While I was living in China, I started an initiative called "Music Education 4.0." Its goal is to make electronic music courses accessible to all kids in China. I dedicated 7 years on this project, focused mainly on public schools in second and third tier cities in China.
In the same year, I opened an evening/weekend music center, little did I know, the market was not ready for such "advanced", "western" course. Soon after I realized that, I started teaching MIDI Music in a high school in outskirts of Shanghai. While I was developing my own curriculum there, I also led another group of music teachers, music researchers, and worked with educational officials from different districts to help me publish and distribute the first MIDI music text book for primary schools to different cities in China. I filmed and edited hundreds of online and offline videos for kids age between 7 - 18; wrote hundreds of pages of instructional booklets to go with these videos, then I went on to train music teachers from different parts of the country. Throughout the years, I put together many performances from our students for their schools' anniversaries and outdoor festivals and carnivals; I spoke at multiple STEAM conferences; organized numerous MIDI music workshops across the country. In 2017, I flew to NAMM in LA to source for gears for schools in China, and my team and I hosted the first International Youth MIDI Creative Music Education Forum in Wenzhou in 2018.
"Music Education 4.0" initiative made an impact in the educational field in China - parents and kids are now aware of its existence, after-school centers around the country started incorporating music technology into their traditional music classes, so do schools. Even instrument retailers and hardware manufactures are now developing their own courses. Throughout these years, I realized that I alone can not change the world, but the world has changed me, to be more compassionate and caring.
My artistry has definitely taken a new turn after taking such a long break from my own music to explore, to meditate, and to give. I've collected so many wonderful experiences, travelled to so many different cities that I would have never had reason to in China and met so many beautiful people throughout this journey, these are the moments I can always go back to draw my inspirations from.
