March Break: TQS welcomes Dr. YIP Mingmei to Toronto!

Dr. YIP Mingmei (PhD, Sorbonnes).

Facebook Event Page: http://www.facebook.com/events/288594354541344/

Date: Friday, March 16, 2012;
Time: 1600~1800h (4-6PM) yaji, followed by group dinner
Location: Quantum 2 North Tower, 2191 Yonge Street ,Toronto M4S 3H8 (Yonge/Eglinton Subway)
Cost: gathering FREE, dinner shared-pay
NOTE ON PUNCTUALITY: Please ensure all the participants should arrive not later than 15:45h (3:45PM) in the lobby and I will be there to meet all and head to the place at 3rd floor cuz only residents have access to use elevator so please ON TIME. –Jason Ye, venue

Toronto Guqin Society welcomes Dr. Mingmei Yip, reknowned guqin player and author on Chinese scholarly aesthetics. Her Chinese work “Guqin Yinyue Yishu” (Commercial Press, 1991) is a cornerstone reader for students and players alike in understanding the background and development of qin history and cultural values, and its links with the other scholarly arts.

Dr. Yip will be in Toronto during the March Break pre-weekend March 15-17, and we look forward to enjoying time with her, sharing music (of all kinds) and insights, followed by a dinner reception at a nearby restaurant.

Please RSVP via the Facebook event page or by response here by Saturday, March 10, 2012. Aside from guqins, we also welcome other chamber music instruments from all origins to join in the fun!

TQS Reading Week/Family Day Impromptu Gathering

Bummed out from the weather? Burned out in February? How about joining us for Family Day fun as we enjoy a casual afternoon of guqin playing, tea drinking, and idea-sharing with TQS and the Chinese Cultural Library of Canada?

Kudos to Ms. Sunny Sun for offering the venue for the upcoming event.

Details are as follows: (http://www.facebook.com/events/248416735241536/)

Date: Monday, February 20, 2012
Time: 2PM to 5PM
Location: Chinese Cultural Library of Canada, Suite 205, 4433 Sheppard Ave. East, M1S 1V3
3636 Steeles Ave E, Markham, ON (Suite 202) << Location changed!
Fees: FREE.

Annual BIG Gathering…in November!

Toronto Guqin Society traditionally holds its largest gathering during Dongzhi on December 22 every year, but this year, we would like to have our fellow members who are out of Toronto (for Christmas break) to re/connect with other fellow players and share their interest in the Chinese scholarly arts in good company.

A big kudos to Thomas Yun for offering his (new) place in a condo near Yonge/Sheppard as venue. Please bring $5 (and any housewarming gifts) on the day of the event.

Date: November 12, 2011 (Sat) November 13, 2011 (Sun)
Time: 2PM – 5PM (3 hours), dinner outside may follow
Dress: Warmly, semi-casual Western or Hanfu (eg. Daopao, Zhiduo, Ruqun) recommended.
Address: (Thomas Yun’s place), 35 Hollywood Drive, Unit 2115, North York, ON
RSVP: Please contact Juni Yeung or Yanyan Zhu by email, or at the Facebook Event Page.
Juni Yeung: jt_revolution (at) hotmail (dot) com
Yanyan Zhu: opnsesame (at) hotmail (dot) com

NOTE: Date has been changed to the following day. Also, Thomas would like to invite everyone to pitch in to a potluck dinner afterwards, so if you would like to contribute a dish (vegan recommended but not mandatory) please do so!

TorGuqin visits NYQS on August 7

Yanyan Zhu of TorGuqin (front 2nd left) and Zhang Peiyou of NYQS (front 3rd left), along with friends and family on the day of the gathering.

On August 7, 2011, Yanyan Zhu (of Longyin Qin Studio and TorGuqin) and her family were warmly received by members of the New York Qin Society (NYQS) in a local gathering, where we shared music, singing, food, and calligraphy.

Despite some fretting the night before, we managed to take lots of memories in the form of pictures, audio recordings, and videos! Great thanks to Matthew Flannery for bringing the various calligraphy scrolls and works of Zeng Xi 曾熙 (1861-1930), calligraphy master and teacher of modern Chinese painting maestro Zhang Daqian 張大千, and Jeanette for the delectable refreshments for everyone to enjoy.

For Chang Peiyou’s account of the day and evening, see her accounts here.

If you have Facebook, see a video of Yanna playing Jiu Kuang here.

Also click below for more audio recordings. Kudos to Chang Peiyou for the source.

Yanna Zhu – Pingsha Luoyan 平沙落雁

Yanna Zhu – Oulu Wangji 鷗鷺忘機

Yanna Zhu – Gexi Mei Ling 鬲溪梅令

NYQS Judy Yeh and student Sam Zhang playing Guanshan Yue. More pictures on NYQS site and Facebook group.

See more about the event, or catch up with the New York group on Facebook, located here.

See Matthew’s mini-lecture on Zeng Xi’s calligraphy below:

July Yaji notice

Greetings, fellow TorGuqin members and friends;

Mark your calendars for our next gathering on Sunday, July 17, 2011, at 2PM to 5PM, at Longyin Qin Studio (Yanyan Zhu’s place)! Please RSVP via reply here or email jt_revolution (at) hotmail (dot) com for confirming your availability!

Asides from the usual tea and music circle, we will also be presenting our latest CDs and experiences in qin repair/maintenance. We also welcome any poems, ideas, or chamber music performances to join us, so please RSVP today!

 

Yaji Report: Cham Shan Temple, June 20, 2009

TorGuqin Cham Shan Temple Gathering, June 20, 2009.

 On the rainy afternoon of Saturday, June 20, 2009, 10 members from TorGuqin gathered outside the main temple hall of Cham Shan Temple for a scheduled homage tour of the various deities and the projects held by the temple to spread Buddhism in Eastern Canada by establishing branches of major temples in China here.

Because of the nature of the sacred site, no pictures were taken. This tour began at 2:15 PM and proceeded until about 3:00 PM.

We later set up our equipment at Prajna Hall behind the main temple and featured a poem by our resident poet, Mr. Chow Yat-shing. We also informally shared some of our new books in private collections, including a copy of Wu Wenguang’s interpreted scores of the entire Shenqi Mipu.Here is the list of performances:

Juni Yeung, Songxia Guantao in Yanlulou Qinpu (1766), on silk strings.

 Michael Keith, Improvisation on a theme of the Temple, on nylon-metal strings

Alex Tsang, Qiusai Yin (also titled Saoshou Wentian or Shuixian Cao). As performed in the style of Wu Shaoji.

Yat-shing Chow, Yangguan Sandie as recorded in Guqin Quji.

Yanyan Zhu, Pu’an Zhou in unique style, based on the Mei’an score.

Alex Ryazanov, Songyu Beiqiu in Xilutang Qintong (1549)

The gathering ended at 5:30 PM, where some members joined for a dinner at Asian Legends Restaurant (Wei-xiang Chuan) afterwards.

Here are some more pictures:

Also a group photo. See who's different?

Listening. Note that half of the attendees were in Hanfu.

TorGuqin Gathering, Nov.9, 2008 Review

Thank you to all who have attended our gathering today, it was a great turnout of over 10 people! (Some people had to leave early and weren’t in this group photo, but don’t worry – we’ve got you other pictures!) Let’s review some of the happenings today.