Last day, flight, and arrival in Texas
Our final day in China was spent in the city of Guangzhou. Several SCUT students came with us to show us around and explore with us! In the evening, we had a farewell dinner with everyone involved in the trip as well as the Dean of the SCUT music school and his assistants. We said goodbye to everyone, and got ready to depart the next morning!
On Sunday, we were up and on our way to the airport early. The trip home took about 30 hours and included 3 flights (Guangzhou to Beijing, Beijing to Chicago, and Chicago to Dallas)! Needless to say, everyone was exhausted upon our arrival. We're all very satisfied with the work we've done there and grateful to all of the students at SCUT for their enthusiasm and dedication during our week together. With a new chamber music library, newly-formed chamber music groups, and momentum from coachings and performances, we're confident that the chamber music program at SCUT is off to a great start.
Now, back to life at UNT! We were all craving hamburgers by the time we left China, and what better place than Texas to come back to for that?
Final day of residency
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- UNT flute professor Terri Sundberg working with a newly formed chamber music group in a dress rehearsal
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- Dress rehearsal for viola choir arrangement of Pachabel’s Canon
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- UNT Professor Dr. Susan Dubois, dubbed a “superstar” by the viola section, signing autographs!
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- UNT professors and students, and SCUT professors of violin and clarinet after the final concert
Well, it all came together yesterday! The first half of last night's program was another mixed faculty/student concert of three Mozart pieces. The second half was a showcase of all the newly formed student groups. The entire first part of the day was dedicated to dress rehearsals and last minute coachings. In the afternoon, each student group had a chance to play their piece on stage. Some groups were more nervous than others, but overall things went smoothly and everyone was looking forward to the evening. After dinner, we all headed over to the concert hall while completely packed, once again. People were standing in the back of the hall and even sitting on the steps of the isles because there weren't enough seats. The energy of an audience like that always rubs off on us as performers! All of the student groups played wonderfully. It is amazing how far they have all come in the three and a half days, especially considering that most of them have never played any chamber music! The concert ended with a string orchestra playing the first movement of Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nacht Musik" with Dr. Susan Dubois conducting and the Bancroft quartet playing with the students.
Today - Saturday - we will be spending the day in Guangzhou with many of the SCUT students, who have generously offered to show us around. Speaking of which, the students we've been working and playing with have been absolutely incredible. They're so enthusiastic - not only about our musical collaborations, but also about showing us their culture...the food they like to eat, the places they like to go...and a few of us can now count from 1-99 in Chinese thanks to their help! They've been so helpful and so appreciative, and and have told us over and over again how much they have learned from us being there and from playing in these new chamber groups with one another.
On Sunday, we'll start on our trip home! One more post (and more pictures) to come.
Quartet concert and combined faculty concert
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- Bancroft Quartet in concert
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- Bancroft Quartet, UNT Professors Susan Dubois and Nikola Ruzevic, and the Dean of SCUT and Helen, one of his assistants
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- UNT Professor Dr. Susan Dubois conducting in rehearsal
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- UNT DMA viola student Michelle Paczut with SCUT viola students after a rehearsal/coaching
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- UNT students Michelle Paczut and Szemoke Jobbagy walking on the campust of SCUT
On Tuesday evening, the Bancroft Quartet played a concert to a completely packed concert hall at SCUT. The audience response was great and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves!
On Wednesday, we continued with chamber music coaching - UNT faculty and students both have been coaching various groups, and the SCUT students have been extremely eager to learn and work on their pieces. That evening, the UNT faculty and students collaborated on a concert which included a Beethoven clarinet trio, a movement of the Franck piano quintet, the Schmitt trio for flute, clarinet and piano, and two movements of a Brahms sextet. We had a lot of fun playing with eachother, and the audience response was again very positive.
We're excited to continue the work we're all doing together here and create enough momentum that the students and faculty here will continue developing the chamber music program we've helped initiate here.
Today (Thursday), we are not involved in any concerts, but tomorrow (Friday), the UNT and SCUT faculty will collaborate on a concert. Directly after that concert, another concert will take place - the culmination of all of the work this past week put in by the SCUT students and UNT coaches - the newly formed chamber music groups will perform the pieces they've been learning!
We're leaving in two days, but there's still a lot more that will happen before we go!
Arrival in Guangzhou, and first few days at SCUT
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- UNT Cello Professor Nikola Ruzevic working with a SCUT student
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- UNT Viola Professor Dr. Susan Dubois working with a SCUT student
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- UNT flute professor Terri Sundberg working a newly formed chamber group
The flight from the Beijing Capital International Airport to Guangzhou was about 3 hours. The climates are really different - you could compare it to traveling from Chicago to Florida. We're surrounded by palm trees and lots of green...much different than Beijing.
After arriving at the Southern China University of Technology campus, we were greeted with a delicious dinner with the Dean of the Music School and his assistants. There was a lot of planning to be done! The language barrier has made some things quite difficult, but the students' english (and willingness to speak it) is really good. After figuring out how to make the program start working (which is an ongoing process), the faculty began with masterclasses. Violist Susan Dubois, cellist Nikola Ruzevic, and flutist Terri Sundberg worked with many of the students, who reacted very positively. Later, placement auditions for chamber groups began. The faculty spent several hours organizing groups and handing out music (which was purchased, transported, and delivered by us as part of the grant).
