On
30 January 2005 the following members of then New York Qin Society (NYQS)
attended a Society meeting in the home of Bo Lawergren. After the business part
of the meeting the group adjourned to the Grand Sichuan Restaurant for dinner,
then most members went to the home of Yuan Jung-Ping to play and/or listen to
the qin.
New
Members
Elaine
Sheng, who has been an associate member, was voted full member.
Treasurer's
Report
The
meeting began with a report by Society Treasurer Chang Pei-You. She said that
during 2004 the NYQS received $455; adding this to the $674 already on hand
meant that the currenty bank balance was $1129. This was expected to increase
soon, as no members had yet paid their dues for 2005.
Alan
Berkowitz announced a recent $500 grant from a non-profit organization in New
York that sponsors artistic endeavors. However, 5there was some problem accepting
the donation, as that society's by-laws required that the money be given to a
non-profit organization, and the NYQS does not at present have this status.
Two
solutions were discussed. One is making the NYQS into a non-profit organization.
However, even though the Society does not make a profit, the legal issues around
official non-profit status are rather complex. The other solution might be to
use the money as payment to an official non-profit organization such as the
China Institute, if it was necessary to hire one of their venues for a meeting.
Annual
Meeting
There
was then discussion of the NYQS Annual Meeting, considered a particularly urgent
topic since there was no such meeting in 2004. A decision needed to be made
concerning the dates, the venue, and there nature of the meeting: performance
only, or lecture and performance (here called "conference").
Elaine
Sheng reported on discussions she has had with the China Institute and the Asia
Society.
At
present, if the China Institute is to be used, it will probably be necessary to
hire it through the management office. At present it was difficult to determine
dates, and it was not clear when a
booking could or should be made for October.
There
was also discussion of whether and what sort of publicity the China Institute
could provide: announcement in their own publications, inclusion of a flyer in
their mailings, announcement on their website, and so forth.
Elaine
also said there might be a possibility of a semi-private event through the Asia
Society. The Asia Society has a Young Patrons Guild that organizes and pays for
events just for its own members. They might be interested in the NYQS doing
something for one of their gatherings.
There
was also discussion of the Greenwich House Music School. John agreed to make
further contact with them.
After
discussion of various factors, the general sense of the meeting seemed to be
that mid to late October would probably be the best time. However, this was not
officially decided. It was also decided that the meeting should last about two
hours and be divided about half and half between lecture and performance.
The
lectures would most likely be given by Bo Lauergren, Alan Berkowitz, Rembrandt
Wolpert and Elizabeth Markham.
Bo
would discuss his archeological research into some aspects of early string
instruments in China. This would probably serve to introduce the meeting.
Alan
is preparing a paper on qin play during the Six Dynasties and early Tang. His
presentation would probably be along those lines.
Rembrandt
suggested he present a paper on solo pipa melodies from the Togaku repertoire.
Elizabeth
Markham suggested two possible topics. One was early solo zheng music that has
been preserved together with the Japanese court music, but is quite apart from
it. The other was gagaku melodies which had been adapted for qin; there are
quite a few such melodies in the Edo period handbooks such as Toko Kinpu.
Marilyn
discussed the possibility of an event in October at the Freer Museum in
Washington.
Website
The
meeting then had further discussion about making a CD of music played by Society
members. Various options were discussed: trying to do it in someone's home,
hiring a studio, borrowing equipment, and so forth. John mentioned his
experience of home recordings, referring people to the details on his website
(at http:.//www.silkqin.com/01mywk/rcdtls.htm). His recordings were made in a
largely soundproof room on Cheung Chau island, Hong Kong. His current home does
not have such a room.
Publications
The
discussion of publications began with considerations concerning the NYQS Journal
and website. It was suggested that the website needed to be redesigned. This was
considered particularly important, as it seems likely that this will replace the
former Newsletters. There was also discussion of the possibility of issued
Occasional Papers.
Discussion
of the website focused on the member's section. Should there be an expanded
members section. Should each member have his or her own page or directory? How
much control should the NYQS have over what went into each member's section?
Bo
showed two Chinese publications of particular interest. One, an archeological
journal called Wenwu Tiandi, had recently had a special issue devoted to early
string instruments in China. The other, the prestigious music journal Yinyue
Yanjiu, had published a translated version of one of Bo's articles.
Jung-Ping
announced that the National History Museum in Taiwan would publish soon his
article on his research into You Lan.
Travel
Jung-Ping
reported on his travel, performance and exhibitions in China. Inspired largely
by his visit, there was conference
on You Lan in Suzhou attended by qin experts from several cities, including Dai
Xiaolian from Shanghai and …… Jung-Ping's calligraphy was also exhibited,
and received much praise and recognition.
In
Beijing Jung-Ping had his exhibition and a performance the Huabao Zhai (same
place John had performed last year).
Jung-Ping
further reported that Wu Zhao was currently leading a project to record and
document players from different schools of qin play. In connection with this
Jung-Ping spent a day at a China Television studio doing a video recording of
several melodies he had learned from Wu Zhaoji and from Sun Yuqin.
Jung-Ping
said that he now had some students in mainland China and Taiwan, and would be
going back regularly.
He
will also be playing in Princeton on March 26th in conjunction with a conference
there. This is being organized by the composer Chen Meiqi.
Next
Meeting
There
was discussion of a possible meeting at the end of February. Matthew has a
sister who is a professional concert harpist. She plays many different types of
harp, some of which might be able to be played together with qin. There has been
some discussion of her doing a joint event with Jung-Ping, and a decision was
made to the explore the possibility of having such an event as part of a NYQS
meeting the last weekend in February.
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