The Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association's (GBCCA) Chinese Music Ensemble honors centuries of traditional Chinese culture.
By Joe Normandin
On a sunny spring afternoon in West Newton, as robins chirp on the branches of bare Norway Maples and the hum of traffic flows down the main drag on Washington Street, the sound of 5,000 years of Chinese tradition can be heard just yards away echoing throughout the halls of 437 Cherry Street.
Erhus, dizis, pipas, yangqins (pictured to the right), dagus, ruans and zhengs all play intricately in unison as members of the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association’s (GBCCA) Chinese Music Ensemble celebrate their ancestors’ storied musical heritage.
Split between the adult ensemble, the youth ensemble and the joint ensemble, the GBCCA’s Chinese Music Ensemble practices at the GBCCA’s home on Cherry Street every first and third Saturday of the month. The group rehearses not just for the annual concert at Harvard University’s Paine Hall on May 30, in celebration of the ensemble’s 25th anniversary, but to stay in touch with their Chinese identity and roots.
Some members of the GBCCA’s executive committee, like Lih Nan, director of activities, hold a tremendous amount of admiration for members of the ensemble, especially since they only rehearse twice a month.
“Judging from the amount of time they spend rehearsing,” Nan said, “it’s amazing how good they sound.”
Sun Chan, 39, conductor of the ensemble since 2003, believes that being a member of the ensemble and learning to play traditional Chinese instruments provides a one-of-a-kind opportunity to discover an important part of Chinese heritage.
“Once they’ve learned to play the instrument, then they start to learn the history of the instrument,” said Chan, who used to be a director for a concert band in Taiwan before coming to America to get his D.M.A. (Doctoral of Musical Arts) at Boston University in 1995. “And what’s significant about it is that through their learning of the instrument, they learn that this is an aspect of what Chinese culture is all about.”
Chan (pictured to the left), who’s never played a traditional Chinese instrument—he learned their history and character by being a band leader and conductor—adds that his favorite part of being conductor is performing live because the ensemble gets to showcase a musical genre that seldom gets heard in the Western Hemisphere, let alone Boston.
“After the show, people come up and ask a lot of questions about the instruments and the ensemble,” he said. “So I feel like, ‘Wow! We’re doing a good job of promoting the culture.’”
It’s this cultural exposure that 16-year-old youth and joint ensemble member Christine Wu cherishes about playing the yangqin—a large hammered dulcimer instrument played with two bamboo sticks.
“Being part of the ensemble really brings out the Chinese culture to me,” Wu said. “I feel like if I wasn’t part of this group, I wouldn’t really feel like I could connect with traditional Chinese culture.”
While anyone is allowed to join the adult ensemble, provided they “do a lot of preparation,” said Chan, youth ensemble members are selected through an annual audition process.
Tai-Chun Pan, the 56-year-old dizi-playing director and founder of the ensemble, believes the youth ensemble auditions help to instill confidence and gratification for the youths who make the group,. The tryouts also ensure the ensemble possess the cream of the young talent crop.
“They’ve been through the audition process,” Pan said. “So they bring their talents and knowledge of their instrument to the group. And they like being part of the ensemble because they’ve been selected.”
Richard Ting, 16, couldn’t agree more with Pan.
“The auditions almost act like a filter to make sure everyone here is cool and willing enough to put the time into practicing their instrument,” said Ting, who in addition to playing with the joint ensemble, also teaches a Chinese Yo-Yo class at the GBCCA to children aged 8-16.
As the longest tenured youth ensemble member, Ting has played erhu—a two-stringed bowed instrument—since the youth ensemble’s inception at the end of 2000, when he was just 8 years old. He, like Wu, treasures the traditional Chinese culture he learns by being an ensemble member, but also values the social aspect of the group.
“The way we act here, if we acted this way at school it would be really weird because we’re a minority at our school,” Ting said. “Whereas here, everybody around us is Chinese, so it helps us socialize in a way that’s new to us.”
Nicole Chen, another youth and joint ensemble veteran at 16, has been playing numerous instruments in the youth ensemble for six years—including the sheng, dizi and ruan. She compares the GBCCA’s Chinese Music Ensemble members to kinfolk.
“I think the most enjoyable thing is the environment and the people you get to know,” Chen said. “It’s kind of like family because you know everyone so well.”
For Muhan Zhang, a 16-year-old erhu player, participating in the joint ensemble gives him insight not only into his cultural heritage, but also the Chinese-American community he belongs to.
“Something that I really appreciate about this is that adults and children play together,” Zhang said. “So it’s a way for us to reach out into the traditional, and also into knowing more about our parents and elders.”
Something that Chan appreciates from his youth ensemble members is the way they behave when they play their traditional Chinese instruments.
“You can see that when the kids pick up a Western instrument, they have a Western attitude when they come up on stage,” Chan said. “But when they pick up a Chinese instrument and walk on stage, you’ll see them being more like a Chinese band through their attitude. They just have a different appearance.”
Up close and personal with the GBCCA's Chinese Music Ensemble
Hello,
My name is Chi-Sun Chan, music director of the GBCCA Chinese Music Ensemble. I have been trying to contact Joe Normandin, who wrote this article about the Chinese Music Ensemble. I've sent him an email to his school email account but I think it is already not in use.
It would be greatly appreciated if someone could pass this message to him and let me know his contact information. Thank you very much!
Best Regards,
Chi-Sun Chan
Music Director, GBCCA Chinese Music Ensemble
Olá. Excelente trabalho. Eu não esperava isso em uma quarta-feira. Esta é uma grande história. Obrigado!
