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Post by Charlie Huang on Feb 8, 2005 21:49:18 GMT
Chinese Music Summer School, UK
Following the success of the 2004 Chinese Music Summer School, there will be a Chinese Music Summer School in 2005, giving eight full days of expert tuition on Chinese instrumental music. This will include masterclasses on the guqin (Chinese 7-string zither) with guqin master player and maker Zeng Chengwei, pipa (Chinese lute) with pipa virtuoso Cheng Yu, dizi (Chinese flute) with dizi player Dai Ya and erhu (Chinese fiddle) with erhu soloist Hu Bin. This is a rare opportunity to learn and explore Chinese music in the UK. Classes are open to all takers, beginners and advanced. The Summer School will be held at the Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London, UK.
Dates are July 23rd - 30th 2005.
For details, please see the Asian Music Circuit web site. For enquiries please contact Helen or Elie at the Asian Music Circuit on +44 020 8742 9911, helen@amc.org.uk or elie@amc.org.uk.
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jul 31, 2005 13:37:30 GMT
I'm back! And Zeng Chengwei (sort of) fixed my high bridge problem (to a certain degree)! Full report later!
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Post by Charlie Huang on Aug 27, 2005 18:40:15 GMT
Pics! Chinese Music Summer School Full Photo Hu Bin and student in erhu class. L - R: Colin (who plays erhu and yangqin, teaches at RAM), student from America, Hu Bin, the AMC translator. My recently made friend Max Gittings (rather good at dizi!) and Wang Ciheng in dizi class. L - R: Max, Hua Ping (who is good at pipa), Wang Ciheng, Issabell (who took Japanese Shinobue as well), AMC translator. Cheng Yu with Charlie (plays sitar and classical guitar as well) in the pipa class. Hua Ping, Charlie, Cheng Yu, me, Marnix Wells and the guy whose name I can't remember. Stephen Dydo, another AMC translator and Zeng Chengwei in the guqin class. Benedick (German), Christopher Evans, Sarah Moyse, Zeng Chengwei, me, Julian Joseph and Brian Cox. More when I get them!
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Post by davidmdahl on Aug 27, 2005 19:48:44 GMT
Great pics, Charlie! I wish that could have been there too. Thanks for sharing the fun.
Best wishes,
David
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Post by paulv on Aug 29, 2005 18:52:25 GMT
Ditto, Charlie. I'm always happy to see non-Asian people interested in Asian music/instruments.
Regards, Paul Valente
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Post by Charlie Huang on Aug 30, 2005 11:17:32 GMT
OK, full(ish) report. T'was the 22nd of July and the Summer School (SS) was to begin on Saturday 23rd! Arrived in London during the afternoon. The thing that pissed me off was that Marnix who said that he'll let me stay at his place is out of the country and won't be back until later in the week! Que panic of last night in trying to book accomadation at Marylebone Hall (student accom.), forking out £139 at the door, zapping away half of my birthday money and my spending funds... Anyways, with nothing to do, I sat in my room, strumming the qin as I tried to fill in 6 hours plus of borem (I hardly think the shops in Chinatown will be open around this time...). Difficult to get to sleep as the roaring traffic kept it's pace, even 12 floors above the street... Next day, registration at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM). So off I went with my qin, meeting everyone at the reception, obtaining the folder with maps and timetables etc. At the David Josewitz (could never learn how to spell or prounounce that name) Hall for the opening ceremony. After that lardy dar, off to our classrooms. It was the same as last years, G46 for qin. And so, arranged the tables and set out or qins. Zeng Chengwei then had us all tune our qins to the standard pitch (mines didn't need to coz it was spot on). Then, he told us that he teaches face to face rather than go around pointing out individually. And he doesn't want to teach pieces that are not Shu school. So, we sat at the head of the room and listened to his playing of several Shu pieces. We then had to choose which one to learn, then every session we take it in turns to learn face to face with him. Unfortunately, the material and tablature that he sent over from China was not to be seen. It was passed onto someone to photocopy but they didn't do it, so we had to wait until the afternoon session. So after lunch, we collected all the scores and chose our pieces. I chose Liu Shui coz I have dabbled in it. After the session was over, we went our seperate ways, some stayed behind to practice. But we were to meet up around 6 to make our way to the concert venue at LSO St. Luke's. Because of the London bombings, several tube lines were out of action, those ones that go straight to the venue, so we had to meander our selves somehow to get there. The time arrived and we all gathered at the RAM entrance. Talk of