The Qin, the Brush, and the Dao’s Mind
Sunday, September 15, 3:00 PM EST
Our program will include:
First hour 第一小時
- Opening Talk by the President, Peiyou Chang
“Welcome, everyone, to our Mid-Autumn Festival Yaji on Zoom. The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the four major holidays in Chinese culture. As has been our tradition for the past three years, I have invited our founding president, Mr. Yuan Jung ping, along with his students in Taipei, to join us in this celebration.
Currently, Mr. Yuan’s calligraphy students are participating in a calligraphy exhibition, and I, too, have contributed a small piece. However, Mr. Yuan is presently in Wenzhou (溫州), China, attending an International Guqin Yaji at Mount Daluo (大羅山) in celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival there. Due to these commitments, Mr. Yuan and a few of his students have kindly prepared a 45-minute video for us.
Special thanks to Andrey Danilov 袁安瑞 for recording, editing and producing the video. It begins with an introduction to the calligraphy exhibition, followed by guqin performances, all filmed at the Buzai Dao Yuan on Yangming Mountain in Taipei. Let’s take a virtual journey to immerse ourselves in the harmony of nature and culture from the heights of Yangming Mountain.”
- Pre-recorded performances by NY Qin Society founding president Yuan Jung Ping (袁中平) and his pupils, who greeted everyone with qin music and introduced their current calligraphy exhibition, 書峰騰龍 (Soaring Dragon Among Calligraphy Peaks), at his Yang Ming Mountain Buzai Dao Yuan (不在道院 “Qin Dao” Ubiquitous Sanctuary).
Second hour 第二小時
Former member Ian Duncan 李興輝 (Li Xing Hui), a Daoist priest, presented a talk titled “Between Heaven and Earth: The Qin Through the Mind of the Dao.”
Third Hour (Introducing Three New Friends) 第三小時 (介紹新琴友)
- We are pleased to welcome a new friend, Mark R. Johnson, a student of Lui Pui-yuen (呂培源), who will share his qin playing of 良宵引 (Song of a Pleasant Night). Mark studied guqin from 2016 to 2020 and is a member of the L.A. Guqin group.
- Amy Mo, also known as Mo Kaiji 莫凱吉, is from Taipei City.
Born in 1993, Amy began learning piano at the age of 8, pipa at 10, and was introduced to guqin at 11. She holds a Master’s degree in Music from the Taipei National University of the Arts (台北藝術大學), with a major in guqin. With over eight years of teaching experience, she has participated in numerous guqin yajis, performances, and lectures of various sizes. Currently, Amy is a resident teacher at Dengxian Qin Studio (等閒琴館), a teacher at Lin She Cultural Center (林舍文化館), and an instructor for a club at National Taiwan Normal University (師大古琴社團). She was introduced to NYQS by Mr. Chen, Tung Chen’s father (Tung is one of our members). Since Amy is in Taiwan, she couldn’t attend this yaji in person, but she recorded a greeting and a qin performance, 洞庭秋思 (Autumn Thoughts at Dongting Lake), for us.
- Peiyou introduced a talented young composer, theorist, ethnomusicologist, and performer, Ching Nam Cheng (Hippocrates Cheng 鄭靖楠).
Ching Nam studied the qin under Dr. Tse Chun Yan (謝俊仁) in Hong Kong and composed a remarkable modern guqin piece in 2022: https://youtu.be/avSD58q3HUc?feature=shared. This fall marks his first semester teaching music theory and composition at SUNY Binghamton. He greeted everyone, and at the November 17th yaji, he will share his insights on guqin music composition alongside two other speakers: Nina Starostina (Нина Старостина) from Moscow and our vice president, André Ribeiro from Brazil.
Attendance
Peiyou Chang, Ralph Knag, Alexander Merick, Andre Ribeiro, Ian Duncan, Juni Yeung, Lawrence Kaster, Luca Pisano, Mandy Zostek, Andrea Lioy, Marilyn Wong Gleysteen Matthew Flannery, Lisa Raphals, Mark Johnson Sue Fawn Chung, Tie Liu, Dan Reid, Ching Nam Cheng, Mingmei Yip,, Markus Stoffer, Jennifer Chan, Chan Li, Alan Yip, and Laura Z
Meeting ended at 5:28 pm.