In order to promote the exchange of arts and humanities, the General Association of Chinese Culture held ‘Taipei South Town Art Festival 2014 — The Contemporary Art of Chinese Characters’ in November. HanGuang Vocal Band was invited to perform as special guests on the eighth of November, and it was also our first contact with the band. After observing their rehearsal, interviewing band members and directors, and doing questionnaires on a cappella, the opening ceremony finally got under way, and ‘Taipei South Town Music Festival’ was officially open.

2014/11/8 ‘Taipei South Town Art Festival 2014 — The Contemporary Art of Chinese Characters’ performing numbers

Event Detail

Rehearsal Observation

Before the rehearsal, the band discussed about the song they were about to practice ‘ A spray of flowers (Not giving in to old age)- coda’ During the rehearsal, every one took turns testing the microphone and speakers according to his or her vocal parts. When it was bass’ turn, since the sound was louder, so it would go into the microphone and then appear again. Teacher Allegro said that is called ‘feedback.’ Since feedback could hinder the performance of the band, the band took some time addressing that problem. Also, when rehearsing for ‘Restful Minds as Clouds and Water,’ one of the lead singers needed to sing two different sounds simultaneously, so they used a ‘loop machine’ to record the first sound, then played the sound to go with the second sound sung by the singer to create a seamless loop.

Interviews with the director and band member

After the rehearsal, we started interviewing every band member. From the interview, we learned the vocal parts and instrument each one of them was responsible for, and we also saw their passion for the band. After interviewing the director, we had a better idea of the positioning and prospects of the band.

Questionnaires

Before the music festival started, we designed a few simple questionnaires for the festival goers in order to understand their motive for joining the event. They were very enthusiastic in filling out the questionnaires for us.

Events for Music Festival

After Mayor Hao of Taipei City and President Liu of the General Association of Chinese Culture led the opening ceremony, the music festival was officially underway. The lead performer was HanGuang Vocal Band, and it sang a lively song titled ‘ A spray of flowers (Not giving in to old age)- coda’ to open the show. The next song, ‘Restful Minds as Clouds and Water’ used vocal singing to mimic birds chirping, bugs buzzing, and the sound of Chinese two-stringed fiddle and other instruments. It was then followed by ‘The Tea, The Tower,’ which was also a lively song. The fourth song was ‘Full River Red’ in allegro. The songs got the crowd into a festive mood.

Interview with Secretary of General Association of Chinese Culture

After HanGuang Vocal Band’s performance was over, we had an interview with Secretary Du, Yang of General Association of Chinese Culture. He was very approachable, and the interview benefited us tremendously.

Conclusion of the event

Today’s observations and interviews came to a smooth conclusion. Even though the day was fully packed, we went home with a big smile on our face after getting lots of things done. We wanted to say ‘Thank you’ to our teachers who were there accompanying us the entire day.

Source: the Beautiful Voices │ Photos: the Beautiful Voices