甲午年甲戍月庚午日(閏九月初三)雅集 Highland Park NJ Yaji

張隆延先生墨寶 Calligraphy of Dr. Leon Chang (1909-2009) (in 2000, NYQS invited Mr Leon to talk about Calligraphy, please see the link 兩千年紐約琴社曾邀請隆延先生演講書道, 詳細請見http://www.newyorkqin.org/journal/volume1/volume1no7p1.html)

張隆延先生墨寶

紐約琴社會議討論了諸項重要事宜

NYQS official meeting discussed many important issues.

王妙蓮分享香港於甲午年初在香港舉辦的"香江琴緣"事宜一二

Marilyn is showing the big book of 香江琴緣 (The Legend of Silk and Wood, A Hong Kong Qin Story) from a qin exhibition in Hong Kong on January 5th 2014 that she had attend. There were many qin on very nice display that one can see every angle of each quqin and the book has also story about a qin maker 蔡昌壽, and how qin is made.

"香江琴緣"出版目錄

目錄包括斲琴師蔡昌壽之斲琴故事

This link (in Cantonese) has some story about the Qin Maker Cai Chang-sho (http://youtu.be/WKIm3WMWC2g), for English please watch http://youtu.be/lTUatPT2imw

後半場琴會彈琴聽琴, 培幼Peiyou 先用戴德先生帶來的曾成偉先生斲制之琴, 上以龍人尼龍琴絃, 演奏神人暢Harmony Between Man and God on nylon string, 隨後用唐世璋先生帶來之唐健垣先生斲制之琴, 上以丸三絲絃, 演奏良宵引Song of a Pleasant Night on Marusan Hashimoto silk string.

Mr. John Thompson 唐世璋先生以其絲絃琴演奏採真游 Seeking the Truth, 與現存最早版本之漁樵問答 the earliest version of Dialog Between Fisherman and Woodcutter.

琴友Ruixin Zhao 演奏憶故人 Memory of an Old Friend on nylon string, 第二輪時用絲絃琴演奏了嶺南派漁樵問答 Ling Nan Style of Dialog Between Fisherman and Woodcutter on silk string.

Jason 先用了曾琴演奏春曉吟 Song of Spring Dawn on nylon string , 

第二輪時用絲絃琴演奏了歸去來辭 Home Coming on silk string.

Mr. Stephen Dydo 戴德先生使用曾琴演奏了泣顏回 Confucius Crying for The Death Of Yian-hui 及玉樓春曉  Jade Mansion Spring Dawn, both on nylon string, 第二輪時用絲絃琴演奏了梅花三弄Three Variations on the Plum Blossom on silk string.

Mrs. Marilyn Wang 王妙蓮用絲絃琴演奏了湘江怨 Lamenting over Xiang River 以及耕辛釣渭 Fishing at the Wei River After Hard Plough on silk string.

培幼最後用絲絃琴演奏列子御風 結束了此次豐富的文藝古琴雅集

Peiyou ending the elegant gathering by playing "Liezi Rides on the Wind" on silk string. 

 
部份影音: 列子御風(片斷) 與神人暢
partial recording of Peiyou's playing of Liezi Rides on the Wind and the whole piece of Harmony Between Man and God

感謝方爾義先生與夫人的盛情款待與分享方先生的書法收藏
Many thanks to the host Matthew and Jeanette for their warm and generous hospitality.

10/26/2014
Highland Park NJ
4pm to 8pm

Oct 19, 2014 Qin Playing at Church 教堂琴聲

Oct 19, 2014, a unique service blending Chinese music and traditional Episcopal Holy Eucharist was held at the Trinity Memorial Episcopal Church, Binghamton NY.

Church Musician Mr. Peter Browne set the service music of the Eucharist to folk tunes of China. He also invited one of his student at Binghamton SUNY, miss Jiawei Mao and I to play the guqin in his church service program.

