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In 2002 a Chinese visiting scholar who was returning to China gave me a CD called âThe Essence of Traditional Chinese Music (äžćæ°æšć€§ć š) vol.3â.
1. Pastoral Song ç§æ (5:08)
2. A Gust of Wind ćźć°éąš (2:39)
3. Embroidery Shoes çčĄè±é (2:51)
4. Tune of Anhui ćźćŸœć°èȘż (4:14)
5. Counting Flowers æžè± (2:17)
6. He Nina è”«ć°ŒéŁ (3:30)
7. Pick the Reed Catkins æ„æ čèæŽè± (2:47)
8. Leading Livestock è¶çČé (3:46)
9. Tune of Henan 豫èȘż (3:06)
10.âDao Laji éæćș (2:42)
11.âWeaving Cloth For The Dearest One çčè±çčćžéć„ç©ż (3:10)
12.âGreen High Mountain é«ć±±é (3:04)
13.âTea-Picking Song éè¶æ (2:02)
14.âGreen Pomegranate çłæŠŽé (1:54)
I wrote down the tunes from tracks 12, 8 and 2 (é«ć±±é, è¶çČé and ćźć°éąš) and made a flute duet so I could perform with a CUCCS committee member in their 2007 concert (which was before CCS decided to turn their concert into a pop singing contest).âI did *not* publish my version of the score, for fear of having perhaps copied modern embellishments that are still under copyrightâIâm aware of the fact that I donât know how much modern influence goes into these âtraditionalâ performances, and China joined the Berne copyright convention in 1992âbut I didnât worry about copyright in the concert, as the university pays the PRS which has ties with MCSC.
I was also due to play my version as a solo at a 2006 charity concert which some students had arranged in aid of a blind school in Vietnam, but the concert ran overtime and they had to cut my item.âI did however talk with the other performers, who were mostly Chinese, and I suggested they start a Chinese orchestra but I didnât expect to be taken seriously.
In 2007 they arranged a second concert at which I premiered a couple of my fatherâs flute solos, and they *did* start a Chinese orchestra, calling it Cambridge University Chinese Orchestra Society (CUCOS), which Iâve supported since 2008.
CUCOS also collaborated with students from the University of Warwick at Coventry, who set up a small Chinese-instrument ensemble called WCOS from 2011 onwards.
At its inception, CUCOS was divided into a Western Instrument Division and a Chinese Instrument Division (called WID and CIDâI suppose not having seen *A Touch of Frost* in the 1990s they wonât have been thinking of Denton CID).âThe division was made mainly because not many Chinese-music scores are available that include both Chinese instruments *and* Western instrumentsâmost of the available arrangements are either for a Chinese-instrument ensemble *or* for a Western-instrument ensemble, not a mixture of the twoâso it made sense to have two separate series of rehearsals and separate items on the programme at concertsâa couple of WID pieces, some CID pieces and some solo items and small groups.âThere have also been CID-only concerts, usually by invitation from other organisations whoâd like to have Chinese instruments at an event (most notably the British Museum in 2016).âRehearsals were often scheduled at different times to give multi-talented players the option of playing in both groups, although only a few players did this.
There is no *fundaÂmental* reason why Western and Chinese instruÂments cannot play in the *same* ensemble, as long as the composer/arranger is aware of differences in volume etc (think of Bach including both recorder and trumpet in his Brandenburg Concerto No.2)âso some works have been written to include CUCOS players from both ensembles.
CUCOS is an âall-comersâ amateur orchestra with no auditionsâits attraction to Westerners lies in the novelty of the music (and, in the case of CID, the instruments) rather than a professional standardâand it has to cope with the unpredictability of which instruments will be available in which terms.âSo when my father wrote a piece to unify the two ensembles in 2008/09, he made the instrumentation quite flexible and said feel free to rearrange as necessary.â(His piece quoted the Chinese melodies from my earlier arrangement and expanded the textures.)
My fatherâs piece was not played, but it did result in others being more inclined to the idea of performing a joint piece, and:
The smaller-scale post-lockdown activities of CUCOS were also all-joint.
As for my fatherâs piece, in 2014 he suggested it be reworked and submitted to a Singapore Chinese Orchestra competition heâd seen advertised in a music magazine, but he changed his mind when he heard Singapore is one of the very few countries in the world that still imprisons conscientious objectorsâhe wasnât religious but he *was* anti-war.âShortly before his death in 2016 he suggested reworking for a Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra competition, which had published over 2 hours of video explaining their instruments, but we werenât able to process all that information in time.
As far as flute parts go, the non-joint arrangements that CUCOS WID obtained from Chinese publishers do tend to have the minor annoyances of treating us as extra piccolos (I had to find fingerings above top C), rarely using the nicer-sounding lower register (perhaps because this isnât available on the Chinese *dĂzi* flute), and sometimes being printed a bit sloppily and with dozens of ledger lines (usually fused together) when any âsensibleâ arranger should have used ottavation (8va).âIf I canât quickly sort it out with The GIMP then I tend to re-do my part in Lilypondâusually by hammering out the notes in mwr2ly and editing the result, catching any copying mistakes in rehearsal.
CID usually uses Jianpu notation, although they usually prefer to handwrite it rather than use my Jianpu in Lilypond script.
Some of the music CUCOS has played has been political etc, and I try to avoid participating in those pieces, but itâs not always obvious and I have occasionally been caught out by playing something that I didnât realise had such connections until receiving programme notes *after* the concert.âItâs better to remember to âlook upâ each piece yourself.
CUCOS is mostly active in the winter and spring terms, shutting down for the examination term.âIn their first years they performed at least two concerts per year in college venues, then in spring 2010 obtained an annual slot at West Road concert hall, and the ensemble as a whole focused on that one concert until a second one was restored in winter 2012.âAfter that they fell into a pattern of two concerts per academic year, the first being a free one in a college and the second being ticketed at West Road, which helps raise funds for club instruments (not everyone can bring their own, especially larger instruments).âThe West Road concert is usually videotaped for players to show to their families in China or whereverâthe club is open to everyone, but most players tend to be international students from China, Singapore etc and very few have families living near enough to come to a concert, so they appreciate being able to take home the video file.âSometimes in February the club is invited to give an additional performance at a large Chinese New Year party (I avoid those).
CUCOS end-of-year concerts have sometimes featured soloists from outside Cambridge, either playing separate items (e.g. guzheng player Lin Li from London in 2016 and 2017), or playing a concerto with the orchestra (e.g. harmonicist Jia-Yi He from America in 2009).âIn 2015 WCOS visited Cambridge as a group and played an item in the CUCOS concert.âMost items however have been produced by CUCOSâs own members.
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