We have now finished the last of our school workshops! We visited several schools in Taipei, including Ting's old high school! They have all been a lot of fun to work with. It has been such a rewarding experience for us to be able to give to them what we have learned about music and quartet playing. Students would often come up to us afterwards with questions about what we played, playing techniques, or about the music scene in the US. We received a really nice email from one girl who told us how she had been stressed lately, studying for a really intense college entrace exam, but was inspired by what we played, and appreciated us coming to Taiwan to share our music with them. That is really what this tour is about for us.
MuChen gave a recital Thursday night at her home church in Taipei, and the two of us played Ravel Sonata. Once again we played for a friendly and welcoming Taiwanese audience.
The last few days have been spent rehearsing for our final concert! We are really excited to play for a sold out crowd tonight! In some ways this concert is the culminating event of this tour. In other ways, however, the heart of our project -- getting to know Taiwanese communities and connecting with them through community concerts, playing alongside them, and working with them in schools, has already happened, and this concert tonight is kind of the celebration of that. It is remarkable to see how the power and inspiration of chamber music has taught the four of us so many things and brought us together as a quartet. It has also been so rewarding to see how that same power and inspiration of the music has brought us to Taiwan and benefitted those around us. Chamber music is all about getting beyond yourself and connecting with other players, and it's also about getting beyond your group and connecting with audiences and communities. This tour has certainly shown us that!
- Seth
Jennifer found some practice inspiration at the Shilin night market!