During three weeks with four bassoon players through five cities in China

Something that was never had: Rice

Author: Stephan Weidauer („Wei Dao Er“)
bassoon teacher at the Hochschule für Musik Saarbrücken, Germany
principal bassoonist of the Saarländisches Staatsorchester Saarbrücken

„The easiest way to learn about another country was to meet the professionals in one’s own field.“ (Isaac Stern, 1999 looking back at his tour in China 1979)

Bassoon Quartet Concert in Shanghai

The Püchner China tour took place from the 11th of June to the 1st of July 2006. It comprised principally of three main activities: exhibitions showing the different bassoon models from the J. Püchner Company, concerts with bassoon ensembles with four to eight bassoons as well as master classes in some Chinese conservatories.

Shanghai became acquainted with Western music in 1880 when the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra was founded. This was the first bassoon quartet touring the P.R. of China and is described below.

Shi Li, Manchurian bassoon player from Vienna and organizer of the tour

The touring party included: Zhang Jin Min, principal bassoonist of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO), Liu Chang, his colleague and assistant bassoonist of the same orchestra, the writer (of this article) Stephan Weidauer, principal bassoonist of the Saarländisches Staatsorchester (another SSO!) as well as Shi Li from Vienna. The three Chinese bassoon players knew each other from the time they were together in Beijing and now work abroad as orchestral musicians, solo players and senior lecturers. Liu Chang has made a specific career as a very well-known rock singer in China, when he sang the opening song of the Asian Games in 1990 and despite his retreat from the stage he was often surrounded by female autograph hunters – his songs could be heard even during this tour of 2006! The spiritual leader of everything was Shi Li, now living in Vienna who had gone through an adventurous life during the Cultural Revolution and later on as a dance musician until he was discovered by Karl Öhlberger from Vienna. He was the manager and the organizer of the entire concert tour. I was the person in the bassoon quartet who was appointed to take care of the master classes for the students, – the only „white ghost“. Going back to the time that Isaac Stern taught in 1979 for no fees in China, (a documentary film about this was given an Oscar in 1980 entitled „From Mao to Mozart“) it is expected that all Europeans unselfishly, generously and freely offer their art and experience. In each city on this tour the very bassoon professor himself was co-organizer, participating at rehearsals, concerts, masterclasses and exhibitions. The fifth person joining our group during the first half of this journey around China was Gerald Püchner of the world renowned bassoon manufacturer Püchner.

Gerald Püchner repairing

The daily schedule when not aboard an aeroplane, had mostly the following form: Early morning in the conservatoire setting up the bassoon exhibition and starting the classes, continuing in the afternoon and also rehearsing for the ensemble concerts. The four core members being enhanced in numbers by local players to perform quintets and octets.

The concerts were given during the afternoons or evenings. The music comprising mainly of arrangements put together by Shi Li. The first half of the concert was classical music from Mozart to Verdi and after the interval lighter entertainment from the Bubonic bassoon quartet publications and Beatles songs.

Zhang Jin Min, principal bassoonist of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO)

Our first stop was naturally Beijing; from a Chinese viewpoint the centre of the world! In the Central Conservatoire of PR China Li Lan Song welcomed his guests. I gained my first experience of teaching Chinese students here. Although my Chinese was sufficient for simple conversation, this did not extend to the subtleties needed for „in depth“ teaching of the bassoon. It is most unusual that English is used and understood amongst Chinese students and after a short time it was discovered that the common international musical terminology like ƒ or crescendo was not used and the Chinese word took their place, e.g. dà (big) for ƒ and dà-guăn (big tube) for bassoon. In Beijing, I was fortunate; a Chinese bassoon student from Saarbrücken happened to be present and kindly helped me linguistically. On one occasion an interpreter had been engaged who was quite good at English but had no clue of musical terminology. When it came to piano he was of the opinion that „piano“ referred to the instrument. A hosting bassoon professor, (Song Zhi Bin in Chengdu) was used from his student days to speaking German with a Franconian Nuremberg accent. When I veered away from the subject, help was found through my accompanying colleagues with their bilingual ability.

