Taiwanese Opera Experience Program

December 31st, 2014. This was the day we’ve all been waiting for. We invited Yu-chun Tseng and Shu-ching LinYu of the Zhi-Shan Taiwanese Opera Club to Sanyu Elementary School.
　The teachers would give us lessons on singing techniques, the art of prop weapon usage, and theatrical costumes!
The team members welcomed this Taiwanese Opera experience fiesta with their eyes full of anticipation.

Lesson 1: Singing Technique

Singing Technique lesson included: introduction on Taiwanese Opera singing skills, how to read out loud, and introduction on tunes, and gave the participants a chance to sing for themselves.

The students listened carefully while the teacher demonstrated.

Look at the sheet and try to sing once.

Yu-chun gave us special tactics on how to better remember the tunes sang.

Shu-ching also shared her memory tactics.

Two tactics at one sitting. Lucky us.

(The top part of “Kushou Hanyao18years” was provided by Shu-ching and the bottom part by Yu-chun.)

Lesson 2: The Art of prop weapon usage

Lesson on the art of prop weapon usage included: an introduction on prop weapons in Taiwanese Opera, spear/sword and staff routine and experience simple combat.

Wow! The teachers brought so many prop weapons. The team members’ eyes were glowing so bright that they were on fire.

First everybody was taught to swing the spear.

Swing of the big blade was no problem!

Then, came the axe...

Kuo-chen Sun said,” Let me try.” The axe was huge. I looked so good swinging it.

Then there was the sword routine. The presentation of the sword routine depended on its tassel.

During the demonstration the Teacher’s tassel was really straight. It looked really nice!

After the demonstration we were taught methods for gripping the sword.

The result wasn’t very good.

That’s ok. The sword is too hard for beginners.

Let’s try the staff!

During practice, the grip, the movements and the timing to change hand are all important elements to a staff routine.

Combat lesson (Waist two three).

Due to the dangerous nature of the activity, teachers were by our side to help us.

We were all very sweaty. Let’s take a break and take some photos.

Lesson 3: Costumes

The lesson on costumes were the most anticipated of the lessons, they can finally put on cool Taiwanese Opera costumes.

First we were taught ways to put on the costumes.

It wasn’t easy. We were in a spin.

Lesson on posture for the entrance of wen sheng and xiao sheng.

Lesson on spinning handkerchief. The team members were in awe of what they saw.

Hsin-ling Hsu: “Let me try. “

After several attempts the handkerchief finally started to spin.

End of class! Lastly, Let’s take a photo of us dressed up in the costumes for keepsake.

Afterthoughts:

Lo-chen Wang:
　Today two teachers came to our school to conduct a seminar. The first lesson was on singing. The teacher taught us to sing the “seven-word tune”, “Duma tune” and “Chinggao tune”. I remembered the “seven-word tune” the most because it was the simplest. The second lesson was on the art of prop weapon usage. The teachers taught us the staff routine and “one, two, three.” From the lesson I got to know the “double headed spear” and the “horse whip”. I liked “horse whip” the most because it was the most unique.

Kuo-chen Sun:
　Today we sang the “seven-word tune”, “Duma tune” and “Chinggao tune”. The “seven-word tune” we sang today was “Shin qia bei be” in Taiwanese. The teacher even got us to memorize it. It was fun doing the fighting scenes with spear. I used the “golden broadsword” and the fighting opponent is called “one, two, three.” I also used the horse whip. This is an unforgettable experience for me.

Tsung-ying Hsieh:
　After the seminar, I realized that the costumes were difficult to put on, especial the female costumes, because they had really long sleeves. I performed some difficult movements and also sang songs of “seven-word tune”, “Duma tune” and “Chinggao tune”. It was a lot of fun!