Zheng
Zheng is one of the most ancient Chinese musical instruments and has been in existence since the Warring States Period (475-221BC) and became especially popular during the Qin Dynasty. Zheng is built with a special wood sound body with strings arched across movable bridges for the purpose of tuning. The pitch of a given string is determined by the position of the bridge. It usually has 21 strings. To play the instrument, a musician plucks the strings with the right hand and presses or touches the strings with the left for vibratos or desired pitches. The old stylistic schools of playing Zheng many centuries ago are still in existence today. Sounding melodious and elegant, it is an important solo instrument, and in accompaniments as well.
Alice Yuan
Alice Yuan grew up with a love for music and started playing Guzheng at a young age. In 2007, Alice was admitted to Nanjing Art University majoring in music education under the Guzheng Prof. Qiao Qiao and Aihua Yan. She began teaching the instrument by helping high school graduates apply for the Guzheng major in addition to teaching classes at Suzhou College. Over a hundred of her students were admitted to various colleges. In 2009, Ms. Yuan won the first place in Anhui Youth Guzheng Competition as well as the Excellent Instructor Prize. While at the Art University, she also had formal vocal training and took part in Meng Choir. It received the first place award in the First Jiangsu Province Choir Competition in 2009, and won the Popularity Award in the 14th annual CCTV Youth Singing Competition in 2010. After immigrating to the United States, Ms. Yuan was a Guzheng teacher at Ohio Chinese School in 2011, and a Chinese music appreciation instructor at Columbus School for Girls in 2016. In the same year, she founded Chinese Folk Music Orchestra (CFMO) at the Ohio State University and was its first music director. She became a San Jose resident in 2017.Ensemble Pestle and Mortar Dance (Concert hall capacity: 1126 seats)
Zheng solo Fight the Typhoon (Year: 2017)
Zheng solo Ming Shan
Ensemble Yangming Chunxiao
Student Performance
Zheng solo Beat the Tiger Up to the Mountain (Year: 2019, Community room capacity: 120)
My son Samuel Fong joined Aimusic School in year 2018 fall as a freshman. He was 11 years old and was the oldest kid among freshman. He was recommended by school to learn instrument Sheng. Before he joined Aimusic, he never had any training with any instrument and had never learned how to read music notes.
The ensemble and music theory teacher is Alice Yuan. She looks very young and just like a college student herself. She has showed great patience with these energetic ABC children.
Before each class, Ms. Yuan posts music sheet which is going to be learned in class in the wechat group. Even though it sounds like a small thing, but it saves great time and energy for parents to search in the music library on the website.
It is hard for Samuel to sit still and learn music theory after the one-hour instrument class. He fell behind of reading music sheet and I couldn’t help him much because I myself am not music literate. I have to ask Ms. Yuan for help after class. Ms. Yuan is so kind. She taped herself playing piano to explain each note. In addition, she recommended some beginner music theory book for us. For a few times, I sent Samuel’s practice video to her to check if he played the right note. With her help in class and after class, Samuel finally reads music notes. In order to motivate students to learn music, Ms. Yuan also encouraged the students to share their favorite music. This gave Samuel a chance to share the music from his favorite game. Since then, he has experimented to play game music on his Sheng, which has a special effect playing contemporary music on traditional instrument. He really enjoys showing off his instrument in school or church activities. I am happy to see him make progress and have fun at the same time. It is not easy for ABC kid to learn traditional music in US. We are so blessed that Aimusic School offers high quality teaching and friendly and encouraging teachers. I especially appreciate Ms. Yuan’s great effort and help. I wish Aimusic School bright and great future.
— Samuel Fong’s Mom
Miss Yuan is a very good and nice teacher. She is so patient while teaching and has her own way of introducing the style and artistic conception of a certain music piece. She always demonstrates the music to student as a perfect Zheng master and the kids really enjoying listening. As an instructor, she is strict at the same time especially for the basic finger skills of students. She could spend a lot of time if it is necessary on explaining the correct finger using, and always patiently guides students to feel and find the correct way. My 11-year-old daughter has learned Zheng with her for one year and had a huge progress. Miss Yuan cares about every student. She would talk with parents, understand what we want, and make plans for students depends on their development, and that is really helpful for us parents. Now my daughter loves Zheng so much and she is willing to practice every day. That never happened before with piano which she had quitted. For sure, being student of Miss Yuan is a very nice and happy experience. And for parents, she is a responsible, reliable and trustworthy teacher.
Due to the impact of the epidemic, out guzheng class was changed to an online class. Although we cannot see the teacher in person, the effect is still just as good. Ms. Yuan has made detailed adjustments to the course accordingly, not only to ensure that the child can get 1-on-1 lessons, but also to give her opportunity to communicate with her classmates.
— Tiara Wang’s Mom
We first learned about Ms. Yuan from a mini concert played by Aimusic teachers. We were attracted by her amazing Zheng performance. The music she played was so beautiful and inspiring. The audience experienced a wonderful Chinese music tour from the show.
Later on, my daughter got the chance to be in one of Ms. Yuan’s ensemble group. Ms. Yuan creates an inviting atmosphere for the class. She listens closely to the whole class performance as well as individual students. She works on details of the music arrangement patiently. When students had confusion, she reintroduced some basic theory to help the students understand the ensemble song better. She always shows enthusiasm in teaching and music, and cares about the students learning progress. Her class is very enjoyable for my daughter to attend. Recently, Ms. Yuan has been teaching ensemble lesson online. She works very hard to plan the class. Every student has an opportunity to perform and receive comments. The topic of the online course is very diverse. Students learn to sing music, play instruments, and learn Chinese culture so that they can enhance their understanding and interest in music at home.
— Kandace He’s Mom
Ms. Yuan takes teaching very seriously. She has great patience with students, and her classroom environment is very relaxing.
— Yujia Wang’s Mom