taking a cab or somehow tubing it. We split up; several of us were to try to flag down a taxi, several of us (including me) were to go to the hotel where Zeng Chengwei was staying and get on a pre-booked taxi. So, after we arrived at the hotel, Ginger (AMC staff) phoned the taxi company but they said that they'll be there at 7 (concert starts at half past), so she cancels it (big mistake) and attempts to flag one down outside. After failure, she tried to retract her cancelation, but no said taxi company, so with the concert time looming at but 15 mins time, we eventually decided to tube it to the Barbican, which is the second nearest tube station and 10 min walk to the venue. We got there with seconds to spare! The other group did not turn up until the second performance. At the break, they said that they took a bus, missed their stop and had to taxi it back to the venue! Anyways, the concert of Cheng Yu and Wang Ciheng went great. The second half was Indian music. I find this setup better since you get to hear different kinds of music rather than one, and you get a bigger crowd. People who wouldn't have seen other types of music will have to in order to hear their own tastes. Afterwards, homeward bound. Next day, I got up early, but found out that the RAM was shut! Coz it was a Sunday, they don't open up until 10. So, with nothing to do, I walked around Regent's Park (behind the RAM). Killed all my time, plus met Christopher Evan's practicing his qin on a bench! Some curious Indian people were talking to him about the qin! Then, I got a call from Marnix, then he had a chat with Chris, then off to the RAM. Today, was my pipa sessions (I'm taking both qin and pipa) with Cheng Yu. It was my first real lesson on pipa and I learnt to correct a lot of bad techniques, etc. So afterwards, there was the dizi seminar (or lecture) with Wang Ciheng at the DJH. After, another pipa session. For the concert that evening, we was prepared at how to get their, by tube! The concert was for Zeng Chengwei and Hu Bin. Afterwards, we went to a noodle bar near Cheng Yu's house at King's Cross. Next day, I had qin in the morning and pipa in the afternoon. Between that, I joined the ensemble class during lunch. It was more bigger than last year which had around four people plus Hu Bin on erhu. Now, we had over 10 people on various instruments (5 on pipa, 2 on dizi, 2 on erhu, one yangqin played by Colin and a guzheng played by Brian). After our initial introductions (during which I discovered that Max the rather good dizi player came from my hometown) we began to learn to play Moli Hua (Jasmine Flower), two versions of it put together and addapted by Cheng Yu. Then the seminar in the evening was by Professor Jonathan Stock from Sheffield on contemporary Chinese music. A lot of intriguing CDs were sampled. Interesting. The evening concert was Japanese c/w Indian. We heard the koto music which was excellent (sadly, the Shinobue player couldn't make it for some reason), and the very fast Sitar performance. Afterwards, dinner at the noodle bar (you haven't heard the last of it). The next day was pretty much the same, alternation of sessions, ensemble (given a new piece to learn). There was no seminar or concert, but we had a yaji. So far, I've spent nearly all my funds on qinpu, CDs and a dizi... I had to take money out of the AMT... Anyways, after the yaji, we went to a rather expensive Chinese restaurant called Fenghuang Ge. Next day, similar, but we had the seminar on guqin making in the evening. Plus, we had a photo session (see above) at the Duke's Hall. Back to noodle bar for dinner, but not until we zoomed pass the station because of a security alert, meaning turning back and walking to the noodle bar from Euston Square station. Thursday we had seminar on erhu by Hu Bin. Plus during the afternoon, we saw the Taiko performance (t'was the last day for the Japanese SS). Then, another seminar on the koto (the qin session was delayed so we could see it). Chinatown for dinner, plus failed attempt at obtaining a seal stone coz the shops were closed (tried earlier in the week in the morning, but it was closed so wasted trip!). This was the day Zeng Chengwei sort of fixed my yue shan on my qin (see full account in the guqin forum), which made us late for Cheng Yu's seminar. Max had to go back to Brum for a gig before returning next morning! Got his contact in the end. Had to move to Sarah's house for the night as I discovered I booked one night less (and I was skint by now). Saturday, and final day of the SS . After the final session, there was the SS concerts. Chinese was up first followed by Indian. We set up the ensemble positions. Then, qin came first (didn't play coz I was asked at the last minute), followed by pipa, erhu and dizi (Max played a wonderful piece on the hulusi). Then ensemble time. Skipped Moli Hua coz there wasn't enough time, and went straight onto Caiyun Zhuiyue. Some stayed behind for Indian concert, and afterwards, we all went home!!!