Today, our 3rd day in Guangzhou, is the first performance - the Bancroft Quartet will perform at 8:00 PM in the concert hall. The program will include Dvorak's Quartet in F Major "American," Prokofiev's 2nd Quartet, Beethoven's Quartet No. 16 op. 135, and Gardel's "Tango: Por Una Cabeza." We've been trying to drum up some publicity for the concert, and hopefully a lot of people will show up. The students at SCUT have been really helpful and hospitable, and we are looking forward to spending more time with them this week.
I'm sure you'll all be thinking of us tonight at 8:00 PM (which is 7:00 AM for anyone at UNT reading this), but just in case, please set your alarms for 6:55 AM so that you can send us some good vibes!
In the next entry, we'll let you know how the concert went and how our week at SCUT is progressing. The chamber music groups formed have begun rehearsing and receiving coachings, and the involved students at SCUT really seem to be enjoying themselves. Stay tuned!
Last few days in Beijing
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- Jade carving from the Jade Factory
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- Dr. Susan Dubois and Sam Park wait patiently at the Great Wall for others to catch up
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- Michelle Paczut, Ross Gasworth, Sam Park, and Ben Allred at the Great Wall
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- Professors Nikola Ruzevic and Terri Sundberg on a rikshaw during the tour of Old Beijing
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- Peking duck being carved
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- Participating in making a quilt at the Silk Factory
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- Beautiful scenery at the Summer Palace
Well here's something you don't get to say every day: we climbed the great wall! Well, part of it - the great wall stretches about 5,500 miles, and none of us are in good enough shape to handle that in a few hours, unfortunately. It was cold, but the scenery (and exercise) was well worth it! In the morning, on the way to the Great Wall, we stopped at a jade factory where we got a quick tour and watched some workers carving jade with diamond drills. Some of the sculptures sell for thousands of dollars and are really beautiful.
We continued on to the Great Wall. Everyone went at their own pace, but we all made it to the top (of that section, at least)! The scenery was amazing. On the way back, we stopped at a Cloisson factory, where we also ate lunch. Our next activity was the "Hutong Tour," which was a rickshaw ride around Old Beijing. It was short, but really interesting - we even got to go into a home and talk with some
of the natives. The last part of our day was something everyone had been looking forward to since the start of the trip - the Peking Duck dinner! The chefs come to the table and carve the duck on a cart right in front of you. Everyone left very happy and satisfied, and we returned to the hotel to rest up for our final day in Beijing.
The next day, we started out at a Silk Factory, where we learned about how silk is cultivated, spun, and crafted into products which the factory sells. They allow guests to participate in some parts of the process, and everyone ended up finding a souvenir or two there. Next was the Summer Palace which is where the emperor used to live during the summer. The architecture and scenery are beautiful. It lies right on a lake where boat rides are available in good weather and mountains are visible off in the distance. After lunch, the group split up to do various things. Some of us went to see the Bird's Nest from the Olympic games in 2008 while others decided to use the public transportation and do some shopping.
The subway was extremely packed during rush hour. We were completely squeezed in to the point where no one had to hold onto anything because there was no way to move anyway! All of us had a chance to experience the Silk Market which is a huge building several stories high full of clothes, souvenirs, luggage, shoes, and pretty much anything you can imagine. The difference between this place and typical shopping centers in the States is that each shop has a couple of workers who are very persistent about trying to get you to buy anything and lots of bargaining takes place! Our experience there was quite exhausting, so we all were ready to get to bed before our flight to Guangzhou the next morning.
Flight, arrival in Beijing, and first full day
Hello from all of us on the trip to China! Our journey began at 4:00am on Monday morning, when we departed from UNT. From the DFW airport, we flew to San Fransisco, and then to Beijing. Those of us lucky enough to sleep well on planes arrived well-rested...the rest of us instead arrived having watched many movies and TV episodes...some more than once! At the airport in Beijing (which is gigantic), we met David, our very resourceful tour guide who will be showing us around (and helping us stay aware of what we're eating) for the next few days. After a 45 minute drive to the hotel in rush-hour traffic, we were very relieved to get to our hotel rooms. We went across the street for dinner where we had some really delicious food, and finally went to sleep.
Our first full day in Beijing began with breakfast at the hotel and then meeting up with David in the lobby. The first excursion would be to the Temple of Heaven, about a 15 minute drive from our hotel. During the drive David attempted to teach us some simple (by Chinese standards) Chinese phrases, which we would then eagerly repeat probably completely incorrectly. The Temple of Heaven is a beautiful structure which used to be used to pray for good harvest. Now, the area is a park open to the public where a variety of recreational activities take place daily. A few we witnessed included dance lessons, card games, and an elegant choreographed movement with a raquet and weighted ball.
Our next stop was the Forbidden City, the home of past Emperors. We walked through many courtyards and buildings now transformed into small museums. The architecture was again beautiful, and had so much intricate detail.
After lunch, we returned to our hotel to practice and rest. We ate dinner, and then concluded our day with a Kung-Fu show at the Red Theatre. The skill of the participants in the show was impressive, but it was obviously very over-dramatized, probably to try to appeal to westerners, so a lot of it came off as very cheesy. What they probably didn't count on is that two of us "westerners" (Dr. Susan Dubois and Sam Park) happen to be martial arts experts! Too bad they didn't ask for any volunteers from the audience.
Hopefully we'll all sleep well so we have enough energy to climb the Great Wall tomorrow. Fortunately, there is coffee available at breakfast!