Hannah Wong plays the piano. Courtesy | Hannah Wong

When junior Hannah Wong sat down on the piano bench for the annual student concerto and aria competition Jan. 26, she appeared to be an unassuming figure in black. She leaned over the piano for a moment, her eyes closed, as her accompanist and teacher of collaborative piano, Daniel Kuehler, and the silent audience of McNamara Rehearsal Hall looked on.

“She is quiet, humble, and always hidden,” said junior Charlie Cheng, one of Wong’s friends. “But inside, she’s full of talent and energy.”

Kuehler started the piece, Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, with a soft accompanying melody, but when Wong’s fingers touched the keys, ripping into the movement’s electric, aggressive opening, her entire countenance changed.

“It was like I was seeing a warrior,” Cheng said. “The energy that she exerted from playing that piece was unexpected, given her smaller size.”

Wong has been playing the piano for more than a decade, and she said music is one of the biggest ways she has seen God work.

“My parents couldn’t afford lessons, and they never paid for them,” Wong said. “But God brought people and opportunities to be able to give me lessons anyway.”

Junior Stephen Zhu said Wong has a methodical, rather than intuitive, way of learning a piece, which tracks with her direct, matter-of-fact, hardworking personality. She doesn’t “connect” to the piece or hear it “speaking” to her.

“It’d be more like having knowledge and musical techniques and other things,” Zhu said.

According to her friend junior Ellia He, Wong said “musical phrasing” had been drilled into her practices as a younger student, and by default, she has picked up on “musicality.”

“Hannah comes alive under pressure and gets a wealth of musical ideas and phrasing decisions, often quite last minute, that makes her performances incredibly fresh, alive, and ‘musical’, but she tends not to view these as narrative or emotional decisions,” He said.

According to Zhu, Wong said she was better at piano during elementary school, for she had practiced more often then.

“I was like, ‘you’re pretty good right now, so if you’re that good in elementary school, I think that counts as being a prodigy,’” Zhu said. “It’s just a big privilege to be able to listen to that and to know that she is bringing a lot of joy to people through what she plays.”

According to Zhu, Wong had played a part in getting him involved with piano again. Before he got a spot in piano lessons with Kuehler, she gave him drills and tips.

“I appreciated that a lot, because it’s just a lot easier to learn and just having someone point out your mistakes so that you don’t keep on making them, and build bad habits, because you don’t realize what you’re doing,” Zhu said.

In the weeks leading up to the concerto competition, Wong would often practice with Zhu and junior Ellia He, another musician friend, present.

“They’re both good at listening to music. I’m not as good at listening to music. And I play for them and ask for comments,” Wong said.

Zhu said Wong is constantly relying on her friends’ suggestions to further shape the piece into a coherent whole.

“She has the technical skill to execute any of that stuff. But with a lot of things, the hard part is often coming up with creative ideas in the first place — just using other people as a source for that to help you see things you don’t see on your own,” Zhu said.

Kuehler, Wong’s piano teacher, said Hannah’s strong technical foundation enables her to further explore music’s essence and character.

“She possesses a refined touch, a keen ear, and an artistry well beyond her years,” Kuehler said in an email. “She’s playing this concerto at a very high level, and her performance promises to be both powerful and thrilling.”

Wong said having her friends in the audience was something that could make or break her performance. Seeing them there, together, made her realize just how many had come.

“When I was sitting down, it’s like, ‘I’m gonna play this well, because I want them to enjoy it, and they’re all here,’” Wong said.

Wong said the satisfaction of her performance came from seeing the enjoyment of the audience.

“After that, I was just very grateful to God,” Wong said.

Ellia He said Wong holds all things in connection to her faith.

“I can most clearly say when looking at her life that God and everything is not worth one cent more to her than God and nothing,” He said. “She is aiming at a different goal which gives a levity and freedom that is not concerned about winning or job placement or career or an all-consuming passion, but the joyful, defined service of a thoughtful, tree-climbing child.”

Wong’s piece lasted 10 minutes and nine seconds. Zhu said Wong went above and beyond the practice session he had watched the night before.

“There was nothing wrong with it, and it was good, but it was just really good on the day of the recital itself,” Zhu said.

Wong gave her piece an eight out of 10 in terms of both how difficult it was and how much she enjoyed playing it.

“It’s pretty epic,” Wong said. “I’d say the most difficult part was the second section. There was just this part with running sixteenths and there’s a trill in the middle of that.”

Wong said the piece’s middle, lyrical section was her favorite part.

“That tends to be my favorite part of most pieces. I’ve been told that those sections are the sections I’m particularly good at,” Wong said. “It’s not as technically flashy, but it’s just a very good expression and melody.”

Wong will perform the same piece with the Hillsdale College Orchestra on Feb. 22.

Juniors Sophia LaBonte, an alto singer, and Samuel Jarzab, a clarinet player, were the other two winners, and they will play at the orchestra concert on May 9. Cheng said he correctly predicted that Wong would be one of the competition winners.

“I put my money on Hannah right after she finished,” Cheng said. “I’m proud because I’m right.”

Hannah is double majoring in English and music, and she hopes to teach music or play piano for worship after graduation. She said music has taught her the value of confidence and perseverance, not stemming from her own efforts, but from opportunities and people that God has put into her life.

“I don’t believe in music for music’s sake, I don’t believe in music for my sake, I don’t feel compulsion to do music, per se, but I do have this gift that God has given me, and I play it for other people’s sakes,” Wong said.