A NEW word - 'bimusical' - should be coined to describe Karen Mak's musical talents, as she excels in two very different instruments - zheng and piano.
Beneath the serious, academic-type exterior of the Marynoll Convent School Form Six student, lies a music devotee who has been playing the zheng for seven years and the piano for 12.
Along the way the 18-year-old won two championship titles for zheng solos in the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival and two first runner-up awards. She obtained merits from the Grade Eight piano exam (performance and theory) of the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music, scored an A grade in HKCEE's music exam and imbued herself with the fine teaching of zheng virtuoso Chan Chuen-ying for six years.
When asked which instrument was her favourite, she replied: 'My heart always goes to zheng.
'Though I am good at both instruments, somehow I find it easier to project my feelings better in zheng than in piano.
'Perhaps being a Chinese, I am more inclined to a Chinese instrument.' She said if she couldn't let her feelings run free in her playing, the music would be 'lifeless'.
Everytime she plays the zheng, she attaches three tortise-shell fingernails to the thumb, index and ring fingers of her right hand to strum the strings while using the fingers on her left hand to slide along the strings changing the pitch.