CHINESE MUSIC ENSEMBLE

Looking for something new and different?

Starting a new instrument isn’t always easy, there are so many instruments to choose from and a lot of the time there’s nothing that stands out. Yeah you could play the guitar but everyone’s playing the guitar. Drums? Yeah they’re pretty standard too… Imagine if you could combine them both though, an electric guitar x drums… interested now? This instrument does actually exist and although it isn’t exactly what you would’ve pictured, it is still an excellent mix of the two. It’s called a dulcimer, it’s basically a small table with strings of different thickness laid across the top, and you use two sticks and tap their rubber ends on the strings to create an electric sounding chime. You feel as though you’re drumming but in reality you are creating similar sounds to that of a guitar. Yes, something that awesome exists. The dulcimer is one of many unique instruments that the Chinese music band at Kew offers to its students and it is only the beginning of the amazing instruments you could play.  

The Chinese music band also offers teaching of the lute, a guitar like instrument with four strings instead of six, or perhaps the Chinese flute is better suited for you, or if you’re still not sure there is a huge range of percussion instruments. If you did perhaps want to take it to the next level you could play the Zheng which in simpler terms is a Chinese harp, or a Chinese violin, the erhu. It can be intimidating, especially if you don’t know what you want to play or for that matter what the instruments are. However don’t let this stop you. Fellow Kew High School student Steven Fanning, had some concerns at first, ‘My first year doing it… my mum told me music would be a good idea, but I never agreed. After year 7, forcing myself to turn up for class once a week, I started enjoying it’. He also found the teacher quite easy going as far as choosing an instrument went, ‘My teacher gave me one and asked if I was interested, I wasn’t, so he moved me on to the next one and the next one and so on’.

Steven felt that it was a positive and welcoming environment and was impressed with the performances put on and the opportunities that joining the band brought. They attended competitions at other schools, which they always won and best of all, some students were lucky enough to attend a trip to China! Overall Steven was ecstatic with his experience in the band, ‘I mean, you can join a band anytime in your life, but there a very few Chinese bands in Australia. I would never get that opportunity anywhere else.’ So what more convincing do you need? Start up today, head to Musicland and ask for Mr Ting, you won’t be let down.

Melanie Mallett

Year 10 Journalism