When I applied to the Fulbright Taiwan ETA program they asked for a statement of purpose. Obviously my first purpose was to teach English, but the question asked for what else we might like to do in Taiwan. Since I traveled to Taiwan thee years ago with my choir, I wrote in my application that I would like to join a Taiwanese choir.
Well my friends I did just that. This semester I attended at least one three hour rehearsal with the Kaohsiung City Chamber Choir each week. Until the beginning of June all rehearsals and emails were in straight up Chinese.As you expect, I was not always entirely sure what was going on all the time.
While my lack of comprehension was frustrating to me at times, overall the experience was unforgettable in the most positive way. True to my interaction with most Taiwanese people, the choir was incredibly kind and welcoming to me. People would often translate for me, offer me food, compliment my long eyelashes, etc.
Aside from the social experience, I also realized how much body language and demonstration is involved in directing a choir. I say this because although I could not understand what was going on sometimes, I generally understood what sort of feeling or dynamic the director wanted by watching her face, her hands, and her general body position. We also sang repetoire in a variety of languages, none of which were Chinese. Therefore the music was telling the story for all of us. Essentially we all learned the songs together.
Although I attended Chinese run rehearsals for the first three months the last month had double the rehearsals and all of these rehearsals were conducted in English. Why?…because this semester the choir arranged for a foreign, guest conductor to come from Norway. Karl Hanken, was our guest conductor, and he spoke only English as he does not speak Chinese. The tables turned completely. When the director called out a measure in Chinese, I often took second longer to find it as I was trying to translate quickly in my mind. The girl sitting next to me would often point it out to me, so that I could not miss the entrance. Now I was able to do the same for her! Our repetoire included one song in English and one in Taiwanese. The rest of the pieces were in Latin, German and Norwegian. Two young sopranos who I sat with each rehearsals and I formed a language alliance of sorts. I was able to help them pronounce the English words in the English song we sang, and they helped me to grasp the sounds of the Taiwanese words in the Taiwanese song. It was a real cultural exchange, as cliche as it sounds.
One Sunday June 20, we performed with the foreign director at the Cultural Center across the street from my house. I sang thirteen songs and wore a blue silky dress.
Below are pictures from backstage:
the woman on the left gave me a ride home every night after choir and the woman on the right sat next to me and was really nice to me all semester
Pei Ying sat next to me, she was so friendly and nice. she helped me with everything this semester...she also did my make-up for me before the concert!
the ladies with Dr. Hanken the guest conductor from Norway
Although the experience of the choir was incredibly special, what was most touching about the evening was that my friends here in Taiwan came to see me. It meant so much that they all showed up and were so genuinely excited for me. I really have a great support system here. I often do not recognize this fact day to day, but the people I have met here are so wonderful and they mean very much to me.
Fonda, Kristin, Grace, Katherine, Cristina (another LET) and Bekah all came and sent me two HUGE flowers backstage.
A group from my school came, which included my co-teacher Shuting, Justin(my school’s EV manager), MinZ i (another teacher), and ShyenTz (the military worker). They brought me beautiful flowers to, which are sitting on my desk.
Charles and his friend also came, although he was departing the next day to start his journey home to America.
I am truly going to miss everyone here. Saying goodbye in six days will be soooooooooooooooooo hard.
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