Our graduates get double offer from The Juilliard School and The Bard College
Wang Xinyi, Wang Xinyue
Graduated in 2015
Admitted By:
The Juilliard School
Bard College
Offers:
The Juilliard School
Bard College
Current college: Bard College
In April 2015, Wang Xinyi and her sister Wang Xinyue, students of our school, received offers from The Juilliard School and Bard College at the same time. The former is world’s top conservatory college, and the latter is a comprehensive university with nearly a hundred-year-history where students can choose 2 specialties as they wish.
As we expected, the twins chose Bard College in May, 2015. The most appealing factor of Bard for the twins is that they can choose another specialty besides music and after they graduate, the path for success promises wider for them. They can not only become shining musicians on stage, but also have opportunities to pick up another profession for each based on their personalities and preferences.
That coincides our school’s teaching philosophy. We hope our students have all-rounded development, instead of being musicians who merely bloom in musical festivals. We develop students’ abilities in international communication and help them achieve a balanced progress between music and study. We prepare our students the repertoire for social life, and improve their musicianship and artistic aesthetics. Music can become their life-long friend, while at the same time, they are able to enjoy a diversified career options and planning.
Click here to watch the video of the twins playing Navarra Violin Duet at the Kennedy Centre in the USA.
The news spread very quickly and drew attention from the society. Many news presses reported their stories headlined with The Twins Declining The Julliard School’s Invitation. The following reports come from the China Youth Daily:
When one is doubting oneself, along goes one’s talent. In that case, one need to practice hard to get improvement and so will be improved of one’s talent.
Almost everyone fears making choices, which, as I see it, is totally unnecessary, considering that there is no difference between good choice or bad choice; what really matters is whether or not you are doing good as of your choice. Thinking that to myself, the hesitation in my mind was removed.
Good music forms its own world. I have already been exposed to many genres of music since I was young. It was actual for me to connect directly with various people’s ideas and thoughts.
The Juilliard School of US is the top conservatory school in the world. It is called the Harvard of Music. The acceptance rate of Julliard School is around 7% annually and the school is the dream-place for many music students. This year, Wang Xinyi and Wang Xinyue, the twin sisters of 19-year-old from Jiangsu, received offers from the school.
There is no doubt that the twins are enviable by other music students.
The twins, however, gave up on this opportunity and they took the offer from Bard College of liberal arts and sciences instead. It is said that they want to learn philosophy.
To many people, Wang Xinyi and Wang Xinyue’s choice is hard to understand.
According to a survey, there are at least thirty million children in China who learn to play instrument. Many of them live a simple and depressive life. They nearly have nothing in their lives except practicing instrument, only hoping someday they can achieve success like Lang Lang to enter world-famous colleges like The Julliard School or Curtis Institute of Music, and become world-class musicians. These twins, nevertheless, declined this walk of fame.
Who are the twins? What music attainments that they had achieved made them distinguished to be noticed by the world’s top conservatory? Why they gave up the chance that everyone envied? What inspiration can other people get from their stories?
When they were about to leave for the US, our reporter caught an exclusive interview with them.
If they did not learn music, they would have become curve wreckers (meaning straight A students).
When they were four or five in age, Wang Xinyi and Wang Xinyue moved to Shanghai from Jiangsu.
At the age of six, the twins sisters began to learn violin. “I didn’t think much of it at that time. I was asked to learn violin, so I learned it. I was obedient and I stuck to playing violin because I was told to do so. I played violin simply because I needed to play so I play it”, said Sister Wang Xinyi.
Like many families, parents had their children learn music simply hoped that they could have more options and provided children more possibilities in the future development. Therefore, Wang Xinyi and Wang Xinyue had never had a thought that they would go professional in the career of music. They simply treated it as a hobby. “when we were 10, we gave a performance in Tsingdao and after it, dad asked us if we would like to choose music path when we grow up. We declined with resolute and decisive mind”, said Xinyue.
The twins were also studying painting back then. If it’s necessary to make a comparison, their accomplishment in painting even beat their violin levels. When they are in primary school, they participated a competition themed with world peace and they won the gold prize with works. As a consequence, their paintings were exhibited in the National Art Museum of China since they were very young.
Both girls also excel at academic performance. They were pretty interested in maths and they began to study Mathematical Olympiad since first grade, said Wang Xinyi, and the both had excellent results in their study. When they were entering from primary school to Xuhui High School, they still excel well in academic learning. “each major examination, our ranks never fell out of top 10”, said the twins.
If they continued to pursue academic achievement, they would become straight A students in any class.
As a result, when they finished their pre-school phase (note: Shanghai applies system of 5-4, where there are four years in junior high school and the first year are generally called pre-school), they decided to transfer to Music Middle School Attached to Shanghai Conservatory of Music (MMSASCM). Everybody were shocked at their decision and the principal must thought that we had gone out of our minds, said Xinyue.
