The Asian Piano Recital

Please understand--the title is not meant to be discriminatory in any manner. As you read on, you'll understand what I mean.
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Last Sunday, I attended my brother's piano recital. It was held at a showroom inside a piano store, and there were many beautiful pianos that I gaped over. The room was 100% filled with Asian parents. They sat in the back row, holding their cameras as high as possible to get a good view of their children, and whispered "softly" when a kid played amazingly. Though I enjoyed the piano recital, there were two things that stuck out to me. One inspirational, the other...I don't even have words for.

Inspirational: The piano teacher's speech is something that I will remember forever.

The purpose of this recital is to learn. I want each of you to enjoy this recital, but it has more meaning than to be with friends and simply play piano. All of you should listen carefully--if you see someone that plays good,tell them afterwards! What about their performance did you like? The style? The staccato? The dynamics? Listen, listen carefully. This recital is a learning process. It is not a competition. If you mess up, no big deal. Just start again. But no matter what, do not sit there idly. Do not be nervous; we are all here to encourage one another.

Man. Those words. And coming from a Chinese person nonetheless! Do you know how hard it is for most of the Chinese population to say that? After hearing those words, I had to resist the urge to run up there, hug her, and say, "AMEN!" :)

Less-than-inspirational: This story relates to one of the girls in the recital and her mom.
The backdrop: The girl is about 6 or 7 years old. She's really adorable, and loves to play piano. She's the best player for her age group, and even better than most who are older than her. One look at her skills, and I knew she was at the top of the list.

But during the recital, she messed up slightly, and when she went back to her seat, I heard her mom saying, "You made so many mistakes! It wasn't good AT ALL."
Seriously? If it was my child, I would be so proud and tell her that she did a good job / not to be so nervous the next time. Geez. Some parents. Luckily, this girl was invited to play twice during the recital, because she's just that good. And she aced it the second round.