Jiang Shu - Chinese Zheng and Qin
Who: Jiang Shu
Where: 10 Primary Schools across Ryedale
When: March 2009
In March 2009 Ryedale's school children had an opportunity to immerse themselves in the soundworld of Chinese music, thanks to an exciting collaboration between Pied Piper and Live Music Now, the UK's largest music outreach organisation.
With support from The Ernest Cook Trust, we were able to bring Jiang Shu, Chinese zither player, to perform in primary schools throughout Ryedale, from Rosedale abbey in the north to Sand Hutton in the South.
Jiang Shu plays a Chinese Zheng (a 21 stringed zither) and Qin (a 7 stringed zither). She was born into a folk musician family in China and started to learn the zithers in her childhood. She took time out of her PhD studies at the University of Sheffield to give these performances, which opened young people's ears to the delicate and enchanting world of Chinese classical and folk music.
Shu's performances provided pupils with an introduction to the music, language, art, dance and stories of her native China, and engaged them in the performance through a range of interactive and participatory elements. These included learning simple rhythms and songs which could be performed by pupils while accompanied by Shu, trying some traditional Chinese folk dances and learning some basic Chinese words.
These workshops provided an unique educational experience for pupils, and gave school staff access to a culturally diverse musician who had all the appropriate skills and abilities to engage children aged 5 - 11! Feedback from schools following Shu's performances was universally positive (see below) and one school was so inspired by their pupils response to her that they changed their school development plan to ensure more culturally diverse visitors come into the school to support pupil's education and development.
Feedback
All the children (aged 3 -11) responded very well to hearing a 'live' musician. Shu pitched her performances really well to the two different age groups - Key Stage 2 asked a lot of questions which she answered patiently. Even the youngest nursery children clapped along. 'It was awesome', 'she's so good', 'Wow', from some of the Key Stage 2 boys who you might not have expected to sit and listen! It was great to have different cultures represented - a really worthwhile morning for our whole school!
Our children truly enjoyed this concert, and were amazed at her musical ability. The cultural aspect was appreciated, as this is generally lacking in our locality. It highlighted the need for our children to experience more diversity, as som children were quite shocked to meet someone who looked and spoke differently. This has immediately been put into our School Development Plan.
Children were fascinated by this instrument and its playing. The session was a good mix of playing and explanation and was very suitable for the age group of the audience. Parents attending were very privileged to be there (from feedback given). Overall a very successful and interesting afternoon!
Funders
These performances were made possible by funding from The Ernest Cook Trust and Ryedale District Council