Musicology Expert Says She’d Love to Come Back

The audience eager to see Shen Yun at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center. (Ji Yuan/The Epoch Times)

LOS ANGELES—Louise Spear, a performing arts librarian at the famed American Musical and Dramatic Academy, ‘fell in love’ with Chinese culture when she visited the country several years ago. She was thus eager to see Shen Yun in Los Angeles at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center, and she was not disappointed. After seeing it for the first time, she said, “I’d love to come next year.”

Ms. Spear said her background made it "just very special to be here this afternoon and hear all the music." Her professional knowledge made her sensitive to the music. She has worked in ethnomusicology, the study and documentation of music around the world, and she has worked with a lot of people who do music research in China. She has worked at UCLA in the Ethnomusicology Department, the oldest ethnomusicology department in the United States.

“Oh, it was beautiful! It was just so beautiful, everything about it. The orchestra was amazing. It was very interesting to hear the Chinese instruments and the Western instruments performing together,” Ms. Spear said

This was the first time she heard an erhu played with a piano accompanying it, and she commented, “ That was very interesting, and it really turned out beautifully.” She said she was amazed by “all the sound and all the expression that can come out of what looks like a small instrument.”

Ms. Spear had also worked at the Recording Academy for several years. This is the parent organization of the Grammy Awards. So she gave a very informed and expert opinion when she reviewed the singers of Shen Yun. “All of the soloists were amazing,” she said. She was especially taken with the tenor, who had a “really, really big voice.”

In addition to her special appreciation of the music, the narrative part of the program was also very effective for her she said. Even though she did not know the legends the story dances were based on, she said that she understood and enjoyed them. “I didn’t know any of the stories that were told during the performance, so that made it extra interesting and extra special to hear a little bit about Chinese culture,” Ms. Spear commented.

She said the dancers and the emcees made it very accessible, “Absolutely, they were very expressive. Of course, we had a little hint from the announcers and from the words that were put on the stage; but I think the dancers spoke for themselves, and you could get the story just from watching the performers.”

Shen Yun was indeed a special performance for this viewer with a special music background.

With reporting by Yaning Liu.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. For more information, please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org