Violin Performance with Pierce Wang
Pierce Wang ’21 is a violinist from Fremont, California, who has performed in a variety of venues as both a soloist and a chamber musician.
Being the youngest of three boys who all started music early, Pierce began playing the violin at two-and-a-half years old, when his parents wanted to start him on an instrument. Though both his brothers started with piano, Pierce was not yet at an age where he could reach the keys, so “violin seemed the optimal choice since you could get a violin that’s the size of basically a hand and a half.” He started with a 1/16-size violin and learned together with his brother, who began playing the violin at around the same time.
From then on, Pierce dedicated much of his time to practicing the violin and gradually added on more practice hours. “I knew I really enjoyed performing—I think that was one of the things that kept me going is I always enjoyed being on stage,” Pierce says about his initial motivation for his violin pursuits, “and even if I wasn’t so sure about it before, once I got on stage and played something, I didn’t want to get off, so I’d always just want to keep playing.”
Eventually, when he was ten, Pierce went on to give a solo concert for Halloween, called the All Saints Day Concert. “I performed many rather difficult pieces, one of which is ‘Der Erlkönig,’” Pierce shares about his concert performance, “and I actually went on to perform that on a national radio show called From the Top.”
Getting the chance to perform on a radio show across the US in Rochester, New York, showed Pierce the large world that was out there in music. Now, having played the violin for 15 years, Pierce has no doubt continued to explore that world further and shares that he has enjoyed everything about being a part of that world. “When I’m having a hard day or having a busy day, whenever I can get to my practice room, pick up my violin, and as soon as I start playing, I feel much better,” Pierce expresses. “And I think just that ability to create some beautiful sound—some art in the midst of […] everything else that’s going on in life, it brings me a lot of joy.”
Along his violin journey, Pierce has performed with many orchestras around the Bay Area. “I think each one of those has been a really special experience for me—being able to perform in an orchestra with so many people supporting you and having that avenue to just tell a story of something […] being able to perform pieces like the Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1, as well as lesser known works like the Conus Violin Concerto,” he shares. He values being able to communicate with his audience so personally, forming that connection and holding that for the performance.
Pierce also cites chamber music as a huge part of why he enjoys music. For four years, Pierce was a part of a piano trio with Josephine Chan ’21 and Ryan Har ’20, participating in several national competitions. “Chamber music is a huge part of why I love music—making music with others and collaborating on that higher level, when just as much as a head nod changes how each person in the chamber group views the piece, and the communication is just so fluid,” Pierce describes. He recounts his experience in one particular competition: “Going to South Bend, Indiana, with my piano trio for a national competition was amazing. And it’s hard to describe the experience of playing with two people you know so well; our minds are in sync.”
Pierce describes that in a typical week before COVID-19, his performance schedule involved signing up to perform every couple of weeks at weekly recitals and dress rehearsals. This past summer, he finished a long series of performances at a virtual summer camp and performed at a fundraiser for a benefit concert that he organized. With all events now being virtual, though, Pierce looks forward to the day when he can perform in person again.
On his experience at OHS, Pierce says that he entered as a seventh grader because both of his brothers attended OHS, and it was a great place to learn in and to grow. Now, he balances a full-time coursework with violin and tries to get as much practice as he can into his schedule. On managing his schedule, he shares, “Often it’s easy to get into the mindset of ‘I have to do this; I have to do this,’ whether it’s […] going into the almost meditative mindset of solving physics problems, or when I get to go downstairs, […] close two doors between where I am and where the rest of my family is, and just focus on practice and improving at that one thing. It helps me relax, and once I think about it that way, it’s not as stressful.”
Outside of his violin pursuits, Pierce’s interests include computer science and problem solving in all areas. In his free time, he enjoys longboarding when he gets the chance, spending time with his dog, and programming small things to improve productivity. He is also an enthusiastic user of Emacs, an extensible text editor that has helped him to stay organized with his agenda over the past few years, and enjoys learning as much as he can about the program.
In the future, Pierce sees himself pursuing both computer science and music in some form and hopes to study both subjects at a high level in college. “I can’t live without either. I love music so much—don’t want to lose that—but I also really enjoy computer science—just that mindset of problem solving within those areas.”