Happy New Year, and upcoming trip

[calden]

Hey all:

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Our community just had our Chinese New Year celebration, and although I did not perform in the show this year I did sit out at a table selling tickets for an event, and got to play erhu quite a bit, and even played with a nice kid from Mainland who played violin. We did a number of good old tunes together: Xi Yang Yang, Nan Ni Wan, Mo Li Hua, deng deng.

Here's the event we sold tickets for:

Jetz's youth orchestra is visiting our city at the end of March! Yes, the Great Wall Youth Orchestra is coming way up here to visit us from Oakland, and we've got them in a FINE old theater.

AND! -I will be visiting Oakland this week (wife's family is nearby) and I'll be meeting with the orchestra director and their PR person with whom I've been in much contact, and we'll be talking over EXCELLENT DIM SUM which I cannot get where I live.

AND! -I'll be visiting Clarion Music and Bay Music to scrounge around and see what I might pick up. Nothing like a new gaohu to add to the family!

Cheers!

Carlos

[davidmdahl]

Hello Carlos!

Thanks for the update. Sounds like great fun. I had my last new year performance at the Oregon Convention Center last Saturday. I played erhu and zhonghu with Dr. Yang's group "The Orchids and Bamboo Chinese Music Ensemble". I had to leave right afterwards to get to my daughter's 7th birthday party.

I am in Chicago for the week for some work-related training and have my erhu along for practicing. As luck would have it, the weather has been snowy and very cold, so I have been sticking around the hotel in the evening. Good thing I brought the erhu. <g>

Right now, San Francisco sounds like a great place to be. I was not that impressed with Clarion for erhu's but Bay Music (Chinese Arts and Music Center) on Balboa had some interesting things when I visited several years ago. Have fun!

Best wishes,

David

[calden]

Update on the Bay Area Trip:

I had wonderful dimsum with Shir Lin Chew, director of the Great Wall Youth Orchestra, along with her son Vincent, Melanie O'Reilly who is the tour manager, and Frank Chong, the President of Laney College, who sponsors the orchestra for rehearsal space. The reason the President came is that he is very supportive of this orchestra, and also that he and I were roommates in Berkeley when I first moved to California way back in 1980. It was great to see him and see how far he has come in life!

I also visited Clarion music where I bought two student model erhus to be able to sell to new students that I'm getting, and ALMOST bought a zhonghu. I was impressed at how the student models were set up - they upgraded the bridges and qianjin out of the box, and they sounded pretty darn good. No gaohus to look at. The propreitor was so intrigued at this big, white-haired, big-nosed Lao Wai who could bang out a few erhu tunes that she let me play a super fancy-dancy erhu. Incredibly loud and nasal, but with excellent dynamic range. I could play very softly or rip the ears off the neighbor across the street. Amazing!

Then after a great Cantonese restaurant lunch (eggplant and tofu stuffed with shrimp in black bean sauce) we visited Bay Music, which is now China Art and Music, still in the same place on Balboa. They had a few gaohus, and when the sales girl heard that I could play a bit and that I was interested in buying, she called the store owner and he came in on his day off and spent a good 30 minutes with me, playing three different intermediate level gaohus, correcting my technique and showing me how to hold it between my knees for tone control. I was able to sometimes get the thing positioned right to get that beautiful clear gaohu tone and once I did I decided to buy it. He gave me a really hefty discount off the list price because he was I was a serious student. The most amazing thing about Mr. Thomas Lee's service is that he came in from the hospital, where he was with his wife who had just had a baby the day before!

So both San Francisco stores get my recommendation for honest advice and reasonable prices for good instruments. And they had scads of guzhengs, too, as well as all the blowy-tooty instruments for those of you who are wind people.

Carlos

[jetz320]

china art and music, i never heard of it. i must check it out next time i go to sf. do they have pro dizis there?

[calden]

Jetz:

That's the one that has the Bay Music website:

www.baymusic.net/

They answer their phone "Chinese Arts and Music Center."

It's at 500 Balboa, just a block or so north of GG Park in the Richmond district. I actually used to live not far from there when I was a graduate student in 1980. It was so much fun to tool around the city with my wife and go out to Ocean Beach with her - where we went on one of our first dates. And on Valentine's Day no less.

I don't know about the dizi situation - I didn't ask about them, and for all I know they had a complete stock of pro instruments. I'd call them as well as Clarion.

Carlos

Carlos

[davidmdahl]

Thanks for the trip report, Carlos! I am glad to hear about the gaohu. I had a really good gaohu, the kind that you play between the knees, but could not get used to the playing position. I sold it to my teacher and got a Man Rui Xin gaohu that I can play in erhu position. Still, that traditional gaohu sound is wonderful and fits Cantonese music like a glove.

I wonder where the good erhus were when I visited Clarion. I will be sure to ask when I next visit SF. I did like some of the erhus at 500 Balboa, but no one was around that knew anything about them. There was a pair of jinghus hanging up with no bows or bridges. Did you see those?

Best wishes,

David

[calden]

David:

Clarion only pulled out the good erhus when I played for a while. Even then she kept saying "you should come back when the boss is here"to answer further questions. I saw the jinghus at CAMC but already have one. The clerk at CAMC was friendly but really didn't know a great deal about the instruments and called the proprietor. I think that for both places if you have a serious interest, as we do, it would be good to call a few days ahead to try and have the boss present, make sure he's not out performing.

Carlos

[davidmdahl]

Thanks for the tip, Carlos. I will indeed contact Clarion and CAMC in advance of any return to the Bay area. I may also try to visit Datung International Arts Company (www.melodyofchina.com). They list quite a few interesting erhus by Man Rui Xin and others. However, I already have the only gaohu and zhonghu that I will ever need. Dr. Yang is trying to get me a better erhu from his contacts in China. Hopefully that will work out.

Did you get your jinghu fixed then? How is it sounding?

Best wishes,

David