Professor Edward Ho Sze-nang used to skive off school so he could play music. 'There were no music opportunities when I was growing up,' says the musical director of Tom Lee Music. 'So I played truant from school between the ages of 10 and 12 so that I could visit music studios and shows. I was a naughty boy, but for a good reason.'
The only musical training Ho had access to was the school choir. These days, many children in Hong Kong are given the chance to try out playing different instruments, dance classes and other activities outside their mainstream schooling.
Ninety-five per cent of those children who learn a musical instrument in Hong Kong, learn the piano, Professor Ho says. The next largest sub-group is the violin. Woodwind and brass instruments are poor relations by comparison. But there are also all the Chinese traditional instruments to choose from. For those preferring movement, ballet schools are very popular, particularly among girls.
Parents like their children to learn piano because it's a percussion instrument at the same time, and more flexible. Professor Ho also believes that southern Chinese have smaller physiques and lungs, so the piano is more suitable.
A concern for some children these days, however, is that they are faced with instruments they don't want to learn, because their parents either want to live out their own thwarted musical dream, or feel that they know best for their child.
'Even from six months old a child can make decisions [about] what it likes, what it doesn't like,' says Kathy Wong Kin-ho, executive director of the Playright Children's Playground Association in Hong Kong, which is an organisation that aims to enrich children's lives through play.