Vaudeville Performance

Saturday, February 2, 2013

9:30 a.m.

Arrived at New Life SDA English Church in Taipei. Held in the auditorium of the Adventist Hospital. Played along throughout the congregational singing for both Sabbath School and the Worship Service. This weekend was communion and so I happened to miss the closing hymn but that worked out very well. They are used to hearing only a piano and a song leader anyway. (Soon they will be used to the addition of the silky voice of the cello.)

This was not a vaudeville performance. ;)


5:30 p.m.

Arrived in Zhubei in Hsinchu county at one of the plethora of the so called "event restaurants". These are big open spaces with cafeteria style round tables with a small stage at the back of the restaurant. Waiters bring in the food and drinks while the organizers of the event speak ad nauseum about the happenings of the past year and what will go on at the event.

I stepped up to play around 6 p.m. Just two short pieces. The Habanera by George Bizet and the Prelude from the first Bach Suite. Could anyone hear that I was playing? Yes, the people that sat directly in front of the stage. Despite a microphone the sound simply could not penetrate the loud chatter among the hundred or more guests. I thought that it might be that they were simply not interested in the cello or the foreigner playing it. As the meal wore on it became clear that the mass people were obviously not going to quiet down for anyone or anything.

No hard feelings. Just another experience in playing and a time to experiment with sound production and how to get just a few more people interested enough to listen to the music.