Tai Chi With Tiffany Poon

OK, that title is click bait. Kinda. Here is what happened.

Somehow I worked out that the first movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata was a great accompaniment while practicing the Yang-style tai chi chuan form.

No, we do not need an accompaniment for tai chi, but if I am having trouble getting motivated for solo practice, cue Moonlight.

Next I searched for Moonlight on YouTube, and by luck came up with a Tiffany Poon performance. Loved it, but assumed any performance would have worked as well.

Next, YouTube in its sly engaging way, offered up one of Tiffany’s dozens (hundreds?) of videos that take us behind the scenes of her piano life. I watched it and was hooked. Here is a random recent example. The camera loves Tiffany, and she relates to the audience with tremendous intimacy. Best of all, she hit squarely her goal of making classical music more accessible.

Tiffany opened the door to classical for this music dummy, at least.

Next thing I knew, I had joined Tiffany’s Patreon. And that meant I learned directly of her performances in my area. One of those, her Carnegie Hall debut, was earlier this week. A friend was an occasional pianist, so off we went. I had seen Tiffany at an intimate fundraiser, but Carnegie was magical.

Here is a playlist of her prior performances that matches her program on Monday.

Next, I had cancelled class on Monday and let the regulars know I was going to see Tiffany Poon.

Who? Tiffany was unfamiliar to our players, but two of them found her on YouTube and were up all night listening to the magic. Today we all got to marvel together at Tiffany’s craft, especially her keyboard technique, the way she shaped the notes. Even as a know-nothing I suspected Tiffany had something special going on, but my more erudite players confirmed.

I had a hint she was special, mind you. Early on I searched far and wide for Moonlight performances that worked as well for me as Tiffany’s and out of a dozen found only one.

Since the show, I have found this video made just three weeks ago as she prepared for Carnegie Hall. At the end we see her outside the entrance we used!

And then I found this amazing video, also made just a few weeks ago, in which Tiffany watches for the first time a video of herself at eleven playing one of the pieces from the upcoming concert! (Hayden’s Sonata in F Major.) We get to see the mature pianist watching the very accomplished Julliard student (still eleven though!) and offering a surprisingly approving take, even deciding to modify her own performance based on what she heard!

Tai chi is all about circles, and this circle from the tai chi form to Moonlight Sonata to our tai chi group celebrating Tiffany Poon’s mastery fits right in.