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Post by davidmdahl on May 5, 2006 8:31:31 GMT
At this evening's lesson I was assigned an unfamiliar tune "Walking the Camel" or "La Luo Tuo". I enjoy tunes in F and this will be a fun challenge. Have any of you played it? I have not found a recording of it yet, so a tip or rip would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
David
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Post by davidmdahl on May 5, 2006 21:22:58 GMT
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Post by calden on May 6, 2006 17:07:52 GMT
David:
Once again you prove yourself to be King of All Musical Resources. You amaze me. I don't have a full-time job and haven't found half the things you've unearthed. Thanks.
Humble Servant and Lowly Tea-House Wonk,
Carlos
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Post by Charlie Huang on May 6, 2006 17:56:20 GMT
David: Once again you prove yourself to be King of All Musical Resources. You amaze me. I don't have a full-time job and haven't found half the things you've unearthed. Thanks. Humble Servant and Lowly Tea-House Wonk, Carlos All you need is a further 39 posts and you will be a pro! ;D |
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Post by davidmdahl on May 7, 2006 8:43:19 GMT
Once again you prove yourself to be King of All Musical Resources. You amaze me. I don't have a full-time job and haven't found half the things you've unearthed. Thanks. Now if I just spent more of that surfing time practicing, I might accomplish something. <g> Thanks, Carlos. By the way, do you play La Luo Tuo? Best wishes, David |
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Post by calden on May 7, 2006 12:44:47 GMT
La Luo Tuo is sort of on my list. I play all the same tunes I know because I can play them half well, and I hack away at about five or six others. Then I've got a list of about ten tunes that are sitting in the wings waiting to be given attention to. This is one of them.
Carlos
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Post by sanmenxia on May 7, 2006 13:38:50 GMT
I like this piece, I think it's in the style of Mongolian music (?) and it's listed as grade 4 next to Saima (Horse Race) in my book. The first part uses the inner string quite a lot, notes that could be played on the outter string in the low postion are played on the inner at a higher position. Then the next bit sounds sort of improvised, I think you need to have a teacher to show you this bit or at least have a recording, I certainly wouldn't know how to play this part just from the book.
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Post by calden on May 7, 2006 14:24:29 GMT
Speaking of camels and music, I assume that everyone has seen the astonishing film about the weeping camel: www.nationalgeographic.com/weepingcamel/index.htmlIf you haven't, you must go rent it today. It involves a Mongolian family, a camel, and some amazing matouqin music - that's the big Mongolian erhu horsehead fiddle thing. You might remember the forum note by Grandmaster Flash David Jr. Bird Man last year about the Seattle Folklife Festival performance by LiBo, the Mongolian matouqin master. But seriously - if you like La Luo Tuo you'll love the music in this movie. I won't give away the plot - it's literally unbelievable. Carlos |
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Post by notmadeinzhongguo on May 7, 2006 20:31:45 GMT
Speaking of camels and music, I assume that everyone has seen the astonishing film about the weeping camel: I have not, but it sounds intriguing, I defiantly want to check it out. |
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Post by paulv on May 11, 2006 16:13:10 GMT
At this evening's lesson I was assigned an unfamiliar tune "Walking the Camel" or "La Luo Tuo". I enjoy tunes in F and this will be a fun challenge. Have any of you played it? I have not found a recording of it yet, so a tip or rip would be appreciated. Thanks. Best wishes, David HI David, I found that I also like tunes in F (and B-flat) -- maybe because of my past life playing jazz. The first F song I learned was the Kanding Love Song (KanDing Qing Ge). By the way, I just got back from China -- had a great time and added a couple of inches to my girth!! I was in this little music shop buying some strings for my teacher (and me) and there was a guy playing a jinghu. When my wife told him that I was learning erhu, he handed the jinghu over to me to play something. The only song I had memorized (from a recent concert) was the "Wild Dance of the Golden Snake". I was really cooking on that song until the high pitch of the jinghu drove my wife crazy and she made me stop. Regards, paul.... |
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Post by davidmdahl on May 11, 2006 17:11:28 GMT
Wow, what fun! I would love to visit China. Please write more about your trip.
I have not played a jinghu, but a gaohu is high enough as it is, and powerfully loud. If you stay in first position on the jinghu is it so bad?
Best wishes,
David
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Post by paulv on May 11, 2006 19:26:51 GMT
Well, the highlights of the trip was eating my favorite seafood and getting my bath and massage. There's a bath house that specializes in people scrubbing you down and then having women massage you. Before everyone here jumps to conclusions, this is a legitimate bath place -- female / male guests are washed by the same sex. Massages are provided by women only. I had my feet, neck, hands massaged, and the girl walked on my back using her toes on various pressure points around my spine. Went to this place twice!
