HIGH LIFE A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : 88 Keys to Success : University High’s Helen Wu Is Headed Toward a Musical Career

It is 4 miles from her house in Irvine to University High School, but every day, Helen Wu puts on her oversized red helmet, hops on her 10-speed bicycle and attacks the early morning traffic along Culver Drive.

Wu, a 17-year-old senior, is possessed with a quiet determination to succeed, both as a student and as a pianist.

In early February, she was struck by a car while riding home from school. She suffered a fractured pelvic bone and broken collarbone and spent a week at home in bed. But 5 weeks later, she was one of 12 finalists in the 1989 Seventeen Magazine National Concerto Competition at USC. Two weeks after that, she was awarded $500 for her second-place finish at the Elvin McGaughey Piano Competition in Glendale. And on April 8, she took second place at the Joanna Hodges Concerto Competition at Palm Desert.

Music is Wu’s greatest love, and performing is a way of sharing her passion with others. When she plays, she closes her eyes and relaxes her body as her fingers hit the piano keys with the force of confidence.

“Music is really important to me because it is humanitarian in a sense that, when you say you appreciate music, you are actually appreciating a human art,” Wu said. “It’s not the music itself, but rather how the person who is playing it wants to express himself in that way.

“That’s what I want to do with my music--communicate the difference between one person and another and be able to share how I find joy. It becomes meaningful not only to myself but to others.”

Wu began piano lessons at 7, but she hated to practice then and still does now. Public performances, however, are another thing. She goes to great lengths to move toward her goal of being a concert pianist by performing guest recitals and entering many competitions.

“I’ve performed and competed ever since I started,” she said. “It’s something I’ve enjoyed doing. When I’m out there, I’m just concentrating on the music, and I’m not aware of anything else.”

Wu participates in guest recitals and concert series at UC Irvine, Chapman College and Cal State Fullerton. She also lends her skills to fund-raisers and cultural arts programs in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

She has performed with the Laguna Beach Chamber Music Society, the Orange County Philharmonic Society, the Orange County Music Encounters Program and the Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra.

This year, Wu has twice been invited to perform with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra before audiences of 3,000 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

But the acclaim that comes with being a famous musician is not what draws Wu to the performing life.

“Actually, I don’t see glamour in it at all,” she said. “I think the music profession is a very difficult and unpredictable life.

“I think the goal of the concert pianist is to not just play the best he can, but to also consider the audience--consider the types of emotions or sounds that he can bring to his listeners. He’s a servant to the music because he’s just an instrument (through which) the music can be generated to others.”

Wu credits much of her success to her piano teacher of 10 years, Lucille Straub.

“She’s always been more than just a teacher, “ Wu said. “I think teachers are really important in inspiring the student, not only to learn the mechanics of playing piano but also to be interested in the music.”

“Immediately when we started working,” Straub said, “it was obvious to me that she was a true natural. She was very connected emotionally to sound and the effects of sound at an extremely early age. Those are the earmarks of the extremely gifted.”

Wu, who can be very critical of her playing, says her weakness is her spontaneity.

“I’ve never been a very consistent or disciplined player,” she said. “The one thing I have the most problem with is that I have more fun playing than practicing. When I work through a piece, sometimes I just play through it because I like it instead of really analyzing it structurally.

“I might practice 8 hours one day and not even practice another day. I know I should be setting a certain schedule, but I’ve never really been that type of a person.”

Along with talent and some luck, Wu believes being in the right place at the right time has also helped her to succeed.

“Especially in the music field, you need a lot of connections,” she said, referring to the doors opened by her success in competitions. “You need to know people. A lot of it (success) depends on luck, and that’s sometimes unfair because there are some who never get the same opportunities.

“The thing I can’t stand about competitions is people who go out there just to win and that’s all that’s important to them. Competitions aren’t good because they motivate people into that situation.”

Despite believing that competitions can’t really determine who is the best player, Wu has won her share of them.

She was recently awarded $1,000 as winner of the Young Artist/Graduate Division of the International Piano Recording Competition sponsored by the American College of Musicians. She has also secured a contract with Young Artists Guild of California--which means she is paid for her performances--after being selected one of the six top pianists in the state.

Wu is also an excellent student. She is a National Merit finalist and an honor student at University High. She has been awarded a 4-year scholarship to USC, where she will begin studying music in the fall with professor John Perry, a much-in-demand piano teacher/lecturer/performer.

“She has enormous emotional capacity in her playing,” Perry said. “When you embark on a musical career, you embark because of passion and you are encouraged because of your talents. I consider her an exceptionally talented, intelligent and sensitive lady.”

Realizing that a career in the performing arts field will be difficult, Wu believes she is prepared to take on the challenge.

“I know that the idealistic side of me says, ‘Oh, I don’t need money, I don’t need anything,’ ” she said. “But I also have to be practical. I have to make a living.”