0:10

The first time I step

0:12

into his home, I stare

0:15

wide-eyed. It

0:17

feels like a museum. The

0:20

whole place smells like history.

0:23

Rich. Earthy. Full

0:26

of meaning. I

0:29

was born and raised in China. But

0:33

this art is unlike anything I've

0:35

seen before. When

0:48

it comes to superstars in classical music, it's

0:50

hard to think of anyone bigger than Lang Lang.

0:53

The first Chinese pianist to be engaged

0:55

by the Vienna, Berlin and New York

0:57

Philharmonic orchestras, Lang Lang

0:59

is known for his extraordinary talent and

1:02

captivating performance style. And

1:04

in today's meditative story, Lang

1:07

Lang takes us to the time when he was

1:09

newly arrived in Philadelphia from China, and

1:11

how his first teacher there opened his eyes to

1:13

what it meant to be a true musician. In

1:18

this series, we combine immersive first-person

1:20

stories and breathtaking music with

1:22

the science-backed benefits of mindfulness practice. And

1:27

wait what and thrive global? This

1:30

is Meditative Story. I'm

1:33

Rohan, and I'll be your guide. The

1:57

body relaxed. the

2:00

body breathing Your

2:03

senses open your mind

2:06

open meeting

2:09

the world Somehow

2:21

it's knowing in finnadofia Even

2:26

though it's March it's

2:30

my first time in America I'm

2:33

14 I

2:36

walk into the ground floor office at

2:38

the Curtis School of Music where

2:41

I've been invited to audition

2:43

by Gary Graffman himself in

2:46

the world of classical music Gary

2:50

Graffman is a legend I've

2:56

never been more nervous in my

2:58

life My

3:00

communication skills aren't great

3:03

My English is very poor I

3:06

have only the most basic grasp

3:08

on the language I

3:11

fear that if I don't get into

3:13

Curtis I will never be a

3:15

great musician As

3:18

soon as I step into his office

3:22

my expectations are upended

3:29

Because he greets me in

3:31

Mandarin not English I'm

3:35

shocked After

3:38

a brief introduction he asked

3:40

me Ní

3:42

náng táng bé dói fé máng Can

3:45

you play a piece by Beethoven? I've

3:48

performed Beethoven countless times

3:51

before for teachers,

3:53

for judges, even

3:55

for audiences But

3:57

I am terrified I

4:00

entered my first national competition when I was

4:03

7. Not

4:06

only didn't I win, I

4:08

was not even top 6, not

4:10

even top 10. Losing

4:14

that competition completely destroyed my

4:16

confidence. But

4:18

I went home and worked hard

4:21

because I know there was another

4:23

competition coming up. There

4:26

is always another competition. But

4:29

if I fail today, I will

4:32

not have another chance to work with

4:34

Gary. I sit

4:36

at the piano in his office. My

4:40

fingers fall on the keys. And

4:44

I start to play. The

4:48

force required to press the keys

4:50

is something I don't expect. These

4:54

are the heaviest piano keys I

4:57

have ever come across. Once

5:06

my performance is over, Gary

5:08

sits down with me. After

5:12

a brief silence, he asks again

5:15

Mandarin, nivei da yao zuoshe

5:17

ma. So what do you

5:20

like to do? I

5:22

blur out, I'd

5:24

like to study with you because you

5:26

are a great teacher. I

5:29

want to know how to be

5:31

the most successful pianist in the

5:33

world. He

5:36

looks at me for a moment

5:38

and pauses. No,

5:42

he says. Don't

5:45

think about how far the music can

5:47

take you or what music can do

5:49

for your career. What

5:52

can music do for you? As

5:54

a person, how can

5:56

music change your life, make

5:59

you better? that

12:00

being a great musician requires

12:03

more than a focus on music

12:05

alone, but an

12:07

immersion in art. Not

12:10

just the art of classical music, but

12:13

world art. In

12:20

the middle of Gary's living room are

12:23

two grand pianos. After

12:27

our first lesson, he informs me

12:29

that I am to learn a

12:31

challenging new piano concerto each week.

