No kid-ding, she’s a pro
At seven, Cindy Lim is a certified child prodigy at playing the piano. And she can play the violin and ukelele too!
WHEN Cindy Lim, seven, was led by a clerk into the room for her music exam, the British examiner thought the clerk made a mistake.
“Did you bring the wrong candidate? Are you sure she is the one?” she asked.
Richard Hoon, principal of Rhythm & Harmony Music School in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur, relates: “The examiner had expected someone who is 12 or 13 for ABRSM Piano Grade 8 (practical) exam. Not someone so young,”
ABRSM is Britain’s largest music education body, one of its largest music publishers and the world’s leading provider of music exams. Every year, it offers assessments to more than 630,000 candidates in 93 countries.
At two years and five months, Lim was taught to play the piano by her mother, a piano teacher. She likes music by Wolfgang Mozart and Richard Clayderman.
Last December, Lim joined Hoon’s music school. Her father, Richard Lim, 50, a car dealer, promptly signed her up for ABRSM Theory Grade 5 and Piano Grade 8 exams. Normally, students would sign up for Piano Grade 8 exam after getting Piano Grade 5 exam results.
“She took her Grade 5 (theory) exam in March this year. Then in August this year, Cindy sat for her Grade 8 exam and passed with distinction!” says Hoon.
Hoon told Lim’s father that he could lose his deposit (about RM600) and Lim would not be allowed to sit for Grade 8 exam if she failed Grade 5.
A confident Lim assured him: “Uncle, don’t worry, I will pass.”
Her father rewarded her with a trip to Vienna, “the city of music”.
Hoon regards Lim as a child prodigy at playing the piano since her peers would only be learning the basics.
“She plays like a pro,” he enthuses. “But at the end of the day, she is still a child.”
A perfectionist, Lim practises for one-and-a-half to two hours daily.
Hoon adds that Lim will take her diploma in piano exam in November 2017. Selangor-born Lim, a Year One pupil of SJK (C) Lai Chee in Kuala Lumpur, can also play the violin and ukelele. She has performed in her school as well as shopping malls.
She was also sent for classes in modelling, gymnastics, taekwondo and now, wushu. Lim has won medals and trophies in gymnastics and abacus and mental arithmatics competitions.
On Facebook, Lim shares her posts of photos and videos as Princess Cindy.
But she has not set her sights on a career in music. “I want to be an auditor or a lawyer,” concludes Lim.
is a weekly column which introduces Malaysiabased everyday folk, doing what they love. If you have any person to recommend, e-mail us at star2@ thestar.com.my.