New words, new adventures

Okay, so in addition to learning how to manuver in chinese and learn tones (mandarin has 4 tones, Taiwanese has 8), I have got to learn to understand Aussie and Kiwi, ala New Zealand language. So yesterday, Stephen came into the music office and announced that he just caught a boy and a girl "snogging" in the storage room. He shooed them out but did not really seem upset as all the music faculty agreed that the young man could benefit from some "snogging." Oh my!I do not think that snoggers get to home base because the reaction would not have been so mild.

Today TAS choir students are singing with the National Symphony Orchestra under the diretion of Erich Kunzel in a halloween concert. My collegue has been the primary worker with them on this but I do have my back stage pass for the National Concert hall. Here is some info on the hall. I have a picture posted with the christmas candy room.

Life is NEVER dull here.


Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Park is opened in 1987, containing not only the memorial but also the National Concert Hall and the National Theater. The park covers a space of 24 hectares, with a wide open plaza. It is surrounded by a long white wall topped with small blue tiled roof forming a long hallway which wraps around the park. Outside the wall is a sidewalk.
The architecture of the memorial itself is modeled after the pyramid-like top of Tiantan in Peking. Its massive blue-tiled roof is capped with a golden peak on top, producing a majestic appearance. Inside the memorial, a ground-level library displays photos and mementos of the late president's life. The plaza in front of the memorial is often used for large scale shows, fairs, public activities and folk performances. International groups also frequently perform here.

National Concert Hall and National Theater: Introduction
The National Chiang Kai-shek Cultural Center consists of two buildings: The National Concert Hall and the National Theater. Their beautiful and awe-inspiring traditional Chinese architecture consists of a large white base, dark red columns, bright multicolored eves, and a furled bright yellow glass tiled roof. Both halls are important centers for the performing arts in Taiwan. Over 800 performances are held in them to audiences totaling 510,000 people annually. Whether in terms of lighting, sound or staging, the facilities of these two buildings meet the best of international standards.

The most important thing about these halls is their acoustics. In addition to controlling noise from outside by being able to keep it under 30 decibels, these halls are designed in such a way that everyone in the audience can hear what is happening on stage whether or not microphones and speakers are used.

National Concert Hall
The National Concert Hall covers 40,950 square feet of space. Behind the stage is a huge Flentrop organ custom made in Holland to accommodate the proportions of this auditorium and to produce the best sound possible. There is one large area for audiences to sit as well as two levels of box seats. A capacity crowd of 2,070 people can gather here.

The Recital Hall in the basement of the National Concert Hall is small, but its sound quality is the best in the whole complex due to the fact that hardly any noise from outside can reach it. A maximum of 363 people can be seated here.

National Theater
The stage of the National Theater has two pits in the foreground for orchestras of up to 30-40 musicians. It is extremely well suited for musical shows, opera, ballet and modern dance. The first floor consists of a large area for the audience to be seated, and there are box seats available on the first, second and third floors. Altogether a capacity crowd of 1,522 people can gather here to enjoy concerts.