A long love affair

Wen said he has loved music since childhood.

"Born in a village in Anxiang county, Hunan province, being able to listen to music on the radio is my happiest childhood memory. As my parents were not around, only music could help me express my feelings, whether I was happy or not."

Wen said he used to be shy when he was a child and avoided speaking to people. It was only after he started getting into music and instruments at a vocational school that he became more confident and understood that he could gain recognition without having to misbehave, as some of his classmates did.

He said he mostly learned to play instruments on his own. After graduating from the vocational school and spending a year working on an assembly line in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, he was good enough to form a band with friends in Zhuhai, also in Guangdong.

Back then, they practiced for more than 10 hours a day. After entering a local contest and winning third place, people started to invite them to perform, and Wen was soon able to make a living from playing gigs. He also began teaching local students music how to play instruments.

In May 2017, he decided to return to Hengyang to better take care of his children and start a musical instrument shop city. Once he learned about Miaoxi's need for a music teacher, he jumped at the chance to volunteer.

"I grew up in a rural area, so it was hard for me to see any musical instruments. So every time I saw a keyboard or a pipe organ, I felt honored to even touch it, so I understand what music and a band means to other students from a similar background," he said.

"I hope music can bring them happiness and cure them, as they are very lonely. After they learn that they can express themselves through music, they can receive more respect and attention."

The Miaoxi school band initially got off to a rocky start.

Ning said in the beginning when it was first established, many students just watched Wen, not knowing what to do. Also, their guardians did not like the idea of a band and wanted the school to focus more on academics, he said.

The band persevered, and Wen said the students have improved greatly. It used to take them two or three months to learn how to play a song, but now they only need about two weeks, he said.

Their guardians became more supportive of the band's efforts once they realized the students' grades were not worsening, and that they were starting to be invited to perform at different places.

The band has become a major source of recreation for the students. They practice every day, even when Wen is not there to guide them.

On International Children's Day, which fell on June 1, the band performed in front of several hundred people at a competition in the county.

Ning said the performance has been the band's best to date, and all the students seemed very relaxed on stage as they played.

The band and Miaoxi's enrichment courses have instilled a growing confidence in the students that has been exhibited in other aspects, the principal said.

For example, when the school held a speaking contest in 2022, some of the students were so nervous that they cried when it was their turn. In contrast, during a similar competition held recently, the 22 students who participated all spoke confidently and fluently.