Creative Arts' Chinese New Year Celebration Brings Erhu, Chinese yo-yo to Reading

On Sunday Feb. 13, celebrated the arrival of the Chinese Year of the Hare with a concert of Chinese music performed by the Alcyon Chamber Ensemble, whose educational mission is to foster the appreciation of chamber music, especially in young children. 

Its artistic director, Shannon Snapp, is also the cello teacher at the arts center. She was assisted by pianist Shufang Du and special guest artist Zhantao Lin playing the erhu, a two-stringed instrument often called in the West a “Chinese violin” (although, since the erhu has been around for 1300 years, perhaps our 400-year-old violin should instead be called the “Italian erhu.”)

The erhu originated in Mongolia and has a drum-like sound box made of ebony or sandalwood. The front opening is covered with python skin and the back is left open. The two strings are played by a bow similar to a violin bow; however, there is no finger board and the hair of the bow is actually between the two strings so that the bow cannot be taken off the instrument unless one of the strings is removed or broken. The player creates different pitches by touching the strings at various positions along the neck of the instrument.

The program opened with a duet for erhu and piano, “The Dance of the Golden Snake,” a lively piece that represents not snakes but the dragon boats on the river that are commonly seen in Chinese festivals.  These same boats were the motifs on colorful banners that decorated the hall that had been made by second graders of the Muraco Elementary School in Winchester.

The capabilities of the erhu were vividly demonstrated by Zhantao Lin in “Horse Racing.” Using a variety of complex bowing and fingering techniques, Lin portrayed the hoof beats of the horses, their galloping at full speed and their neighing, all to the delight of the youthful audience. Lin, a former professor of erhu art at Guang-Xi Institute of Arts in southern China, is the director of the Boston Erhu Ensemble and teaches at the Huaxin School of Arts at the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association. Such is his virtuosity that he could evoke whole flocks of birds twittering and chirping in “Birds on a Deserted Mountain. 

In “Panda’s Theme” from the computer-animated action comedy Kung Fu Panda, Lin was joined by pianist Shufang Du, who normally plays violin with Alcyon. She is a winner of a piano concerto competition at The Boston Conservatory and is on the faculty of the Brookline Music School and The New School of Music in Cambridge. 

The musical portion of the afternoon ended with the trio playing the pensive and beautiful “Longing for Home” for those forced to be away during the New Year’s festivities; “Happiness,” an upbeat tune reflecting the cheer of the holiday; and “Thunder in the Drought,” a musical expression of the thunder storm that ends the drought and assures the farmers that the crops would survive.

Chinese yo-yo.

The music was followed by the demonstration of another Chinese festive activity, the off-string or Chinese yo-yo. Fifteen-year-old Donald Hodgkinson explained the difference between the typical yo-yo usually seen in the U.S., which is attached to a string, and the Chinese model which is a larger hour-glass shaped object manipulated by a string attached to two sticks held by the performer. Hodginkson, who is ranked in the top fifty yo-yo contenders in the U.S., admitted that he was new to the off-string version.  Nonetheless, he performed some dazzling feats that wowed the crowd. He also quickly showed off the blazing virtuosity that has won him championships with the regular yo-yo.

Instrument Petting Zoo.

The celebration ended with an instrument “petting zoo” where the children could try out various instruments, including the erhu. They could also participate in an experiment on the physics of sound which had been loaned by the Museum of Science, have their faces painted, and check out a table of books about music.

For more information about Creative Arts and its programs, call (781) 942-9600 or check its website www.weteachcreativearts.org.