University Day is a great platform for students to share their own research and findings with the public. As a music amateur, performing Chinese music to Americans on University Day is a good chance to introduce Chinese culture.
I have to admit that popular music in the United States developed much faster than in China. Many young people in China also devote much interest to this music that was composed in America. But Chinese folk music is like a bright pearl in China. I think it’s worth it for people from around the world to get to know the Chinese music style. That’s why I chose to perform several traditional songs on University Day.
My father is a music composer. So from a very young age, I touched music every day. I always followed my father to music colleges and concerts. I have played the piano since I was 6 years old. But I didn’t train my voice before. I sang just based on my talent and some skills that I learned when I was with those music people. I really want to take advantage of the chance to perform folk music for others even if I’m not professional enough.
I sang five songs that stand for Chinese culture. Two of them are Chinese popular music that almost everyone in China is familiar with. I chose them because the lyrics both contained moon. In our culture, people always express their pining affection through the moon. One of the song extracts the lyrics from a poem that was composed by Shi Su, who was a great poet who lived in the Song Dynasty. So it contains ancient Chinese in that song. People may not understand the meaning of this song. But I hope that the audience could feel the emotion from the rhythm.
In China, we have 56 kinds of minorities. Each of them has its own lifestyle. I chose one song that expressed the Zang minority who live in the roof of the world–the Tibetan Plateau. The reason for creating folk music is recording people’s lives. This song is composed with some elements from Zang-style music. People from other nationalities may not have heard it before.
When people talk about the Chinese culture, we shouldn’t ignore the Beijing Opera. Unfortunately, I’m not able to handle it. So I chose some children’s music called Beijing Hutong that includes some rhythm of Beijing Opera.
For this music presentation, I took nearly two weeks to select music, find accompaniment, memorize lyrics and practice songs. Thanks for the audience’s coming. Their encouragement makes me feel honored. I will keep working to pass on Chinese music.
