from the celestial”. It is the heavenly flower from the high dimension and it “does not exist in the mundane world”. It is rare on earth as well and it “appears once in every three millennia (three thousand years)” only. Twenty-four Udumbara flowers were first found on a golden brass Tathagata sculpture in a Buddhist temple in Kyungki-D of South Korea in July 1997. It was the 3024th lunar year after the birth of the Buddha Shakyamuni according to the Buddhism calendar. In these years, the Udumbara flowers have burst forth many times in the world. It signifies that the “King of the Golden Wheel”, i.e. “the King of Falun” (the King of Turning the Law Wheel), “appears in the human world”. He would save people with “His mighty virtue and blessing” in this world.

From 6th June to 1st July 2009 , the writer saw through his third eyes eleven times different patterns of the Udumbara flowers. There were one to five separate flowers levitating in the air. There were a bundle of eight and 14 respectively. Some are on the stem, some are on the leaf and some are on the tree (possibly on the Udumbara tree). The images of the snow white Udumbara flowers levitated against the dark background for one to five seconds. This gave the writer the impression that the flowers burst forth suddenly in the air and vanished suddenly in the air.

The images of different patterns of the Udumbara flowers seen through the writer’s third eyes manifested into his space are illustrated as follows:

The date when the writer and his wife first found the Udumbara flowers growing in their garden, it was stated in Almanac (《通書》、《通勝》) that that day was good for “Pu Du” (普度) (evangelism). The writer does hope that this paper can convey readers a revelation. Take this chance to practice Falundafa (60). Do not miss this opportunity which would not come once in a million years. Interested persons please read Zhuan Falun (61) thoroughly from the very beginning to the very end in order to understand the Law.

Anyone who is interested in looking around the Udumbara flowers at the writer’s house or Hong Kong Music Home please phone (852)23744078 (Hong Kong music Home) or send an email to: cklau_hkmusichome@yahoo.com.hk (Dr. Lau).

XIII.    Finale

During the whole course of writing this paper in Chinese and in English, the writer felt that there has been a force behind him to help, push and remind him. For examples, concerning the two extremes of Mozart’s compositional state, the writer could not think out any solutions until 22ndSeptember 2008 . When the writer was practicing the Falun Gung Fifth Exercise, an idea came to his mind suddenly. The letter stated that Mozart’s compositions were inspired from the Divine. In such case, the compositional process had to be fast. However, when the divine music came to the composer, the writing out process might be difficult. Having thought over the idea repeatedly, the writer adopted the idea to analyze Mozart’s compositional method.

Some days before completing the Chinese paper, the writer was wondering about to stop amending it. But, he still kept searching new information in the internet for days. Three days before the completion day of the Chinese paper, i.e. 14th October 2008, the computer and the Penpower Junior (a device to input Chinese words into the computer) were out of order. The computer failed to connect to the internet and the Chinese words from the Penpower could not show up on the screen. These accidents happened three to four times. The writer failed to make them work properly again. He then awoke that a Holy One behind him gave him a hint to stop searching information. The time might run out since the Chinese International Piano Competition 2008would be over soon.

As how the performer expresses the divine essence of the music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin, ideas suddenly came to the writer’s mind like torrents at 12:45 p.m. on 5th February 2009 while he was doing the Falundafa Third Exercise in the group practice. The ideas concerned the practice to nurture a true, compassionate and forbearing soul, and to cultivate to the mental state of being with the Holy One and nature. Then the performer can develop a natural and pure soul. Every note that comes out from performers can be sacred, natural, pure, noble, dignified, clean, gracious and grand, like that the writer heard from the Divine. The performer can then play out the highest quality music.

At 3:00 p.m. of 12th February 2009 , an idea, told through the writer’s inner voice, pushed him to finish the paper as soon as possible. The writer comprehended that he should stop doing some minor things in the daily lives. He had to allocate more time to finish this paper as soon as possible, even though there might not be a deadline for this paper. However, the paper would more or less hinder him from taking up other duties. As mentioned above, he sometimes perceived a voice or an idea transmitted to his brain telling him what to compose or what to do related to the composition. On 13th January, he read Deciphering the Last Three Stanzas of the Plum Blossom Poem in the Essentials for Further Advancement II. It was written “with a courtyard of gorgeous flower, the spring has her master” (一院奇花春有主). When he read up to this sentence, this music sprang up into his mind again. So, the writer used “Spring Has Her Master” (春有主) in the Plum Blossom Poem (梅花詩) as the title of this music. On 27th February 2009 , a voice told the writer how to compose the piano part of the violin music.

