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Post by molihua on May 7, 2013 19:30:17 GMT
Hello all. Yesterday I found a series of instructional videos for Pipa on Youtube, presented by Yang Jing. The videos all have English subtitles. They have been posted by Samuel Wong who I believe wrote the 'Qi: An Instrumental Guide to the Chinese Orchestra' book. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJOW_nmMw_I |
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Post by joepip on May 24, 2013 2:49:48 GMT
Yea I saw these too. Glad they decided to put them up. The CD that came with my pipa didn't have subtitles.
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Post by samuelwong on Jan 16, 2014 15:34:02 GMT
Just chanced upon this forum and decided to join in. hope you liked the videos. ;-)
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Post by davidmdahl on Jan 16, 2014 21:40:43 GMT
Welcome to the forum, Samuel. I look forward to your posts.
Best wishes,
David
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Post by svvin on Jan 22, 2014 20:56:59 GMT
Sam, I tried to download your Yang Jing videos from YT and for some reason #17 and #20 come out empty. Right now #20 doesn't play at all on YT. #17 plays but is not downloadable. Has anyone else noticed that?
Maybe it's a temporary problem?
Anyway, thank you for uploading that treasure on YT! Many left hand techniques are of course very famliar from the Blues playing - or yeah, bend that string baby :-)
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Post by sutong on Jan 22, 2014 22:10:40 GMT
Maybeyou download too much and need to take a break?
The videos are very hard. She makes the trchnique look easy and then plays magical examples.
How do you learn if you have no pipa?
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Post by samuelwong on Jan 23, 2014 0:53:07 GMT
Hi Svinn,
I just re-checked. all videos are playable. Maybe try again in a bit? Im not quite sure if they are downloadable though.... hmm.
Sam
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Post by svvin on Jan 23, 2014 9:31:36 GMT
Maybeyou download too much and need to take a break? The videos are very hard. She makes the trchnique look easy and then plays magical examples. How do you learn if you have no pipa? What break? No breaks! sutong, are you kidding? 'How do you learn if you have no pipa?'. That's the easiest thing you can do. Have you heard of the mental practice techniques? It's even recommended to practice in your mind, imagine the frets you press or the keys you press or the notes you blow out of your horn, etc. In fact the best musicians can first play their instruments in their mind, the physical implementation is secondary. If you learn this technique well you don't even need an instrument :-) (now it's my turn to start kidding; however it's not a joke) So, you close your eyes and imagine how you play pipa (or anything else you want to play). Or, on the other hand you open your eyes and play air-pipa, that should also work. |
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Post by svvin on Jan 23, 2014 9:39:32 GMT
Hi Svinn, I just re-checked. all videos are playable. Maybe try again in a bit? Im not quite sure if they are downloadable though.... hmm. Sam Thanks, I'll check ... checking... no - #20 doesn't play for some reason. I checked in both IE and Chrome. Never mind! |
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Post by sutong on Jan 23, 2014 16:44:54 GMT
Maybeyou download too much and need to take a break? The videos are very hard. She makes the trchnique look easy and then plays magical examples. How do you learn if you have no pipa? What break? No breaks! sutong, are you kidding? 'How do you learn if you have no pipa?'. That's the easiest thing you can do. Have you heard of the mental practice techniques? It's even recommended to practice in your mind, imagine the frets you press or the keys you press or the notes you blow out of your horn, etc. In fact the best musicians can first play their instruments in their mind, the physical implementation is secondary. If you learn this technique well you don't even need an instrument :-) (now it's my turn to start kidding; however it's not a joke) So, you close your eyes and imagine how you play pipa (or anything else you want to play). Or, on the other hand you open your eyes and play air-pipa, that should also work. That is so discilpined of you. I cannot. The sound of the pipa and guitar relaxes me. Imagination is all in my head. Msybr I need to start mental practice techniques more. |
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Post by sutong on Jan 23, 2014 16:57:18 GMT
Hi Sam,
I can find so many Yang Jings as pipa players.
There is one who performs in the 8th Gold Bell awards. Another older Yang Jing who speaks English.
Is this videos of her when she was younger, ormis she a third Yang Jing?
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Post by davidmdahl on Jan 23, 2014 17:36:17 GMT
For what it is worth, I don't have trouble with any of the Yang Jing videos, including #17 and #20.
