Talent is revealed through hard work
Having been lauded as a genius since childhood, Chin has nevertheless realized that “genius is hard work over a long period of time; it is the ability to withstand suffering.” He gives all credit to the God that he worships: “Human abilities are inadequate, so all we can do is rely on the help of God. Faith has been my inexhaustible motive force.”
“Every day I spend at least eight or nine hours composing.” Immersed in his studio, this has been Chin’s daily routine for decades. “You have to be able to put up with loneliness.” The creative process is often an arduous torment, but you have to receive it with a joyful heart. “When I am composing, I often go a month without speaking to anyone.”
Chin fondly recalls the strict instruction at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, which formed his ability to remain calm and steady. “Other people passed their exam at the second attempt, but for my doctorate I had to take it three times, and I got that opportunity only because my professor made an exception for me.”
Chin, who teaches at National Taiwan Normal University, tells his students plainly: “Composing is a lonely and difficult road. You have to get commissions from people in order to survive, otherwise you can’t make a living from it.” Only if your ambitions are firm and clear can you fearlessly proceed on this arduous path. “A composer must have a solid foundation in classical music, and should be familiar with at least one instrument, preferably the piano.”
Horizon of Formosa, blessings forever
To pursue the extreme is a composer’s fate. Each and every work must have innovative and profound content. Only when listeners are intoxicated by irresistible emotion and you have aroused resonance in their souls will a work be kept alive forever.
Austrian composer Gustav Mahler said: “The most important part cannot be written in the score.” Like an iceberg in the sea, there is an enormous hidden part that it takes effort to comprehend. “Music in fact is the depiction of emotions,” says Chin. You can only move your audience if you have love in your heart.
The widely appreciated “Golden Beam on the Horizon of Formosa” is one of a series of suites composed by Chin out of his concern for Taiwan, setting to music his strong affection for his native place. The words for this piece for symphony orchestra and chorus come from a poem in Taiwanese written by Chin’s wife Lu Jiafen (pen name Ye Yin). “It is real emotion written for us, beautiful emotions; / This Taiwan, who will cherish it? / Sunrise illuminates Taiwan, blessings until the end of time.” This is a heartfelt declaration of Gordon Chin’s profound love for this land of ours.