In the whole course of writing the music and this paper and the former Chinese paper, the writer had a strong feeling that they were not written by him, or strictly speaking, not totally by him. Even though in the course of writing and composing, the writer knew clearly what he was doing and was thinking consciously, he understood completely that the paper and the compositions were beyond his talents and expectation. He was inspired and led from the Holy One from a higher dimension. What the writer had done at most was to write the music and the paper out to the extent he knew. The music and this paper have the essence of the Divine certainly. The writer said this not to boost himself or his compositions and paper, but he was telling his feeling.

Anyone who has feedback about this paper please phone (852)23744078 (Hong Kong music Home) or email to: cklau_hkmusichome@yahoo.com.hk (Dr. Lau).

Annotation:

1.  The passage was quoted from A series of Info-Beliefs about “the Power of Music in Shaping our Children’s Lives”, Foundation for Universal Music Literacy Research Materials.

2.      The above-quoted passage is Available at: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Johann_Sebastian_Bach.

3.      The original Martin Luther’s saying is：“It (music) is no invention of ours: it is a gift from God." It was quoted from A series of Info-Beliefs about “the Power of Music in Shaping our Children’s Lives”, Foundation for Universal Music Literacy Research Materials. “

4.      The original passage is: “…… according to Christian cosmogony, the Creator animates all things, including music." “In the ‘Tonal Allegory in the Vocal Music of J. S. Bach’, Chafe suggests that Bach’s use of the term Symbolum in association with at least one of his canon suggests a metaphoric dimension‘permitting us to take the canons as statements about the nature of meaning and the relationship between art and theology’. He writes that the‘artists of the Baroque period had meanings of expressing basic relationships between art and transcendent meaning.” It was quoted from Smith, Timothy A. (1996). Why did Bach write canon? Sojurn. Available at: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~tas3/whycanon.html.

5.      The passage was quoted from Hurwitz, David (2008). Christoph Wolff: Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician. Classics Today. Available at: http://www.classicstoday.com/features/f1_0900.asp.

6.      The passage was quoted from World of Quotes:Johann Sebastian Bach Quotes. This literature is available at the following website: http://www.worldofquotes.com/author/Johann-Sebastian-Bach/1/index.html.

7.      The passage was quoted from Butt, John (2008). Bach and the patterns of invention by Laurence Dreyfus. Early Music. It is available at: http://www.hup.harvad.edu/catalog/DREBAP.html?show=reviews.

8.      The passage was quoted from Hurwitz, David (2008). Christoph Wolff: Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician. Classics Today. Available at: http://www.classicstoday.com/features/f1_0900.asp.

9.      The original passage is “Soli Deo Gloria”. It was quoted from Farstad, Arthur L. (1996). Grace in the art: An evangelical musical genius: “J. S. B.: S. D. G.”. Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society, Spring, Volume 9: 16. Available at: http://www.faithalone.org/journal/1996i/Farstad.html.

10.     This was a letter from Mozart to his father at Ausberg in 25^th December 1777 . The passage was quoted from Kerst, Fridrich & Krehbiel, Henry Edward (2001). Mozart: The Man and the Artist, as Revealed in His Own Words. No. 244, p. 67. Retrieved from Project Gutenberg Etext #4042, May 2003. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext03/wamma11.txt.

11.This was a letter from Mozart to his father at Mannheim in 3^rd December 1777 . The passage was quoted from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(translated by Lady Wallace)(2005). The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, No. 244, p. 67. Retrieved from Project Gutenberg Etext #5307, 13^th August  2005 . Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/1wam110.txt.

12.     This was a letter from Mozart to his father at Mannheim in 7th February 1778 . The passage was quoted from Kerst, Fridrich & Krehbiel, Henry Edward (2001). Mozart: The Man and the Artist, as Revealed in His Own Words. No. 123, p. 40. Retrieved from Project Gutenberg Etext #4042, May 2003. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext03/wamma11.txt.

