History

Interview with Principal Wang

	Principal Wang was kind and easy-going	A precious experience to listen to Principal Wang

Greeting

Good afternoon, Mr. Principal. I am General Director of Ping He Children Orchestra. You did much effort on establishing Ping He Children Orchestra. We are very curious about the history of the orchestra.

Would you please tell us why you want to establish the Children Orchestra?

Good question! When I came to Ping He in 1988, I proposed "Enhance our interior, achieve excellence" as a goal. Under the ideal of balancing ethical, intellectual, physical, social skills and aesthetical education, I valued students' clubs. And the Children Orchestra was established under this background. Ping He Elementary School was a big school. I thought that we could not be absent in various competitions. And not only should we participate, we should also get good scores.

What problems did you encounter
when you founded Children Orchestra? How did you solve them?

Okay, there were three points to consider of establishing an orchestra, which are teachers, funding, and students. Of course there were some problems to organize such a big band, but I didn't see them as problems. I thought that as long as we tried, we could make it. For the teachers' part, we had many music teachers at that time. But we had many classes then as well. There were twenty classes in each grade, which amounted to 120 classes. So we were in lack of teachers. Coincidentally, Changhua County Educational Bureau had a plan on delegating specialized new graduates. Music majors Ms. Fang-Min Liu, Ms. Ru-Zhen Yen and Director Chia-Yu Lin were then recruited to our school within two years, so we got enough teachers. To form an orchestra, we needed many musical instruments. A timpani, for example, cost NT$200,000. I asked Taiwan Province Education Bureau for help. There was a plan to develop and refine general education by reimbursing schools with teaching equipment. With the funding of the government and the donation from the parents, we solved the money issue. For the Children Orchestra students, they were distributed in different classes. Music teachers had to invite them to the Children Orchestra, sometimes needed some negotiation with their form teachers. So it was not easy to recruit the students. But we finally did it. Now, under the guidance of Fang-Min Liu, Children Orchestra is progressing. This is a rare accomplishment.

Could you please give some encouragements
for the Children Orchestra members?

Sure. Whether an instrument is big or small, expensive or cheap, it is crucial and of equal importance in an Orchestra. No matter what musical instrument you play, you have to know that everyone is very important. You have to play the instrument well to make the harmonious music. It's tiring to be a member of Children Orchestra. You have to spend more time on it, and the teacher must be more strict in your skills, for a few errors in the sound would destroy the beauty of the music. But if you could master the skill, you could earn much for yourself. Not only could you entertain yourself, you could also attend competitions for the school. If you get good results, everyone would be happy. No pain, no gain. It's hard for us to practice, but we could also enjoy the joy of success. I believe that everyone will diligently learn from Ms. Liu, and I hope that you could have excellent performance in the competitions. Wish you good luck.

Principal Wang read our card attentively	We respected Principal Wang's kindness
The thank-you card	Took a picture with Principal Ching Wang

Source: Innovative Musical Notes

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