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Post by edcat7 on Jul 7, 2012 20:18:34 GMT
I've been pretty distracted lately due to work/no work problems. I had another performance today for 10 minutes at my kiddies' Chinese school.
This time the audience was really attentive, so much so I was really nervous. I lost my place 2 or 3 times toward the beginning of Gusu Xing. I must have played the same bits a couple of times also. I played safe on the hulusi and played Phoenix Bamboo Under the Moonlight.
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Post by davidmdahl on Jul 8, 2012 15:41:06 GMT
Good for you, Ed. The pressure sometimes gets to me too. A few weeks ago I played with my teacher at the Chinese Garden. It was easier when the Taiwanese guests were ignoring us, but when they came closer for a better look, I felt exposed. Fortunately they did not appear to mind my mistakes, and enjoyed the music anyway.
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Post by edcat7 on Jul 8, 2012 18:47:38 GMT
You must get all the attention as a Westerner playing unusual Chinese instruments
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Post by davidmdahl on Jul 8, 2012 22:08:34 GMT
Well, the duxianqin gets some attention. It is not too familiar to most people. There was a young lady in the 12 Girls Band who played it occasionally, but I don't know of many recordings otherwise.
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Post by edcat7 on Feb 10, 2013 0:18:18 GMT
I've been asked to perform again next Saturday at Chinese school to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
This time I won't be mistaken for a waiter since I bought some Tang clothing.
I think I'll perform the xun and perhaps the hulusi again. My 'Autumn Meditation' on the low G dizi isn't ready yet and I haven't finished learning 'Nocturne' on the erhu.
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Post by edcat7 on Feb 12, 2013 19:19:08 GMT
I rushed to see my teacher this morning and even though he was very busy we managed to finish off 'Nocturne' on the erhu. I'm having difficulty with one line of music and don't know if I will be ready by saturday.
I've got two slots of ten and five minutes. I'm going to play safe and perform 'Phoenix bamboo under the moonlight' on the hulusi and Gusu Xing on the dizi. It's Nocturne I'm worried about. I had aimed to be ready by July!
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Post by davidmdahl on Feb 12, 2013 21:35:41 GMT
If you are having trouble with a passage in a tune that you need to perform, then simplify it to something you can play. You can polish the section later. It is better to simplify a challenging passage to something you can manage, than to muck it up at the performance. That is no fun!
So, what tune is this Nocturne that you are playing? Can you post a link to a video?
Best wishes,
David
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Post by edcat7 on Feb 12, 2013 22:39:19 GMT
Actually I can play that part now, I have a few days to polish it up. Sliding accurately between octaves is a problem. The only link on youtube I've seen is www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjzTh9eqqzU
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Post by edcat7 on Feb 12, 2013 22:52:56 GMT
How does one attach a photo? I've taken a picture of the offending line of music.
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Post by Minh on Feb 13, 2013 4:26:06 GMT
Try looking for "New year's eve" or "Happy evening/night" on youtube www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfxwqc7Cd4o I found this tutorial by Song Fei, if you understand chinese, if not, just look at her play? In the end she plays it
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Post by davidmdahl on Feb 13, 2013 5:50:37 GMT
Oh, you mean Liang Xiao. I know that as Beautiful Evening. That is a favorite of mine as well. I posted a video of myself playing it on Youtube a year or so ago.
To include an attachment with your post to this forum, start a new message, or a reply, and find the Attachment field just below the subject. Click on the Browse button to the right of the field and navigate to the photo you want to upload. The maximum size of the photo, or other attachment, is 1 MB.
Best wishes,
David
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Post by edcat7 on Feb 13, 2013 9:47:16 GMT
Oh you mean: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o0ZnDS8E5wNow that I'm trying to learn it by Saturday I can appreciate your efforts. Your change of octaves is seamless and your bowing is smooth, wow. You know the offending couple of lines then? The rest is pretty much ok.
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Post by edcat7 on Feb 13, 2013 9:50:24 GMT
The tutorial by Song Fei sounds like my music lessons. No, I don't understand him either.
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Post by edcat7 on Feb 16, 2013 0:55:35 GMT
I've taken the morning off work and am desperately practising Liang Xiao. The most difficult part is around 1.26 onwards on David's youtube clip. I've no choice but to put tiny stickers on the erhu. The full version is repeated but I'm not sure if the audience can suffer a full five minutes The waiter's have unkindly suggested to me to stick with the hulusi and the dizi!
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Post by edcat7 on Feb 16, 2013 1:59:00 GMT
I have an idea: I'm going to play it slowly, much slower than David's performance, but do it well and just once.
After the performance I'll have plenty on time to fine tune it.
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Post by edcat7 on Feb 16, 2013 8:55:15 GMT
At this late stage I've decided not to play the erhu but play my F hulusi. I want to encourage people to take up a Chinese instrument not dissuade them.
Now to practise in time with the backing track.
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Post by edcat7 on Feb 17, 2013 1:15:12 GMT
Well, I did it...again. I left the erhu; to learn a grade 4 piece in three days after working long hours in the kitchen was too ambitious.
I had two slots: as I was entering the stage I dropped my F hulusi and shattered the mouthpiece. And as I approached the mic for the second slot I put my finger through the dimo.
Absolutely no regrets though and had a good time.
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Post by davidmdahl on Feb 18, 2013 7:50:09 GMT
Sorry to hear of your bad luck with the dizi and hulusi, Ed. Sometimes gigs go like that. I have a pair of flutes each in D and G for just the sort of dimo crisis you had. Hopefully I won't mess up both flutes for a particular key during the same gig.
How is the hulusi? Can you still play it? I am glad that your attitude is good and you had fun anyway.
Best wishes,
David
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Post by edcat7 on Feb 18, 2013 10:02:12 GMT
Thanks David,
With the shattered mouthpiece double-tongueing was much more difficult.
I've got another cheap F that sounds mediocre so I smashed that to change the mouth piece. I noticed both really are made of horn!
Without the pressure of performance I can now concentrate and enjoy improving Liang Xiao. btw. Liang means reminisce/ contemplate
Ed
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Post by Blue on Feb 18, 2013 12:08:45 GMT
While one should take risks for public performances, sometimes being too ambitious is too much. Last year, the head of our music club was very ambitious with his choice of pieces, all being towards the second and third octaves. I finally reluctantly told him directly to lower down his puppy-eyed dreamlike expectations of our group as we're overworked engineers who are not blessed with enough time to practice and we live in a place of high population density. But lowering down the expectations didn't mean that we would choose totally easy pieces.
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Post by davidmdahl on Feb 18, 2013 16:55:03 GMT
Good point, Allen. Over the years I have performed tunes that were too hard for me and some that were very easy. The results were often mxed. I got a chance to really work hard on some challenging and rewarding music. Sometimes it came off well-enough. Often time I found that audiences responded better to simpler music that I could play really well, than to ambitious music that I was not quite managing. The key is to play music that you can play expressively. The occasional bad note is forgiven, but an audience will not appreciate a performance that is obviously underprepared. It is no fun for a musician or audience when the music is too difficult to play expressively.
Simply performing in public is taking a risk. Especially for a green musician, it is a very good idea to perform music that can be played with confidence. It is key to becoming comfortable performing. I find that a history of good experiences performing reduces the anxiety of performing. Even when you are not happy with a performance, try not to dwell on what went wrong. Learn from every experience of course, but allow yourself to enjoy and savor what went right.
Thus endeth the sermon. <g>
Best wishes,
David
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