dhruva'
Photos
Songs
I've had a wonderful time learning a lot of Chinese songs, both traditional and popular. I don't read Chinese characters, though, so my songbook is full of lyrics written in pinyin, which is the system used to write Chinese sounds using the Roman alphabet. This is how modern young children are taught to begin to read and write Chinese, so my Chinese friends laugh when they see it. But it works for me! However, I will confess that most of the time I have no idea what the lyrics I am singing mean!
Jianpu
The traditional way to write Chinese melodies is using a number notation system in which "1, 2, 3" would correlate to "do, re, mi" and so on. When I discovered this, I was overjoyed because ever since I learned to sight-read using numbers in junior high school, I have always written melodies out in numbers. But the jianpu system takes it further, with provisions for rhythms and octaves. This is an excerpt from an original song I'm working on, written out in jianpu.
Live Videos
The following links will take you to a variety of practices and performances I have participated in. All are live under varying environmental conditions, so sound quality, extraneous noises, etc., will vary. But I hope you can get a sense of the wonderful diversity of Chinese music!
Chinese Music
Instruments
These are the instruments I've been practicing. From the top: two-stringed "fiddle" called an erhu, three sizes of tao di (a Chinese ocarina), an end-blown flute called a xiao and the gourd and bamboo reed instrument called a hulusi. The erhu, xiao and hulusi are all very old traditional instruments. The tao di is more modern but is a descendent of the xun, a very ancient clay vessel flute. Since I have a background in flute, the wind instruments are easier for me to play than the erhu, which is a big challenge. Like any fretless bowed instrument such as the violin, finger placement must be carefully trained, and the erhu has particular slide techniques that are specific to the instrument. I screech a lot!
My Channel
My Channel
