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There are three
Chinese music classes taught every Saturday at Cantell School in Southampton.
Children aged between five and 14 can learn either the Dizi (Chinese bamboo flute),
Pipa (a four stringed lute) or Erhu (a two stringed fiddle, also called Chinese
violin). Junlong
Zhang teaches the Erhu class. At the moment, his young pupils are learning pieces
of traditional music to perform at the Chinese Association's New Year celebrations.  | | The
Erhu has two strings and is played with a bow |
The
classes only began in September so the children have had to work quickly to learn
the songs in time for the big event - and with only two strings and no frets to
guide your fingers, it's not as easy as it looks! Like
its western cousin, the Chinese violin is one of the hardest instruments to play,
but the two fiddles look nothing alike. Junlong describes the differences: "The
Erhu only has two strings, whereas a violin has four strings. Also the position
we play it in is slightly different. A violin player can stand up but with the
Erhu you have to sit on a chair." The
children are learning two pieces of peaceful, soothing music for the New Year
- one called Purple Bamboo and the other Step Higher and Higher, the latter being
a tune to send wishes of good progress to people in the New Year.  | | Junlong
leads the group though the music |
Once
they have mastered their individual parts they will rehearse with the Phoenix
Arts Group, the Chinese Association's music and dance ensemble to get ready for
their New Year festival performance. The
Phoenix Arts Group uses both Chinese and Western instruments in its orchestra.
There's a good
reason for this as Junlong explains: "All the Chinese instruments are very
high pitched so we borrow western instruments, like a cello, to get a bass sound." Junlong
teaches the children in English and in Mandarin as the many of the musical terms
can only be explained in the Chinese language. This can cause a few difficulties
for Junlong: "I
find it very challenging but we try to get along and see how it goes. When we
started, one or two of my pupils could not speak Mandarin, they could only speak
Cantonese but they did understand English."  | | The
children get to grips with the Erhu |
Musical
instruments are an integral part of Chinese culture. The beautiful songs and the
instruments have been a tradition in Chinese history for more than 1,000 years.
Junlong feels that the class he teaches helps the children to learn more about
their heritage: "When
children watch Chinese film they can see that musical instruments were played
by musicians in old times. When they learn how to play them, they get excited
and feel that the culture's very close to them. It's one of the benefits of the
class, that they can understand part of Chinese culture, not just from the stories
but from the music too." The
Phoenix Arts Group will be performing at the Chinese Association of Southampton's
New Year festival at Bellemoor School on Sunday February 13th.
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