Universal Language Taiwanese Student Is Teaching Chinese Folk Song To Ewu Choir

She came 6,000 miles to do the song, and she’s almost ready.

Her English flows better. Her body language has more zip. And she’s conducting with more oomph.

But it’s never easy.

Ariel Wei, one of 77 Taiwanese students enrolled at Eastern Washington University, is teaching a 500-year-old Chinese folk song to a student choir for a performance at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Showalter Hall on campus.

It will be the first time a Taiwanese student will lead a song in Chinese for the choral program, said Randy Wagner, director of choral activities.

Seeing Wei’s difficulties with English, Wagner thought it would be good if she could work with her own language and then teach it to others.

None of the two dozen Symphonic Choir members speak Chinese. But the veteran performers have sung in other languages before, such as German, Italian and Spanish.

This was different. The five sentences in the song proved to be difficult.

The song, “Jasmine,” has a long history. Composer Giacomo Puccini used it in his opera Turandot.

As Wei tells it, in the 19th century, a Chinese official was visiting Europe for the first time. His hosts wanted to play the Chinese national anthem on his arrival. They asked a Chinese man for help. Instead of explaining that China doesn’t have a national anthem, he gave them a song known to be the official’s favorite. It became known in Europe as the Chinese national anthem.

Later, Puccini used the melody for a Princess Turandot number in his opera.

In a hot classroom, the Symphonic Choir practiced “Jasmine,” as they had all quarter. Wei offered some advice while standing in front of the group.

“In Chinese you need to have more consonant than vowel,” Wei said.

The choir didn’t respond. Some turned to each other and whispered questions.

Wei continued and explained that “Jasmine” is a love song. It tells the story of finding a beautiful flower and being overcome with a desire to share it with your lover.

“Can you get that feeling?” Wei asked the group.

Again, the choir members turned to each other. Wei stood alone as they soaked it in.

They asked for more guidance. What’s the emotion? How do you pronounce this? Should the r sounds be rolled?

Choir member Mindy Sparks, a student who plans to teach high school choir, had been struggling with the group.

“Sometimes we get frustrated, but I think that’s all part of the experience,” Sparks said after a class. “It’s totally a learning experience. All around, it’s great. I don’t think any of us have done anything like this before.”

Teaching adults is new to their conductor.

Wei had been a junior high music teacher in Taichung, a city south of the capital, Taipei. When another teacher made plans to attend EWU, Wei decided to go too.

She gave herself a moniker. Her real first name is Chunfang, but she knew it would be too difficult for people. So she picked the name of the Little Mermaid from the Disney cartoon.

When new friends told her to say her name was inspired by a Shakespeare character, she just laughed. She’s really not too concerned by what others think.

In Taiwan, had she listened to her mother’s friends, she would have given up on her education and world travels and settled into marriage by now, she said.

“Some families don’t want their kids to grow up to be different (in Taiwan),” she said. “They want their kids to be normal. I’m normal, of course. My friends say I’m so lucky because I have good parents. I can do what I want.”

She has less freedom in the Taiwanese education system.

Music isn’t part of the school curriculum. Students also have little freedom in choosing their own courses. Wei said she’d like to open it up more.

“There is an education revolution now,” she said.

She wants to show the importance of music in education, but it’s an uphill battle.

“There’s no choir in traditional Chinese culture,” Wei said. It came in with a wave of Western culture less than 100 years ago.

Her professor, Wagner, likens Wei to the early explorers who opened the West to settlement.

“I don’t think I’m a pioneer,” Wei said. “I just do what I want.”