HanGuang Vocal Band was founded by HanGuang Education Foundation less than three years ago. Since HanGuang Education Foundation is on a mission to promote Chinese characters and classical poetries, I suggested using a cappella as a medium. The foundation agreed and hired me as the general manager. It is a very demanding job. I am responsible for integrating and coordinating everything that has to do with the band to make sure everything works smoothly.

The founder of the band is the executive boss of our company. After that, we needed to have teachers, band members, and workers to run this group. The group also needs a manager responsible for all the administrative works. Everyone needs to assume a particular job so works are shared. The band has a nickname of ‘HanGuang Drill’ because the young and creative band members want to bring the band a livelier image. Our official name is still HanGuang Vocal Band.

There is always hard work in every profession, and we just have to come up with ways to solve it and make ourselves better. When the band performs well on stage, we are happy and all wear and tear will dissipate. Besides being the general manager of the band, I am also a professor. These two jobs do not conflict each other because we want more people to learn and understand about HanGuang Vocal Band and Chinese culture. As a result, we try different ways to reach out to different audiences, not just a few individuals.

People prefer different types of music through the passing of time. Human voice is the purest and the most beautiful, and it can imitate different sounds such as a drum, trumpet, Chinese 2-string fiddle, bugs, or birds. Even without instruments, human voice is capable of such amazing things, and the possibilities are limitless. We collect different sounds and combine them with the band to create a brand-new sound with many variations. Today, we combine a cappella with classical poetries, and this is a very special way of interpretation that brings creativity to the audience. For example, our songs, lyrics, and band make up are drastically different from that of other bands, and that makes us really unique.

Besides poetic lyrics and pure human vocal singing, there is also body language and stage choreography to present a perfect performance through multimedia. These are our four pillars in singing, and they are also our biggest selling point. Our selected members all have some background in music, but they still work hard to learn and practice. Even though they come from different backgrounds, they still come to Taiwan Choral Music Center for regular band practices. They are really a hard-working bunch.

If there is only one person performing on stage, everything is relatively easy to manage. But when it becomes an a cappella group, then team congruency and band practices become important. We are not limited to poetries from the Tang Dynasty, verses from the Song Dynasty, nor drama from the Yuan Dynasty. As long as the material is classical Chinese literature, we may consider it in our next performance. However, in order to convey the essence of these classical literatures, band members must have a clear understanding of them, then they are able to come up with ways to express their essence through body language and facial expression. This takes a lot of time to practice.

In the past, since band members came from different places, it was hard for them to meet up and practice, and we were forced to forfeit some performance opportunities. Gradually, the more everyone got to know each other, fewer problems like that occurred. The only problem they face now is how to make the band better. We took dance lessons, for instance, just to make our on stage performance reaching a higher level. The biggest challenge we face now is how to promote the band and let more people hear about us. We hope people can learn more about these classical poetries through our voice and songs. Furthermore, I hope one day we will be able to shine on international stage and let the world know that there is an a cappella band in Taiwan called HanGuang Vocal Band. That is the founding purpose of this band by the foundation, and I wish the band will continue its hard work. Let’s keep it up.

Learning a cappella is something fun. It would be nice to learn it as a hobby. But the prerequisite is that you must love music. A cappella is performed as a group, and only through group harmony will we be able to hear the most beautiful human vocal singing.