Talents also requires repeated practice.
When we were 12, we suddenly got enlightened.
The two sisters fell for music and violin all of a sudden and music had become an inseparable part in their lives. If they ever learned music as an obedience to their parents, then after middle school, playing musical instrument had become their desires.
During that period, more and more burdensome school work kept on eroding their time for practicing the violin and it was a defining moment for them to make a choice.
After serious considerations, the twins set up to go the path of music.
By virtue of their excellent academic performance, Wang Xinyu and Wang Xinyi were successively admitted by MMSASCM.
After entering the school, we found that we are not always the best as before. We fell behind other students, said Wang Xinyue.
The twins recollected that this was the first setback in their lifetimes and there were experiencing their first period of confusion.
After being enrolled by MMSASCM, the twins genuinely began learning their majors. “We used to champion a lot of competitions and after coming here, we realized that a music major never participate any amateurish matches”, said the old sister Xinyi. Quite a lot of students in MMSASCM were directly selected from the attached primary schools. They had already reached a certain standard with a few years of study, whereas we didn’t had any clear norm in our mind.
For the first time, the twins began to loose confidence.
Meanwhile, the ideology of utilitarian among the circle began to influence them. Many musical students were busy engaged in various kinds of international competitions, because there were a prevailing saying that a music student is unpromising if he or she has not championed any prizes before 18.
The twins hoped to establish themselves as soon as possible when they first entered the circle. Whereas, they couldn’t find any criteria of the profession circle when they were involved in it. And just at that time, people around them couldn’t understand their troubles and pains. They just said that we shall learn music in an easy and happy way, but no one in our circle can give any instruction to us, said the twins.
Luckily, both girls were clear-minded. After a period of confusion, they stopped to compare themselves with others. They said, “we have to be the best of ourselves.”
There is no other way and we only have to keep on practicing until we found our “standard”.
They were used to be called gifted by others. “Later, I understand, gift also requires continuous progress. Each time when I doubt my gift, it will goes away. Until then, I knew I have to practice and make progress and keep abreast my talent”, said the older sister Xinyi.
As it was, the twins identified themselves deep within and began to blend with the people around them. “It is like we finally discovered a new place and we are blended into the dialects there”, said the younger sister Xinyue.
Apart from music, there are philosophy and literature.
Just as the twins were walking on the right track, they made another choices that confused people.
They ceased their study in MMSASCM, instead they chose the Central Conservatory Preparatory School (CCPS) in Beijing, which was still a fancied school with no students. The twins were attracted by the philosophy of the school: under the ideal educational environment, one thousand students shall have one thousand ways and models to success.
“Music is only part of our lives, I hate one day when I don’t feel like playing the violin, I only discover that the violin is the only thing that I am capable of”, said Xinyi.
“I don’t fancy that my major shall become my sole skills in the future” , also said Xinyue.
After three years of rigorous musical training and they finally found their standard. Nevertheless, they were prepared to give on that standard again and came to Beijing for a more liberal ways of study.
They both aspire to enrich themselves much more.
As a matter of fact, during the course of communicating with the twins, the reporter had a constant feeling of misconception, that we never talked about music at all. Our dialogue always started with music and ended in the outlook on life.
The older girl Xinyue would tell you how she felt about choice, “everybody fears making choices and I later discovered that it is totally unnecessary, because there is no difference between a good and a bad path, what matters is that we shall do our best in this path. After pondering over the thought, I am relieved from any trouble and find peace.”
The younger twin would tell you how she understood music, “Good music forms its own world. I have already been exposed to many genres of music since I was young. It was actual for me to connect directly with various people’s ideas and thoughts.”
Therefore, the two girls who are fans of thinking exchanges ideas more often when they don’t play the violin.
It’s said that success is equal to talents and diligence. Whereas, in these twins’ situation, there should be one more “thinking” added to the right of the equation. The power of ever more increased and matured thinking of the two girls has rendered much greater efficiency than others when they are practicing the instrument. “Each time when we done practicing, I will make a summary as to do better for the next time”, said Xinyi; “Each time before the practicing, I will make a pre-schedule to emphasize on certain part of movement”, said Xinyue.
This extraordinary high-efficiency has saved a lot of time for them to reflect over many other topics.
Although both are thinking types, the twins display a great contrast. The older sister is characterized with much more sensibility and she is capable of infecting people with strong emotions. She holds the view that music does not bear thought, instead music is pure emotional. Compared to that, the younger sister is much more rational. She considers that music is itself a kind of system. Hence, her performance is always able to conquer people with preciseness.
Now this pair of contradictory have already added more possibilities for their own lives in future. They chose Bard College with much focus on elitism and more humanistic elements. The older twin probably would select philosophy, while the younger sister is much more interested in something related to “sedimentation”, so she probably would choose literature or history.