12:35

When I pause to look up from the

12:37

keys, I see Carnegie

12:39

Hall across the street, framed

12:42

by the window. It

12:45

excites me, and

12:48

it stuns me. I

12:50

stare at it in awe. It's

12:53

exactly where I want to be.

12:58

And it's right there, almost

13:01

within reach. Again,

13:15

let's say with Lang Lang, this

13:17

time as he dreams of performing in Carnegie

13:19

Hall. Here

13:22

on the piano stool, working

13:24

hard, but alive and alert, let's

13:27

echo that in our own posture. Upright,

13:32

energized, but

13:35

also with our spine relaxed and

13:37

hands soft. Thank

13:52

you for watching! Some

14:06

teachers I studied with in the

14:08

past keep their students to themselves.

14:12

They never let me play in front of

14:14

other teachers. They always

14:16

feel they know the most.

14:19

That their approach is the right one. Gary

14:23

is the complete opposite. He

14:25

wants me to play for masters

14:27

like Leon Fleischer and Claude Frank.

14:31

One Saturday afternoon, Gary and Naomi

14:33

throw a party for me. Gary

14:36

wants to introduce me to his

14:38

friends, great conductors,

14:40

musicians, and opera strand managers.

14:44

I want you to hear Lang Lang, he tells

14:46

them. I want you to

14:48

give him advice. I don't

14:50

want him to only hear from me.

14:53

I want him to learn from

14:55

a variety of great musicians. I've

14:58

barely been in America for a few

15:01

months. I sip raspberry

15:03

juice. I

15:06

avoid Gary's vodka. And

15:09

I play. The

15:12

keys feel weightless under my

15:14

fingers. The

15:18

sound of the piano echoes

15:20

across the apartment. Everyone

15:25

watches. But

15:28

it's only Carnegie Hall that I feel staring

15:30

back at me. Gary's

15:35

perspective is that every great

15:37

musician has certain specialties. Like

15:41

how a restaurant has a signature dish.

15:44

There is not only one way to

15:46

roam. There

15:49

are a million ways to get

15:51

to your final destination. When

15:55

I come to America, I play

15:57

mostly Western classical music. French

15:59

music. and well, German

16:02

Russian, that's what I was

16:04

taught growing up. But I

16:06

don't know Spanish music. So

16:08

Gary shows me Granados, Defaya,

16:12

and then Hungarian music, South

16:15

American music. He even

16:17

has me sit with a student of

16:19

his who loves rock and roll, which

16:22

he admits to not understanding at

16:25

all. Even

16:27

so, Gary insists

16:29

that it's important I

16:32

expose myself to everything, that

16:36

I take in as much as I can.

16:40

He wants me to observe, listen,

16:43

and learn so

16:45

that I can find my own way to think.

16:51

One Saturday, as I am

16:53

practicing, Gary hands me

16:55

a book of Chinese music. This

17:01

is your history, he tells me.

17:04

There are some interesting pieces that

17:06

you may want to learn. Audiences

17:10

in America will be interested

17:13

in discovering Chinese music. They

17:16

can be something completely fresh

17:18

and different. Being

17:21

in Gary's orbit continues

17:23

to unlock a connection to

17:26

my own culture. Sometimes

17:37

it does take another to help us remember

17:39

what matters to us. When

17:42

Lang Lang talks here or better connecting to his

17:45

culture, what comes to mind for you? Getting

17:48

better at making a famous family dish? Reading

17:51

that book you keep on putting off? Take

17:55

a moment to reflect on what it is for you, and

17:58

make the intention to do what you need to.

18:00

to make it happen. In

18:36

Philadelphia, at the

18:38

Curtis Institute, I learned

18:40

that as a pianist in America,

18:42

you have to be able to

18:44

communicate your point of view musically,

18:47

and you have to share your

18:49

personality and ideas beyond music. My

18:53

communication skills aren't good enough yet.

