Erhu purchase and realization.
Well, today I purchased my new ERHU. Its basically the chinese violin. Its got two strings on it. ER(2) HU(Strings - i was told). Apparently its hard to play. And it is. Its not hard to get a sound on it, but its hard to get a nice clean sound. There is a certain amount of pressure you need to place on the strings with the horse haired bow to get the right sound. Any more or any less, it sounds like you are grinding metal on metal. I was jamming around with it after I bought it at my place for a bit. I am getting some good sounds out of it, but the higher register on both strings starts to sound really bad. I figured out how to play "Mary had a Little Lamb". Its like a violin in that there are no frets, so you have to learn where the notes are and its sounds a bit like a violin.
I was foolin around with it and i was throwing in some thrash metal fingerings on the strings...lots of fast hammer-ons and pull-offs...it was rocking. I was shredding that thing up.
I need to get some lessons.
I went to the music store over by People's Park with Lynn. We looked at many different Erhu models, however, I ended up buying the cheapest one. Not because it was the cheapest, but because it was the only one i could get a decent sound on. I got a case with it, some extra strings, an erhu DVD, and some rosin (the stuff you wax the bow with so the horse hair grabs the strings). I received the white persons discount so it came to a total of 263RMB, which is ~ $30US. Awesome.
After I bought it, I headed home and fooled around with it. I then headed to Lion Dance practice. I have been resting my back the past week and a half and getting back there was good. However, the teachers never showed up, so I just practiced on my own.
My question is, why do I have to learn Hong Quan before learning the lion dance when its obvious the chinese guys doing lion dance don't have a friggin clue on the proper stances and techniques in Hong Quan.
During their breaks they stare at me practicing and then try to imitate it, in the process they mock me. If they actually did it with any skill, then I might find it helpful and usefull, but what they are doing is just downright insulting.
Don't get me wrong, I want to learn the full Hong Quan, amongst other things the teacher can show me as well as lion/dragon dancing. Its just these punks show me no respect and make fun of me behind my back.
Since the teacher never showed, everyone left early. I was really the only one doing any work. Everyone else was just standing around smoking and being chinese.
Oh yeah, thats another thing. All these guys are working hard doing lion and dragon dancing, running around, doing great physical feats, then they go out for a smoke. RETARDS!
Earlier in the day before I picked up the Erhu, I was still busy trying to fix my computer issues. I am on this discussion website and one of the moderators offered some suggestions to try. Unfortunately it didnt work. I am gonna have to re-install some stuff. Something I don't want to do. Pain in the butt. I will be in HK this upcoming weekend so I will pick up DVD Sudio Pro 3.
I chatted alot with people also trying to figure out how to spend 2-3 months in Japan without a real job. I figure once my teaching stuff here in China is over in August, I would hop over to Japan and stay there practicing Shorinji Kempo. There is an International Taikai in October that I have been planning on going to since I started 4 years ago. Since I am on this side of the world, i must stick around and just go to the taikai. Then after that I would prolly run down to the SK Hombu practice sessions they got. That would rule, then visit some friends that are living in Japan.
But I need to figure out where I could stay while I was in Japan before the Taikai. I want to go to Yokohama to study with a certain sensei. I may try to get my connections to set up a group and we could have an English Language for Shorinji Kempo/a little cash/place to stay trade off.
Time for bed.