Liu Chang, assistant principal bassoonist of the SSO

During my master classes Shi Li was usually also giving master classes on the contrabassoon (dī-yīn dà-guăn, low-tone-big-tube) – incidentally the first contrabassoon classes in China – and Gerald Püchner, assisted by Liu Chang and Zhang Jin Min, took care of the exhibition. This did not only mean playtesting of the bassoons by players from the region, but also to give first-aid-repair-service by Gerald Püchner and Liu, (who through a course at the workshop of the prominent Püchner company in Nauheim was able to assist). The Chinese students did predominantly play inferior bassoons in a poor condition, – they could be adjusted, but on several occasions Gerald Püchner had to give up. Where to start, where to stop? To really upset him one could hand over a non-wiped-through and soaking wet bassoon asking for it to be repaired. Help was needed not only for the knowledge of bassoon music and musical terms, but also for the maintenance of the instruments.

Stefan Weidauer teaching

The visitors of the exhibitions expressed great enthusiasm for the quality of the Püchner bassoons. Although the price-level was higher than what is the norm in China, Gerald Püchner sold every single instrument that had been brought along.

Jia Da Yong, young bassoon professor in Shenyang (Mukden)

Regarding my vision of bassoon professors: Here I had a completely false preconception of going to see elderly dignified gentlemen; instead I found quite young men who welcomed us, whom I almost always took for students. This was the experience I came across in all the five cities, one encounters there an absolutely new and young generation of conservatory teachers, most having studied abroad or who were still taking courses. The road from being a student to becoming a professor is a short path, often without any experience of orchestral playing. One of them was the host in the old Manchurian city Shenyang (earlier Mukden); Jia Da Yong, from the conservatoire in this town. He had been studying in Russia, but unfortunately his knowledge of that language was not helpful on this occasion. Shenyang is the home town of Shi Li, where he studied at the conservatoire and he told us touching stories from his time as a student and was cordially greeted there by everyone. It was not only here however that Shi Li seemed to be known but also by the entire bassoon world in China and vice versa. His hotel room was always a reception and organisation office for a constant stream of visiting bassoon players and other musicians.

The concert placard

The third city was Shanghai with a temperature of +38 °C and a humidity of 95%. Here I experienced for the first time a bassoon pad sticking, the reeds also behaving in a subtropical manner. The Shanghai conservatoire turned out to be a giant building site, the old buildings mostly having been pulled down, and on large building maps one could see the ultra-modern and giant conservatoire which was under construction. As the new building was not yet in existence the hosting professor Liu Zhao Lu was highly stressed to find a suitable space for us. Finally we were generously given rooms in the building of the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra so that our group could have room for the exhibition, for lessons, rehearsals and the concert.

Bassoonists in Chengdu

Whilst Gerald Püchner was boarding his homeward bound plane, the rest of the crew took the flight to Xian, in my opinion the nicest town when it comes to accommodation, surroundings, the campus and concert hall as well as hospitality with scrupulous preparations arranged by the host Zhou Wen Bo. Just 24 years of age he was the youngest of all the professors. When it comes to conservatories in China one has to visualize a huge or giant campus with large and smaller concert halls, libraries, dining halls and entire living quarters – still with separate quarters for men and women! – and generous skyscrapers. These are aspects that leave musicians from the lands of diminishing cultural budgets in respectful amazement. Our local university college has perhaps the size of a small Chinese college reception. The number of students counts between 3.000 and 16.000, including those who are studying traditional Chinese music.

Masterclass in Xian

Especially enormous was the new campus in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, which was the last stop of our visit. Moreover, Xian and Chengdu, which we in Europe believe to be provincial towns, have in fact „only“ 8 million inhabitants. The conservatoire of Chengdu has certainly a respectable campus in the city. Furthermore, it now has an extra enormous area placed outside the town wall with futuristic buildings and a traditional park. However, there are rumours that they have put themselves into great debt since there were no funds left for the purchase of a contra bassoon! The Principal smilingly told us that the „low-tune-big-tube“ is seldom used in the orchestra.

