Zhuang Zhuang”. That's me—yes, the nick name my folks bestowed upon me hoping I'd be as sturdy as an oak and as brilliant as Einstein. Instead, my earliest attempt at strength involved a dramatic showdown with a piano, where, in a fit of exasperation over a ridiculously difficult Liszt piece called La Campanella, I may have recreated the sound of a gong show gone wrong. My parents, ever supportive, assured me that my tendency to hammer the keys was just my Asperger’s peeking through—not full-blown, mind you, just a “tendency,” as the doctor put it.
Growing up shy and often the odd one out, I was that kid you found munching alone during lunch. But life has a funny way of turning tables, especially at a school talent show where, somehow, my Chopin etude wowed enough peers that they actually wanted to hang out with me! Making friends felt like discovering a new superpower, and I was hooked.
Driven by a burst of altruism and a hefty dose of naivety, I used my dad’s email (oops!) to launch a social website for classmates to strut their talents and snag some friends. My dad wasn’t thrilled when he found out—something about ""using personal credentials for public experiments""—and the school wasn’t a fan either. Shutdown ensued.
But my social experiments were far from over. Then came my ""Bach enlightenment."" Initially, I was all about the drama of Liszt and the romance of Chopin, dismissing Bach as old school—literally. But tackling his Prelude and Fugue in B-flat minor opened my eyes. Bach wasn’t just about notes; he was weaving parallel universes with his harmonies, making five distinct voices chat like old friends at a high school reunion.
I was buzzing to share my newfound Bach obsession, but turns out, rambling about music theory is a great way to clear a room. Not one to be deterred, I teamed up with my piano teacher and cooked up Social Experiment 2.0: a platform for fellow music nerds to dive deep into the harmonious world of Bach and beyond. Guess what? It clicked! Over 5,000 users are now using our app to unravel the mysteries of music theory.
Moving forward, my goal is to dive deeper into the music I play and the projects I undertake, exploring how they can reveal more about humanity itself. By skillfully blending the arts and sciences, I aim to express the profound and intense stories that unite us all. Music and science are not just about notes on a page or data in a lab; they are mirrors reflecting our collective experiences and emotions. Through these lenses, I hope to gain a better understanding of the world around us and connect more deeply with others. My journey into the harmonies of Bach and the structures of music theory has just begun, and I'm eager to see where this symphony of discovery takes me.
