Strings are simply some of the sweetest sounds in music. Think about our approach to music. We have been trained to hear a sound and immediately put it where it “belongs”. Styles and genres are nice little boxes for us to place the things that we know but for many musicians and free-thinking people, approach to music different. Sweet sounds are simply music and the Ying String Quartet emotes music that simply gives us freedom of thought.
Yes, classical music is based
on precision, timing and perfect pitch, yet it is the effortless synchronicity
that lifts these notes of the page into this atmosphere of life that we take in
with each breath. Adventure and beauty are the images that are portrayed from
the music. A euphoria of sound with no classification, only feelings of love
pouring out of strings.
On the stage just four chairs, with four instruments and four humans who are so connected that they might as well be the instruments themselves. Speakers, light shows and electricity are not needed to tell these stories of love in flowing phrases that melt into our bloodstream and become our thoughts of escape into musical bliss.
It is very hard to hold your
feelings in and not show appreciation until the suite is complete. Each
synchronous stroke of heavenly beauty is an ascenscion into a parallel reality.
You want to return this love now, in the moment when the elation of the music
affects you the most. Leave it to the tall Jazzcat to break the protocol at a
classical inappropriate moment, but I quickly switch genre etiquette and get
with the program.
Siblings and strings has been the protocol for the Ying family. Together they have brought their music to a vast array of performance spaces and with their forward thinking creativity philosophy have open the doors to many diverse situations from schools and prisons to the floors of the White House. No matter what the situation, the passion of the music exudes from each member of the quartet and they bring the sweetness of that deep family bond to the stage and into our souls.
Stories, landscapes and silhouettes of music unfold with rich romances that are lush as life. Music that is not bound by the chain of syncopated rhythm is free to soar on pure emotion, layered in fragrant texture, soft on the skin and so delectable to the pallet you can taste the sweetness of each color as it snowflakes to dissolve.
Frank Haung, the newest
member of the quartet, has become a sibling of sorts, replacing brother Timothy
on violin. Along with David on cello, Phillip on viola, and sister Janet on
violin, the musicians individually and collectively dance with their
instrument. The dance is so sweet and intimate the line between musician and
instrument become a ballet that circle and swirl from the depths of the see to
beyond the horizon. A spectrum of color joy and love that relive the worlds
stresses and transport us to self-satisfaction.
Four magnificent parts of
harmony and melody so seamless in perfection and perception a simple box of
classification will never do. Music that expresses love and joy can only be as
good for us as it is good to us!
LeRoy Downs
