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Talented musicians don't only play in the performance halls of major venues.
Starting with piano lessons 11 years ago at the age of 8, Jeffery Ou has risen from a novice to a noted pianist. Jeffery, a 17-year-old junior at Newman Smith High School, has already participated in 13 competitions this year.
"More or less, I've always earned something in most of them," Jeffery said.
To name a couple, he competed in the North Texas Youth Music Competition in 2004, winning first prize in the piano division and named one of the three overall grand prize winners. Also in 2007, he earned a spot as a semifinalist in the Viardo International Piano Competition.
When asked which performance stood out the most through the years, he answered that his favorite was last year when he accompanied the Elite International Chamber Orchestra at the Eisemann Center. Jeffery has also accompanied the Elite International Youth Orchestra.
Recently, the Dallas Symphony put out a contest theme, "What is American music?" Winning recognition by writing a composition entry, this young star earned tickets to a concert at the Meyerson. The title of his self-authored piece was, 'Jazz Kaleidoscope.'
Like many things, there is always a first chapter to a success story. Jeffery's first motivation to play the piano was one of admiration; his cousin Jamie Chu played the piano as well. At the sight of its grace, he decided he also wanted to pick it up. His aunts and family supported him; they knew that something like the piano could calm an energetic young boy down. Unbeknownst to him, later he fell in love with the piano, and he was the one that asked to continue his lessons.
"In the beginning, he told me that he had difficulty concentrating, but from the first time he got the first compliment from his teacher, he kept going," said Yiting Huang, his older cousin.
When asked what she believes has pushed him to succeed this far, Huang said, "He is a shy boy, but he is truly Jeffery when he is playing the piano. It's like his own world when he plays."
Huang went on to explain a time that she could vividly see all of his passion put out onto the table. Both she and Jeffery were at a concert of a Chinese pianist and like many famous musicians, he used a lot of movement as he began to get into it; thrusting his arms and his body. Huang asked Jeffery, 'Why don't you do that?'
"He told me that if he just acted like them then he'll just become an actor. Emotions come from inside. Not outside. If you close your eyes, you can still see the movements in your mind. That's the goal he tries to give the listener. They can still see the beauty of the music," Huang said.
The successful competitions and the many performances all started on an ordinary day four years ago. Ever since, the competitions and performances have been an on-going thing in Jeffery's life.
"My parents got an application at my Sunday school that just happened to be sponsoring [a competition] at the time," Jeffery said.
Even though he is only a junior at Newman Smith High School, he is already looking into a future career involving his growing talent. He is making plans to major in music at either Southern Methodist University or the University of North Texas.
"I'm planning on performing, but teaching is a possibility," Jeffery said of his career goals.
