Harold may have gone to Italy, but I went to China. It was my pleasure to be invited to teach and perform at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in October of 1996. What an experience!

I had long heard of the fine teaching and dedication of the musicians at the Shanghai Conservatory, but nothing prepared me for the outstanding work which I encountered. The thirteen viola students ranged in age from fourteen to twenty-one, and each was beautifully prepared and well set-up technically by their teacher, Mrs. Xi-Di Shen. In addition, they all had that 'light' in their eye, an eager need to hear what I had to say. Contrast that with the attitude we so often encounter in our American students, "you're not going to stop me and criticize me, are you?"

The youngest Shanghai student, fourteen years old, was tall with large hands. I suggested that he needed a larger viola, and I also wanted to hear him again, since he played first. So he came back three days later, with a new, larger viola, to play for me again, and he played scales. One of the central tenets I hold is that scales are the absolute foundation of viola technique. All my students play scales, and I often chide them for not spending enough time practicing them. I like to use the Flesch scale system, in spite of its overwhelming appearance on the page. (Not only are the scales on one string presented first, with a corresponding panic on the part of the student who encounters them, but also the various bowings and rhythms possible for practice are printed with various keys, making scales and arpeggios in those keys very difficult to read.) This boy played three octave scales, arpeggios, broken thirds, chromatics, thirds, sixths, octaves, fingered octaves and tenths, all very well. Then he apologized for not being perfect, because he had just acquired the larger instrument, and the string length was new to him. I was astonished.

Many of the older students played Bach for me, since Mrs. Shen had heard my master class and performance of the Fourth Suite in E Flat at the International Viola Congress at Indiana University. She knew that this repertoire was a special interest of mine, and was anxious that the students receive my feedback. They all enjoyed learning about the dances which are the standard movements of a suite, and (amid much laughter) I was able to get one boy to actually dance the Minuet with me. The Chinese in general are a lively group of people, and I enjoyed the communication I was able to achieve, with three words in Chinese, the most important being Xie-xie (thank you). I also had good response to my performance of Bach with the Baroque bow--each student wanted to hold it and try it, an interest which I always encourage. The bow tells you how it wants to articulate, and I know they will transfer that knowledge to their own performance.

Some of the older students played Bartok and Walton Concerti, Reger Suites, and other advanced repertoire. In every case they were totally prepared and open to any suggestion of change in bowing or fingering. They were able to put these suggestions into practice immediately, watching my every move of demonstration. If I had one criticism of many of the students it was in the area of tone. Not only were the instruments not of the best quality, the bridges too flat and the strings (made in China) wiry and tinny in sound, but also the basic concept of viola tone was sometimes lacking. For most violists, the dark rich sound is the reason we were attracted to the viola in the first place. This concept is reinforced by a vibrato which is slower and wider than a violin vibrato. Growing up in a completely different culture, in which the basic sounds of music are so different (after having attended the Chinese opera I became even more aware of the differences), the students did not have much to refer to, except records and CD's. Their vibratos were occasionally too tight, to narrow, and the tone was not round and mellow enough. Because they were so observant, I know my demonstrations in class and in my recital were helpful and influential.

In fact, everyone I encountered at the Conservatory was observant and anxious to help me. I stayed in the Guest House which is on the campus, and ate my meals at the dining hall next door. The first morning they served me a 'western' breakfast (eggs and toast), so I requested that in the future whatever was standard Chinese breakfast was fine with me (except for coffee, which I really needed in the morning), From that moment on I received lovely steamed buns with red bean paste or vegetable filling, hard boiled eggs and two glasses of coffee (they immediately observed my need for two). The other meals were various delicious Chinese dishes with beef, chicken or fish and vegetables, and the ubiquitous rice. One day for lunch I was invited to a banquet, attended by Mrs. Shen, Miss Wu (the translator) and Mr. Zhang Xianping, the Director of International Exchange Center. We were seated around a large round table with a lazy susan in the middle. Many small dishes appeared and were sampled by each person. Most items were pickled vegetables and so forth, but one plate had small slices of some kind of meat. "What's this?" I inquired. "Why don't you taste it first and then I will tell you", replied Mr. Zhang. I, of course, tried it. "What do you think it is?" "Well", I said, "it isn't beef, pork or lamb. Is it horse?" "No", he replied, "it is donkey".

The Guest House where I stayed was absolutely chaotic. One side of the building had been adapted to small rooms with baths, but on the other side of the hall was practice rooms, and at any hour of the day or night, students were practicing diligently. Not only was I simultaneously serenaded with standard piano, violin, and voice music, but also the remarkable sounds of the traditional Chinese instruments. The Shanghai Conservatory of Music has an outstanding program of traditional Chinese music, and the instruments are quite interesting. Some are very loud. One evening I was dozing when the wailing of an extremely penetrating wind instrument assailed me. I was so surprised I ran down the hall to see what it was. A young man was playing a double reed instrument with a brass bell (the suona), the sound of which was unlike anything I have ever heard. He was just as surprised to see me (in retrospect, I don't think I saw another Westerner on the campus all week). He was from Malaysia, he told me, and was studying all the traditional wind instruments.

My favorite Chinese instrument is, of course, the erhu. The vertical stringed instrument played with an underhanded bow grip is enormously expressive, with a vocal quality. Young children often study the erhu, and learn traditional folk songs. The day I left Shanghai was the day of the yearly examinations for the children, and the courtyard of the Conservatory was filled with about fifty youngsters all madly practicing with an attentive parent coaching. What a sound! There were also little fiddlers preparing for their exams, and one young child, about six, was so virtuosic I went over to listen. The minute he saw I was listening, his performance improved. This one definitely has a future.

The city of Shanghai is amazing. Having lived in Los Angeles for many years, I thought I would not be surprised by another big city, but nothing can prepare you for the sheer enormity of Shanghai and its population. Everyone rides bicycles or mopeds or motorcycles, there are buses and taxis (but few private autos), and everyone seems to be out on the street. There are many signs indicating not to blow horns (a trumpet with a line through it), but everyone does, all the time. In addition, the pedestrians pay no attention to the signals, and cross the street whenever and wherever they feel like it. It is chaos, on a grand scale.

Yet, when I played my solo recital, the audience was absolutely silent and attentive, even the young children. I knew they would appreciate the Romantic works (Vieuxtemps, Wieniewski and Mazas) but was pleased at their response to the Bach Sixth Suite and the Bacewicz Caprices (1959) for solo viola. I am looking forward to another trip to China, and hope to increase my Chinese vocabulary to at least six words. The first will be "amazing".