Movie pundits consider the accompanying musical trill of a movie as helping raise the level of audience fascination. The sorrowful bagpipe music helped the audience immerse themselves into the plot of Titanic.

When it comes to movie soundtracks, Lu Chao-lun is probably one of those who have contributed to its development in the local drama and film industry. He played the music for several films such as Cape No. 7 and soap operas such as Police et vous. His trilling music helped Cape No. 7 become the second top grossing movie in Taiwan’s cinematic history, behind Titanic. Police et vous was one of the most successful soap operas that has earned several nominations for the 2009 Taiwan Golden Bell Awards.

“Taiwan audiences have a stereotype of classical musicians as being well-dressed and sitting on a stage playing Beethoven symphonies,” said Lu, “but western music circles have been adding value to classical music by integrating them with films or TV soap operas.”

The classical music market is shrinking even in Europe, its birthplace, said Lu. Yet, the soap opera, integrating music and drama, still enjoys its great popularity around the world. Since his return to Taiwan in 2003, this idea drove Lu to get involved in performances where he worked with performers from various fields including pop music and children’s music drama.

Lu also tried to spread his ideas about cross-field performances among lovers of classic music. When he signed on as director of Taipei Philharmonic Chamber Society (TPCS), Lu had the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra’s office rebuilt into a small chamber music hall where the TPCS regularly presents chamber music concerts. This enabled the public to appreciate the beauty of cross-field musical performances and allowed more local musicians to learn the skills of such performances.

All of these efforts were recognized by the government, encouraging Lu to form a quartet in 2008 which he called Wild White Ginger Lily Boys (WWGLB). The group had one violinist, Mr. Lee Sun-Yu, one guitarist, Mr. Tsai Si-Hong, one young but experienced dancer, Ms. Elita Lin, and Lu. After their initial performances, the quartet soon gained wide acceptance. The WWGLB has performed in different venues, even going down to Kenting in southern Taiwan to play at the tourist center of Maopitou Park before an audience of beach lovers in bikinis and slippers.

The WWGLB also performed at an event that combined Flamenco dances with poem readings. The venues of their performances were always packed with youngsters and families who appreciate their creative style. “The success of these events is the best proof for the flexibility of classical music,” said Lu, “and breaks any stereotype that might prevent classical music players from bringing their musicality to a different dimension.”

“Working with performers from other fields demands that a musician have great talent and sensitivity for music (what we call musicality) and mature chamber music skills.”

He also explained that the musical training he received in the United States has helped him to foster excellence in his work. His music was well-recognized by New York City music critics, one saying that Lu had great talent after watching his cello recital at Carnegie Hall.

Prior to being the Artistic Director of TPCS, Lu spent his teenage years in the United States as a young music learner. His musical life began in early childhood when his father, an amateur violist, brought Lu into the music circle by giving him a cello. Asked why he chose the cello, Lu said that the size of this musical instrument helps him behave well while seated on a chair. At the age of 14, he earned a scholarship to attend the pre-college course at the Julliard School where he strengthened his cultural awareness of both east and west and obtained a comprehensive training.

The two cultures he grew up with possessed different music education philosophies. Taiwan puts much effort into fostering absolute pitch, widely referred to as perfect pitch, by requiring students to memorize and count the musical tones and knowing their relationships with mathematic formulas. Musicians in the west encourage learners to develop the perfect pitch by listening to the interval, the relationship between the pitches of two tones. “Both approaches are considered practical in terms of the perfect pitch training,” said Lu.

In addition to the education system, Lu said that one significant difference between the two sides is the way they perform chamber music. Western music experts believe that to be truly skillful and be a qualified musician, one does not need to know chamber music. In Taiwan, musicologists also put less emphasis on chamber music.

“This is one of the things that have stuck to my memory when I joined a quartet in the States and it has become a solid principle in cultivating my musical skills,” he said. During his college life, Lu formed a quartet with other three musicians from China, Bulgaria and the United States.

From that experience, he realized that besides personal music skills, the two other important skills needed in chamber music are the ability to listen to your partners’ music, and interpersonal skills. In chamber music, it is necessary to be in harmony with the other players to interpret the music in a most appropriate way. “The members of an orchestra follow the conductor’s beat, his interpretation of the musical piece. This is unworkable in chamber music,” he said.

Lu’s successes in chamber music gradually helped him build a reputation. But he ran into a bottleneck in his career when he decided to pursue a doctoral degree in music. Those doing their doctorate in music in the U.S. have only one way to make their dreams come true. They have to join an audition for a full-time position in an orchestra. But this is considered a most difficult path to take.

Someone applying for such a position should first send the orchestra a tape recording of his music and the selecting committee usually chooses one or two from hundreds of applicants to attend the on-site audition. Another way, also taken by international students, is to aim for a teaching position in academia. This was Lu’s initial plan but he realized that academic research would occupy most his time leaving him hardly able to play music.

He decided to drop his doctoral study and went for an Artist’s Diploma from the Longy School of Music where he poured much effort on enhancing his music while trying to apply for a full-time position in an orchestra. While studying in the U.S., Lu would often return to Taiwan to participate in musical competitions or performances. His interaction with local music students confirmed that Taiwan’s classical music environment was much smaller than that of the U.S.

“In the United States, a great number of graduate classes are taught by very experienced musicians,” he said. “Music majors can also attend many concerts of well-known musicians. This is not the case here.” His concern for Taiwan’s music world made Lu return after finishing his studies at the Longy School of Music in 2002. “If the domestic conditions for developing music talent are far from satisfactory, then we should help improve it,” he said.