PBS Wisconsin Music & Arts

My name is Zak Chen.

I am 16 years old.

I'm a junior at New Berlin Eisenhower and I play the violin.

I started playing violin when I was four years old.

Violin allows me to kind of focus on something completely different.

Lots of complexity to it.

There's a lot of effort, physically and mentally.

- Dr. Zinck: Try to... [plays violin] - I'm studying with Dr. Bernard Zinck.

- Dr. Zinck: Here, use the first one.

[Vocalizing] He makes me think about music completely differently than I'm used to.

He pushes me to think more about the piece as a whole, what type of message I'm trying to put out.

- Dr. Zinck: (Vocalizing) - He'll give me specific gestures like, "Look up at this particular point," and that's something I never think about.

- Dr. Zinck: (Vocalizing) - I play with Milwaukee Youth Senior Symphony.

Music is always so diverse.

We're playing all sorts of... from classical to more modern pieces, and it's so much fun to just discuss it and work through it together.

I like to run... a lot.

I do cross country and I do track.

I get to spend time with friends.

- Go, Zak!

- We're all pretty competitive and it's a good time.

Zak: Make sure you finish that, you finish quietly.

I teach different age levels and different skill levels, too.

It's great because I kind of reevaluate my own way of viewing technique when I'm teaching to others.

It's really satisfying for both of us when something works.

Zak: Good job!

[paper crumpling] For Mother's Day, I made my mom this origami piece where it's just this mom holding a kid.

And it was one piece of paper.

I'm not nearly good enough at origami to think of it like I do music.

Most of them I have just memorized, and I just make them whenever I feel like it.

There's still some artistry there.

I'm going to be playing the "Sibelius Violin Concerto," third movement.

The third movement, especially, is really exciting.

It pushes forward constantly.

There's only about two or three lyrical passages in the whole piece.

I really have to work hard to nail those and make it sound super nice.

You put so much time and effort into preparing, and then it all leads up to 10, 20 minutes of playing.

And the amount of self-satisfaction is incomparable.