BEIJING, May 30 -- It was "love at first listen" when Avery Davis sat in the concert hall ofthe Shanghai Conservatory of Music three years ago to hear a recital by internationalstudents playing Chinese instruments.
"The music moved me in a way I will always remember, and that is when I was trulygrateful to study Chinese music," said Davis, who was a high school student at the time.
During the two-week summer music camp in Shanghai, Davis started learning to play thesheng, an ancient Chinese musical instrument.
He said his teacher chose the instrument for him because he could already play thetrumpet. Both the sheng and trumpet are wind instruments and share similar techniquesin performance.
Davis is now a sophomore majoring in music and Chinese at Valparaiso University inIndiana, United States. In his spare time, he plays the sheng with Meifeng TraditionalChinese Orchestra organized by the Confucius Institute at Valparaiso.
The orchestra was founded in 2010 by Prof. Jianyun Meng, the American Director of theinstitute, who teaches Chinese and music at the university. The orchestra now has morethan 20 members and has performed for many important events in the area.
During last week's Nishan Forum, an international conference on cross-culturalcommunications in east China's Shandong Province, an ensemble of seven performersselected from the orchestra were invited to put on a performance at the event. RosieMurray, a third year music major at Valparaiso, is the principal erhu (a two-stringedChinese fiddle) player of the ensemble. Her mother has been teaching English in China forseveral years, and she spent three years in China as a teenager before she returned to theUS and began studying at Valparaiso.
"I grew up with Chinese music," she said. "When I entered college and found that therewas a chance for me to study Chinese musical instruments, I just joined the orchestrawithout any hesitation."
According to Murray, traditional Chinese music is like poetry with simple but attractivemelodies.
"The emotion conveyed by Chinese music is often pure and natural. I love the classic piece"Jasmine Flower" - the music is all about the beauty of a flower, which is very charmingand touching," she said.
Dennis Friesen-Carper, a professor of composition and conducting at ValparaisoUniversity, is the music director of the orchestra. He has arranged several famous pieces oftraditional Chinese music for the Western orchestra.
"There is an inherent beauty in Chinese music, for it is built around melodies, and the littlenuances of the melodies are just fascinating," he said.
Compared with Chinese music, in which melody is predominant, Western symphonic musicis more about harmony and different instruments working together, he said.
The 60-year-old maestro said there should be no problem creating a fusion of music fromdifferent cultures, since the development of any traditional music is inseparable from theinfluence of other cultures.
"For example, the traditional Chinese instrument pipa was originally from Iran," he said. "A fusion of beautiful musical elements from different countries should absolutely be thetrend forward."
Meng said music can make communication happen in an instant among people fromdifferent cultural backgrounds, and it is a shortcut for one to gain a deeper understandingof a foreign culture.
The common love for Chinese music has brought the musicians of the orchestra togetherand helped them better understand the beauty of Chinese culture.
Davis said his interest in Chinese music is unusual to his friends. However, the Chineseclothes he wears during performances have inspired much admiration.
"I have two traditional Chinese jackets, one brown and one red. I rotate them throughperformances and I feel so proud when wearing them," he said.
Murray said she has always wanted to learn Chinese calligraphy, and her only obstacle isthat she has not yet found a teacher.
"I heard it is very hard to learn, but I will definitely give it a try," she said.
They both plan to come to work in China after graduation.
"Maybe I will be an English and music teacher here. China feels like home," Murray said.
David Rawland, the Associate Provost of Valparaiso University, told Xinhua that CIVU hasbeen hosting a Chinese music festival called the Great Lakes Confucius Institute MusicFestival every September since its inception in 2008. The festival has drawn thousands ofstudents and professional musicians from both China and America to play Chinese musictogether while making friends.
Meng said the musical festival has become one of the largest of its type in the Midwest andan important window to Chinese culture for locals, and its scale and influence are stillgrowing.
"There is a huge demand for American students to learn music of other cultures and tolearn other cultures through music. I believe more and more people, both Chinese andAmerican, will join us in this meaningful cause," he said.
