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It's ironic that such a quote would come from a composer as daringly original as Stravinsky. Was he suggesting that his own music was somehow ‘borrowed,' despite its very distinctiveness, or was he simply saying that his music sucked because he didn't steal from others?

Here's another point of view: replace the word ‘good' in that quote with ‘successful' or ‘popular.' Now it all makes sense. It doesn't do well commercially to imitate. You have to plagiarize someone's work and call it your own to get ahead in the world, or else do something so original that no one can argue with you.

Having realized that I have no further point to make other than the fact that society works in screwed ways (which everyone older than five should be aware of) let me introduce myself. I'm Kevin Lau, and I've lived for about sixteen years. From the moment I was born, I've been attracted to things that have relatively low social value within the typical neighborhood. Examples include performing chamber music, reading books, listening to film scores, and writing sci-fi and fantasy. Incidentally, things like sports, business, and cars disinterest me. I therefore appear doomed for careers which would leave me dreading the monthly rent, since our society cares less about the survival of classical musicians and authors than about athletes who go on strike because their six-digit salaries weren't high enough.

I also happen to worship movies. Which means that, inadvertently, I worship Hollywood. That's enough to discredit just about anything I said earlier. :)

But on to some real info about me:

Playing Piano

I started piano when I was five. My parents didn't force me to practise; I did it on my own. In fact, they were usually telling me to stop and do something more interesting with my time, but I loved piano so I kept at it like a dork. I don't think anyone can really ‘play' piano—or any other instrument—unless they like doing it. Even then, it's not easy.

I've performed in several concerts since, and with an orchestra once—the Mendelssohn G minor Concerto. That performance went reasonably well; I didn't screw up until the performance was over, whereby I forgot to shake hands with the conductor and stood baffled in the middle of the platform while receiving frantic cues from various people offstage. The video tape of my blunder was sent around the world to my relatives in New Zealand and Australia, because my parents apparently didn't think what I did was embarrassing. There have been so many other incidents, after all.

In case anyone reading this is a classical amateur soloist, here are some tips to help you not screw up.

1. Avoid wearing a jacket or a tuxedo unless you absolutely have to. They're heavy (particularly the ones with the shoulder pads) and impede the performance level more than one might think. I hit several wrong notes in a row because my left arm, confined by the stupid jacket, couldn't cross over my right properly.
2. If you must wear a jacket during a concert, don't button it. If you do, you risk the chance of your tie dropping out of the folds during your bow, or else during the actual performance. In my case, both of these happened. During an applause, I actually had to physically place the tie back into my jacket in front of an audience. Talk about having moral support...
3. But just because you don't wear a formal jacket doesn't mean you should arrive at a concert unprepared—despite what your parents tell you. I once came to a concert in a T-shirt and jeans, being told that it was a very casual affair since the concert was taking place in a nice cottage beside the lake. It turned out that the director of the Canadian Music Competition and the organizers of several festivals were present, and the host had to change me immediately into something formal. The shirt was oversized, and during one of my pieces the sleeves on my right hand actually slid over my fingers, so that I had to yank it back up right in the middle of the performance. The audience was very kind to me afterward, as usual.
4. Don't be afraid to adjust the height of your seat. I was at a music academy in London, and performing the finale in the first of a four-series concert. I sat down and began playing right away. A few seconds into the tremolo, I realized that my seat was incredibly low, as if I'd sat on a stool designed for some seven foot tall guy with legs the size of toothpicks. I spent ten minutes on that seat wishing I had raised my seat and hoping I didn't look ridiculous, which I did.

Playing Piano in front of Children and Noisy People

I was invited to play at Roy Thompson Hall once. Of course, I was delighted, until I realized they wanted me to perform at the lobby in front of a group of children. A hundred children.

I've never declined an invitation, simply because I have no status and therefore no exposure. So I asked myself, How bad could it be?

