American classical pianist Gary Graffman, 86, is better known in China as Chinese pianist Lang Lang's teacher.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Asked which he would prefer, playing or teaching, Graffman says that teaching was not his first preference. But because of the quality of his students, it has become a pleasure to teach.

"If your students are Lang Lang, Yuja and Haochen, you learn yourself, too."

The maestro says he knows that Chinese are interested in learning music. "If you see a student walking in the streets in China, without carrying a violin, it means he is a pianist," he jokes.

He says now many Chinese families－much like many Jewish and Russian families in the past－insist on picking up musical skills.

Graffman himself was asked to play the violin at age 3. One year later, his father thought he had no talent in violin so he asked him to play the piano.

"Talent is the thing you really cannot learn. You can develop your taste, practise the approach of different composers. But without talent, you just play notes－signifying nothing. Everything else you have to learn."

Different things work on different people, he says, adding that passion for the piano can also work as a pressure on some people when they are young.

He says when he was 7 or 8, he was supposed to play the piano from 3 to 5 pm every day. If it was 5 past 3, and he hadn't started playing it, his father would remind him to do so. "If you like doing something, you don't feel bored," he says.