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Post by samuelwong on Jan 24, 2014 1:51:17 GMT
Hi Sutong, there are THREE Yang Jings. The oldest is Yang Jing 杨静， who used to be a pipa player with the central chinese orchestra and is now based in switzerland. She was Wang Fandi's student. While most searches of yang jing will show her playing her own works, not many people realise that this vintage video is her when she was younger: youtu.be/zDk8vqr6MjIThe second Yang Jing 杨靖， （as you can see the second radical differs, but its still pronounced as 'jing'.) is a professor at the China conservatory of music. (not to be confused with the central conservatory of music -- Beijing has 2 conservatories). She was a student of Liu Dehai, and is the person you see in the videos. The third Yang Jing 杨婧， is still a student in the Central Conservatory, and was a Bronze prize winner in the Golden Bell Competition. She is Zhang Qiang's student. Hope this helps, Sam |
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Post by song on Jan 24, 2014 1:53:57 GMT
I didn't know you had such useful instructional videos on the YouTube Sam. Now excuse me I am going to tell the world about it.
Sw
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Post by sutong on Jan 24, 2014 20:09:14 GMT
Hi Sutong, there are THREE Yang Jings. The oldest is Yang Jing 杨静， who used to be a pipa player with the central chinese orchestra and is now based in switzerland. She was Wang Fandi's student. While most searches of yang jing will show her playing her own works, not many people realise that this vintage video is her when she was younger: youtu.be/zDk8vqr6MjIThe second Yang Jing 杨靖， （as you can see the second radical differs, but its still pronounced as 'jing'.) is a professor at the China conservatory of music. (not to be confused with the central conservatory of music -- Beijing has 2 conservatories). She was a student of Liu Dehai, and is the person you see in the videos. The third Yang Jing 杨婧， is still a student in the Central Conservatory, and was a Bronze prize winner in the Golden Bell Competition. She is Zhang Qiang's student. Hope this helps, Sam Thank you Sam! Yes I thought it was impossible they could all be the same persons with t.v, make up haha They all play so well. I like Yang Jing in the teaching videos very much. Her face is so expressive when she teaches the moves.The passion of playing is like an aura around her. The oldest Yang Jing plays some very experimental music. It is shocking for me to hear so contemporary music played on such an ancient instrument like this. Do you know the name of the piece that the student Yang Jing plays to win the bronze Golden Bell? It is very strange too - I cannot work out the tonal centre of the piece. The silent finger lun zhi in the middle of the piece is really impressive. [/quote] |
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Post by samuelwong on Jan 25, 2014 0:46:12 GMT
Hi sutong,
Competitors have to play a total of 7 pieces in the golden bell competition,
3 at semifinal level, 2 at final level and 2 concertos at grand final level. I'm not sure which piece you might be referring to. Perhaps paste the link here and I'll let you know.
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Post by sutong on Jan 25, 2014 19:30:35 GMT
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Post by samuelwong on Jan 26, 2014 5:48:40 GMT
Hello sutong,
The piece she is playing is 'Yu' (jade), written by Zhu Jian Er. At the 7th minute, she is doing tan Tiao and not lun.
The clip u attached, is the yang Jing who is the professor at the china conservatory of music. (Not the Swiss one).
Hope this helps,
Sam
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Post by sutong on Jan 26, 2014 16:07:03 GMT
Thank you Sam!
That is even more incredible. How can anyone do tan tiao so fast and so quiet?
I try and I need all fingers to get the speed that she finishes off with. That is amazing control. Its good to know the name of the piece. When I first listened to the piece it sounds like an atonal improvising. With more listens, it is very rich and complex.
Is it written in Eflat major?
Thats for making clear which Yang Jing does that great version of Ambushed from All Sides. Her dress style makes it look like the 1970s so I thought it must be older.
Does she tilt the lute closer to 45 degree to play the middle string lun section easier? I see Liu Da Hai has some video with his lute tilted more sideways. I tried this and was doing well and then dropped my pipa on my foot.
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Post by samuelwong on Jan 27, 2014 3:45:17 GMT
Hi sutong, You're right, the piece is atonal, and in 'C'. Ive attached the score of whats she's playing in the last few passages of the video.  Yang Jing's teacher is Liu Dehai, its not surprising she plays like him too. Tilting is really a preference and to one's comfort level. hope this helps, Sam |
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Post by sutong on Jan 27, 2014 13:02:08 GMT
What a fabulous score. i can't read all of it and the part I can, I do slowly.
The morendo at the end of the piece fascinates me. This must be the corresponding part to the silent tan tiao. In stave music, there is no marking for how this is played. Is it common for pipa players to learn stave music to read?
