765: Off Course
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"When Ebing describes what it was like to grow up in a town in the Gobi Desert, just first the simple physical hardship of it. Harsh winners, some are so hot they ask fault on the road would mount and get on her weight school uniform," she says. "This is China in the 1970s. Her town, Juquan, had a big factory that made products out of metal and steel. There were some really poor farms. Ebing's dad had a job that was better than most," Ebing says. "He led the musicians for the local song and dance ensemble, making shows for the government. Basically, you know, propaganda that would tour to smaller towns." "When you turned four and a half, your dad told her, 'You're going to want to play an instrument.' And she started on the violin. It wasn't until she got older that he explained why." "He doesn't want me to have a job that has to be under the sun in the factory with my hands, with heavy labor." And then when you're dead, tell you you have to do this because this is your future?" "Yes." "He would." "He would." "What would he say?" "I remember one time when he took me to the market, there were people selling garments on the street. It was really hot." And he says, "Look, if you don't practice, you're going to work here. Did you say that girl? She was trying to help her dad to sell a pair of pants. Do you want to be here?" "Hmm." "I thought, 'Oh, it's so hot, I can't stay there.' And did that motivate you? Would you think about that and it would keep you practicing?" "No." "She was a kid, she hated practicing, and her dad had her doing like two hours a day, four or five hours a day as it was in school. Sometimes while she practiced, she'd put rubber bands around the chair legs and do Chinese jump rope. Other times." "I was just playing the comic books, I put on the music stand." "You were playing the comic books? What do you mean?" "No, I was flipping comic books, I was just playing, and I have to flip the comic book on the music stand. And I set the alarm, maybe a half an hour before Mom comes home, and squeezed my skin to make it very red. So when she comes, she says, 'Look, I practiced in two hours.' "You mean, squeeze your skin on your neck, so you're wearing the violin rest." "Looks red," I said. "Yeah." Fortunately, she had a good ear, natural skill, and her dad, she says, was a patient and kind
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