13.This passage was quoted from Stewart, Andrew (2006). Wolfgang or Amadeus? Mozart Anniversary. It is available at: http://www.mozartanniversary.com/insight.htm.

14.The passage was quoted from Launceston (2006). Our true goal. In Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mozart’s Compositional Process. Available at: http://www.topix.net/forum/who/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/TIEGKPB7MEFJAO650.

15.The passage was quoted from Neal Zaslaw (1997). Der neue Kochel. Mozart Society of America Newsletter, Volume 1, Number 1, 27 January. It is also available at: http://www.mozartquartet.com/article2.html.

16.     The related passage is: “My room that I’m moving to is being prepared;–I’m just off now to hire a keyboard, because I can’t live there until that’s been delivered especially as I’ve go to write just now, and there isn’t a minute to be lost.” This was a letter from Mozart to his father at Vienna on 1^st August 1781 . Available at: <http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart’s_compositional_method>.

17.     The quoted passage is: “You know that I immerse myself in music, so to speak—that I think about it all day long—that I like experimenting—studying—reflecting.” This was a letter from Mozart to his father in Paris on 31st July 1778 . It was quoted from http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart’s_compositional_method, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (translated by Lady Wallace) (2005). The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, No. 110, pp. 163-169. Retrieved from Project Gutenberg Etext #5307, 13^th August  2005 . the literature is available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/1wam110.txt.

18.The passage was quoted from Stewart, Andrew (2006). Wolfgang or Amadeus? Mozart Anniversary. The literature is available at http://www.mozartanniversary.com/insight.htm.

19.The passage is: “I shall conclude, for I must now write with all speed; the composing is finished, but not the writing out.” This was a letter from Mozart to his father at Munich on 30th December 1780 . It was quoted from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (translated by Lady Wallace) (2005). The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, No. 137, pp. 222-223. Retrieved from Project Gutenberg Etext #5307, 13^th August 2005 . The literature is available at http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/1wam110.txt.

20.The passage was quoted from Arthur I. Miller, "A Genius Finds Inspiration in the Music of Another," New York Times, January 31, 2006 .

21.     The quotation was from the criticism to Bettina von Arnim by Beethoven in 1810. It was quoted from Karen Menezes, Baroque Music, 23 June 2000,〈http://members.tripod.com/k_menezes/baroque.htm〉. It was also available at Friedrich Kerst & Henry Edward Krehbiel (ed.) (11/2002), Project Gutenberg Etext #3528 Beethoven: The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words by Ludwig van Beethoven, No. 7, p. 12. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/Ivbma11.txt.

22.The literature was quoted from the following website: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Beethoven. It was also available at Friedrich Kerst & Henry Edward Krehbiel (ed.) (11/2002), Project Gutenberg Etext #3528 Beethoven: The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words by Ludwig van Beethoven, No. 80, p. 26. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/Ivbma11.txt.

23.     In another letter to the Grand Arch Duke Rudolf, the composer wrote: “Nothing higher exists than to approach God more than other people, and from that to extend His glory among humanity.” The passage was available at:  http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Beethoven.

24.The sentence was a saying by Beethoven. It was copied from the diary of Sturm, called Observations Concerning the Works of God in Nature. It was quoted fromFriedrich Kerst & Henry Edward Krehbiel (ed.) (11/2002), Project Gutenberg Etext #3528 Beethoven: The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words by Ludwig van Beethoven, No. 323, p. 61. It is available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/Ivbma11.txt.

25.The sentence came from Beethoven’s letter to Emilie M. in H. in Teplitz on 17^th July 1812 . It was quoted from Friedrich Kerst & Henry Edward Krehbiel (ed.) (11/2002), Project Gutenberg Etext #3528 Beethoven: The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words by Ludwig van Beethoven, No. 4, p. 11. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/Ivbma11.txt.

26.The quotation was from Beethoven’s letter to Bettina von Arnim by on 15^th August 1812 . It was quoted fromFriedrich Kerst & Henry Edward Krehbiel (ed.) (11/2002), Project Gutenberg Etext #3528 Beethoven: The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words by Ludwig van Beethoven, No. 32, p. 17. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/Ivbma11.txt.

