“That was people’s only time to gather and hear the music, and playing for the audiences would help me get through my hard times. “People would wait for over two hours for me to come and perform,” Li said. At night, she would pick up her bike and ride for an hour or more at a time in almost complete darkness, with her erhu on her back, to perform for audiences. In lieu of school, Li would spend 10 hours per day working in the fields. For a while, schools shut down, and Li said she felt it would be impossible to ever go back. Li went to school in the rural countryside of southern China during the time of the Cultural Revolution. “Instead of practicing at home, my father would ask me to go out to the street and practice, or to some public place,” Li said.Įventually, Li said practicing in this way helped her get comfortable playing in front of strangers. She was very shy, but her father told her that if she wanted to perform with the erhu, shyness was not an option. Li started primary school at 5 years old, two years earlier than most students. “With instruments, if you don’t spend enough time on one, you cannot be as good, and at the time, I had spent so much time on it.” “I have dedicated so much time to my own instrument, and of course perfecting it,” Li said. The erhu was one of several instruments her father presented her with, but she said it was the one she devoted most of her time to. Li’s father, a music teacher, introduced her to the erhu, a two-stringed Chinese bow-fiddle, when she was 5 years old. Instruments, the ethnomusicology adjunct associate professor said, were her only means of entertainment. Her family had no radio or television, and movies were to be watched only on special occasions. This week, we highlight the Chinese erhu, a two-stringed fiddle used in solo performances, small ensembles and large orchestras.Ĭhi Li did not grow up playing with any toys. Each week, Daily Bruin A&E will explore the instruments of the World Musical Instrument Collection and their performers that all contribute to the musical landscape of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
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