Kwong, a young Form Five student, has been playing the piano all her life. But never had she dreamt about sitting at Asia's largest pipe organ at the Hong Kong Cultural Center and commanded the 8,000 pipes to peal forth.

With the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)'s Leisure and Cultural Services Department's free pipe organ performance training program for youngsters who have achieved the highest level of piano training, sixteen secondary school students are now being taught not only to use their hands but their feet to play a pedal keyboard. They play at the massive dignified-sounding Austrian-built Rieger organ at the recital hall of the cultural center during the summer holiday from July to September.

The organ, with 93 speaking stops, is much cherished by the world's finest organists. At least a dozens or so travel from the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other parts of Asia to the HKSAR on a yearly basis to give recitals.

The training being offered is only part of the summer activities organized based on the HKSAR government's arts policy. The government always maintains that its arts policy is to "create an environment conducive to the freedom of expression and artistic creation and encourage participation in such activities."

As government also sees its role as a catalyst in promoting and encouraging the development of culture and the arts through the provision of financial support, the organ students are the lucky ones who have been selected to receive free training.

Form 4, Kan Ka Ling, another student, said she has listened to organ performance at concerts, but had never been allowed to touch it. "Now with the free lessons, I am really interested," she said, adding that playing the organ gives her the feel of playing in a symphony orchestra due to the organ's rich, versatile and sometimes orchestral voices.

The instructor, a renowned Hong Kong organist at the Hong Kong Cultural Center, Chiu Siu Ling, was teaching the students how to render a range of western music at the Rieger organ.

Chiu was explaining what kind of tones, amongst the available pipes, flutes, reeds and string voices, should be correctly used and mixed in order to artistically give the right ensemble or solo voices to paint the melody and re-create the composers' intended mood. She added that piano students with pipe organ training will learn how to appreciate symphony orchestras better.

"They will be aware of the need for proper phrasing when rendering pieces with little marked hints, as they are increasingly encouraged to use their musical sense to judge where the phrases should be.

"Also, because of the availability of various voices on the instrument, they will also have their ears trained to learn about the sounds produced by different musical instruments on the organ and be able to identify those instruments when they hear them again in future concerts," she said.

The Hong Kong Cultural Center will organize a mini-concert in which each student will present a selected organ piece.

(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2002)