My Little 'Hogwarts'

I remember once a colleague from Hanoi came in and "bluntly" told me: "I'm a bit confused because the Conservatory here is a bit small... According to my imagination, it should be much bigger and more magnificent!"

I was silent. A silence he probably found difficult to understand.

But in my memory, that small place contains a great love.

Since I left that "Hogwarts", so many generations of artists have spread their wings and flown high into the sky of art, that if I were to list them all, I would not be able to finish. Anyone who feels that they are related to the beloved "Hogwarts", please speak up! The top artists who are working today also came from this small school. And now the kids are stepping onto the express train of "Hogwarts" to continue their magical lessons with Professor "Dumbledore", with Mr. "Snape", Professor "Minerva McGonagall"... Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music is the nursery for the spiritual world of the city and for the whole South Central region to Ca Mau Cape, where artists from the past, present, and future are trained, nestled modestly on Nguyen Du Street, opposite the vast Korean Embassy.

Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music before being rebuilt

Photo: Document

I still remember the first days I stepped into that beloved school (1998), when its architecture was still pristine, built during the French period, the predecessor of which was the Saigon National School of Music and Drama founded in 1956. I heard that it was only a small concert hall at first, and then three U-shaped rows were added to embrace the concert hall. At that time, I still remember Mr. Quang Hai as the Director of the Conservatory.

A year after I started school, the school was rebuilt, still on the same very modest site from the beginning. Except for the main concert hall, which was more spacious, the two side entrances to the back with three U-shaped buildings surrounding it felt like being in the middle of an apartment complex with three buildings surrounding the concert hall.

In my time, there weren't as many students as there are now, but we already felt cramped. These past few days, as the kids were taking their final exams, in that small space, the sounds of musical instruments and vocal training blended together into a "contemporary" harmony that was beyond any avant-garde school!

Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music today

Photo: Vo Thien Thanh

I feel sorry for the kids. If they could study and "practice" in a spacious, airy conservatory with a scale commensurate with the size of a major city in the country and in Southeast Asia, a place that nurtures and gives wings to many generations of artists then... Oh! My dream.

These past few days, I have been quietly taking the kids to my beloved "Hogwarts". They are entering their second semester exams. Looking at their little backs carrying on their shoulders violins, cellos, guitars, brass instruments, contrabass... and the parents waiting for their children in front of the school gate, so many memories come flooding back, so indescribably exciting. Oh yes! That small place always contains a great love.

I skimmed through a few newspapers, the phrase “cultural industry development” honestly sounded very exciting! But somehow there was something blurred in my eyes. I don’t know if it was my eyes or the summer rain that blurred the shadow of the tamarind trees on Nguyen Du street, where my small school still nestled modestly as it had always been.

Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music, my little "Hogwarts"! Where there is a great love.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hogwarts-be-nho-cua-toi-185250701221203444.htm