In every room there is a sense of serenity, whether the children are practicing brush strokes for calligraphy, tumbling around in judo or gliding their little fingers over the harmounia, a type of piano used in music class.

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He said in an interview that his favorite moment in school was cutting class to go play the piano in the auditorium.

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He won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, but because he couldn't play the piano he was not allowed to join the conducting class.

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Though jazz piano has had legions of practitioners, the number of first-class jazz singers is small, due to the difficulty of turning melody and lyrics into true improvisation.

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