Date/Time
Date(s) - 12/07/2013
9:30 am - 11:00 am
Location
PSU campus, Urban Plaza Bldg, Room 250
(506 SW Mill St. --Portland
A presentation by Dr. Juwen Zhang, Professor of Chinese Language & Culture, Willamette University
First Saturday East Program Series
Saturday, Decemaber 7, 2013
9:30 – 11:00 AM
Location: PSU campus, Urban Plaza Bldg, Room 250 (506 SW Mill St.)
In our prior season, one of the most popular presentations was ‘Abiding with Antiquity’ which was about the “Qin or string instrument of the sages”.Today’s program with Dr. Juwen Zhang will also be interactive on the making and playing of another heritage instrument but associated initially with popular folk music. Moreover, it is the First Saturday Program’s way of celebrating the new School of Music at PSU.
The Xun is a Chinese wind instrument with a very ancient pedigree going as far back as 5000 BC or earlier, and was said to be made of baked clay by the legendary Bao Xin Gong or by Fuxi, the first male ancestor in Chinese mythology. It falls into the category of earth in the traditional classifications of musical instruments based on eight kinds of materials. With the excavation of the terra cotta soldiers at Xian in the late 20th century, many of these little egg-shaped clay vessel-flutes were also found along with the statues, weapons, and tools.Interest in the Xun has rekindled, and today the Xun has taken its place once again among the instruments of Chinese formal and popular music. Come and discover the making and playing of this wind instrument as well as its cultural symbolism.
Free & open to the public
For more information contact:
Institute for Asian Studies
www.pdx.edu/asian-studies
503-725-8576
or visit http://www.pdx.edu/events/about-xun-ancient-wind-instrument?delta=0