Dizi instruction in Florida

[rigacci]

I am in the US, in Florida. I'd like to find a music instructor here that would be able to help me with my Dizi.

I am located North Central Florida, in the city of Ocala. I would drive to Gainesville but Orlando would be too far.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you for any help!

DR

[davidmdahl]

Welcome to the forum, DR. I don't know anything about the Chinese music community in Florida, so I don't have any specific recommendations for teachers. It can be a challenge to find teachers for Chinese instruments outside of a few major cities. My typical advice is to search for Chinese cultural organizations in your area. Some of these come out at this time of year, with public celebrations of the mid-autumn festival. Otherwise, Chinese New Year in the January/February is a good time to look for cultural activities. Also, look for colleges and universities, especially those with a Confucius Institute program.

If you can make some contacts in the Chinese community, you may find a referral. If you can find someone who plays or teaches any Chinese instrument, they may be able to help you find someone. Not everyone is online, so sometimes personal networking is needed.

At the basic level, a Chinese dizi is a six-hole flute, and played much like other six-hole folk flutes. You might get help from a teacher of Irish flute, or maybe even an adventurous teacher of the Western flute. Such a teacher may not be much help with the specifics of playing Chinese music in style, but learning how to hold and blow a dizi with good tone, pitch, and posture is a major accomplishment.

You might check into the dizi study materials by Tim Liu (http://www.2measures.com/)

Good luck!

Best wishes,

David

[rigacci]

Hi Dave!
All great information. I will check out the Chinese Cultural organizations in Gainesville, where the university is located.

I played the "European" flute many years ago but have a much stronger interest in the Dizi and also the Banwu (2 flutes in 1!).

I find some of the Dong Min videos have close shots of her hands, which helps a great deal. If I can tae my eyes off of her face...

Thanks again. Nice forum.