You have no idea. During that agonizing hour, all I could do was pray that they wouldn't throw sharp objects at me. Had I a brick in my possession, I would have used it. The kids were barely disciplined enough to refrain from leaping onto the piano, and of course the parents were distracted by trying to keep their children under control. It entirely defeats the purpose of an educational concert. Of course, there is that rare case where a parent told me her child was inspired. I thanked her and felt grateful, even though the comment might have been made out of politeness. Or sympathy.

If children are bad, some adults are worse. Children are at least honest. They cause noise and havoc, indicating boredom and disinterest. Certain grownups, on the other hand, comment enthusiastically on my performance during my performance. "You're doing great." "Isn't he wonderful?" "My God, don't you wish you'd taken piano lessons?" "Kevin's so talented, although it's hard to tell since I can't hear a bloody thing he's doing while I'm blabbering away."

(Sigh.)

Writing

I engage in a rather strange activity for a teenager. I write—not short stories, but full fledged novels. I have one novel under my belt that needs editing, but is pretty much done except for the epilogue. At this stage, if I were judging my novel on the same basis which I judge the novels in my book reviews, I'd give it two stars.

This is actually more egotistical than it sounds. I give one star to a lot of books whose authors are quite esteemed (not to mention well-paid.) So giving my own novel two stars is evidence that I have some faith in my work even though I know it needs improvement. Right now I'm stuck in a Terry Goodkind complex; I write the way he does even though I hate his writing style. My work is unsubtle, unwitty, and generally rather unintelligent, but filled with overdramatized characters and conversations. I'm working to fix that. When I have time, I may even post an excerpt here.

In the meanwhile, here's an outline of the story. There are two races who have been at war for a decade due to a series of conflicts which sprouted many years back. A peacekeeping force, consisting of one thousand ships, is sent to settle the dispute and force a negotiation. One of the warring nations refuses to negotiate, however, and the peacekeepers are forced to take part in a destructive battle in order to prevent a planetary holocaust from occurring.

I'm not an expert on writing, but I can tell what sets apart a good book from a bad one. Aside from the more obvious writing tricks, I think one of the most important items in a good story is an interesting setting. One might think that a novel's quality revolves only around characterizations, writing style and the degree of originality, but if it all takes place in a boring place everything's going to seem pretty drab. This is a perspective from a sci-fi/fantasy reader; I'm sure it's an opinion that doesn't apply to normal fiction, since almost all fiction takes place in boring settings. That's why I try to create the coolest possible locales for my story, and place key action sequences in a variety of geographic locations—canyons, oceans, space, the tops of tall buildings, etc. One of my favourite parts of my own novel involves a peacekeeping strike force that must scale a mountain in order to infiltrate a fortress floating above the peaks. The idea is incredulous, but I had to work it into the story because the image was so appealing.

I've had dreams that my book would one day be made into a movie, and if there's anything I enjoy even more than books, it's movies -- and, of course, movie soundtracks...

Composition

Partly spurred by my dreams about my novel, I decided to compose a soundtrack to an imaginary movie—based on my story from the previous section. You can listen to the compositions that I have written so far at the Arpeggio Music Page. There are five songs there, and more will be uploaded as soon as I upgrade my pathetic sound card.

I'm even less knowledgeable about composing than I am about writing. I have absolutely no clue how I write. Or rather, I have no clue other people write, based on compositional training. As far as I'm concerned, the only method I've used to learn how to compose is by listening to lots of film scores and classical music—and of course, it helps to be endowed with perfect pitch. (There's only one instance where perfect pitch wasn't helpful. I once had to perform on a keyboard at a wedding, but the keyboard was transcribed to a different key, so that every note I played sounded like a different note...which is, for a musician with perfect pitch, the worst possible hell imaginable.) This means that everything I write probably sounds similar to something else. In fact, I'm guilty of a hell lot of plagiarism, but since I'm not making any money yet it doesn't matter.

I'm not going to ramble about my theories on film music composition. You can see what I have to say at my other site. Please do visit it; I'd appreciate any sort of comments.

Which brings my ranting to a close. I hope you had as much fun reading this as I did writing it. (Take that as you will...) Updates to this page will be notified on the main site. Thanks to all who had the patience to scroll through this; and remember, the world may be messed up, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun.