Famous Pianists Go to the Countryside, Children Have Fun Together

(Taiwan Business News) Internationally acclaimed pianists Huang Kai-ying and Kimball Gallagher, together with dancer Kao En-pei, jointly held a unique "Taiwan88 Campus Tour Concert" at Neiwan Elementary School on the 6th, combining various games to guide the schoolchildren into the world of music, making this international tour concert feel like a joyful gathering of "music" and "fun," with the schoolchildren all having a wonderful time.

The Hsinchu County Government, the Hsinchu City Enterprise Managers Association, the Taipei performing arts team Yi Yue Ji, and Huang Kai-ying, Kimball Gallagher and others jointly organized the "Taiwan88 Campus Tour Concert," which began yesterday and runs for three consecutive days at 6 elementary schools in Hsinchu County: Neiwan Elementary School, Zhaodong Elementary School, Beiping Elementary School, Zhuzhong Elementary School, Yuandong Elementary School, and Xinfeng Elementary School.

Huang Kai-ying and Kimball Gallagher first performed a four-hand piano duet, letting the children feel the melody of the music and "guess by feeling" the titles of the songs; then, together with dancer Kao En-pei, they used counting beats and interactive dancing to perform famous pieces by musicians and composers such as Bizet, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, and Yen Ming-hsiu, while Gallagher even improvised a song using the schoolchildren's names. Through the lively back-and-forth interaction, the notes seemed to leap vivaciously off the page, and the joyful atmosphere infected the schoolchildren present, opening up their international musical and artistic horizons.

Huang Kai-ying said that through creative ideas derived from the 88 black and white keys of the piano, the three of them had started with the "88 World Tour," traveling through 26 countries around the world, using music to promote social care in developing countries and create new social value. This year they plan to extend the tour back to Taiwan, with plans to tour 88 schools in Taiwan, China within three years, using interactive and innovative performance formats to inspire schoolchildren's curiosity, imagination, and international perspective.

Gallagher said he hoped that through interactive methods such as Q&A and games, they could break the stereotypical impression of traditional classical music, so that while listening to music, the children would also have their initiative and curiosity sparked, "assisting" teachers in completing the musical performance together.