NAGA March 2006 Yaji Report

On Sunday March 26th NAGA had another exciting and varied program for its monthly yaji. Once again we practiced our NAGA English drafts for Chang Xiang Si, Zi Ye Wu Ge, and Yang Guan San Die and solicited feedback. One member of the audience, an 8 year old boy, got everyone's attention by bravely expressing his opinions. First year guqin students Wenyu, Monique, and Fred then demonstrated their abilities on the qin followed by the teacher's masterful Mei Hua San Nong. Eliot, on the xiao he newly crafted, accompanied Fred on guqin for a duet. Fred then recited a Li Bai poem in English as Wang Fei played the qin. Professor Lindy Li Mark gave us a remarkable presentation on kunqu, a Chinese opera form which was recognized as a “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” by UNESCO. Her expertise was greatly appreciated, as was the recording she played. As her finale, despite the hindrance of a cold, she also sang kunqu for us. Prof. Li announced that a three evening performance of the kunqu opera Peony Pavilion will be held in Berkeley on September 15, 16, and 17th. An event this week that might also interest NAGA members is a seminar with live demonstration by three masters of kunqu on Saturday, April 8th. It's free and open to the public. For more details go to: http://www.csitli.com/csi/news0408.htm.

James and Xiaonan each performed an erhu solo, and Xiaonan accompanied Wang Fei in a performance of Guan San Yue. All qin players were invited to fill out a questionnaire designed by Tasha, an ethnomusicology student at UC Davis, for a thesis she is writing on the guqin. All of us know that the qin is a fitting and intriguing object of study, but her choosing it as a thesis topic is further acknowledgement. In what seems to be a tradition in the making, we finished the evening with taiji. June Lou displayed a sword form and Wenyu and Dr Tom performed a short form.

Michael Cohen's photos of the yaji can be viewed at: http://hustlepix.com/concerts/naga_yaji_03262006/

Program:

Group practice:

Wang Fei , Fred Pohlmann , Wenyu Jiang , and Monique Kuo on guqin .

Wenyu sang in Chinese and Monique sang the English versions of Chang Xiang Ci and Zi Ye Wu Ge and Wang Fei sang the Chinese and English versions of Yang Guan San Die .

Qin solos:

Wenyu Jiang : Chang Xiang Si and Zi Ye Wu Ge

Monique Kuo : He Chung Xiao

Fred Pohlmann : Yang Guan San Die

Wang Fei : Mei Hua San Nong

Qin/ xiao duet: Fred Pohlmann ( guqin )&Eliot Greenleaf ( xiao ) : Qiu Feng Ci

Qin and Poetry: Recitation of Li Bai's Listening to the Sichuan Monk Chun Play the Qin by Fred Pohlmann to Wang Fei playing guqin

Kunqu : Prof. Linda Li Mark gave running commentary in English and Chinese to a CD recording of the kunqu opera Peony Pavillion ; she also spoke about kunqu and sang herself

Erhu solos: James Byfield : Mei Hua San Nong

Xiaonan Zhang: Er Chuan Ying Yue

qin/Erhu duet: Wang Fei (duet) & Xiaonan Zhang ( erhu ) : Guan San Yue

Taiji : June Lou: Taiji sword

Sanford Tom & Wenyu Jiang : Yang style short form

Attendees:

Reporter: Fred Pohlmann

Editor : Julian Joseph

North American Guqin Association

http://www.guqin.org