I knew Tran Quang Hai was a special person from the moment I first saw him downtown at the Harbour Symphony on Tuesday. In the rehearsal he gave the most animated, energetic performance of his part. We were all in stitches...laughing with him, of course. Last night at the LSPU, Frank Pahl described him as "someone who puts every bit of himself into everything he does." So I was very happy to be in attendance at his workshop today.
The thing that made it very cool was his Overtone Analyzer running on his laptop and projecting onto the large screen. Not only could you hear the overtones in the special throat technique that he does, you could see them too. He demonstrated with this big, deep, guttural growl, and then the overtones would appear; you could see them on the screen and hear them, CLEAR AS A BELL. Amazing.
He made shaped on the screen, nice even pyramids as the overtones went up, then down. Then he spelled the word "MINIMUM."
Tran Quang Hai involved everyone present in the activities. He asked us all to sit in the center so everyone could hear each other. He invited each of us, one at a time, to make a pyramid, advising us: "Don't think too much about what you're trying to do...just do it!"
Some got it right away, a few struggled to make their pyramids. Darryl Cremasco made a beautiful, symmetrical pyramid. Mine came out more like a sandcastle that just got washed away by a wave. Frank Pahl made a strong, bright yellow pyramid (meaning he produced a lot of volume). Geoff Panting made an Eiffel Tower.
There is really something to this. I just wish I worked in an environment where it could be useful. I can't see teaching this to my high school choir. Although my first attempts weren't great, I feel I could do it properly, with enough practice. In fact, whenever my turn would come up today, it was hard not to feel self-conscious about trying it, but sometimes you just have to fight through that feeling and give it a chance, right?
It seems that all the clinicians I've heard this week have some sort of tour de force ending to their workshops. For Tran Quang Hai it was his rendition of Beethoven's Ode to Joy in overtones...and he absolutely nailed it.
The best part for me came after the presentation ended. Darryl and I were discussing Jew's Harps with a gentleman (don't know his name) and Tran Quang Hai came over and said "Would you like to see my collection of Jew's Harps?" He had a whole case of the most amazing contraptions, and demonstrated each one for us. A small group gathered around. Some of the small instruments were Chinese, Vietnamese, some were in small fancy cases. One he had even made himself out of a phone card (can you hear me now?) and he played them all with great flair.
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