US EUROPE AFRICA ASIA 中文
    Culture

    Mentor helps double bass players take a bow

    By Zhang Kun in Shanghai ( China Daily ) Updated: 2013-09-01 08:08:50

    Mentor helps double bass players take a bow

    Lu Yuanxiong runs classes at music schools in China to bring music and musicians between the US and his homeland. Provided to China Daily

    As the largest instrument in the string section of an orchestra, the double bass hardly gets the attention it deserves, Lu Yuanxiong believes.

    The 47-year-old has worked with the double bass for most of his life and is ready to share its beauty with as many people as possible.

    It is a beautiful instrument that "speaks everybody's voice, and you can sing along with it", says the professor of double bass at the music school of Texas Christian University.

    A musician from Shanghai, he has lived and worked in the US for more than 30 years, first as a student, then a soloist and orchestra player, before joining the TCU faculty.

    He is the founder of the TCU International Double Bass Festival, an annual week of lectures, concerts and master classes since 2012. For more than 10 years, Lu has traveled at least three times a year between China and the US, bringing music and musicians both ways.

    Lu and his colleagues will stage a chamber concert at Shanghai Oriental Art Center on Dec 21. They give concerts in China every year, though the box office income cannot cover their travel expenses. "Sometimes when the funding is insufficient, I pay for my own flight," Lu says.

    "We give one-on-one master classes at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and music schools in other parts of China," he says.

    Lu also handpicks outstanding students of double bass and other string instruments to study in the US.

    "China's music schools put emphasis on solo playing skills but don't prepare their students well for orchestra work," Lu points out as the problem with double bass teaching in China's music education system.

    To become a soloist, one must first become competent working as an instrumentalist in an orchestra.

    Forging a career path as a double bassist is hard, Lu says. "Double bass players have fewer opportunities to further their studies abroad than pianists or violinists," Lu says. He plans to choose a few students to study in the US every year for the coming 10-20 years.

    "Chinese students are sensitive, intelligent and hardworking, resourceful at problem solving. We just need a good opportunity to take off." He says that he is ready to give them the opportunity.

    Earlier this year a student at the Shenyang Conservatory of Music, who Lu has recruited for the post-graduate program at TCU, failed to get a visa to the US.

    When the student told his professor that he was denied a visa because of his deficiency in English, he thought that was the end of his dream. But Lu was not ready to give up on him.

    "I wrote a letter to the visa officer in Shenyang, explaining that language ability is not of such importance to music training as other studies, and then after consulting my friends in the US, I addressed the letter to the student, instructing him to explain the situation to the consulate," he says.

    "I will help him to enroll in a language school as soon as he arrives in the US."

    Lu also helps his Chinese students to find apartments, roommates, Chinese groceries, second-hand cars and part-time jobs in the US.

    Lu was from Shanghai and started music training at the age of 6. When he was enrolled in the middle school attached to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music at 12, he was taller than most of his classmates. The teacher suggested he take up the double bass, as the instrument was too large for other children to maneuver.

    "I was so impressed by the beauty of the double bass," Lu recalls. "I became intrigued ever since."

     
    Editor's Picks
    Hot words

    Most Popular
     
    ...
    韩国中文字幕毛片| 中文字幕丰满伦子无码| 日韩人妻无码一区二区三区| 国产亚洲精久久久久久无码AV | 日韩av片无码一区二区三区不卡| 我的小后妈中文翻译| 无码人妻AⅤ一区二区三区水密桃| 中文字幕丰满乱子伦无码专区| 无码中文人妻视频2019| 精品人体无码一区二区三区| 亚洲日韩激情无码一区| 亚洲欧美日韩另类中文字幕组 | 亚洲一区精品中文字幕| 无码高清不卡| AV无码久久久久不卡蜜桃| 亚洲国产精品无码中文字| 中文字幕精品久久| 一二三四在线观看免费中文在线观看| 中文午夜乱理片无码| 五十路熟妇高熟无码视频| 男人的天堂无码动漫AV| 无码日韩精品一区二区免费暖暖 | 免费看成人AA片无码视频吃奶| 天堂资源中文最新版在线一区| 久久久久亚洲AV无码专区桃色| 国产精品无码一区二区三区电影| 亚洲AV无码成人精品区蜜桃 | 色AV永久无码影院AV| av无码人妻一区二区三区牛牛| 无码播放一区二区三区| 最近的2019免费中文字幕| 中文字幕国产第一页首页| 亚洲视频无码高清在线| 日韩av无码中文无码电影| 中文字幕日韩精品无码内射| 久久无码AV一区二区三区| 国产精品99久久久精品无码 | heyzo高无码国产精品| 国产精品无码日韩欧| 精品无码久久久久久久久久| 亚洲精品人成无码中文毛片|