On Thursday, we go a chance to go to a tea house, where we learnt about the different kinds of tea and the proper methods of brewing them. First, we got to drink green tea and we were told that the water needed to be at around 70 (?) degrees so that the minerals in the tea would still be there. The first step in brewing tea was so boil the water over a flame that was fuelled by kerosene. When the water started to boil (small little bubbles), then the water would be used to wash and warm the cups. Water was poured into the little tea pot that was used for brewing the tea, then poured into the serving pot, which was then distributed to the little cups (every one had 2 cups, one big and one small. The big one is always filled first, and then the person drinking the tea would have to pour it into the smaller cup. The big one is used for people to smell the tea, as it is supposed to be able to retain the taste better than the smaller cup).
There are a few instruments that are used for handling the tea leaves and the tea cups. The first was a tweezer that was used to empty the hot water from the tea cups. There was also a needle like thing, in case any of the tea leaves got stuck in the mouth of the tea pot, a bamboo scooping thing, and a tray that was used to put all the tea cups which had an empty bottom. All these things were made of bamboo and it is important that the person brewing the tea does not touch the tea leaves because they absorb the “flavour” of the person’s hands.
Lao shi also explained to us about the history of tea, which goes back around 5000 years! We got to try 4 types of tea, but I gave up half way coz I don’t really like tea. :(

Labels: Elaine

Sorry for the late post.

This week 吴老师 told us some stories about snake skin. This is what I've recorded.

1.每剪一块蛇皮，宽度一般为16cm. 通常,用来做二胡的皮,所需最小宽度为14cm.
2.蛇皮通常来自印尼与马来西亚.
3.中国用的蛇皮一般来源于缅甸(Myanmar)蟒. 新加坡用的蛇皮一般来源于网纹蟒,它的花纹被成为diamond pattern.
4.蛇皮的选取.从尾巴开始,量大约16cm,切出第一片. 第一片大多不能用. 继续量,每片16cm, 第二片到第六片是最好的蛇皮,通常配紫檀木(red sandal wood).第七片到第十二片,还可以，一般配老红木,做中级琴. 剩下的都用来做普通琴.
5.通常1000条蛇皮,只有10条可以做二胡,因为二胡对蛇皮的要求最严格.
5.通常1000条蛇,只有1条在6米以上.

The stories of snake skin help us know more about snake skins


Label: Chuyi

Hi all! The past few days at music fantasia we have been busy making our erhu! It has been a tiring process, alot of strength is needed to tighten the python skin onto the the body of the erhu. But our instructor wu laoshi has been most helpful and patient with us. A lot alot of strength is needed to pull the strings tight onto the erhu. Eh the way the erhu is being made at music fantasia is different from in china. It's music fantasia very own SECRET METHOD. Thus we arent really allowed to post any pics or disclose the whole process. If not it wont really be considered a secret right after all, this is the real money making world. Music fantasia's method of making an erhu is definitely better than the method used in china as they have tried and experimented before they decided this method is the best to produce an erhu that sounds and looks good! Thus we feel quite honoured to be taught how to make a erhu.



However, it is really no joke to make one. This past wk, everyday we have been working on our erhu. Hopefully our end product will be good! After we finished what we were supposed to do with our erhu today. Yinhao brought us to a cha guan at bras basah to learn to make tea and appreciate the finer art of brewing tea. It was really fun and our teacher was very nice. The first tea we drank was the green tea. Iynyi has all the details as to how the green tea is to be brewed so as to attain the best smell and taste out of it. I'll just include a few information that i can remember.

The first step is to wash all the cups and teapot with hot water. This is basically to kill germs and when u pour the tea into the cups the smell of the tea will come out more. The water used to make the tea cant be too hot, approximately about 80degree celcius. One way to check that the water isnt too hot is to look at the bubbles. Small bubbles means its just right, the bigger the bubbles the hotter it is. So of course when the water is boiling at a 100, the bubbles are like big and bubbly. I took a video of how you pour the tea into the cups and everything. It is not a whole process, but if you're interested, do watch the video.


