I could now catch more moments of breath after a past week of long hours at work. Now, I could find a bit more time to write a short review of Yew Hong-Chow & Yellow Pine Trio's concert that seemed overdue by now. I attended this concert earlier this Sunday at the Victoria Theatre, Singapore.
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Before I begin, I must admit that I am not an ardent lover of harmonica music. I have personally learned the harmonica when I was about 14 years old. The secondary school music cirriculum in my secondary school back then included harmonica-playing as part of the cirriculum. As such, to some extent, I know a little bit about how to play a harmonica. But I have not touched a harmonica ever since.
After hearing the Yew Hong-Chow & Yellow Pine Trio's concert last Sunday, I was even more convinced that if schools were to wish to include harmonica-playing as part of their music cirriculum, it will be necessary to build in opportunities for the students to attend at least one harmonica concert of good standard every year. Encouraging students to attend concert not only could help to enhance the students' level of music appreciation, it would help them to experience first-hand what good harmonica-playing is about.
While the harmonica may seem a simple instrument to play, it seems a hard instrument to master. The Yellow Pine Trio proved that mastery of the harmonica would greatly transform one's perception of this seemingly easy-to-play harmonica. While it may seem easy to play, I realised it may not necessary be easy to master.
The first and foremost area where the Yellow Pine Trio has impressed me was their ensemble playing. The sound of the harmonica from the three masters blended very well together. The players have strong sense of rhythm, and the rhythms of each player fell very well in place with the rhythms of the other players. That strong sense of rhythm created a pulse that would captivate one to tap along with it.
Technique wise, I am not in the best position to comment since I do not see myself as a harmonica player. At the same time, I believe that the members of the Yellow Pine Trio do indeed have good technique for each of them could create appropriate sounds of the harmonica to suit the moods of the different numbers that they were playing.
As such, while I confess that I personally have no strong (nor moderate) preference for the American folk tunes that they had played, I surprised myself when I found myself enjoying every bit of their music-making. Good ensembles are rare to find. Not only does each member in the ensemble have to be fairly competent in his playing, the members of the ensemble must be able to complement one another and work as a team to weave a work of music. The members of the Yellow Pine Trio was able to achieve both.
Perhaps because of my own preference in music, my favourite item was the William Tell Overture and the encores that the Yellow Pine Trio played that night. The rest of the items were musically-played and entertaining, and I found myself able to enjoy them too.
Bob Boblink's demonstration of the various techniques on the harmonica was very interesting and entertaining. I never knew that one could do so many interesting things on a harmonica.
On the other hand, while I must commend Mr Yew for his efforts and courage to take on two very challenging works on the harmonica, i.e. Romanian Fantasy and Sunshine over Tashkuergan, I thought that his efforts appeared marred by the quality of the ensemble. Somehow, the harmonica did not seem to blend very well with the rest of the other instruments of the ensemble at many of the times.
The ensemble comprised of the harmonica solo, accompanied by the flute, the clarinet, the harp, the double bass and the violin. There were times when I felt that the violin had came in too soft, and there were times that I felt there were hardly any midtone coming from the ensemble. If there were midtones, those felt pretty sparse.
Next, I felt that the ensemble could have under-rehearsed these two items as an ensemble. Clearly, the quality of the ensemble playing for Romanian Fantasy and Sunshine over Tashkuergan was very far lower than that of any one of the items played by the Yellow Pine Trio. Then again, I guess I could not fault the players. These two items are already very difficult pieces. Probably the ensemble had been formed solely for the purpose of this concert, as such, they did not quite have the privilege to work often with one another and did not have much time together to figure out how they could play as one tight-knitted ensemble.
On the good note, Sunshine over Tashkuergan started very well. The harmonica at last felt as if it was well-supported by the other instruments of the ensemble, and finally its sound blended well with the ensemble. I was just about to praise the arrangement and the ensemble when things took a turn.
After the introduction, I felt that the violin sounded too sparse and did not seem to blend well with the harmonica. I quite enjoy the rhythmic sections played on the double bass and the harp. However, it seemed like the lack of sufficient midtones made me experienced a somewhat gap between the soloist and those rhythmic sections. They sounded apart even though they were playing in the right rhythm. The clarinet player has a good tone, but somehow the arrangement did not make best use of it.
As such, while I had came to the concert expecting myself to enjoy Romanian Fantasy and Sunshine over Tashkuergan (for these were the kinds of music I personally prefer), I felt pretty disappointed. Perhaps it might have been better for the ensemble to comprise that of the piano and the harmonica. While the audience may not get to be treated to listen to various kinds of instruments, such ensemble may allow more time for rehearsal. I personally think that it would be easier to get two person to find common time to rehearse as a team than to get seven person to do likewise.
To conclude, it must have been a challenge to put together this concert. I congratulate the organisers for their good efforts. Overall, it was a successful concert.
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