By HEATHER BOSCH
KIRO Radio

As music rings through a home north of Seattle, there's little question the pianist has a command for the keys. His hands carve out chords from composer Edvard Grieg's "Puck," and effortlessly float over Frederic Chopin's "Minute Waltz."

What's not immediately apparent is how young the musician is. " I've been playing for five years. I started right after my fifth birthday," says Andrew Ma.

The 10-year-old, clad in gray sweats and a striped cotton shirt sits in front of an imposing grand piano.

He is not intimidated.

"Yeah," he says, talking about his love for classical music, "If you learn more from it, it's more enjoyable. It's nice to see yourself grow."

The son of successful Chinese immigrants, Ma practices up to two hours a day.

His mother, Barbara Shi, says the lego-loving, video-game-playing boy isn't chained to the instrument. "I hear a lot of parents say that their kids are crying when they practice, but that was never the case for Andrew."

"I get up early to practice piano in the morning, before I go to school," Ma says. "I'm usually pretty sluggish getting out of bed," he admits, "so I lose a bit of practice time." Aside from that, he says he does not need a lot of coaxing to play, "I really think it's fun for me."

Ma is technically good, which comes from hours and hours of practicing. But his teacher, Jensina Byington, says there's something more.

"He is a very emotional player for his age. He's surprisingly capable of communicating musicality." She says Ma doesn't just tap out a series of notes, "Not at all. He's wanting to be expressive and communicative. You can only teach musicality so much, there has to be an inborn- an innate sense of it, and he's got that."

"I usually think about the expression. After I've learned the notes," says Ma. "I think about the expression and it kind of feels like water spilling over the keys to me. It becomes very flowing."

Ma, who has no trouble performing or competing against other piano students, is also very confident.

"He's got an advanced intensity," Byington laughs. "He hams it up."

Andrew doesn't know if he wants to make a career out of playing the piano. For now, he says he just wants to play, and he does so, beautifully.

Heather Bosch, 97.3 KIRO FM Reporter

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