"Combining jazz with classical Chinese music is a new sound and I learned that it needed a new musical vocabulary in order to successfully assimilate the two very different sounds," Peng said. "Jazz rhythms maybe [alien] to Chinese instruments, but I discovered the variations that can be created on Chinese instruments are far more abundant than on Western instruments."
In order to create the never-before-heard sound Metamorphosis will, along with the Chinese mandolin, be employing the violin-like erhu, the zither-like gujiang, various types of classical Chinese cymbals known as logu, the Chinese flute and several traditional Chinese drums.
While the classical musicians have, according to Lai, done a great of job adapting to the different pace and style of music demanded of them for the upcoming performance, getting Chinese instruments to perform alongside Western instruments proved a little trickier. After two months of practice in the group's cramped and tiny basement rehearsal studio, however, Lai feels she's finally got the balance just right.
"When I was writing the [music] I obviously had to take into consideration the balance of the instruments. We had to ensure that the drums and bass guitar didn't drown out the quieter instruments," Lai said. "We found that the simplest way to do this was to push the louder instruments to the back of the stage and have the erhu and so on at the front. It's not perfect, but as long as the amps aren't too loud it should be OK."
The crossover jazz that Lai has composed for Metamorphosis differs from other musical genres that have borrowed from classical Chinese music in many ways, but the most significant difference is in the way in which the Chinese instruments play a major, rather than minor role.
"In quite a lot of crossover music, be it pop or rock, we usually find that the Chinese instruments act more like decoration," Lai said. "But they are often more expressive in many regards and we have written the music to demonstrate and prove just how [versatile] these instruments can be."
Just how Taipei's small but loyal jazz circle will take to Metamorphosis' breakthrough crossover sounds is yet to be seen, but after two months of hard work both Peng and Lai feel that the time is right to discover if crossover jazz can be treated as an equal to other popular forms of crossover music.
"It's unorthodox and it will probably surprise [the audience]. And it will be strange, but it will still be wonderful. Whatever happens, though, we will certainly have given jazz a new voice," Lai said.
RSS