Chinese music in Portland - January 15

[davidmdahl]

For any in the Portland, Oregon area, my erhu teacher's ensemble is performing a program of Chinese music on Sunday, January 15 5:00 pm at the Cascade Campus of Portland Community College. I will be playing erhu, hulusi, and duxianqin, although not all at once. <g>

Best wishes,

David

[edcat7]

Wow you're performing the hulusi, (I am slightly jealous ) What tunes are you playing on the hulusi?

Hope lots turn up to watch you.

Best wishes

Ed

[davidmdahl]

Thanks, Ed. Here is our performance from last fall. I played flute in that. Our guest musicians from China are gone, so I will play hulusi on Sunday.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=o93hYDPHy-0

Best wishes,

David

[edcat7]

Great tune. I always feel sad when I hear others play the hulusi.....it reminds me of times gone by. For years I couldn't even bear to listen to hulusi music. And then I found my teacher.

With the mix of western and Chinese instruments do some read western notes and others jianpo. ie where do the western instrumentalists get the notes for essentially a chinese tune.

[davidmdahl]

The arrangement for the tune I call Deep Friendship is in staff notation. The Chinese guests did not have any trouble with either staff or numeric notation. I have found it useful and necessary to learn to play the tunes in whatever notation is available. For erhu and other Chinese music, I prefer jianpu, but I can get by in staff notation. For duxianqin I prefer staff notation. It is definitely good exercise for the mind. I am hoping that will postpone my Alzheimer's. <g>

Best wishes,

David

[edcat7]

You play so many instruments, and play them well. Did you have tuition for every instrument . Musical tuition here is costly, typically £35-£40/hr. However my dizi/erhu teacher charges me only a nominal sum, hence i can afford to follow him till the end of his days.

[davidmdahl]

Well, the program is over and I survived. Actually it went quite well. As often happens though, there were some changes and I did not play hulusi. The number was with dancers, and they preferred taped music which was more familiar. You never know what will happen to tempos and such when the music is played live.

I don't feel too bad about the hulusi getting cut. The grand finale was The General's Command, and I got to play a bass dragon dance drum. I am not a percussionist at all, but I got a quick lesson from the guzheng player, who has a lot of experience with drums. Anyway, it all worked out, and I think the Drunken Master would have approved.

The program also included some ensemble numbers, with myself on erhu, and some outstanding solos featuring erhu, guzheng, pipa. I played duxianqin (dan bau) on a solo tune titled "Weaving the Fishing Net". I don't remember the Chinese name.

I will post links if videos from tonight get posted to Youtube.

Best wishes,

David

[edcat7]

David. Drums instead of the hulusi? Seems you can turn your hand to anything

[davidmdahl]

Here are a few videos from our Jan 15 program:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_GE4Oar9io

www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9UNN2F7yns

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jhOPDw8W3Y

Our program at Reed College on Jan 22 went well enough, and I did play hulusi on several tunes. Unfortunately the audience was very noisy, so the sound on the videos did not turn out.

I find that when playing hulusi I can adjust the pitch a bit by blowing harder to lower the pitch or more softly to raise the pitch. This is not what I expected, but at least there is something to try for the wonkier notes.

Best wishes,

David

[edcat7]

David, have you managed to play the hulusi with the drone on? It's lack of time but one tune I'm playing this saturday is so fast and with the drone on I'm surely going to play it without the backing track.

[davidmdahl]

Hello Ed,

No, I have not been using the drones on my hulusi. I suppose I might as well be playing a bawu, but I don't have one in C. I played around with the drone, but didn't like it much. It is hard enough to play in tune as it is.

Best wishes,

David

[George]

I'm very impressed by your performance on the duxianqin, David. It's like a theremin that doesn't need batteries.

[davidmdahl]

Thanks, George. I think that the duxianqin/dan bau is more like a one-string electric guitar with extra capacity for expression. If you listen to a really top-notch player, such as Pham Duc Thanh (see videos on Youtube), it is apparent that the expressive capabilities far exceed what is possible on a theremin. Of course, I am biased. <g>

Best wishes,

David

[George]

I've just been to his website and heard some of his playing. The Vietnamese must have more remarkable instruments per capita than anyone else.