OK, now the musical stuff. I needed a new horse tail for my bow and we went to this one store (went to it last year) and they had a bow that was the same dimensions as my good bow with a horsetail that I could easily remove and put on my good bow. The bow costs $30 Yuan which is about $3.75US. The bow's bamboo was cracked in several places (it was a bow with an erhu on display). My wife got them down to $20Y so we bought it and I broke the bow and wrapped up the horsetail for easy transport. I also bought an electronic tuner from this place which has presets for guzheng, guitar, violin, pipa and erhu and a pickup all for $15US. At another shop, while searching for strings my teacher specifically asked for, I saw another bow like my good one that was $15 US and asked my wife to pick it up later -- she was coming back a couple of days later with her parents -- I'll see if she bought it.
Naturally, I brought back silk things for all the women in my office that we bought in Beijing as well as my wife's home city, Tianjin. I really love going to China, and I would consider living there after retirement, but the cities are so damn dirty with dust and air pollution. Even the main streets are constantly being washed down with water trucks to keep the dust down. Got a lot of looks from the natives and many children stared at me. All in all, it was a great time and looking forward to the next time!!
Regards,
Paul...
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Post by davidmdahl on May 11, 2006 23:18:05 GMT
Wow, Paul! It took me a while to get past the first paragraph of your China report. I reread it several times. I guess that I could really use something like that. ;D I know that music is supposed to be a good stress reducer, but sometimes there is nothing better than a soak and massage. I saw some massage joints in Vietnam, but did not know enough about how to avoid the wrong places so I just missed out.
Best wishes,
David
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Post by davidbadagnani on May 12, 2006 3:37:19 GMT
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Post by paulv on May 12, 2006 12:47:35 GMT
David,
The whole bath/massage thing is great especially after spending 12-14 hours on an airplane -- I highly recommend it. I've done it now 4 times in 2 years and I always ask for the same massage girl.
davidbadagnani,
We always go to Tianjin which is the city my wife came from, and usually go to Beijing for one day. Our vacations there are typically 9-10 days losing 2 days on each end for travel. I think next year we're going to take more time and travel around with my sister-in-law's family.
Regards,
paul....
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Post by calden on May 12, 2006 13:58:06 GMT
It's so hard for me to read these posts!!!
I've been wanting to return to either mainland or Taiwan this whole year, and have been unable to (family stuff.) I'm dying to get back and sit in the park playing erhu.
The massage thing reminds me of our last trip to Shanghai four years ago. We stayed in a non-foreigner businessmans' hotel (because we can speak some Chinese and get a good rate.) Every night at about 11 pm we'd get a call from a chirpy young lady asking if I'd like a massage. THe first time I explained in my best but failing Chinese that I didn't need anything, no services, thinking it was one of the desk people asking about something. When she sussed out I was an English speaker she pushed their "massage service." After a few more polite refusals the lightbulb switched on over my dim brain.
Subsequent nights she would call - if my wife answered she asked if we had enough kai shui in the room. If I answered she became the chirpy night attendant. "Nihao, xiansheng, shi wo ba!"
Carlos
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Post by paulv on May 12, 2006 15:52:05 GMT
Carlos,
My wife warned me a long time ago about girls calling "lao wai's" in their hotel rooms under the guise of something legitimate although they 're really a "jinu" or "biaozi" or "changji" (depending on which word you learned).
OK, that's all I'm saying about my trip -- after all, this is a music forum!!!
Regards,
paul....
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Post by davidbadagnani on May 12, 2006 22:01:15 GMT
Both good music towns. They also both have interesting traditions of "dagu"/"shuochang"/"pingtan"/"kuaiban" narrative singing -- did you ever get to listen to any of that? Of course, this board is more focused on instrument playing than vocals, and in those genres the instruments aren't the most important thing.
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Post by paulv on May 14, 2006 14:04:52 GMT
Both good music towns. They also both have interesting traditions of "dagu"/"shuochang"/"pingtan"/"kuaiban" narrative singing -- did you ever get to listen to any of that? Of course, this board is more focused on instrument playing than vocals, and in those genres the instruments aren't the most important thing. No, but I did catch a lot of Beijing Opera on the TV (CCTV). I have always had mixed feelings about vocals and prefer instrumentation instead -- probably because I have have a terrible singing voice. Regards, Paul... |
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