They were just children when their teacher opened the window and let a little of the outside world into the classroom.
Musicians Lily Yan and Augustin Wright were young, talented and privileged. But in that third grade classroom they first pondered the responsibility that comes with that privilege.
“Every week we would talk about current events,” Yan remembers.
In the spring of 2011 their class at Mulgrave was talking about the magnitude-9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck Japan, resulting in thousands of deaths.
They talked about the destruction but the conversation was also about how to help your community, Wright recalls.
“Because we were children at the time – or still are, I don’t know,” Wright says. “We felt that because we could do something, we should do something.”
Given the friendly musical competition between them, Wright and Yan sought each other out.
“One thing led to another,” Wright says.
Wright and Augustin decided to play what would be their first of eight annual charity concerts.
“We were both music students in a friendly competition,” Wright says, prompting them both to laugh.
Yan confides that she was the better pianist at the time. “Nowadays, not so much,” she adds with a chuckle.
They had a mutual interest in piano but Wright was also learning the cello and Yan was studying violin, which gave them a range of performance options.
“We just had that . . . joined interest in music,” Wright says.
They both laugh a lot when recalling the lead-up to their first concert.
“It was hard to practise because we were kids at the time,” Yan says. “We would get annoyed by each other.”
But throughout Spring Break the duo – sometimes enthusiastically and sometimes a tad reluctantly – continued to practise for their June 5 concert.
There was also some dispute over the set list, Yan recalls.
“I just remember playing ‘Snowman,’” she says. “There was this piece that his mom just really, really liked. . . . We hated playing it but then she liked it so much that we played it every year.”
“It was repetitive and we played it a lot at the time,” Wright adds. “It doesn’t really matter how much you like something at first if you hear it 5,000 times.”
But the actual concert was a memorable experience.
“Playing with friends was a new experience for me,” Yan says.
“It was so much fun that both wanted to repeat the event the following year,” Wright notes.
With a few years Yan transferred to Collingwood School but the duo managed to keep performing their concerts each and every year with an ambition to raise $20,000 for charity.
Wright credits Mulgrave for what he calls: “this very focused lens on current events and really getting involved in the community.”
Following their concert for Japan, the duo recall scouring the library in Grade 4. They were looking for an organization that helped children and found Unicef.
Acting on the advice of Unicef’s community engagement co-ordinator, the duo have chosen to perform benefits for drought relief in the Horn of Africa, the earthquakes in Nepal and Mexico City, as well as concerts for Syria and Yemen.
This year’s concert, staged Dec. 1, benefited people by the typhoon that hit the Philippines this fall.
It’s heartening to see the outpouring of support that follows the concert, Wright says.
“It’s so exhilarating every time I get the email notification that somebody’s given a donation,” he says.
“It’s just great that we had the opportunity to use what we could do to help other people,” Yan agrees.
They’ve now raised more than $23,000, surpassing the goal they set in Grade 3.
“I think it blew our minds how much more we were able to get than we wanted,” Wright says.
Wright says he’ll likely study science, technology, engineering and mathematics in university, although he said he wants to continue with music in some capacity.
“It’s a big part of my life and I don’t really want to let it go,” Wright says.
While Wright is “thinking definitely STEM,” Yan says she’s thinking “definitely not STEM,” adding she may study international relations or political science.
But as they reflect on eight years of concerts, Yan notes the profound sense of gratitude she feels for every one of those shows.
Since childhood, her job has been to study and practise her instrument.
“We’re so privileged to have such amazing lives,” she says. “We don’t have to worry about where our next meal is coming from.”
As children, they were moved to perform largely by their idealism. Asked why they haven’t become cynical, Yan allows that they have – but it hasn’t overtaken their idealism.
“I think we have, honestly, (become cynical) as individuals,” she says. “But we have a genuine interest in helping other people. . . . Each time that we do something we are helping people and even if we can’t be there to see that happen.”
