To honor the Year of the Ox, Cupertino Library welcomed the Firebird Youth Chinese Orchestra (FYCO) in an afternoon Zoom concert. The concert was on Saturday, January 30, 2021. The one hour concert began at 3:00 pm. Online registration was required. Go to our Online Events calendar to see what new events are coming up.
To discover and pursue the nature of Chinese heritage, FYCO's young musicians learn traditional Chinese folk music. In this concert, patrons had an opportunity to listen to the Kunqu, Qinqiang, Pingju, and other traditional music played by the Erhu (two-stringed Violin), Dizi (bamboo Flute), Pipa (four-stringed Lute), Sheng (mouth Organ), Ruan (four-stringed Guitar), Zheng (laptop Harp), etc.
If you are interested in authentic Chinese music, the Santa Clara County Library District has resources to help you learn more. You can go to our website and access them with a SCCLD library card.
For streaming music try these three sources: Freegal Music (search for 'traditional Chinese music'); Music Online: Contemporary World Music (search by musical instrument, e.g., erhu, pipa); and, Music Online: Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries (search by musical instrument).
To learn more about traditional Chinese music and the instruments used in the concert, you can do an Article Search. Searching will give you results such as Culture and Arts [from China Country Review, 2009]; and, Sharing Global Musics: An Introduction to the Music of China [by john L. Whitener, from the Music Educators Journal, Dec. 2018].
If you would like to check something out from SCCLD's collection, here is a list of music cds that are available for you to listen to.
Music performed by traditional Chinese instruments.
