Chinese music camp 2005?

[davidmdahl]

Does anyone know of a music camp or workshop for Chinese music in the USA (hopefully West) this summer, especially erhu? One for Vietnamese music would be great as well. I know about Lark Camp, but something more targeted to Chinese music would be my preference.

If there is no such thing, maybe we should do one ourselves.

Best wishes,

David Dahl
Portland, Oregon

[calden]

David:

What a spanking great idea! Even if there would be no organized week-long camp, I certainly would be willing to try and help arrange a weekend retreat somewhere. I'm in Spokane, and I see that there are a few other people in the Seattle/Portland area.

I also have a few Chinese music friends here that might be willing to tag along. For one, there's my dizi playing pal. Also, just last night we had a big New Year party (for us, the eating part of Chinese New Year goes on for months!) and some good friends brought along a woman new to this area, originally from Beijing, who used to play erhu as a kid. So I brought out my two erhus and we started playing some duets! She was very happy to meet up with someone who played, and now wants to get her erhu back from her hometown so she can pursue it.

Seriously, maybe there's somewhere between Seattle and Portland - a motel with suites or rural retreat center or somewhere that could accomodate several families, and maybe have a few instructors join up. I think that Warren Chang in Seattle would be a great resource for teaching, and I know of some other erhu and other instrument teachers in Seattle as well.

Carlos

[davidmdahl]

I know of a few retreat centers in Oregon, one along the Columbia Gorge. I would worry though about cost and accessibility. I want as many people to come as possible. I wonder if Dusty Strings in Seattle could host a Chinese Music workshop. I attended a several day event on the wooden flute (Irish, Breton) in 2001 at Dusty, if I remember correctly.

Maybe Dick has some ideas on a possible location, as he lives in the Seattle area. Are you there, Dick?

Best wishes,

David

[calden]

davidmdahl said:

I know of a few retreat centers in Oregon, one along the Columbia Gorge. I would worry though about cost and accessibility. I want as many people to come as possible. I wonder if Dusty Strings in Seattle could host a Chinese Music workshop. I attended a several day event on the wooden flute (Irish, Breton) in 2001 at Dusty, if I remember correctly.

Maybe Dick has some ideas on a possible location, as he lives in the Seattle area. Are you there, Dick?

Best wishes,

David

David:

You're full of great ideas today. Dusty Strings would be great. I've attended several events there are bought several instruments there. I also know some of the management. I'll write and see what the possiblity would be, and how much they would be willing to be involved. People could arrange their own accomodations.

On the other hand, I think it would be cool to be in a simple out of the way motel with a few conference rooms, if not a retreat center. Maybe this could be done without the cost being too high. This way more interaction could take place in the evening.

Certainly some high quality dim sum would be part of any event like this!

Carlos

[davidmdahl]

I am open to the motel or retreat center idea. I think that the Seattle area is a good plan since it is centrally located among us anyway, and does have some good food. You can't find good dim sum just anywhere. <g> I would like to get a Seattle local or locals to weigh in on this and see what options there might be.

Some place in the San Juans would be fun, but that might increase the cost and travel time. The dream location would Ft. Worden State Park at Port Townsend. That might be a good venue after we have done this a few times and have fifty plus participants from all over.

I attended a Baroque flute camp at Seattle Pacific University, and many of us stayed in a dorm. If any of the potential erhu or ? teachers are affiliated with a university, that might be a good connection for a venue.

Best wishes,

David

[YouLanFengChune]

Suddenly I feel very left out!

I actually suggested to David before.
What we could do is to come to Singapore, watch a few Chinese Orchestra Concerts, Attend masterclasses, instrument workshops, and take a graded exam by the Shanghai Conservatorium here. It would be a Chinese music feast for all.

I organised these for my thai-chinese friends before and they loved it.

[davidmdahl]

An erhu gathering in Singapore sounds terrific! My suggestion of an event in the western USA has more to do with economics and convenience. Besides the greater expense of an Asian trip, it would be a lot harder to get the go-ahead from my wife. <g> I also suspect that once in Asia, I would rather not spend my time doing something I can do at home. There is also something to be said for cultivating a group of like-minded musicians in the USA. I guess that is something like our community on "The Palace of Zheng", except it is rather difficult to jam.

I am tempted to contact Warren Chang to see if he has any suggestions for pursuing a gathering. Who knows, he may even be thinking along these lines himself. It could happen. <g>

Best wishes,

David

[calden]

davidmdahl said:

An erhu gathering in Singapore sounds terrific! My suggestion of an event in the western USA has more to do with economics and convenience. Besides the greater expense of an Asian trip, it would be a lot harder to get the go-ahead from my wife. <g> I also suspect that once in Asia, I would rather not spend my time doing something I can do at home. There is also something to be said for cultivating a group of like-minded musicians in the USA. I guess that is something like our community on "The Palace of Zheng", except it is rather difficult to jam.