18:56

In Asia, we are not

18:58

encouraged to express ourselves so

19:00

personally. I am

19:02

in the habit of keeping my feelings to

19:04

myself. But Gary presses

19:07

me to share what's on

19:09

my mind. It's very hard

19:11

for me to do so. After

19:13

six months, Gary decides it's

19:15

time to change our strategy.

19:18

Long, long, he says, you

19:21

have to make real friends who are

19:23

from America, who will become part of

19:25

your day to day life. You

19:27

can't just be by yourself in

19:30

a small circle of people with

19:32

whom you never speak English. You

19:34

need to get out of your little box. Gary

19:38

tells me I need to get out

19:40

and expand my circle, and

19:43

then take me to the same

19:45

Chinese restaurant in Chinatown we have

19:47

eaten at a thousand times. With

19:50

that, Naomi and him devise

19:52

a plan. They introduce me to

19:55

a fall professor

20:00

at the University of Pennsylvania

20:03

who teaches Shakespeare, Rick

20:06

Doran. We

20:08

start to read aloud together. Hamlet,

20:14

Romeo and Juliet, and numerous

20:17

other plays. We

20:20

see Broadway shows, they

20:22

go to the opera, I

20:25

see my first American football and

20:27

basketball game. A

20:30

new world begins to open

20:32

up for me. Back

20:35

in Philadelphia, I eat my

20:37

first cheese stick. The

20:40

lines are around the corner. The

20:44

cooks keep yelling and everything

20:46

smells like onions. I

20:51

have to admit, it's too heavy

20:53

for me and I can

20:55

only finish half of the sandwich. As

20:59

we continue my education in

21:01

the apartment, Gary

21:04

shares stories from his adventures

21:06

around the globe. These

21:09

stories are my favorite. They

21:12

open my eyes to a world

21:15

outside of studying, practicing,

21:17

and playing the piano. When

21:23

Gary first visit China in

21:26

the 1970s, bicycles

21:28

are everywhere. So

21:31

much so that in the morning

21:33

before sunrise, it is

21:36

the sound of bicycle bells ringing

21:38

in the street below that wakes

21:40

him. It's

21:43

so different from the more modern

21:45

China that I grew up

21:48

in. Gary

21:51

shares stories of the

21:54

sunstorms in the Goldby

21:56

Desert along the Silk Road where

21:58

the winds teachers

24:01

to become an infinite

24:03

student, infinitely

24:06

learning. I

24:13

used to think that my life

24:15

would find meaning when I answer

24:18

the question, how can

24:20

I be the most successful pianist in

24:22

the world? Gary

24:24

helps me ask a different question. What

24:28

does it mean to be a true

24:30

musician? When I

24:32

first came to New York, I

24:34

believed that if I only work hard enough,

24:37

put in enough hours practicing,

24:40

I would be the best. But

24:42

turns out that being a true

24:45

musician is about more than hard

24:47

work. It's about

24:49

more than what I put out. It's

24:52

about what I take in. Exploring

24:57

this question leads

24:59

me to experiment with new

25:01

foods, new art, new

25:04

friendships, new

25:06

music, and a

25:08

new relationship with my culture, and

25:12

most importantly, with

25:15

myself. Refreaming

25:22

the question leads me to

25:24

accomplish things in my life

25:27

and in my craft. I

25:31

not only never thought possible, but

25:36

never even imagined. Thank

25:47

you, Lang Lang. In just

25:49

a moment, I'll guide you through a closing

25:52

meditation. from

26:00

Lang Lang's story. But the

26:02

theme I want to draw out in our meditation together

26:05

is that of taking influence from wherever you

26:07

can, looking beyond our

26:09

normal bubble, our normal behaviour, and

26:12

letting new input, new inspiration open us

26:14

up to new possibilities. And

26:17

we'll start as with many meditations with

26:19

the breath. Inviting

26:22

the body to be comfortable, soft.

