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At a charity event for lung cancer awareness, Claire Yuh-Yuh Yang, 10, sat next to a woman who had come all the way from Alabama to Boston’s Chinatown.
The woman, named Love, shared with Yang how she was excited to try different foods in the area. As they spoke, Claire started to create a set of melodies for a song based on her.
“Where Love Travels” is the song Yang started brainstorming that night, and it’s one of her favorites she’s written. It has two meanings. It’s both about the Alabaman Yang met that night and about someone’s journey with love.
“It’s a happy piece,” Yang said. “It’s a beautiful piece. I really like the mood of the piece and the energy.”
The song will be one of Yang’s five original pieces that she and other musicians will perform May 15 at the Parish of the Epiphany, 70 Church St., at 7 p.m.
Yang, a Winchester resident, started learning the piano at 5 years old during the pandemic because she didn’t have much else to do. Five years later, she’s an award-winning composer.
Yang has won the Massachusetts division of the Music Teachers National Association composing competition three times and the regional division twice. Last year, she placed second in the national contest against other elementary school children.
When Yang started playing the piano, she quickly fell in love with the instrument and with music as a whole.
Yang’s mother, Phoebe Lee, recalled not being able to get her to stop playing. After piano lessons, Yang practiced her assignments for 15 minutes and then improvised for one to two hours.
Soon, practice morphed into improvising. Later, Lee realized this was her daughter’s way of composing music.
“It was all very organic for her,” Lee said.
Yang continued to improvise on the piano for a year until she started taking composing lessons at 7 years old. The pieces she composes are often challenging group ensembles that need professional musicians to be performed.
Lee managed to find Winchester musicians on Facebook who were happy to perform Yang’s pieces.
Yang would spend the school year composing pieces for the musicians to play in the summer. Their living room would become a “chamber music salon” in the summer, Lee said.
Her pieces are inspired by everything around her, and she never finds herself running out of ideas.
Yang’s composing process takes three to four months and starts with having a melody in her head. Then she starts improvising on either the violin or the piano.
The most difficult part is putting all of her ideas together cohesively. After some tinkering, she writes down the piece.
In the summer, musicians play Yang’s pieces. The pieces are finalized after the musicians run through them and give suggestions for additions and changes.
“One of the greatest joys is hearing it performed,” Lee said.
Yang’s compositions, which are primarily ensemble pieces, are recorded during these sessions. Later Claire and her mom submit the recordings and score to the MTNA’s composition competition.
For Lee, watching her daughter’s passion grow has been wonderful.
“It’s been fascinating,” Lee said. “It’s really helped her to express herself in a way that I don’t think words could.”
Yang performs at charity events for the American Lung Cancer Screening Initiative. She started playing at the program’s events because her father is the initiative’s chair and founder, and her family is dedicated to the cause.
Deepti Srinivasan, ALCSI’s chief medical officer, met Yang when she was 7. When the two met, Srinivasan said Yang was “bold, brave and outgoing” and was “always willing to go beyond what you’d expect from a 7- or 8-year-old.”
Srinivasan said Yang’s performances are different from others. While some might be intimidated to be up on stage, Yang is unworried.
“The freedom and joy with which she plays is the most special thing,” Srinivasan says.
Her performances at these events have sparked an interest in how music can help survivors as well as a career in thoracic surgery.
Yang continues to pick up more instruments as she gets older. Her latest addition is the clarinet, which she started playing for her fourth grade band. In total she plays seven instruments – piano, violin, viola, clarinet, organ, cello and guitar.
Right now, she’s most excited for her upcoming concert where she’ll play with the MoZarC Quartet and show off five of her recent compositions.
“I’m grateful that I get the opportunity to share my music with others and premiere my pieces,” Yang said.
Tavishi Chattopadhyay is a journalism student at Boston University. This story is part of a partnership between the Winchester News and the Boston University Department of Journalism.