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Post by sanmenxia on Nov 25, 2005 17:27:04 GMT
I enjoyed reading your report of the Chinese Music Summer School. Brings back the memories! I hope it's on next year. I was surprised at the numbers of students. The guqin class had the most, with about 8, pipa 5, dizi and erhu 2 or 3.
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Post by Charlie Huang on Nov 25, 2005 22:56:24 GMT
I think the erhu and dizi class are getting the axe next year. The AMC site only said pipa for Cheng Yu and guqin was tbc (the teacher that is) and nothing on erhu or dizi. They added a shakuhachi and koto classes for the Japanese (got rid of shinobue coz it was seriously ziltch on numbers) and new this year is the Indonesian music class(es). www.amc.org.uk/tours/2006/index.htm#summer_schoolOf course, this is all preliminary and could change when next summer approaches.
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Post by sanmenxia on Nov 27, 2005 17:49:18 GMT
mmm... interesting.. maybe what's listed is just what's already confirmed. I don't see how they could drop 2 out of 4 classes and still called it a summer school.
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Post by sleepy on Dec 9, 2005 2:03:50 GMT
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Post by Charlie Huang on Dec 9, 2005 19:51:44 GMT
Where???
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jan 19, 2006 19:43:14 GMT
YES! More info! Qin: Gong Yi Pipa: Cheng Yu Dizi: Wang Ciheng Erhu: Hu Bin Adult dates are 29th July - 2nd August Children (7 - 16) are 3rd - 5th August Stangely shorter than the 8 days we had last year! I wonder if we could be able to do the Children dates as well... Rather odd... More info at www.amc.org.uk/tours/index.htm .
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Post by sanmenxia on Jan 19, 2006 21:10:52 GMT
It's good to see they're running all the classes, I just hope more people turn up (but not the qin class ), but I somehow doubt it. I think you have to be quite committed to attend, what with the fees, time off work etc. Maybe they should publicise it better, I only found out about it a few weeks before last year's. They had some concerts and workshops with a wind and percussion ensemble from northern China last year just before the summer school, but at the time I didn't know about it, I would have love to attended. An opportunity like that is not likely to come again for years.
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jan 19, 2006 23:50:12 GMT
Well, the reason why people didn't know about it was because they publicised it rather late, so not much people turned up (the wind and percussion ensemble from northern China was rather embarrassing coz only a few people turned up)! It up to us musicians to extend a helping hand to publicise it on our own as well. You can't rely on the AMC too much.
Actually, I think they are shortening the length of the CMSS coz not many people turned up for last year (except the qin class... ha ha). Now they seem to have an adult class and a childrens class. I'd be slightly pissed if the qin class was dealt with that judgement as well coz I want a full week! Not five days, but seven! Also, the pipa class seems to have grown slightly from last years numbers, around 5 or 6 people attended, including me.
