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Post by yamatanoorochi on Mar 12, 2012 10:07:45 GMT
i would like to be a part of a chinese music ensemble in college. how do i go about joining one? do i have to major in music to join one? do i have to know an instrument already or will they teach me one?
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Post by edcat7 on Mar 12, 2012 15:06:30 GMT
Hi Yamataanoorochi
I think outside of China, it would be difficult to find a Chinese music ensemble in college. Do you play any Western instruments? If you have played the violin, guitar or flute then the transition to erhu, zhongruan and dizi would not be huge.
It seems you're specifically interested in the zhongruan. Do you have fingering charts for it. A large part of learning any instrument is self-tuition and I think the zhongruan is well suited for self-tuition.
An understanding of jianpo would help. I'm having tuition on the liuqin and teaching myself the zhongruan. Both are tuned the same and have the same number of strings and frets.
For fun (since the teacher can be really anal) I'm playing simple dizi and erhu tunes on the zhongruan.
If you can't find a zhongruan teacher, I'm sure there must be guys at college who play the guitar who can help you start.
Timing is everything in the zhongruan, since it is traditionally used as a accompaning instrument, so you will NEED a metronome.
If you like I'll try to figure a way to upload a zhongruan fingering chart and some simple excerises to get you started.
Best Wishes
Ed
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Post by xindi on Mar 12, 2012 21:22:52 GMT
i would like to be a part of a chinese music ensemble in college. how do i go about joining one? do i have to major in music to join one? do i have to know an instrument already or will they teach me one? Is there any chinese music ensemble in your college?! If there is, that's a great start...otherwise you will have to start one up and advertise for members (of your standard ... don't expect higher standard musicians to join...they don't enjoy playing beginner-newcomer music sadly :*( ) Most music ensembles have a minimum set standard for newcomers - maybe graded for exams, or being able to play to a basic standard before letting newcomers join (otherwise the tone deaf players or the syncopated rhythm dyslexics will mess up the bass section). In the western music system, the majority of students learn an instrument (privately) and take graded exams. When their grade is good enough for their age, they may join an ensemble (like a chamber orchestra). It's the same in places like Hong Kong...which follows the British/western system for education. Group learning is possible for beginners ... but not usually a music ensemble...that takes more proficiency. If you are a mature student and you go to university, ensembles are usually more fun, and based around enjoying music - they are more tolerant/accepting, and usually more patient whereas most music ensembles would eject a beginner fast! Where I live, we have a (western music) ensemble, but there is only so many times I can play 'Baby Elephant Walk' before wanting to turn their tusks into pipa frets. It felt like I was babysitting (different age groups there) and I didn't enjoy it. Their repertoire doesn't interest me, and so I go off and play solo. Chinese or western music ... you may get group tuition, but if you're already interested and afford it, start taking private lessons (group or solo). I'm learning the pipa by watching youtube clips - it's not as good as having your own tutor.... |
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Post by yamatanoorochi on Mar 12, 2012 22:41:53 GMT
i play guitar and i only know how to read tabs. i know jianpu is supossed to be easy, but i don't understand any of it. i can't read a helpful amount of chinese either. seeing the zhongruan is what made me start leaning guitar in the first place, in hopes of making the zhongruan easier for me. eventually i grew to love guitar too. i'm a junior in highschool no and hope to be in california for college. a member of my erhu group on facebook told me that california has more ensembles than any other state. i just need to know how to start
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Post by edcat7 on Mar 12, 2012 23:31:53 GMT
Yes you do need a zhongruan fingering chart. You can also play guitar chords on the zhongruan.
At the moment I'm playing a simple tune, Mo Li Hua on the liuqin and my teacher follows me with the zhongruan using guitar chords; which sounds so cool
I suspect Xindi is right when he mentions that an ensemble is unlikely to accept a complete novice. Playing with others is a lot more difficult (but more satisfying ) than playing on your own.
I had a couple of classical guitar lessons a long while ago and it seemed to me that the zhongruan must be easier since only a pick is used rather than all the fingers.
Also, since there are fewer zhongruans about they are much dearer.
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Post by xindi on Mar 13, 2012 19:56:00 GMT
i play guitar and i only know how to read tabs. i know jianpu is supossed to be easy, but i don't understand any of it. i can't read a helpful amount of chinese either. seeing the zhongruan is what made me start leaning guitar in the first place, in hopes of making the zhongruan easier for me. eventually i grew to love guitar too. i'm a junior in highschool no and hope to be in california for college. a member of my erhu group on facebook told me that california has more ensembles than any other state. i just need to know how to start ....and there are only like...2000 guitar chords lol! Oh .. you said tabs. If you can read tabs, that a good start. Start learning jian pu and it will become very obvious after a few basic lessons. If you understand that (major scale) music follows Doh Ray Me Fa So La Te Doh, then it makes it easy to understand for a key of D say (5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5). A dot above, means an octave higher; a dot below means an octave below. Don't worry about not reading chinese...you can get by with just the notation, although the dynamics and stylistics marked in chinese need to be understood eventually. You probably need a 1:1 tutor (skype or otherwise) but if you play zhongruan accompaniment for simple melodies, you may only need to know about 5 chords to survive till the end of the piece lol. In the concerts where I've seen zhongruan players - yes they do tend to double up on other instruments (like the erhu) but those are professional small ensembles (around 5 musicians). Ho ho....no way! I would rather lone ranger than kindergarten ensemble! The local group (western classical of course) which I tried is around mostly Grade 5/6 for most instruments (and it is 'band instruments' zzzz). Making it past puberty seems to be a bonus for the membership. |
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Post by edcat7 on Mar 13, 2012 20:43:21 GMT
It seems to me alot of people I know who play an instrument stop at grade 5. I wonder why?.... I would love to get to grade 5 with all my instruments.
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