The next tea we brewed was the tie guanyin. It tastes sweeter than the green tea. Lastly we also drank a tea called dong fang mei ren. This tea is from taiwan. personally, i like the dong fang mei ren the most. haha, its a really nice tea and of course the name is nice too! We got to try to brew the tea too. There is a certain technique to it, from washing the cups to pouring the tea for people. Of course with practice, your technique will only get better. here are the pictures from today!=)










































































































































































































































































































































































































































































I will upload the video tmr!! uploading all these pics has alr take me MORE THAN AN HOUR! do enjoy them though. shall place tags on them too, TMR. BYE ALL.

Labels: shufen=)

MAKING ERHUS ISN'T A JOKEEEE. It hurts man. Today was tightening the skin over the body of the erhu and ohmyword, the force needed is asdfghjkl D:<

Labels: Elaine

Today, we decorated out dizis with string :D the tying process was quite easy once you get the hang of it, and it was surprising that such a simple knot could be so tight and difficult to undo (especially if you made a mistake). In all, I think we had to tie the strings 13 times! And today, we finally got round to making our erhus! Shan't say much about the process, but it was really interesting (and difficult) and everything we did in the earlier stages would some how affect the final product of the erhu :D For today, it was just putting the python skin over the body of the erhu, fixing it there and leaving it to dry till tomorrow :D yaaaay

Labels: Elaine

WE FINISHED OUR DIZIS ON FRIDAY!!! Well, the main body at least. It still needs to be stained and varnished but they're basically done! After Thursday's first try at the drilling of holes, I managed to work out a system where I could file my holes easier and quicker! This is where my "magic chair" and "magic file" came in :D Using that system, I finished filing all my holes in the shortest time but managed to scratch my dizi multiple times in the process. D: Plus my holes were extreeeemely rough so I still had to sandpaper them afterwards.

This means that my impatience is definitely not a virtue and I should have been more patient instead of causing my dizi to turn so ugly now :O And I can say that dizi makers are truly people of patience, something I don't have much of haha. But I still felt a great sense of satisfaction when I brought home the dizi and showed it to my Mum and proudly say that "I MADE THIS!" Me and my sister took turns playing it, that was fun. I can't want to start staining it and varnishing it and then engraving my name on it so I can say it is truly MINE. Haha (: Next up, making the erhu!! That should prove even a tougher challenge but that means that I would have learnt a new skill + I made an instrument unique to our Chinese culture and few know about + I AM SPECIAL! (: This attachment really sets us apart from others as we also have PROOF of what we have learnt and done.

Labels: Magdalene

Yesterday, we finally got down to making the actual dizi! It was really hard, since we had to mark out the spots to drill and then actually drill it ourselves. I had trouble holding on to the bamboo since there was no clamp :( In the end, we had to drill a tiny little hole and then file it down to the correct size! Tiring and tedious. We actually could have used the knife, but then there would be a higher chance of the bamboo splitting, and we only got one shot at making the dizi. I was slow, and landed up only finishing 3 holes. Landed up going home to file the thing while watching TV!

Came back today with the 5 holes done and 7 more to do! Today, it seemed easier to drill the holes and to file them down to the correct size again. We drilled, filed, drilled and filed even more, and in the end managed to finish it quite fast. We also found out that its not so much about filing it to the same aize as the other dizis, but filing it until the pitch is correct and the moving on to the next holes. And we finally get to decorate the dizis on Monday with string or something like that :D

Labels: Elaine

Thursday and Friday this week were DIZI-making days!

We began with a short introduction on Open and Closed Pipe theories, that got me confused initially:/ but i managed to get it eventually alright! (i bet the rest didn't even get it!:P) Basically, different harmonics work on different wavelengths as the frequency of the wave increases as we go up the harmonics.
Mag and Shufen happily making their Dizi
Nice work Chuyi!
What's with your faces people?
goodjob yifan:)nicolette- slow and steady...

