When Onion off stage...
My name 洪充惠 means blossom of grace, but phonetically sounds similar to 紅蔥頭 which means red onion. When I applied for a passport for my first study abroad in the USA in 2002, someone made a mistake on my name and it sounds even closer to onion than my actual name. The incorrected spelling, Tsun-Hui Hung, has been on all my legal documents!
Sun Hui is my stage name.
My Ph.D. studies were on Cognitive Ethnomusicology: How the brain understands sounds from different cultures.
This is my brain, looks normal!
So, does the martial arts help? Of course! Martial arts taught me persistence and patience in mastering repetitive movements, something I can certainly use in mastering a difficult piece on erhu. It also helped me with breathing and meditation, which provide me with a deep calm on stage. Martial arts and music share lots similarities on both practical and philosophical levels.
I am not sure if I actually enjoyed playing music that much when I was young. However, I was usually good among my classmates, until I plateaued in college. I decided to learn Chinese martial arts and was hoping the martial arts could give my music some inspiration. When I first asked my martial arts teacher to teach me, he immediately agreed with a condition: the lesson starts at 4:30am everyday, and If I miss a day, no need to come again. My plan was to take two semesters, but I continued until graduating from college. I had basic training on stick, sword, bagua, and taichi. I won the National Taichi Competition of Taiwan, and I am also a certified National Coach for Team Chinese Taipei (Taiwan).
Diving has been my luxurious enjoyment. The beauty of the underwater world takes me into a quiet place where I can hear my heartbeat and breathing. Oh, did I tell you that my last name means “water, lots water!”
I started ballroom dancing about two years ago mainly for better pasture on stage, but I truly enjoy it now. It is so much fun to keep time for the sake of my feet instead of my fingers for a change.
Photo: I don't have any and I don't know why...
As an islander from a small country, the whole world is my playground!
Here is the list: Japan, USA, Thailand, China, South Korea, Indonesia, Holland, Belgium, France, India, Australia, Vietnam, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Swaziland, Greece, Turkey, UK, South Africa, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, Denmark, Sweden, Peru, Iceland, and Palau.
Berlin Wall, Iceland, Mauna Kea
Mediterranean Sea, Banff National Park, Tibet
Grand Canyon, the original Olympic field in Athens