“When I was pregnant with him, I prayed that God will give me a child with musical talents. And God answered my prayer. Really, whatever that he has is from God,” LipTong Koh said.

Junior Asher Koh was born to a musical family. His mother, LipTong Koh, played yangqin (a traditional Chinese string instrument), and his father, PinNgee Koh, sang in high school. Both of his parents also led the worship team at church. LipTong recognized that a good pianist has a huge impact on worship, and prayed that her child might serve God through music.

When Asher was an infant, LipTong could already tell he had a good sense of music. She started Asher on violin when he was three and piano when he was five, since she believes these instruments benefit younger children.

“[Violin] is a good instrument to start because there are violins in small sizes, and the violin can train your hearing for musical notes,” LipTong said. “[And] piano lays the basis to a lot of [other] musical instruments, if he’d like to explore them in the future.”

By the time Asher was in middle school, he was already learning high school-level pieces and memorizing them. His speedy improvement in music impressed orchestra teacher Alicia Bont. She noted that Asher has immense musical talent.

“He has perfect pitch, which means he can hear a pitch, and determine what the name of it is just by hearing it. That’s a genetic trait that’s not very common,” Bont said. “Most people can only learn a piece and then be able to play that piece. He can create a lot of music just from his mind.”

Asher’s unique talent helped him become a flourishing young musician. He can play numerous instruments: ukulele, melodica, guitar, bass, violin, and piano. He is a member of Parkway Central’s Symphonic Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, an auditioned ensemble that performs at expert-level. He participated in Missouri All-State Orchestra three times, which is a selective music program for top high school string players. On top of that, he has won second place in the University City Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. That’s just a glimpse of his accomplishments.

Reaching such height in music does not rely on talent alone — it also requires hours of practice. Asher spends around three hours on music every day, with organized practice routines for his two main instruments.

“For violin, I start off with some scales and some technique work. Then, I move on to my solo repertoire, and then I go on to practicing my orchestral stuff for the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, if I have extra time,” Asher said. “For piano, [I] warm up by playing a little bit of jazz or something non-classical. Then I’ll go into practicing my solo piano repertoire.”

Asher’s commitment to music helps him get involved in the community. He is an active member of the school’s Chamber Club. Additionally, he helped Bont organize a jazz concert during his freshman year, and performed a solo at the orchestra’s Carnegie Hall performance in his sophomore year. This year, he’s accompanying 20 students for the upcoming Solo & Ensemble Festival, which requires him to practice 15 different piano pieces aside from his own solo. Practicing and rehearsing 15 pieces at once sounds intimidating, but it’s not a novelty to Asher.

“I’ve played some of them [piano pieces] before,” Asher said. “A lot of it is just sight-reading it through once, and maybe playing through it two to four more times just to polish it up.”

At the same time, Asher is arranging a video game themed music piece for the orchestra’s spring concert, including popular songs from “Super Mario Brothers” and “Legends of Zelda.” It’s a full orchestra piece that includes around 20 instruments.

“[I] arrange them by listening to them,” Asher said. “I find the melody of one instrument, and find a way to make the chords and rhythm be established by the other instruments in the orchestra.”

Not only is he a leader in the music department, Asher is a club leader as well – in the orchestra room. Last October, Asher founded the PCH tea club after receiving a kettle for a birthday gift from junior Andrew Kang. In due time, it developed into a full-fledged club with ten regular members. It was spotlighted with the other school clubs at Expo Night on Jan. 18. Asher believes the simple objective of drinking tea is one that can unite people.

“[The tea club] brings people together,” Asher said. “Anyone can join, just sit down, bring your own mug, and you just take a tea bag or bring your own and then we’ll have tea.”

Outside of school, Asher dedicates his time to his church’s worship team. He has been a part of the Chesterfield Presbyterian Church’s worship team for two years, playing violin, piano, keyboard, acoustic and electric guitar.

“I’m Christian, and I use my music to help people worship,” Asher said. “It’s a good way to serve God. It’s also a hands-on experience playing music professionally.”

Although Asher is very service-oriented, as Bont describes him to be, he has to manage his school work from the four AP classes and three honors classes he’s taking. Asher always tries to prioritize music practices.

“I don’t [practice] sometimes when I have too much homework, but I try to get in an hour of piano or violin each day,” Asher said. “So if I have a piano competition coming up, I’ll focus more on practicing piano and less violin and then vice versa.”

Looking back on his musical journey and all his achievements, Asher cites his parents as his biggest support.

“They [my parents] make me practice,” Asher said. “They also drive me to my performances, and they help me review my recordings.”

While Asher isn’t sure which career he wants to pursue specifically, he knows that it will definitely be music-related.

“Probably at this point, classical piano focuses in college,” Asher said. “But then other than that, I don’t really know because I still want to do non-classical stuff.”

To sum up: on every level: gifts, ability, community service, personal life — Asher is a rare combination of innate talent and abiding pursuit. Bont is excited to see what he does in the future.

“He has a lot of interests that are just really special,” Bont said. “I don’t think that I’m ever going to see another student quite like Asher.”

This story was originally published on Corral on February 26, 2024.