Student Contributor
Bingyao Liu is a member of the class of 2019 at Mount Holyoke College who’s majoring in music while pursuing a five college certificate in ethnomusicology. Bingyao is from Hunan, China and plays the yangqin, a Chinese instrument related to a klezmer instrument — the cimbalom. She joined the Mount Holyoke Klezmer Band as soon as she found out about it and has enjoyed every bit of klezmer music since then. She also sings in choir and plays the yangqin in the Chinese music ensemble she founded in 2016 at MHC. She can be reached at liu25b[at]mtholyoke.edu
Special Thanks
I want to express my deep gratitude to everyone who helped and encouraged me along the way, without whom this documentary wouldn’t be possible: Brian Bender, for letting me film his rehearsals and performance and supporting me through the process in many ways; Professor Adrianne Greenbaum, for bringing me into the klezmer world and sharing her stories with me; Yosl (Joe) Kurland, for his wonderful Yiddish singing and great insights about the klezmer music scene; Nora Sackett, for chatting and playing music with me; the JCA klezmer group, MHC klezmer band and Little Shop of Horas for kindly accepting a camera at rehearsals and performances; and especially Professor Engelhardt and the rest of the class for all the good ideas and brainstorming; Pete Marvin, Bridget Dahill and the rest of the IT department for setting up valuable workshops and having individual meetings with me; and all thanks to everyone who’s watching and sharing the video. Thank you for all your love!