I hardly ever go to Carnegie Hall (though I'm not sure why) so seeing anything there is a real treat, especially when it's free for us. The only other time I remember going to Carnegie Hall was a couple years ago to see a recital of some young music students.

When I heard of the Chinese music concert, I was thinking that it would be traditional Chinese music on traditional Chinese instruments, which I saw a couple of weeks ago at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I also thought I would be hearing the music in the large concert hall, and I didn't even know that there were other concert halls at Carnegie Hall.

So when I finally heard the concert, I was very surprised. For one thing, the music was more like Western classical music with some Chinese influences, on Western instruments, with the exception of many of the percussion instruments. Also, the hall was very small and intimate, and with its fancy decorations, it looked like a private concert hall that could be found in a European mansion. This also made me nervous about making small noises such as coughing or fidgeting with papers because even though the music was loud, somehow, I could hear even the quietest sounds from the people near me.

The music itself was quite well-performed, and I could tell that the performers really got into the pieces they performed since they moved with the music. I especially liked the pieces involving percussion instruments, especially so of the piece with the opera gongs. I wondered how they could possibly coordinate with each other which drums to hit, and it seemed like they practically memorized the score. I don't know much about how percussion pieces are scored, but I would assume the scoring for that piece was very elaborate.

I hope to come back to Carnegie Hall again, since I heard the student prices are only ten dollars, and that's good news for me.