Labels: Iynyi

Sorry no pictures up!!! Anyway, yesterday after learning about Open Pipe/Closed Pipe theory and doing some math, we made our very first instrument... THE KOUDI! First we had to saw up the acrylic and it was SOOO hard to saw. Luckily for all of us, we had.. SHUFEN! Who handled that hacksaw like a pro and managed to saw cleanly, smoothly, and quickly (: After that we had to file the edges of the piece of acrylic and mark its centre before drilling. We found out that the success rate of making koudis are about 50%. And that I am a jinx/the drill hates me because while drilling, my piece of acrylic split. 4 times. ): ANYWAY, finally managed a good one! After that we sandpapered and buffed our koudi until it was nice and shiny (:

Today, after more theory about what the parts of the dizi, we had to set about the most difficult task of all. Actually MAKING the dizi. First we had to drill a tiny hole to ensure the bamboo would not split while drilling. But we needed a hole about double that size, and for safety reasons, we had to slowly file away at the hole until we got the correct size, instead of using a knife! It was a verrrry tedious job and I now have a newfound appreciation for Dizi makers. Today me and Shufen managed to finish up 5 holes! While the others brought home their dizis to finish up those holes. In total we have 12 holes so tomorrow's going to be a long daaay. But it's so exciting to actually be MAKING something with our hands and learning things! (:

Labels: Magdalene

hi! today was another fun day at music fantasia! Our day started off with THEORY LESSONS. We learnt all about open and closed piped theories. It is a very difficult concept to grasp, the physics of the instruments! Thus I shall not go into it, if you'd like to know more about the theory behind how instruments are made. You can visit the UNSW website for more information. It is under the physics theory on open and closed piped instruments. An example of an open piped instrument is the flute, it has two open ends. An example of a closed piped instrument would be the Clarinet!



After the theory lesson, it was time to make the kou di! and it was FUN!! our kou di was made using acrylic. Each kou di was rougly about 3 inches? yepp and we had to saw the long tube of acrylic to get our kou di!! It was a really tought job. You must have alot of strength to do it, but I did it! I sawed quite a few. after that, yinhao helped us to drill holes into our kou di! There is no actual measurement as to where the hole should be. Yin Hao says that it is by experience that these kou dis are made. As in every musician would rougly know where to drill the hole in to create the correct pitch! However it is not easy to drill the hole into the kou di as anytime the kou di may fly off or jus break as it is just acrylic. It is 50% chance that your kou di does not get broken into half. Luckily for me, our of the four acrylic I decided to us for myself, only ONE BROKE! Of course yinhao did the drilling as it was dangerous. After the holes were drill into our kou di, we're almost done! But first we still had to buff the edges to make them smoother.


After that we had to make our kou di look SHINY. Thus we use sand paper to get rid of all the scratches. After that we just had to buffer it using a machine and its all done. Tomorrow we'll be learning to make the dizi. As bamboo is heavier and more sturdy compared to acrylic. We'd get to drill the holes into our dizi by ourselves. Its gonna be all hands on tomorrow.



Here are pictures from today! Mag has the rest=)


MAG! UNGLAM WAY OF CUTTING THE ACRYLIC! i was doing that too.














MY TWO CUTE KOU DIs!














look at how small they are! the length of my finger.

Labels: shufen=)

Hey all! Today we learnt about open and closed pipe theories. Difficult to understand, but yes, we were told that we wouldn't be using it when making dizis anyway. But there was something about the wavelengths, frequency, the speed of sound (338m/s) and 60 cm (the length of a dizi)!
We did that for the first part of the morning and then it was off to making kou dis! It was really annoying at first though, since we had to cut a long piece of acrylic into smaller pieces that were about 3 inches in length. And it was unglam, coz we had to step on the acrylic tube to make it stay still and saw through the whole tube. A lot of the tubes landed up having scratches since we couldn't hold it steady! After that, we measured half of the kou di and drilled a hole at the half way mark. Some of the kou dis broke during the first drilling coz apparently, it was a 50% success rate and acrylic tended to break more easily than the traditional bamboo ones. It was pretty smooth sailing from then on and the rest of the holes were drilled. It isn't necessary to have too much accuracy since most of the playing was done by pitch bending. We also sandpapered the kou di to get rid of all the scratches from when we were sawing through it. Once done, we went to buff it using a machine and then it was as shiny as when it started! :D