I am tempted to contact Warren Chang to see if he has any suggestions for pursuing a gathering. Who knows, he may even be thinking along these lines himself. It could happen. <g>

Best wishes,

David

David:

I am feeling the same way. A trip to Singapore would be fantastic, but maybe we could start off with something stateside Seattle/Portland way, to serve those of us who are living in this neck of the woods. Of course, this would not exclude anyone who wants to travel further to do it as well, like maybe from outside the Pacific NW (Althought I can't imagine anyone needing to come up from Northern California or LA.)

I'm friends with Warren. I'll email him and ask about his ideas and what he might charge for a several-hour erhu workshop, as well as other folks he knows from CAMA who play dizi, yangqing, guzheng, and (although I havent' seen this there) guqin.

Carlos

[calden]

Hey all:

I've contacted Warren about this idea. He would be available starting in August, but that month is out for me, so I suggested potentially September. I'm even thinking about October. I threw out several ideas to him:

1) simple erhu workshop for maybe 5-10 people, maybe three hours on a saturday morning

2) entire erhu weekend, with workshop, and several other instructors giving individual instuction, and a performance element where everybody plays what they can, maybe even working on some duets

3) Chinese trad music weekend, bringing in a variety of isntructors. Warren's group has some excellent quality teaching and performing on yangqin, guzheng, pipa, dizi, daroan, and of course, erhu.

He didn't get back to me with any price scheme yet.

My own preference would be #2. Not only do I want to learn more about erhu but I'd like to meet people and socialize with them as well.

I kind of envision an informal get-together on a friday evening (of course at a Chinese restaurant) somewhere in the Seattle/Portland area at a small motel /hotel which could offer a few conference rooms for our needs. (In this way, folks like me could come and stay easily without having to do a great deal of driving around, and those who live in the area and are willing to drive could come for the day activities.)

Saturday might be a workshop in the morning, some individual work in the afternoon, and some informal performing in the late afternoon/early evening, hopefully roping in Warren to give a short performance of something like Er Quan Ying Yue.

Then of course it's off for more food.

Sunday morning would be more playing and wrapping up, then, of course, out for dim sum. By then it's 1 pm and folks would be starting to head home.

Anyway, that's what I would like to see. Not living in the area I wouldn't know where to start organizing such a thing, but ideally it would be not expensive, near enough good restaurants, and more or less centrally located between the two major population centers of Seattle and Portland (Kent, Olympia, Tacoma maybe?) I know that costs would need to be kept down for the accomodations so we could pay Warren for his day.

Any more ideas, thoughts?

Carlos

[davidmdahl]

Hello Carlos,

I like your line of thinking, and work to-date. I am more in favor of the keep-it-simple approach with option 2 or 1. We need to make it attractive enough for people to come, yet not so complicated as to make it a lot of work. Maybe in future years we can be more ambitious if it takes off.

Probably the option that is best depends on how many erhu players are interested in participating. I think that the Seattle area is a better bet than Portland, for a number of reasons, one of which is that Warren Chang is in Seattle. Maybe Warren knows of potential participants.

I am not in a good position to choose a venue for this. I suppose we will need to choose a target number of participants, and figure the costs of the different options. Then we can see which of the options allows for an acceptible cost.

So, are there more erhu players in the Pacific NW or elsewhere who would travel to a erhu weekend?

Best wishes,

David Dahl
Portland, Oregon

[Dick]

Gentlemen! Gentlemen, yes! This idea just totally rocks.

I don't play no erhu myself, but I would do whatever possible to come and watch and learn what I could about asian string music. Anyone object if I drag a flute along, just in case there's an opportunity for some impromptu ensemble music? All off the clock of course!

I do live in Seattle, and am certainly willing to help out any way I can with footwork, organizing, contacting venues, etc. I would think the music or ethnic studies deptartment at any number of colleges in Van, Vic, Seattle, or Portland would be eager to host a master class.

On the other hand, if you really want to keep it small (5-10 people), I would be ecstatic to host an event in my living room on a Saturday morning or so. Centrally located on beautiful Capitol Hill. Then let's do it again the following year at YouLanFengChune's place!

[calden]

To all interested:

I started a private emailing with David and Dick about trying to get something together in the Seattle area. When we have a few more details fleshed out, as in having something to offer, I'll post them here. I don't want to waste forum space doing it.

If anyone is interested, email me privately (see my personal information) and I'll put you on the group mailing thing I've got. right now we're considering a saturday workshop in Sept or Oct somewhere in Seattle. Let me know if you want to be in on the planning stage, or even if you just have questions.

Carlos