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Friday, 9 January 2009, 21:17

HI! on thurs! we learnt DA JI YUE from zhuang lao shi. DA JI YUE actually means percussion in chinese. Here's a little history, there actually wasnt really a percussion section in the past. People used animal skin to make the instrument. During the later years of the yuan dynasty, for the sake of entertainment people 用歌舞来讲故事。而这就是戏曲的来原。Of course only the rich could afford such entertainment. 戏曲最高峰时是在清朝时期，因为当时的乾隆皇帝最爱听戏曲了。Thus, during this period xiqu was really popular and expanded as it received support from the imperial family. Of course percussion was very vital in these xiqu(opera). As the stage is very big, its just impossible to shout across stage thus the percussion instruments came in handy. The sounding of the gong usually signals the start of the opera and everyone will be able to start together.


After our lao shi gave us this short history lesson, we went on to show us how to play the different instruments in da ji yue. He also mentioned that the chinese orchestra did not have da ji yue. Anyway, somehow we all managed to learn to play most of the more important instruments. We learnt to play this song << 急急风>>. It was quite fun and confusing at the same time as timing and beat was important. We had to sound together. In chinese percussion, they use different chinese words to represent the sound produced by different instruments. For example, 仓 was used to represent the sound produced by the 大罗. Overal it was a fun and enjoyable experience. Our teacher was very nice and patient with us!


After lunch, we went on a field trip! We headed down to bedok to watch CHINESE OPERA! We had a task, while watching the play we had to figure out why music is so vital in the opera. We got to go onto the stage to explore and to see the actors and actresses put on their make up. All the actors and actresses are all very old. They do chinese opera not for the money but for interest. I was really impressed as these actors and actresses had to put up a full 3 hour show,filled with singing! and its amazing they can do it despite their age. What was more amazing was that all the actors and actresses had NO SCRIPT. They had to improvise and think their lines by themselves thus whatever we had heard on stage was not scripted at all. Its amazing how the actors have this mo qi with the percussion. The show ran so smoothyly, you'd never have thought the show was totally impromptu. Thus, we sat under the hot sun, watching the opera. Though we did not understand the language, it was still interestng to watch as most of us have never actually been to an opera before.



and here are my 10 points:

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Music, AWESOME