27. This was the saying by Beethoven. Beethoven told this to Neate in Baden in 1815 when Neate asked Beethoven about the composition of the Pastoral Symphony. It was quoted fromFriedrich Kerst & Henry Edward Krehbiel (ed.) (11/2002), Project Gutenberg Etext #3528 Beethoven: The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words by Ludwig van Beethoven, No. 33, p. 17. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/Ivbma11.txt.

28.The sentence was from Beethoven’s letter to the violinist Schuppanzigh. Beethoven replied him about his complain to a violin piece of being too difficult to play. It was quoted from Friedrich Kerst & Henry Edward Krehbiel (ed.) (11/2002), Project Gutenberg Etext #3528 Beethoven: The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words by Ludwig van Beethoven, No. 39, p. 18. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/Ivbma11.txt.

29.The passage was from a newspaper report in Vienna by Schindler. Schindler commented on Beethoven who knew only little harmony and knew nothing about counterpoint. It was quoted from Friedrich Kerst & Henry Edward Krehbiel (ed.) (11/2002), Project Gutenberg Etext #3528 Beethoven: The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words by Ludwig van Beethoven, No. 46, p. 19. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/Ivbma11.txt.

30. The sentence was from Beethoven’s notes in the manuscript. He was writing the Egmont Overture and the Trio in Bb Op. 97. It was quoted from Friedrich Kerst & Henry Edward Krehbiel (ed.) (11/2002), Project Gutenberg Etext #3528 Beethoven: The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words by Ludwig van Beethoven, No. 53, p. 20. The literature is available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/Ivbma11.txt.

31. The passage was the saying by Beethoven to a young composer friend Louis Schlosser in 1822-1823. It was quoted from Friedrich Kerst & Henry Edward Krehbiel (ed.) (11/2002), Project Gutenberg Etext #3528 Beethoven: The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words by Ludwig van Beethoven, No. 54, p. 20. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/Ivbma11.txt.

32. The passage was the words in the Heiligenstadt Will. It was quoted from Friedrich Kerst & Henry Edward Krehbiel (ed.) (11/2002), Project Gutenberg Etext #3528 Beethoven: The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words by Ludwig van Beethoven, No. 234, pp. 49-50. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/Ivbma11.txt.

33. The passage was the letter from Beethoven in Unterubling to Archduke Rudolph in 18^th July 1821. It was quoted from Friedrich Kerst & Henry Edward Krehbiel (ed.)(11/2002), Project Gutenberg Etext #3528 Beethoven: The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words by Ludwig van Beethoven, No. 243, p. 51. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/Ivbma11.txt.

34. The passage was the letter from Beethoven in Middling to Archduke Rudolph in 29^th July 1819. It was quoted from Friedrich Kerst & Henry Edward Krehbiel (ed.)(11/2002), Project Gutenberg Etext #3528 Beethoven: The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words by Ludwig van Beethoven, No. 249, p. 51. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/Ivbma11.txt.

35. The passage was the letter from Beethoven in Zurich to George Nigeli in 9^th September 1824. It was quoted from Friedrich Kerst & Henry Edward Krehbiel (ed.)(11/2002), Project Gutenberg Etext #3528 Beethoven: The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words by Ludwig van Beethoven, No. 187, p. 43. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/Ivbma11.txt.

36. The passage was the expressions of Christoph Wolff in the book called Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician. It was quoted from: Said, Edward (2001). Cosmic ambition. London Review of Books. 19 July. Available at: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v23/n14/said01_.html.

37. The passage was quoted from: A series of Info-Beliefs about “the Power of Music in Shaping our Children’s Lives”, Foundation for Universal Music Literacy Research Material.

38. The source came from: Chronology of Chopin’s Life, Chopin World - A Bravenet.com Hosted Site. The literature is available at: http://gonechopin.bravehost.com/evenmoreinfo.html.

39. The passage was quoted from Chopin’s Compositional Process: From Piano to Public. Available at: 〈http://www.chopin.pl/biografia/prtw_en.html#6〉.

