On October 16^th, 2004, we went to Taipei County Stadium in Banchiao to watch the performance of the Ming Hwa Yua. From the right side of the stage is wen chang, also known as the “civil stage” of accompaniment, we observed Mr. Chen’s excellent performance. Mr. Chen was invited to our school to talk about chi zi diao and teach us how to compose melodies for Taiwanese Opera on December 15th, 2004. He came to our school with many music instruments. He told us he could play all of them. Before our interview, we requested Mr. Chen to play a few tunes for us. Each music instrument he brought was made by himself. There was a ameliorated ya mou flute. The fingering and timbre of it was a bit different from traditional ones. This ameliorated ya mou flute sounds like the combination of traditional ya mou flute, Cantonese bamboo flute and Korean xie Pili. Whatever music it produces really sounds like a duck’s voice.

Musicians of Taiwanese Opera usually have multi-specialty in different instruments. Even fixed cadre members may not be assigned to a certain instrument. That depends on the requirement of the drama, and sometimes they may ask for backup support from other musicians for particular instruments. Mr. Chen can play almost all of Chinese wind instruments. He said that senior musicians of Taiwanese Opera are supposed to be able to play all kinds of instruments; nowadays musicians from regular professional training are specifically divided into wind instrument, stringed instrument and percussion instrument. Mr. Chen is able to play wind instrument and compose music for Taiwanese Opera. Now he is in charge of music editing and conducting for important public performances of the Ming Hwa Yuan. Since Mr. Chen has worked with the Ming Hwa Yuan for seventeen years, he could efficiently grasp the direction of the Ming Hwa Yuan and each actor’s unique quality. He has been playing his best to cope with the plot and characters of a drama in order to enrich the music capacity of the accompaniment.

Mr. Chen compared the effects of traditional accompaniment and innovative accompaniment. He took glove puppet show for example, and said that those with sci-fi effects could draw more people’s attention. It is the same case with Taiwanese Opera. You can’t let the audiences hear the same music instruments playing over and over again. Alternate stage sets, different forms of light installation and music accompaniment coordinated together can further reinforce audiences’ sensual feelings toward a drama. The Ming Hwa Yuan is very successful in managing this coordination. Under strict demands from the chief of the Ming Hwa Yuan, musicians face the same pressure as actors do. No matter how many times the play has been publicly performed, the chief would demand that they repeatedly rehearse before each performance. From the open-air stage of the Ming Hwa Yuan, again, we witnessed the absolute insistence in its pursuit of perfection.