I can understand stave music better than jian pu. But now, I see that the alto clef is used for the 3rd string, and changes to treble clef, it takes some mental gymnastic to think about this. I do not understand alto clef as well as treble or bass.
It's great to know that stave music is available for pipa. Yang Jing has a great teacher!
Yuan Chun Yu performing in the Golden Bell Awards. She plays really beautifully too. Tang Xiao Feng also. He has a CD out but I can only find it online.
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Post by samuelwong on Jan 27, 2014 15:51:48 GMT
hi sutong, the score i took for you is for pipa and string quartet (same piece). The pipa part is on the first stave, in treble clef. the string quartet ones are the corresponding staves - the alto clef was for the viola (and not the third string).
Nowadays, pipa players don't really read jianpu. Most professionals usually read western notation, some don't even read jianpu at all.
Yu Yuan Chun's teacher is Fan Wei. Tang Xiao Feng's teacher is Zhang Qiang. Both play very well.
Sam
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Post by davidmdahl on Jan 27, 2014 17:31:11 GMT
<snip>Nowadays, pipa players don't really read jianpu. Most professionals usually read western notation, some don't even read jianpu at all. <snip> Sam Interesting. That I did not know. Is that because most pipa pros play mostly modern music, or have the traditional tunes been rescored in staff notation? For erhu, guzheng, and dizi, I prefer jianpu to staff notation for Chinese music, even though I have decades of experience with staff notation. There are some Chinese tunes in staff notation that I play on erhu, but I suspect that these were intended to be for violin. Maggie Ma, our pipa player in the Portland Orchids and Bamboo Chinese Music Ensemble reads the same jianpu scores along with the rest of us, so she knows how to read jianpu well enough. I will have to ask her what she prefers when I see her next. Best wishes, David |
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Post by samuelwong on Jan 28, 2014 1:47:01 GMT
hi David, Both have occurred - modern pieces occurring and traditional pieces being re-scored. Even pieces like Shimian Maifu (ambush) is learnt in western notation sometimes. All professional players in orchestras like the China Broadcast Orchestra, Central Chinese Orchestra, the Hong Kong and Singapore Chinese orchestras (four of the world's leading professional Chinese orchestras) only read their notation in western form. It is interesting to note that in China today, jianpu is associated with 'amateur' status while 'professional' musicians usually read western notation. It can be evidenced in the higher grade pieces in Chinese Music (i.e. Third Erhu Rhapsody by Wang Jian Min, Lin Quan for Gu Zheng by Ye Xiao Gang, Chou Kong Shan Dizi Concerto by Guo Wen Jing, Zhao Ling Liu Jun youtu.be/0TyL8To0LR4 by Liu Dehai etc.). They are usually all written in western notation, the work becomes incredibly messy and hard to read when it becomes jianpu. School orchestras and community music groups read jianpu most of the time in China. 10 years ago, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra changed the whole system of notation from jianpu to western notation (to the bane of many of its musicians then, everyone was complaining!). Today it seems to be commonplace. Orchestras in taiwan, hong kong and the youth orchestra here in Singapore, have their auditions and scores in western notation also. The older generation of chinese musicians seem to favour jianpu, but today's conservatory graduates are usually adept in both, but have most of their performance work scored out in western notation. Sam |
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Post by sutong on Jan 28, 2014 10:49:05 GMT
hi sutong, the score i took for you is for pipa and string quartet (same piece). The pipa part is on the first stave, in treble clef. the string quartet ones are the corresponding staves - the alto clef was for the viola (and not the third string). Nowadays, pipa players don't really read jianpu. Most professionals usually read western notation, some don't even read jianpu at all. Yu Yuan Chun's teacher is Fan Wei. Tang Xiao Feng's teacher is Zhang Qiang. Both play very well. Sam ..I was thinking this would be exceptional and hard to play on one instrument if the clefs were for each string! It looks like the composer had polyphony in mind when writing the score. Is a recording released for the pipa and string quartet? This mst be a very strange and interesting form. I see a lot of traditional folk music has jian pu. maybe ths is all the shop sells for beginners and amateurs. I found one book with western notation. It has no / \ * + so it looks more free. Maybe players need more experience to read western notation pipa music? All the great performances, the pipa players seem to write the music in their heart and play from their heart and no need to read music from sheets. At the moment I don't really know jian pu and feel happy with western notation. But I can find a lot more jian pu than I can find western notation. Mostly I learn by ear and fingering patterns which is slow. |
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