40. The quoted passage was written by Chopin himself who described the process of composing the Piano Concerto Op. 11. It was quoted from: Chopin Quotes, Chopin World–A Bravenet.com Hosted Site. It is available at: http://gonechopin.bravehost.com/preludes.html.

41. The quoted passage was written be George Sand who described how Chopin composed the Prelude Raindrop, in AMinor, E Minor or B Minor. It was quoted from: Chopin Quotes, Chopin World–A Bravenet.com Hosted Site. Available at: http://gonechopin.bravehost.com/quotes.html.

42. The passage was quoted from: Chopin Quotes, Chopin World – A Bravenet.com Hosted Site. The literature is available at the following website: http://gonechopin.bravehost.com/quotes.html.

43. The material was sourced from: Heart of Genius, Chopin World – A Bravenet.com Hosted Site. Available at: http://gonechopin.bravehost.com/heart of genius.htm.

44. The excerpt was taken from: The Old Testament Daniel  3:10. It is quoted as follows: “You, O King, have made a decree, that everyman that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image.”

45. The materials were taken from: Encyclopedia Smithsonian: Hammer Dulcimer: History and Playing. The literature is available at the following website: http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmah/hdhist.htm.

46. The material was taken from: The Dulcimer. Available at http://www.music.iastate.edu/antiqua/dulcimer.htm.

47. The material came from: Virtual Piano Museum-Evolution of the piano. The related literature is available at the following website: http://www.concertpitchpiano.com/Evolution.html.

48. The reference was from: Chopin World–A Bravenet. com Hosted Site. Available at: http://gonechopin.bravehost.com/evenmoreinfo.html.

49.  The passage is available at the following website: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Authenticity.

50. The passage was quoted from: Brest , Paul (2007). Music research. Available at: .

51.The original passage is: “Music is the manifestation of the human spirit, similar to language. Its greatest practitioners have conveyed to mankind things not possible to say in any other language.” It was retrieved from: Brest , Paul (2007). Musi research. The literature is available at the following website: http://www.classicsforkids.org/?page=musicresearch.

52. The whole passage is: “Chopin’s initiative turned into a passion for the piano.” “Obviously, by his dedicated practice and quick mastery of his piano, Chopin could hardly have felt a sense of inadequacy.” It is the criticism to Chopin’s piano performance technique by the author of Chopin World. It is quoted from: A Psychoanalysis of Frederic Chopin, Chopin World–A Bravenet.com Hosted Site. The related literature is available at the following website: http://gonechopin.bravehost.com/ Psychoanalysis.html.

53. The passage was the criticism to Chopin’s piano performance technique by Mendelssohn. It is quoted from: Quotes about Chopin, Chopin World–A Bravenet.com Hosted Site. It is available at the following website: http://gonechopin.bravehost.com/quotesabout.html=.

54. The passage was the dialog between Beethoven and Tomaschek. It was said by Beethoven on October 1814. It is quoted from:Friedrich Kerst & Henry Edward Krehbiel (Ed.) (11/2002)，Project Gutenberg Etext #3528 Beethoven: The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words by Ludwig van Beethoven, No. 62, pp. 23-24. The literature is available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/Ivbma11.txt.

55. The material is taken from: Frederic Chopin–Poet of the Piano, Chopin World–A Bravenet.com Hosted Site. The literature is available at: http://gonechopin.bravehost.com/evenmoreinfo.html.

56. This was the passage which George Sand described Chopin’s piano technique. It is quoted from: Chopin World–A Bravenet.com Hosted Site. Available at: http://gonechopin.bravehost.com/evenmoreinfo.html.

57. The original passage is: “Chopin is a pianist of conviction.” It was the criticism about Chopin’s piano performance technique on La France Musicale. It was quoted from: Chopin Quotes, Chopin World - A Bravenet.com Hosted Site. Available at: http://gonechopin.bravehost.com/quotes.html.

58. The passage was taken from: Chopin Quotes, Chopin World - A Bravenet.com Hosted Site. The related literature is available at the following website: http://gonechopin.bravehost.com/quotes.html.

59. The poem was taken from Udumbara (Buddhism) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It was retrieved 29/6/2009 from the following website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udumbara_(Buddhism).

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Completed on: 22nd July 2009