Born as a son of a violin maker with two siblings in the business, it is no wonder that Tak Kwan first picked up a bow at just age seven. A full scholarship from the Hong Kong bank to attend the Wells Cathedral School in England, during school being invited to play in West Germany for Dvorak’s Piano Quintet, given a recital in West Germany in the same year, another scholarship to attend the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, one more for the Summer Music Camp in Colorado Springs, and finally being invited to attend the Starling-Delay Symposium at Juilliard all did not come without tremendous, diligent work.
Mr. Kwan has spoken about how he was extremely fortunate for the opportunities he was given and how not all were as lucky as he. “When [he] was in England, there was a music exchange week with another school from West Germany at that time. [He] was barely learning the viola. However, all the viola students of [his] school decided to go on strike and not participate with the school from West Germany. The school got stuck badly as it was less than a month away that the German students would be coming. [He] remembered that [he] was asked to fill in the place as a viola representative. Great success at that time!”. This opportunity seems to have come from sheer luck. The Popular Science article, “The Science of Luck”, touches on the question of luck. Is it a real principal? No. See, as described the article, nothing comes from nothing. If someone were to find a 20 dollars bill on the street, it did not just spawn there for that one person. No. Someone has to have dropped or lost it, which affects them in a negative fashion. Mr. Kwan worked since he was seven years old for this one “lucky” break. He had to be good enough to be accepted (by scholarship, nonetheless) into this English school and work enough to learn a new instrument. He had to have had made enough connections so that when all of the viola players dropped out, he was recommended. He was in the right place at the right time, sure, but he had to get to that place by putting in his time.
Speaking of time, say that took, I don’t know, 10 000 hours? Well, Mr. Kwan has well exceeded that time ‘limit’. He has practiced the violin since he was 7 years old. He is still playing after having studied intensively for many years and is now an educator and performer. In the book, The Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell states that “researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours”(40). Mr. Kwan has well exceeded this time frame, having practiced since he was 7 years old and doing strict conservatory training for the majority of his life. This backs up Gladwell’s statement because Mr. Kwan is clearly an expert at his craft; he has received scholarships nationally and internationally to study, been recruited internationally to join groups and even been invited to attend the Starling-Delay Symposium at Juilliard. If he had not put in the time, he would not have had the practice he needed to get there. Mr. Kwan stated that success is a four-part process for him individually, “1) Focus. 2) Motivation. 3) Discipline. 4) Plan”. These are the four steps he reminds himself of to keep practice on track. He wakes up at 5 am almost every morning to begin rehearsing. He creates goals for himself to keep moving forward. All of this supports to Gladwell’s theory that 10000 hours put in will aid success.
One other major contribution to Mr. Kwan’s success was the present role of creativity and imagination. Though often looked at as just a “technical” instrument, Mr. Kwan states that the violin requires a lot more than just placing your fingers in the right place on the fingerboard. “Sensitivity is so important; art is subjective. Technique is a tool for expression. Courage to create and imagine is absolutely crucial”. In the article, “The Success Power of Imagination,” by Patrick Diessen, he depicted many instances of creativity’s involvement in success. For example, Einstein himself states that “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create!”. With the violin, basic performers all have the same skill set. They can hold and move a bow. They know that perfect spot to place their fingers. The technical side is learnable by anyone with access to the instrument and a book. Creativity and imagination come from within. You can’t teach it. Mr. Kwan recalled an experience he had while experiencing this part of the art while practicing for a concerto. He said, “Through the process of practicing, I dug very deep, not just the technical side but the musical side. I was in tears and in awe. I felt the creation of music. I learned that all the techniques we possess are not enough for the depth of its own. Creativity and imagination are important as long as they are grounded in intelligence and sensitivity”. This proved true to the article; without his own sense of creativity and imagination, Mr. Kwan would just be the same as one of the thousand mediocre violinists with the same skill set. His own exploration of ideas and techniques helped him develop individuality through a creative style.
When I was in the fourth grade, I took a leap of faith. I tried out for a select soccer team. At that time, I was playing hockey, swimming, starting to really play the violin, taking drama classes, and starting a new school (and auditioning for that new school’s play). I had never done competitive sports because of my diverse range of activities, but I was dying for more soccer. My parents warned me that these other girls trying out have simply more experience than me. I didn’t care. I tried out and did not make it on the team. I could do everything they others could do, but they did it faster, stronger, with more execution. I was crushed. It became my goal to do whatever it took to get on that team. I begged my parents for Power Soccer lessons and to try out for the school team (which I made). I asked my dad to teach me how to shoot better in our garage. I would kick a ball to myself over and over against a wall to mimic someone passing to me on days I was solo. After a year of this, suddenly tryouts came around again. It was really hard for me to go back; back to the people who told me, “no”. After the tryout, I got a call saying that the coach had noted my improvements and they wanted me on their team. All this to say, I clearly did not put in 10000 hours, but without all of this extra practice, I would have never been accepted onto this team. Without my parents support financially for extra lessons and equipment, I would have never made it. It was a mix of disciplined practice hours, opportunity, and creativity on my part to find ways to get better. These elements were the main contributors to my success. Looking towards the future, from this research I have learned that there is such a balance between what we can do for our own success vs what we have no control over. We are born into opportunity. We have no control over what family we’re born into and, for example, what our financial situation is. We cannot make it so that the right things happen at the right time for us. All we can do is prepare ourselves for these opportunities from what we can work towards. Practice, exercising our creativity. These factors are things we have control over; only ourselves have the power to get out of bed every morning and decide to put in the time. Hearing another story about one’s success through these elements and additional research from The Outliers and scholarly articles helped develop an understanding that success has many layers and can be accomplished through hard work, diligent practice, opportunity, and creativity.