Yes, a week is a heavy commitment, but we usually reserve one week in annual leave just for that. Julian Joseph does. You should definately come, coz I'm scared that they'll cut the others out (besides qin and pipa (with Cheng Yu being an important figurehead)... he he)! You should have set money and holiday aside for this! Better than lazing around a beach all day for a whole week (I can't stand doing nothing useful for long periods of time).
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Post by blob on Jan 20, 2006 19:58:43 GMT
Woohoo! So the dizi is not being axed after all Has anyone gone to the dizi class before? If you have, is it good? I guess, is the teacher good at spotting problems, correcting them, explaining them (can be in chinese, or english, either way is ok with me), even basic bad-habits?. I am seriously considering going for this summer class this year, guidance is always good if available I guess. Say, does anyone know what the costs involved are? It doesn't really say on the website, and if it costs as much as I think it does, some financial planning may be required from now...
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jan 20, 2006 21:11:32 GMT
You MUST go! Wang Ciheng is a very good teacher according to Max who was under him during the SS. They do have translators, et al.
The cost depends. I think it would be around £230 (not inc. accomadation etc). It might be lower this year since they shortened the week. I'm not sure since it's so early. But I would suggest you save up at least £200. When summer arrives, we'll be sure.
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Post by Charlie Huang on May 8, 2006 8:32:03 GMT
They've already sent out the brochure. The cost will be £140, £110 (conc).
The two concerts will be in the Duke's Hall at the RAM (no need to bloody make an expedition to St. Luke's, thank god).
Tue 1st August 7:30 Gong Yi on guqin, Cheng Yu on pipa, Etsuko Takezawa on koto
Wed 2nd August 7:30 Wang Ciheng on dizi, Hu Bin on erhu, Hiroshi Motofuji on taiko
Seminars
Sat 29 July 14:00 - 15:15: Guqin Sun 30 July 14:00 - 15:15: Dizi Mon 31 July 14:00 - 15:15: Pipa Tue 1 August 14:00 - 15:15: Erhu
Fri 4 August 14:00 - 15:15: Chinese art seminar (summer school for children and young people, so we won't be there...)
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Post by SCWGuqin on May 21, 2006 17:54:01 GMT
BLAST!!!!
I was looking forward to attending the summer school this year (Gong Yi is a rare opportunity--plus I could kick back with CCC, of course), but it turns out that will be impossible. Best wishes to everyone who can make it; I look forward to the report!
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Post by Charlie Huang on May 28, 2006 19:25:11 GMT
Too bad. Next time, reserve July/August in your annual leave!
I'm trying to predict who might it be next year. LXT probably won't coz he got himself an agent (meaning it costs more to hire him for stuff like this). I'm hoping Wu Wenguang or similar.
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Post by Si on Jun 24, 2006 5:40:14 GMT
I dont mind making my hols one month early next year and taking part in the Summer School too.
But I assume all players are of different level so how does the teacher structure the classes, and how many lessons do you have if you just want to do qin?
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jul 2, 2006 3:21:48 GMT
You get around 4 hours a day per instrument. I'm not in the country this moment, so I can't grab my timetable from last year to give estimates.
Don't worry about allocation of student time, the teacher will know what's best.
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jul 10, 2006 20:50:49 GMT
Well, after some shitty business with my funds with the Jobcentre (have to use my overdraft now), I, at last, can say I will definately be going!
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Post by Charlie Huang on Aug 3, 2006 17:04:42 GMT
I'm back! The SS was great! Too bad it's only 5 bleeding days! Met Gong Yi et al. Will write up a full report soon!
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Post by davidmdahl on Aug 3, 2006 19:22:28 GMT
Welcome back! I look forward to the report.
Best wishes,
David
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Post by Charlie Huang on Aug 4, 2006 8:50:26 GMT
He heh! The other night I saw a perfomance of taiko with erhu...
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