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Post by lolipop on Jun 14, 2006 13:13:42 GMT
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jun 14, 2006 14:01:38 GMT
As far as I can tell, there are no such things as a Chinese music instructional VCD with English (or Chinese) subs.
My cohorts will kindly assist you in your studies in due course (I'm not the erhu expert here).
*pages cohorts/imperial eunuchs/etc*
He hee...
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Post by calden on Jun 14, 2006 14:29:26 GMT
I'm looking to buy my first erhu, but wanted to learn alittle on my own to start with. They're probably fine, but there's only instructional DVD/VCD I know of in English. It's made by George Gao www.georgegao.com/who is an excellent erhu artist and teacher in Toronto. It's short, but it describes the basics. Go to the page and search around until you find the listing for "teaching English speaker" or something like that. Then there's also the excellent video clip at Chen Jiebing's website www.jiebingchen.com/ go to "watch the instructional video." Good luck. Carlos |
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Post by Si on Jun 14, 2006 17:14:57 GMT
isnt it fustrating for us none chinese
the chinese translate all the important english books so they are knowledgable in all things western, but its often impossible to learn a lot about chinese subjects (ei: music etc)
i wonder if any one will ever produce a qin book in english ( not counting the mei an qin pu wich very annoyingly does not even use ping yin)
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Post by davidmdahl on Jun 14, 2006 18:27:20 GMT
I have not found any useful erhu learning materials in English. I have had my eye on the erhu VCD sets listed by CCN, and others on www.yesasia.com, but have not ordered any of them yet. Even if you can't understand the Chinese, it can be useful to see the erhu being played, although sometimes you have to wait through a lot of chattering, or use Fast Forward. I highly recommend the free video on the Jiebing Chen site. With all due respect to a well-respected master, I have not heard good reports about George Gao's English video. If a teacher is available, I recommend starting with one from the very beginning. There is little time or money to be saved by thrashing about by yourself. Depending on the teacher of course, you may not have to immediately commit to weekly lessons. You could conceivably have one or two lessons to get started and get a feel for the teacher's style, and then arrange for regular lessons when you are ready. Believe me, one or two lessons from a teacher is vastly superior to any VCDs or DVDs even if they were in your language. It is even not too early to contact the teacher before buying an instrument. I am sure that your teacher would appreciate the chance to ensure that you get a good instrument. Good luck, and have fun! Best wishes, David |
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Post by calden on Jun 14, 2006 22:31:48 GMT
Ditto to everything David said. A picture is worth a thousand words, and a teacher is worth a thousand non-native-language VCDs.
Carlos
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jun 15, 2006 8:55:27 GMT
i wonder if any one will ever produce a qin book in english ( not counting the mei an qin pu wich very annoyingly does not even use ping yin) MAQP trans: The wade-giles does not bother me (afterall, it was written many years ago when pinyin did not exist), but the lack of qin notation against the staff... English qin book: Currently, Jonathan of Canada is writing one, but it is a one man effort on his part as the rest of us got other things to do and can't help him. I might write one in future, but until I gain nothing short of an MMus in qin performance, I don't think I have the capacity (and time) to do so. |
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Post by lolipop on Jun 15, 2006 13:04:04 GMT
Thanks for every ones help.
I do agree that a teacher, even a not so good one is the best way to learn any instrument (or pretty much anything really)
My only problem at the moment has been time. I'm working building up my own company, at the same time as learning Wushu and at the end of next month Japanese for work! So time can be spotty to say the least.
I was looking to be able to get a bit of a running start for when things calm down a little, and I'll know just how much time I'll have to set out a proper schedule.
I love to play music, and it would be nice to have something I can do to relax and improve at.
Fortunately I know a good few music people who might be able to point me in the direction of a teacher. Maybe I'll get lucky!
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Post by sanmenxia on Jun 15, 2006 17:16:22 GMT
I think VCDs can be worth getting just for listening and watching the performances on them (if they have complete performances). On 1 set I've got the performances are outstanding, they are very direct and have an immediate feel compared with some CDs. But on another set the explanantions and demonstrations are "live" but the performances are mimed, the erhu sounded like it was recorded separately in a studio and has a processed sound.
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Post by maaltan on Jun 16, 2006 5:26:31 GMT
i thought i might mention something. Most VCD's ive seen for sale for erhu use the PAL TV standard (or something else not NTSC, but pal converters work on it).
PAL is used in europe and asia. NTSC is used in North america, Japan (slightly modified) and i think most of south america.
What this means is the tv is a slightly different shape and specification. PAL video when played on an NTSC tv/dvd player/etc appears black and white with flashes of color with the bottom 25% of the screen cut off.
If you play the VCD on a computer, most software will auto adapt and you should be ok. Don't plan on playing it on a TV dvd player though.
Conversion is a very complicated(using free software) or expensive (commercial software) process requiring lots of disk space(20gb+), time, and tolerance for troubleshooting. I can try to explain some of it... but its been a while and you will probably have to figure out most of it on your own. Some software i had to use was nero cd creator, isobuster, and quite a few codec converter programs most of which were not permanantly free(vcd-> raw avi->pal conv to NTSC-> reencoded as vcd or dvd->possibly re-embed subtitles->burn->test->on error goto start)
addendum: this process is also questionably legal. please see MPAA, RIAA, etc. Being from china, fortunatly or unfortunatly depending on point of view, the distributers/artists probably would never know/care if you did it.
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Post by davidmdahl on Jun 16, 2006 5:48:11 GMT
i thought i might mention something. Most VCD's ive seen for sale for erhu use the PAL TV standard (or something else not NTSC, but pal converters work on it). Hmm, I thought this is true of DVDs but not VCDs. DVDs can be in PAL or NTSC. They also have region codes that can cause problems on standard retail players. A VCD is essentially a CD with special files that play video. The quality is usually much less than DVD. Some DVD players do not play VCDs, but I don't remember having trouble playing my Asian VCDs on my newer DVD players. Usually though, I play them on my computer. Yesasia.com at least indicates PAL/NTSC for their DVDs but not for the VCDs. Best wishes, David |
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Post by maaltan on Jun 16, 2006 13:51:03 GMT
the encoding standard (resoltion and framerate) is in the video file itself. the disc/tape whatever is simply the boat that carries it. Your dvd player might be dual standard (i have seen ..well one of those), or you got a NTSC vcd.
VCD is a very FUNNY standard very poorly supported in the the US (at least). Its very hard to get any information about it.
Unfortunatly, DVD requires licensing of the meda released to some unnamed corporate entity in the name of regulation (ie Control). Region codes screw up much more than PAL/NTSC ever did. Breaking the region code on your DVD player or the DVD itself IS ILLEGAL and has been successfully procescuted. This is the reason the only discs you will probalby get out of china is VCD.
Just wait till blueray / HD-DVD comes out. It will make the region code look tame. There is very strong evidence that Blueray drives will require a constant internet connection to "verify media authenticity and provide player updates". Lets translate that. They are selling you a box they can remotely turn off at any time for any reason providing the infrastructure for remote censorship and control of your watching habits.
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Post by calden on Jun 16, 2006 14:41:42 GMT
I have a generic Panasonic DVD player maybe 5 years old. It plays all the Asian VCDs I have with no problem. Sometimes the aspect ratio is wrong, and it just makes everyone look very skinny, but that can be fixed with the DVD controls if I wish. After a few minutes my eyes acclimate to the distortion and things look fine, so I don't even worry about it.
Carlos
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