Students from the Nanjing Normal University School of Music demonstrated China’s folk culture through dance and music Sunday at Titmus Theatre.
The group, which has traveled to Washington, D.C., New York City and other East Coast cities this year, used a variety of traditional instruments, outfits and dances in its performance.
Jiandong Miao, vice president of the NNU, said the performers chose to do a show at N.C. State because it’s a famous university. NNU partnered with the Confucius Institute, an on-campus organization that seeks to enhance intercultural understanding in the United States by sponsoring Chinese language and culture programs.
“Music [has played] a very important role in Chinese culture since ancient times,” Miao said. “It’s more of a spiritual pursuit than a material pursuit and is closely related to morality. Today’s show was mostly from traditional Chinese musical instruments, but it also expressed the modern Chinese musical view of the world.”
A moderator introduced each instrument used in the performance and explained its purpose, history and evolution throughout time as an important cultural artifact.
Musicians then used their instruments in brief solo performances before coming together in various combinations throughout the rest of the show.
Solo performances reappeared toward the end of the show. However, these performances seemed to be intended to showcase the full spectrums of the instruments, rather than traditional uses by ancient peoples.
Likewise, the musicians performed a final ensemble that combined all the fast-paced technical skills of the later solo performances into one piece.
The event also featured a performance by two N.C. State students.
Raleigh Smith, a junior in economics, and Yongjin Smith, a sophomore in accounting, are learning Chinese at the University and performed a traditional song with a guitar and a drum.
“We played one song for our Chinese conversation class to just do something different,” Yongjin Smith said. “Our teacher was so impressed with us that she has invited us to several performances. We’ve been getting good responses, so that led us being invited here.”
They also said they were interested in Chinese culture and its unique appeal.
“I tried Chinese because it was something I’ve never tried before,” Raleigh Smith said. “I had been studying other languages, like German, so I liked the challenging aspect of studying something new. Also, China itself is an interesting country because it’s so culturally distinct from ours.”
Yongjin Smith studied French and Spanish in high school and also wanted to try speaking a different language.
“I picked Chinese when I got to college, and I found it very rewarding so I’ve been sticking with it,” Yongjin Smith said.
The show included traditional instruments, such as the sheng which has been used since 1100 B.C. The instrument consists of a series of tubes, a mouthpiece and trumpet-like buttons.
The pipa, sometimes called the Chinese lute, was also played. According to the moderator, it was first used in Persia and “embodies cultural exchanges.”
