Silk and BambooBy Santiago Charry

I chose to attend a Chinese music concert at Hamline University on October 18th, called Silk and Bamboo: Chinese Music Untouched. The title gives the initial impression that the music played at this concert was going to be authentic Chinese music, with no western influences designed to attract a mainstream audience, and I found this to be true. The concert took place in Sundin Hall, a simple stage, easy on the eyes, that allows for the focus to be placed on the sound. It was rather compact and cozy, amplifying the sounds of any whispers in the audience. This was great for the projection of the music itself, however the music played during the concert (especially the solos) was often so exposed and thinly layered that it required absolute silence on behalf of the audience. Although much of the audience consisted of mature adults looking for a cultural immersion or students tentatively taking notes for class, it was clear some students had simply gone to have something to do on a Friday night, and enjoyed speaking with each other and laughing more than paying attention to the concert. This was extremely disruptive due to the subdued nature of much of the music, and much of the audience wasnt afraid to let the violators of silence aware of this by turning around to give them a dirty look.The first piece I had a chance to listen to was a di (bamboo flute) solo called Zhegu Fei or Partridges Flying. The title in this song demonstrates the idea that the Chinese music was often meant to evoke scenes through sound, whether the scene consists of animals, nature, boats, or even conversations between two people. A young girl named Chen Yawen played the piece. Like all of the music of the night, the piece was composed, and did not involve improvisation. This piece didnt have a distinct beat, with the main body of the music consisting of long sustains broken up by quick ornaments or trills between changes of pitch. This created an airy texture, clearly evoking the serenity of gliding through the air. The ending of the piece consisted of a rapid, nonstop flurry of virtuosic runs, without a single break for air. Interestingly enough, it required the young girl two attempts to pull it off. The first time many of the notes in the run were not projecting for some reason. The girl pulled out of the run with a small oh. She tinkered with her instrument as the audience watched silently for about thirty seconds before beginning the run anew. This time she was able to play through with every note gleaming until the very end of the song. The audience applauded supportively as she gave a humble bow. She gave a basic explanation of the construction of the di, and what had occurred to the instrument that required her attention. This tidbit of education regarding the music was also done by many of the other musicians.Another piece played that night was called Long Chuan or Dragon Boat. This was played by Li Jiaxiang, a lady far more elderly than the di player. This selection featured Jiaxiang playing a pipa (a type of stringed instrument) solo. Before performing her piece, Jiaxiang gave a description of how she evokes the scene described in the title during her playing. At the beginning of the piece you can hear the fire crackers, she made a loud cracking sound by snapping back the strings, And also you can hear the water hitting the boat, like this, she gave the pipa a hard quick strum, with quieter plucks after the initial hit. And you can hear the melody. Thats the people singing, she played a quick cheerful fragment of a melody. And you can also hear the people cheering, she played a high-pitched, exclamatory fragment that continued rising in pitch. Theyre very happy to be at this festival. Finally she began to play the piece itself. Just like she said, it began with a fury of rhythmic attacks evoking drums announcing the festival along with spontaneous cracks of fireworks. At one point she created the sound of churning water by rolling through the high range of the pipa, which sounded remarkably like bubbles. The melody of the singing crowds began to shine through, speeding up until it became a cheering uproar. It was incredible how all of the parts of her music, each representing a different visual aspect of the place, came together to create a vivid, lively scene. At the end of her piece the audience applauded enthusiastically, as she stood and gave a humble bow. Another piece that demonstrates an ensemble piece is Huanle ge or the Song of rejoicing. This piece was performed by 8 musicians playing the di, two erhus (a two stringed fiddle), pipa, yangqin, zheng, and a percussive instrument. Each of them briefly tuned their instruments before performing. Between pieces, as they were warming up or switching performers on stage, I would take a look at the concert program. When referring to the pieces performed, they would give the Chinese title with English characters, the English translations, and the title using Chinese characters. The descriptions of each of the selections were incredibly in depth, giving a brief history and analysis of the theory of the piece. It described the silk-and-bamboo genre of the concert as one native to Shanghai, and Huanle ge as one of the eight grand pieces of the silk-and-bamboo core repertoire.The selection began with a gock-block-like instrument setting a steady slow tempo. The di and the ehrus then began to play the melody in unison. The pipa played the melody with them but elaborated on it, adding ornaments and embellishments around it. The yangqin played moving notes around the sustains of the other instruments, creating a full ensemble sound when all were combined. As the piece went on the tempo increased from slow, to a moderate tempo, to a finally very brisk tempo, but maintaining the same melodic idea as the previous tempos, creating an excitingly frantic feeling. Suddenly all the instruments ceased at precisely the same tonic note. The di played a lovely short excerpt of the melodic fragment alone, with the pipa joining it on its final sustain, then the yangqin added a short lovely harp-like roll to finish the piece off. The audience applauded as vigorously as before as they all stood to give their short, modest bows. This was truly an amazing experience that not only presented the beauty of the musical performances in traditional Chinese culture, but it also highlighted the theory behind many of the songs and demonstrated how instruments can be used to evoke natural scenes in ways that can be even clearer than photographs.