the past days

These few days have been great. My friends were probably taking it a little too far when they described the pain. It didn't feel more intense than a mild ache. These few days away from the mindless drivel in the office have been fulfilling. Wisdom teeth are so called for a reason. Heck, just to get away from the office, I don't think I'll mind a mild flu or cold.

I discovered an informative site devoted to Chinese instrumental music. It's rather complete --- with scores, video recordings, forums and all. The yangqin forum makes for an interesting read --- I actually browsed through all 78 pages of it! I got some good advice from there too... like raising the height of my seat, which did help my arms relax.

More than two weeks back, I attended an erhu recital which featured Tian Xiao, a recent conservatory graduate and principal zhonghu player in the SCO. He was accompanied on the piano. The virtuostic spin to the recital was unmistakeable, with pieces such as Monti's Czardas (or Csardas), Sarasate's Ziguenerweisen, and Wang Jian Ming's Third Erhu Rhapsody on the programme. Tian gave a dazzling performance of the Third Erhu Rhapsody, though I felt something was lacking between him and the accompanist. The "Song of Protest" was performed on the gao-hu sans accompaniment. While the piece was delivered coherently, I felt Tian didn't quite "get into the style". I was expecting a more melodramatic and operatic interpretation, but he sort of played the entire piece in one breath. I guess playing traditional works predisposed to a certain regional style is never easy, and that's why I wouldn't choose them for my music exam piece, if I can help it (more on that in another post).

Tian stayed back for the Q&A session after the recital. Some of the questions were fairly lengthy, but they weren't challenging nor awkward. Credit must go to the compere who took on the tricky job of translating the questions and responses into English and Mandarin. Even if her translation was a tad shaky at times, she did better than the comperes I've seen in the past. Tian revealed that he gets at most an hour of personal practice time these days due to his work schedule, which is surprising, since that's about how much practice I get every day. He also added that he practises at work too whenever he finds the time. Anyways, I was wondering... don't professional musicians get a lot of practice time? What does a typical SCO musician do during the day, besides practicing for upcoming concerts and juggling teaching engagements on the side? Well, I should have asked.