One factor that affect me the most is the amount of large intelligence and believed put up for this post, excellent effort on your part and totally out of this world imagination too as logic there. Greatest
I never regretted my time in school, I just want I may have gotten out with much less debt and extra time to do the issues I used to be trained to do fairly than spend all my time on the lookout for money to repay my money owed in a minimal wage economic system!
oh cool, this information is really useful and definately is comment worthy! hehe. I'll see if I can try to use some of this information for my own blog. Thanks!
I like Your Article about The sound of musical heritage - Survive + Thrive Boston Perfect just what I was looking for! .
I simply could not leave your website prior to suggesting that I extremely loved the standard info a person provide to your guests? Is going to be again frequently in order to check out new posts
I like Your Article about The sound of musical heritage - Survive + Thrive Boston Perfect just what I was searching for! .
Thankyou for sharing The sound of musical heritage - Survive + Thrive Boston with us keep update bro love your article about The sound of musical heritage - Survive + Thrive Boston .
we are looking for a chinese musical ensemble instructor to be assigned here in the philippines. i was once an ensemble member who sang and play instruments a couple of decades ago.
unfortunately, our musical house and instruments were razed by fire ten years ago.
Please feel free to contact me
owen medina
email: smarchitect@yahoo.com
+639217271116
we are looking for a chinese musical ensemble instructor to be assigned here in the philippines. i was once an ensemble member who sang and play instruments a couple of decades ago.
unfortunately, our musical house and instruments were razed by fire ten years ago.
Please feel free to contact me
owen medina
email: smarchitect@yahoo.com
cellphone: +639217271116
this is so really oh great
Thanks for all your efforts on this web page. My daughter takes pleasure in going through investigation and it's easy to see why. We all notice all about the compelling mode you present good guidance through this web blog and in addition foster contribution from other individuals about this concern so our own girl is always learning a whole lot. Enjoy the remaining portion of the year. You are performing a stunning job.
Good points of view here.
Regards for sharing The sound of musical heritage - Survive + Thrive Boston with us keep update bro love your article about The sound of musical heritage - Survive + Thrive Boston .
I got what you mean, thanks for swing up. Woh I am glad to judge this website finished google. Thanks For Share The sound of musical heritage - Survive + Thrive Boston.
I got what you think, thanks for swing up. Woh I am happy to make this website through google. Thanks For Share The sound of musical heritage - Survive + Thrive Boston.
AMAZING! I simply love this blog. I will come back again soon and check for updates! If you live in Orlando and ever need a plumber, please call me. www.dgplumber.net
hey, your site really helps, today i obtain same troubles, we are unsure of what are your favorite registry cleaner. thankfully i look google and discovered this post, impact me dispose of my trouble. thanks again it, may i paste your article on my site? i'm going to add what. regards!
Fantastic site. A lot of useful information here. IпїЅпїЅm sending it to a few friends ans also sharing in delicious. And obviously, thanks for your effort!
The following time I study a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me approximately this one particular. I suggest, I realize it had been my preference to study, but I in fact assumed youd have one thing interesting to mention. All I listen to is really a bunch of whining about something which you might repair in the event you werent as well hectic looking for focus.
You ought to take part inside of a contest for one of many finest blogs online. I will endorse this web-site!
That of a fantastic way to say it. I absolutely enjoyed here blog. I really hope I can tell similar to this sometime soon. Anyway, I want to discuss with you about specific things, can you spare plenty of time?
I really appreciate this post. I’ve been looking everywhere for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You have made my day! Thx again
great stuff on out here
Exceptional wp webpage at this site.. It’s rare standard authoring along the lines of your website currently. I must say i realize people like you! take precautions
It is best to engage in a tournament for 1 of the highest blogs on the net. I most certainly will suggest this page!
I appreciate your work , thankyou for your interesting content .
We are back in every single day or 2 . Thank you for a useful website.
amazing written , nice one for sharing this
as i'm allowed understand the article
I am really inspired with your writing skills and also with the format to your blog. Is that this a paid subject or did you customize it your self? Either way stay up the excellent quality writing, it's uncommon to see a great blog like this one nowadays.
The sound of musical heritage - Survive + Thrive Boston I was suggested this blog by my cousin. I'm not sure whether this post is written by him as nobody else know such detailed about my trouble. You're amazing! Thanks! your article about The sound of musical heritage - Survive + Thrive Boston Best Regards Justin Craig
The sound of musical heritage - Survive + Thrive Boston I was suggested this website by my cousin. I am not sure whether this post is written by him as nobody else know such detailed about my difficulty. You're amazing! Thanks! your article about The sound of musical heritage - Survive + Thrive Boston Best Regards Yoder Cassetta
What's up my friends, how is everything? Here it is in fact pleasant YouTube video clips collection. i enjoyed a lot.
Just thought i would comment and say neat design, did you code it yourself? Looks great.
Regarded goods
Leveraging Element aspect to do with trading forex is definitely the large take advantage of made available from brokers (quite possibly in between a bit of 900 brokers, rather than 25 and Approximately twenty for those market). Influence means that you can provide business a sum roughly 800 times higher than a worker offers you, while an actual border good enough to coat opportunity obligations.
I think other web-site proprietors should take this website as an model, very clean and excellent user friendly style and design, let alone the content. You're an expert in this topic!
Greetings! I've been reading your web site for some time now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Humble Texas! Just wanted to say keep up the good work!