This DeCal is an ensemble course for the Berkeley Chinese Music Ensemble, an
extended Chinese orchestra that plays music from Chinese composers who were active from the late 20th century to today. The orchestra is united under one single vision, that music and musicians from different cultures and backgrounds can get together and create something new, something constructively combining our past and present while actively embracing a future of unlimited possibilities, all embodied in the audible interaction throughout rehearsals, sectionals, and performances.

Working towards this goal, we do not strive to restore an abstract perfection of “music”
but rather to build and sustain a tangible interaction among “musicians.” Instead of conforming to the instrumentation of any existing Chinese orchestra, we want our orchestra composition to reflect our student musician community here at Cal; therefore, the sound we create together will be a statement of who we are, weaving our trajectories from different cultural and musical backgrounds into a beautiful landscape. Our repertoire will not be decided on the judgment of whether it shows “authentic” Chinese music, but whether it embraces a broad spectrum of origins and sound for us to build our journey. All pieces are arranged in-house to fit our purpose and will be further tailored to individual musicians once the audition results are out. Therefore, everyone’s voice matters, and everyone’s experience will be accommodated.

Prerequisites This ensemble is fully audition-based. Students will receive the enrollment code once they receive the result of the audition. Students are expected to be fluent in their instrument and preferably have past ensemble experience. Musicianship (in terms of any system, including but not limited to western notation and Chinese cipher