Prelude : Flowing Water. 流水 performed by Jiawei Mao (metal string)

Offertory: Harmony Between Man and God. 神人暢 by Peiyou Chang (silk string)

Communion: Ode of Autumn Wind 秋風辭 by Jiawei Mao (metal string)

Postlude: Liezi Rides on the Wind 列子御風 by Peiyou Chang (silk string)

Here is a 10 minutes clip of the qin playing.

當我彈完最後一曲時, 抬頭一看, 哇! 怎麼是這麼多人, 因為以為最後Postlude 人們可能會陸續離席.可是看來沒有人離席, 大家都坐著聽完最後一曲. 我有點傻到又有點驚喜.

After I finished the postlude, and raised my head, I saw everyone still sitting there, no body had left. I was a little surprised and it was a mix feeling, nervous, exciting, touched...

Peiyou, Jiawei and the Rev. Dr. David A. Drebert. Rector.

Jiawei, Church Musician, Mr. Peter Browne and Peiyou

An ad on Wednesday Oct 15th local newspaper, Press & Sun Bulletin

Thanks for the lovely bouquet of flower from the church.

Special Music Notes Page 1

Special Music Notes, Page 2

Church Service Program page 11

Church Service Program page 9, 10

Church Service Program page 7, 8

Church Service Program page 5, 6

Church Service Program page 3, 4

Church Service Program page 1, 2

Church Service Program Cover

這一次是教會的音樂師--彼得教授,邀請我和葭葦,參加他的教會特別節目. 彼得指揮教堂的合唱團. 他利用了幾首中國地方民歌的旋律改由英文唱. 這是這所教堂有始以來首次結合中國音樂到教會音樂中. 在當地算是小轟動的創舉. 因為彼得也在Binghamton大學教音樂理論, 而葭葦是他的學生, 因而讓彼得教授認識了古琴. 而我婆婆也認識彼得教授, 也因此介紹我給彼得教授認識, 所以這個圈子就接上了, 彼得因為這次的中國音樂入西方教堂的活動也讓古琴進了教堂,所以我們才能很榮幸的為當地教友演奏古琴. 彼得教授及所有教堂的人幾乎都是第一次聽到現場古琴演奏, 彼得教授的太太聽完所有的音樂還感動的落淚. 這真的是另所有人難忘的一次經驗.

Prof. Peter Browne is the Trinity Memorial Church's Musician and also teaches Musicianship at Binghamton University. He is conducting the choir of the church and adapted some Chinese folk songs (including Lan Hua Hua, from North of Shanxi Province) to the church's hymns. Jiawei Mao is Prof. Peter's student and that is how Peter wanted to have the Guqin music in the church to be part of his Chinese music program. My mother in law also knows Prof. Peter and when she heard about Peter's plan of the special service, she introduced me to Peter. That is how this circle got connected.

Peter decided to used two mics, one is a wireless mic which connect to the Church sound system so the last row can hear the subtlety of the guqin, and the amplifier was there for qin players to hear our own playing.

Almost everyone in the audience heard life guqin first time in their life, and many told us that they were so touched by the sound of the guqin. There was one young Chinese high school girl from Ithaca came by her mother's friend. Ithaca is one hour driving distance from Binghamton.  Jiawei's professor of Chinese history, and the director of the Confucious Institute Mr. Chen and his wife, Mrs Hong Zhang also came to the church. Jiawei and I, we both felt so honored and blessed that we can play for people in Binghamton area. This is really an unforgettable experience for all of us.  

教堂試琴音 Testing sound effect in church

Oct 19, 2014 Jiawei Mao and Peiyou Chang will join Prof. Peter Browne's church program at Trinity Memorial Church in Binghamton NY. This will be the first time ever in history that guqin music will play in this Episcopal church. Yesterday we had test the sound effect of the guqin in the church. We feel really honored and blessed. The sound effect of the guqin in the church was pretty good without mic, however at the real service day, it will have many audience. In order to have the last row audience to hear the subtle sound of the guqin, Prof. Browne decided to use two mics.



Prof. Peter Browne is the Trinity Memorial Church Musician and Professor in Binghamton University. He wrote very nice article and organizing the Chinese music into his church music program. (page 9 on www.trinitymemorial.org/news/OCTOBER2014.pdf)