Young musicians keep classical music alive

The young musicians played classical Chinese instruments and announced their program in English, as the aging audience listened politely to explanations translated into Chinese. A concert Sunday by the San Jose-based Firebird Youth Chinese Orchestra at the Golden Heritage senior residence was well-received and roundly applauded.

Lisa Yang, 17, started playing with Firebird because her mother suggested it would be good to meet people and learn about the Chinese culture. Now, Lisa, a senior at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, looks forward to the three-hour Saturday rehearsals.

On Sunday, she was playing the muya — a series of wood blocks — and bells with the 10-year-old orchestra.

A dozen musicians from the ensemble played a medley of lively classical Chinese numbers in an afternoon performance that coincided with the end of Chinese New Year and also the opening of a newly reclaimed floor at the residence on Fourth Street in San Jose.

In uplifting numbers like "Melody of Purple Bamboo" and "Tea Picking," even the youngest players performed with the confidence of veterans.

"When I look into the audience, I get embarrassed," admitted Alicia Zhang, 9, who played two duets on the two-stringed erhu. So she looked down or at her mom. "Then I got more normal and I acted like it's home."

Her partner in one duet, Emily Gu, 9, had another fear-conquering technique.
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When looking at the audience members, "I imagined they were rocks or pumpkins."

Indeed, not everyone in the room was raptly paying attention. Golden Heritage's 36 residents include independent adults as well as those in assisted living and memory-care units. "I just entertained the people who were awake," Emily said.

Those who were listening complimented the performers and said they enjoyed the concert. Yue So, 100, said he enjoyed hearing the four-stringed pipa. He politely didn't mention, but his son said later, that what his father really likes is jazz.

Group effort

Likewise, Wai Lo, 84, called Firebird leader Kenny Zhang "a handsome boy" and said she recalled hearing Chinese classical music in her native Hong Kong. Now, she said, she enjoys singing Christian hymns in the choir.

The Firebird orchestra is led by Chinese classical musician Gordon Lee, but the club that performs for free in the community is a performer-run offshoot, carrying out the leadership training that is part of Firebird's philosophy. The musicians played without a conductor, and students arrange all concert logistics, much handled by Kenny, the 15-year-old club president who plays the dizi, a bamboo flute.

"The parents just do the driving," said Georgia Lu of Palo Alto, mother of percussionist Lisa and performer Michael Yang, who plays the sheng, a hand-held pipe instrument that sounds like an elegant mini-pipe organ. "We're learning with the kids," said Lu, who is from Taiwan…..

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