Zhejiang Conservatory for the Arts Hangzhou, China

 Gentle Reader,

On a grey, foggy, rainy day, we journeyed to Zhejiang Conservatory of Music in Hangzhou.  Jist having opened in September 201, the campus is brand new, with a decidedly modern flair, fashioned in all shades of grey.   One of the first buildings is actually shaped liked a somewhat abstract guitar.  This Conservatory teaches musicians of the most professional quality, dancers, singers, actors, composers, etc...

We spent the morning with one of the professors of ancient Chinese instruments and were serenaded by expert Pipa and Sheng players.  Both performances were absolutely magical and compelling.

The Pipa, sometimes called the Chinese Lute,  is about two thousand years old.  One of the origin stories I read about the Pipa involves a Han  princess, Wang Zhaojun, who was sent to marry a Hun king.  This was part of a peace treaty during the Han Dynasty, between the Hans and the Huns.  As the story goes, the Pipa was created so Wang could play music while riding on horseback, to "soothe her longings."

The Sheng has been around since about 1100 BCE.  It has 17 pipes and a long, curving mouthpiece.  The Sheng is played by alternately blowing and inhaling, making it something like a gigantic harmonica.  Some have gourd wind chambers, varying numbers of pipes, and bamboo or metal reeds.  The Sheng has been used to accompany soloists, and this instrument is also used as part of wind and percussion ensembles in northern China.

 My Beloved, I am Watching You

                        by Marianne Peel

大絃嘈嘈如急雨
小絃切切如私語
嘈嘈切切錯雜彈
大珠小珠落玉盤
The bold strings rattled like splatters of sudden rain,
The fine strings hummed like lovers' whispers.
Chattering and pattering, pattering and chattering,
As pearls, large and small, on a jade plate fall.
                                       -from "Pipa xing" (poem) by Bai Juyi


I am watching you
as she plays the pipa,
remembering the moment
in your Tai Chi form, Yang style,
when the "fair lady plays the pipa."

I watch her hand curve out
away from the strings
all in rhythm and flow
liquid caressing the air.
the silence holding grace and vibration.

And I feel that knowing
rise up in you.
Thousands of times
you have stroked the air,
just like this, playing Tai Chi.

And each time we return to China,
validation.
Your form,
centuries ancient,
genuine, still practiced

In her hands
in this conservatory of ancient instruments.
In your hands, in the open air,
with mountains behind you, water before you,
resonating through all of time.