[26th Orchestral Season]

Ta Kung Pao (Reporter : Chung Lai Ming 23-12-2002)

The HKCO sets up R&D team for instrument improvement led by Yan Huichang Music-makers need good instruments.

As performing techniques become more and more sophisticated, the musical instruments need to be continually upgraded in order to achieve the best sounds in music. The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra will form the R&D team for instrument improvement in January 2004, with the purpose of conducting research on how to improve Chinese musical instruments and of promoting the use of newly improved instruments.

Music Director Yan Huichang told the press last Saturday that to facilitate the development of the HKCO, instruments of a high standard are needed. By continually improving the instruments, it would be conducive to raising the standards of both the performer and the composer, and in turn, to music development on the whole. As a Chinese orchestra, the HKCO finds it imperative to emphasise the use of only the best of instruments, and to obtain the most up-to-date information.

Yan also told the press that we have quite a few experts in the field in Hong Kong. For example, the famous researcher and reformer Yuen Shi-chun and HKCO's very own Suona Principal, Guo Yazhi, have won Invention Awards presented by the Ministry of Culture of China for their improved Chinese instruments.

R&D team for instrument improvement will be headed by Yan Huichang, with Yuen Shi-chun and Guo Yazhi as Deputy Leaders. Members of the Group include Chew Hee Chiat and Chan Ming-chi, the two Assistant Conductors. The four Section Leaders are Wong On-yuen, Sun Yongzhi, Yim Hok-man and Wong Ching.

Guo Yazhi, Suona Principal of the HKCO, demonstrated at the meeting an improved version of the instrument for which he has obtained a patent. According to Guo, semitones cannot be played on the conventional suona, and several instruments of various sizes have to be used where modulation is involved. On the improved instrument, he attaches a sliding mouthpiece which enables him to play semitones and change keys. He told the gathering that all students studying the suona at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts now plays the improved version, but for experienced players it will be some time before they get used to it and so its use in performances is not yet extensive.

Yan said that R&D team for instrument improvement will further research on creating new instruments by improving conventional ones, and special attention is paid to information about instrumental reforms being undertaken in other places. The Group will soon have its own webpage, continue to gather data on improving instruments, and facilitate discussion by parties concerned. The HKCO will complement these efforts with performances and exhibitions of improved instruments.

Yan continued to say that other orchestras and Chinese orchestras in schools are taking the orchestration of the HKCO as reference. So if the HKCO takes the lead in using improved instruments, it will help to promote the trend.

Since the corporatisation in 2001, the HKCO has also revamped its structure. It now has two Assistant Conductors, Chew Hee Chiat from Malaysia and Chan Ming-chi from Hong Kong. It is made up of four sections - plucked string, wind, bowed string and percussion - led by Wong Ching, Sun Yongzhi, Wong On-yuen and Yim Hok-man respectively.