My Concert--Combination of Cultures

Last weekend, 5/17, my wind band held a concert in NSYSU Sun Yat-san Hall. What made this performance special and outstanding was that, we cooperated with the school Chinese Orchestra!

It was for the gathering of money at first because Sun Yat-san Hall was too expensive to rent for small school bands. But the more we played together, the more interesting we found! First, the instruments in the Chinese Orchestra are AMAZING! Despite of their special sounds, their appearances are awesome as well—the Shen(笙), for example, really looks like the combination of the barrels; and it sounds like an electronic piano to me!

I heard an anecdote of Shen on the internet once: a Shen player was going home. On his way, he met the police officer checking the driver’s licenses of the passers-by. Noticing the mysterious box on the back seat, the police officer demand that he open the box. However, after he opened it, the policeman became cautious and asked him if it was some kind of transformed guns or other unknown arm. After the long argue, the poor driver could do nothing but play his Shen on the middle of the road in order to prove his innocent. It’s very hilarious, but I can understand why the officer did it when I saw the marvelous instrument myself!
I also played Suona(嗩吶) for the first time. I lend my clarinet to my friend, the Suona player, in exchange. It was so amusing! The last two songs, we two bands played together to show that western music and Chinese music can merge into one. The song “One Night in Beijing” was fabulous! I haven’t gotten the video yet, but as soon as I have it I will post it on my blog. (pic: I'm the first one from the left!)This special performance made me understand Chinese orchestra better and allowed me to admire their music more closely. There are really a great difference between Chinese music and western music. Western wind band sounds strong, powerful and emotional; while the Chinese orchestra sounds more delicate and gentle, almost like human voices. My friend in the Chinese orchestra told me that he loved the momentum of the wind band and I told him my ideas toward his. We were both glad to hear that someone admire us in a totally different perspective! What an experience!

(pic: saxophone and the Chinese orchestra)