Labels: Elaine

Today's the BIG DAY! we were getting back our olevels Higher Chinese results! it was thrilling cause every sms or call i thought was our much anticipated results. but still, we had our lesson on HARMONICS!

And so, we were given a Guzheng, and adjusted the bridge of the longest string to the 100cm mark. Our task: Mark out ALL harmonics points of the string! To obtain the harmonic pitches, we basically need to pluck one end of the string while placing the other finger very lightly against different positions on the string. It wasn't easy listening for the harmonic pitches.

Briefly said, harmonics are basically the relationship between frequencies of sound waves. In more complex terms, it is any of a set of partials that are whole number multiples of a common fundamental frequency. This set includes the fundamental, which is a whole number multiple of itself (1 times itself).

*Pitch: pitch of a plucked string is dependent on three factors: the length of the string, the tension in the string, and the mass density of the string (mass divided by string length). The pitch increase as tension increases, string shortens and mass density decreases.

-->This is no wonder the pitch of the guzheng is highest at the shortest and thinest string, where the bridge is the closet and therefore greatest tension.

Anyway, Shufen, Elaine and I worked together to figure the harmonics out and we got most of them right except for 2. not bad eh:D

The CORRECT harmonic series/ ratio:
(1/8), (1/6), (1/5), (1/4), (1/3), (2/5), (1/2), (3/5), (2/3), (3/4), (4/5), (5/6), (7/8)

Afterwhich, we were to identify the different notes of the scale along the string, taking the basic note plucked to be DOH, and calculating these harmonic ratio for each note. We were then to compare our findings with those calculated using the pythagora's intonation.

*Pythagora's intonation: Back in Ancient Greek times, Pythagorus developed a mathematical connection between consonant tones. If a string is plucked it will play note of a certain pitch. If the string is divided in half it will play the exact same note an octave higher. Further subdivision of the string will result in an even higher pitch. An octave's pitch would be in a ratio of 2:1. If the string were divided into thirds, a new note with the ration of 3:1 would be produced by plucking the string. Pythagoras worked out a whole series of such mathematical ratio between notes, creating a scale with 8 notes A-G and 12 different pitches (including flats and sharps). Pythagoras's scale is often known as the circle of fifths. All frequencies on this scale can be produced by multiplying by 2 or 3. The scale looked good on paper, but it just didn't sound very good.

We found that F did not match as well as the other notes, and it was due to an error in calculation using pythagora's scale, starting from F# in the circle of fifths. Therefore anything after isn't as accurate.

An improved and more popular scale used predominantly worldwide now is the equal temperament scale: octave divided into 12 equal parts, creating 12 semitones. (Chinese, dialect, Balinese music)

Other scale include Just Temperament but is more complicated and problems occur as well.

*European divided one octave into 1200 cents (100Hz for evert semitone) for more accurate pitches.
*Indian music- 8 tones in one semitone

*something interesting

Mr Ye teaching

Working hard on calculations kae! (iynyi-me, and nicolette)

Elaine (left) and Mag too!

Labels: Iynyi

DAY 4, today!

Labels: Magdalene

HELLO! welcome to our blog!
Credits to MISS ASHLEY CHEW FOR THE WONDERFUL SKIN!=)








TEMASEK ACADEMY 2009
music fanstaia!!
hi all! we're from Temasek Junior college!
We're on our attachment now and
This blog is about our 3 week journey.
Learning all about chinese instruments!
do tag!=)








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Cursors: dorischu