SIOUX FALLS S.D.—Whether it’s instrumental or vocal, western or eastern, music is a universal language. Music is all around us, and beautiful music can move the listener to tears.
“I am a retired piano teacher, and so I am interested in the tonalities of the music,” said Donna Schwartz, who came to see Shen Yun Performing Arts at Mary W. Sommervold Hall at Washington Pavilion. She attended the Feb. 28 performance with her son Joseph and his girlfriend.
Shen Yun, based in New York, is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, and each company tours with its own full orchestra. The orchestra performs original compositions that were written to fit each dance like a glove. Although many think of the pentatonic scale when Chinese music is mentioned, Chinese music is not limited to the pentatonic scale. Every scale and mode in Western music can also be used in Chinese music….