Chinese Music Ensemble ends banner year with free Nov. 22 concert to celebrate summer China performance tour

Middle Tennessee State University’s Chinese Music Ensemble members pose following a performance at the China-U.S. Youth National Traditional Chamber Music Concert on July 17 in Beijing, China, as part of a whirlwind cultural exchange trip over the summer. Members are, from left, Alex Moreno, William Sprayberry, Alex Strader, Jarran Armstrong, Henry Wright, MTSU music professor and ensemble director Mei Han, Jakob Young, Jacob Capistrant, Christina Vongsiharath, Shane Spurgeon and Emory Gaskill. (Submitted photo)

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University’s Chinese Music Ensemble will perform its final concert of the season to round out MTSU’s International Education Week.

Dr. Guanping Zheng, associate vice provost for international affairs — Dr. Guanping Zheng

The free concert, “Songs of the Horse People,” will take place at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, at Hinton Hall inside Wright Music Building, 1439 Faulkinberry Drive on campus. The concert will also be livestreamed: http://www.youtube.com/@mtsuschoolofmusiclivestrea9436.

Now in its ninth year, the Chinese Music Ensemble is a registered course at the MTSU School of Music, which provides a culturally diverse hands-on learning experience. Membership is open to all students, regardless of academic areas of study.

Music professor Mei Han, who led a summer trip of the ensemble to China, said 2024 “has been an incredible and rewarding year” for Chinese Music Ensemble members.

The students performed over 10 concerts in Beijing and Xiamen, China, Washington D.C., Nashville, and local communities. The concert Friday puts the crowning touch on a banner year for the ensemble’s whirlwind trip to China in July.

The Middle Tennessee State University Chinese Music Ensemble members, front row, from left, Christina Vongsiharath, Emory Gaskill, music professor and director Mei Han, Jarran Armstrong and Jakob Young, and back row, from left, Alex Strader, Henry Wright, Shane Spurgeon, Jacob Capistrant and Alex Moreno pose following a concert in Xiamen, China. (Submitted photo)

Han and Media Arts professor Guanping Zheng accompanied the students, including audio production major Shane Spurgeon, music theory and composition major Henry Wright, vocal performance major Jacob Capistrant, music education major Jakob Young, video and film production major William Sprayberry, music industry major Christina Vongsiharath and alumnus Jarran Armstrong, and music performance alumnus Emory Gaskill. University of North Texas instructors Alex Strader and Alex Moreno also performed with the group.

The instruments the students played included the stringed ehru and zheng; the sheng, a mouth-blown reed instrument; an American banjo and the similar Chinese versions, the daruan, sanxian and zhongruan; among others.

“The Chinese Music Ensemble is a window for students to seek out the world beyond their own cultures,” said Han, director of the MTSU Center for Chinese Music and Culture and founder of the ensemble.

Although Han has taught Chinese music for nearly 30 years, the trip abroad was the first time she had been able to take a group of students to perform in China.

“To me, this trip was a dream come true,” said Han, who has been teaching Chinese music performance courses in North American higher education institutions since 1996. “I have a group of incredible young musicians with quite diverse music and academic backgrounds and I wanted to showcase them in China.”

Performing traditional American folk music in China are Middle Tennessee State University Chinese Music Ensemble members, from left, Shane Spurgeon, Christina Vongsiharath, William Sprayberry, Emory Gaskill, Jacob Capistrant, Alex Strader, Jarran Armstrong and Alex Moreno. (Submitted photo)

The ensemble traveled to the Fujian province, where they participated in a weeklong China-U.S. youth exchange camp at the Huaqiao University. The program took them to Xiamen, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, where they were immersed in rich cultural experiences. The MTSU students also performed alongside Chinese students from the Beijing-based Soong Ching Ling Peace Angel Art Troupe.

In addition to performing Chinese music, the MTSU students play traditional American folk music for audiences.

Han said many of the students hadn’t traveled out of the country prior to the trip to China over the summer.

William Sprayberry, center, a Chinese Music Ensemble member at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., stands with two Chinese students following a concert in Xiamen, China, over the summer. (Submitted photo)

Video and film production major William Sprayberry admitted contemplating the trip “was a little scary” at first.

“But it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to China under the direct tutelage of one of the top Asian music scholars in America. So I was on board from the get-go,” said Sprayberry, who learned to play the zheng, a traditional string instrument, for the ensemble.

Sprayberry recalled a moment on the trip when he was able to fully engage in the immensity of the whole experience. The ensemble had paired with other musical and vocal groups for a tour of local parks and traditional craftmaking.

“We were there doing weaving and someone from one of the choirs started singing. It was this cultural experience where I’m sitting in Beijing, China, in an ancient park doing ancient traditional crafts and listening to a choir singing in a language we don’t understand, and to be able to be there and bear witness to this moment was so moving,” Sprayberry said.

Han said the exposure to other cultures brought noticeable transformation for her students.

“They saw, they heard, they experienced so much. And the experience has had an impact on them and made them more open and more mature. After we came back, they kept that spirit. This trip changed them,” Han continued. “Our students also made a great impact on the Chinese who played music with them or simply met with them. As the Chinese media said, ‘MTSU Chinese Ensemble’s first visit to China opens the eyes on both sides.’”

The Chinese Music Ensemble will be expanding its reach in the coming year. Han plans to launch a summer study abroad course, Global Music Study-China, in 2025.

To learn more about the MTSU Center for Chinese Music and Culture, visit https://chinesemusic.mtsu.edu/. Learn more about the at Chinese Music Ensemble, visit https://chinesemusic.mtsu.edu/courses/.

— Nancy DeGennaro (Nancy.DeGennaro@mtsu.edu)