Her piece — Brahms’ “Four Pieces” — resounded that same notion, starting quietly and then picking up speed.

Liu, a music performance doctoral student, was one of three MSU College of Music students to play in a master class Wednesday in the Music Building Auditorium with composer and guest artist Alexander Korsantia as part of the college’s Chopin Bicentennial Celebration.

The master class was one part of a weeklong celebration of Frédéric Chopin’s 200th birthday, which has included faculty performances, performances by guest artist Korsantia and will conclude with a piano concert Thursday, assistant professor of piano George Vatchnadze said. Master classes feature students’ work critiqued by a professional artist in front of an audience, Vatchnadze said.

The significance of the celebration is heightened by the plane crash that killed Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, and other national leaders less than one week ago, a great loss to Chopin’s home country, Vatchnadze said.

“Chopin is obviously one of the most beloved composers, not just among musicians, but the most popular classical composer among everyone,” Vatchnadze said. “The whole world is celebrating (his birthday). There are concerts, festivals, seminars, lecture classes. To me, it feels very different to play Chopin now, especially considering how much Chopin loved Poland.”

Liu said she was grateful for the opportunity to work with Korsantia, who, along with music performance freshman YaoYue Huang and music performance graduate student Patrick Johnson, performed in the master class Wednesday. All three students were given a chance to play a piece they had been practicing and receive feedback from Korsantia before an audience of faculty, family and peers.

“I’m very excited about the experience and I was happy to play for (Korsantia) today,” Liu said. “He’s a good teacher because he knows how to release feelings. Sometimes you have something inside but you don’t know how to speak out. You just need some inspiration.”

Korsantia encouraged Liu to let out those inside expressions during the class, demonstrating small changes she could make in her performance.

“You are very much an indoors person,” Korsantia said to Liu. “You feel this music needs to be kept indoors. To find truth from within we have to allow ourselves to let the sun caress our skin sometimes.”

Vatchnadze said events such as the master class and other concerts held throughout the week are great experiences for the college.

“Our goal is to get an endowment which supports bringing in great artists like (Korsantia) maybe twice a semester,” he said. “There is a trend now to supply the demand, but what I really wish is for the demand to be different, to be more substantial and spiritual and much deeper than it is. For that we have to educate people. Our mission is to share this great music with people, but for that we need the support of those very same people.”