26:27

And taking some time to notice where you can sense the breath

26:29

in the body. Entering,

26:33

leaving. In,

26:36

out. Inspiring,

26:39

releasing. Directing

26:45

your attention to rest with the breath a little while. Letting

26:48

the mind collect here. Taking

26:52

it easy. Staying

26:55

close to home. When it

26:57

comes to staying close to home, this is it. The breath

26:59

is the most common object of meditation for

27:01

good reason, but it is familiar. And as with Lang

27:03

Lang's path to becoming a true musician, it's about what

27:06

you take in. So,

27:12

let's take some different things in. Let's go beyond the breath.

27:18

First, let's go beyond the breath. And as with Lang Lang's breath,

27:21

let's go beyond the breath. First,

27:25

let's go to the hands. Maybe

27:27

the busiest parts of our body. Drain

27:31

as much of your awareness into your hands for a

27:33

little while, allowing them to

27:35

soften. Notice

27:41

any energy here. Any

27:44

pulsing. Any vibration. Watch

27:49

the dance of sensation that's here in the hands, however

27:51

they are. Even

27:54

if they're not doing much at all. Taking

27:58

in the hands. The

28:11

second place we'll go to on our tour is to the

28:14

heart, another area

28:16

that works so hard, blood

28:19

and emotion. Letting

28:23

the mind be quiet, move

28:26

your attention to the centre of the chest, in

28:29

and around the heart. If

28:33

it feels okay and is safe, you can

28:35

close your eyes if you like. Such

28:40

an important part of us, so much to

28:42

be felt, often

28:44

ignored as an area for our attention. So

28:50

resting here, taking in the

28:52

sensations, taking it

28:54

all in, touch, feelings,

28:57

reaction, taking

29:01

in the heart area, taking

29:04

in the heart, the heart

29:06

area. Okay,

29:20

in a nod to Lang Lang's day job, let's

29:22

now open our mind to take in sound.

29:27

Not listening to anything in particular, not even my

29:29

voice, rest with the

29:31

overall soundscape that is here to be known. Open

29:36

to near sounds and far, open

29:40

to unexpected notes, letting

29:46

the mind, the awareness, be open and receptive,

29:51

and allowing sound to come to you. No

29:54

need to go out and grab it, no need to

29:56

do anything. Taking

30:00

in whatever arises in the soundscape,

30:03

whatever music. Taking

30:06

it in. We've

30:20

gone beyond the breath and looked

30:22

to new parts of experience for input and insight.

30:25

The hands, the heart, to

30:27

sound. For

30:30

this last leg, let's go further still

30:32

and turn the mind to

30:34

mystery. To

30:36

the place where music is before it's written or

30:38

played. To the

30:40

place that is neither here nor there. If

30:46

those words resonate at all, go with that

30:48

resonance. And

30:51

if they feel confusing, go with

30:53

that. What

31:00

is the meaning of the story? Every

31:06

time you listen to an episode of Meditative

31:08

Story, you do what Lang Lang was invited

31:11

to do by his teacher. You

31:13

take on something outside of yourself, a story,

31:16

literally alien. And

31:18

in the doing you open yourself up

31:21

to new directions, new perspectives. Take

31:26

care and be well. And

31:29

thank you for inviting us into your life. Meditative

31:53

Story is a way to art original

31:55

in partnership with Thrive Global. The

31:58

show is produced at the Studio

32:00

Insight. SY Partners in New York.

32:03

Our executive producers are Derren Triff,

32:05

June Cohen, Ariana Huffington and Dan

32:07

Katz. Our producer is Timothy Lu

32:10

Lee. Our supervising producer is Jay

32:12

Punjabi. Our curator

32:14

is Carrie Goldstein. Original

32:17

music and sound design is by the Holiday

32:19

Brothers. Mixing and

32:21

mastering by Brian Pugh. Special

32:24

thanks to Anne Sax, Juliana

32:26

Stone, Summer Matys, Monica

32:29

Lee, Lindsay Benoit

32:31

O'Connell, Libby Duke, Smriti

32:33

Sinha, Stephanie Gonzalez

32:36

and Sarah Sandman. And

32:38

I'm Rohan Gunajalaka, creator of the

32:40

Buddify meditation app and your host.

32:46

Visit meditativestory.com to find the transcript

32:48

for this episode.