Trying the instruments

Now we come to the core of the problem of the Chinese conservatories of music. An insider informed us that the hardware is now at hand but that the software is principally still missing. If this refers to the substance of the education, methodology, didactic and pedagogy, I can really agree. The statement made by my prominent forerunner Isaac Stern about the situation in 1979 is still correct, a statement which surely not only referred to violin but also to the bassoon: „They could all play the notes with astonishing dexterity but they did not understand the music. They wanted to play fast, flashy, loud and difficult compositions, display their technical virtuosity. They hadn’t had sufficient time or instruction in basic musical values.“ In fact, this was exactly my impression after having experienced five different conservatories. When it comes to technique I have nothing to say, but regarding breathing, quality of sound, phrasing, articulation, text accuracy, structure and dynamics there is much work to be done. It starts with the education material which consists of bad copies taken from copies, taken from further copies. The ability to write the composer’s names in the original language was unknown, this was sometimes in Chinese or often even in Cyrillic. It is difficult to explain the illegal action of copying music when this way of doing it is practically taken for granted in China.

Two presidents: Stefan Weidauer (IDRS Chairman 1993-2003) and the president of the Shanghai Bassoon Society

Furthermore, too many difficult pieces of music were played too early, e.g. Weber’s Andante e Rondo Ongarese in the second year of their studies. One could only talk briefly about the historical practice of performance, first of all the basics have to function. For instance when a professor plays with a hideous sound and the students diligently imitate this, it is a wonderful experience when after a few minutes of my own teaching the student produced a completely different sound on the bassoon. Also in the field of orchestral studies and excerpts we would all like to see considerably longer and more detailed tuition given by European guests. One of the tutorial lessons given by the „white ghost“, may pop up in the CV of students, but only small tips and inspiration can be given in a single „one-off“ lesson.

Shi Li doing a jazz improvisation at the concert in Xian

What did the guest university teacher and hobby-sinologist experience and see apart from conservatories and hotel rooms? In every town something special: In Beijing we stayed around the corner from Tian An Men Square and the forbidden city, and a taxi excursion to the lovely Tian Tan (Temple of Heaven) was also possible. In Shenyang, the insider Shi Li – himself an aristocratic Manchurian – showed us the first palace of the Qing-Dynasty (1644–1911) and the tomb of the first Manchurian emperor, his ancestor so to speak. In Shanghai we saw the coastline’s futuristic panorama illuminated by night – which twenty years ago did not exist! Around Xian there was an evening stroll through the enchanting old town and two real excursions, one to the Buddhist monastery „Fa Men Si“, and of course one to the Terracotta Army with its 8.000 soldiers, (Isaac Stern was only able to see a few hundred). In Cheng-Du a visit to a wonderful and newly restored old quarter and genuine pandas!

What about body and stomach? You can forget all what you have eaten from the Chinese restaurant around the corner! We admired each region with its own specialities, however there was one thing that was never served: Rice. There are enough of other delicacies. Drinks? Tolerable beer, ice cold and without froth, you just had to be careful with „Gan bei!“ because that meant literally „empty your glass“! – with no whistle being blown.... Football World Championship? No issue or more accurate: a big one. CCTV 5 was sending live and in replay with Chinese pronunciation our national eleven, Ba La Ke and Ke Lo Se…

Gerald Püchner and Liu Chang trying to give first-aid to a cheap bassoon

To sum it all up, an adventure with minor difficulties but with positive results, which in a modified way could be repeated, because everywhere it was heard „Zai lai! – come back!“

From „Rohrblatt“, Reed magazine, Frechen 21 (2006), pages 141–146.
With permission from Müller & Müller Publishing House.

Translation: Eva Sjögren, Graham Salvage, Sibylle Göhner

Please visit also following website of the author Stephan Weidauer, princ. bassoonist of the Staatstheater Saarbrücken