The musicians tore through Beijing, China, giving a tour-de-force series of performances in front of packed venues at night and spending their days dodging throngs of photo seekers and being shuttled around to some of the country’s most breathtaking sites.

This was not The Beatles storming the Far East, nor U2 finishing the Asian leg of a summer tour, however, but instead the talented, wide-eyed members of the Lake Braddock Secondary School Band participating in a cultural exchange.

The band went on a 10-day excursion to China, from March 23 to April 1, as part of a program sponsored by the U.S.-China Cultural and Educational Exchange Foundation. During the trip, the band members played seven shows at seven different venues, visited with Chinese students and went sightseeing all in an effort to immerse them in a culture most had never experienced before.

“It was an amazing chance for us to see the Chinese culture and the people themselves,” said Jack Colbrun, a freshman who plays the French horn. “We hear a lot about Chinese culture, but you don’t often get to meet the people and this [trip] gave us that opportunity.”

The group, consisting of 160 students, 60 parents and a couple of faculty members, was immersed into Chinese culture almost immediately after getting off the plane in Beijing. According to Margi Flynn, mother of Hayley, a junior flutist, the group jumped right into the first of three cultural exchange sessions, with the first performance at the Children’s Palace in Forbidden City. Here, the Lake Braddock students met a group of Chinese music students ages 10 to 20 and the two groups each played a specially prepared song for one another then joined together for an ensemble piece.

The purpose of the event was to share cultures, but the true cultural exchange occurred after the show, Flynn said. After the last number was finished, all of the students gathered backstage to be introduced and mingle. The Lake Braddock students were initially nervous to meet their Chinese counterparts, especially due to the language barrier, but soon enough, Flynn said, all of the students were conversing in the one language they all were fluent in.

“Some people just started a jazz baseline and members of both bands just jumped right in,” Colbrun said. “There was a language barrier, but everyone knew how to communicate through the music. We found that it really is a universal language.”

The second cultural exchange occurred at Beijing School #57, a local high school. The students played a couple of songs for one another, then played together and after the show, the Lake Braddock students were given a tour of the school. Instead of a jam session this time, however, the students joined to play games of basketball and table tennis and even got a lesson in Tai Chi

Perhaps the biggest venue the group played in during their trip was at Beijing’s Wuzi University. Before the show, the Lake Braddock students and their parents were given one-on-one tours of the institution and later that night, they played a full-length, nearly two hour show in a sold out concert hall. The experience, Flynn said, will never be forgotten.

“The house was packed,” Flynn said. “Even after the concert, the audience hung out to see the kids after they got off the stage. It was just amazing.”

While not performing, the students ventured out into Beijing to check out the local culture and see historic landmarks, getting a true taste of Chinese life. In addition to touring the Forbidden City, the students went to Tiananmen Square, Olympic Park and the Great Wall, but it was during meals and their transportation between sites that offered the truest glimpse of the culture. Flynn said that the students were given authentic Chinese cuisine for all of their meals, though she said their hosts were careful to keep the more exotic dishes at bay. All of the students enjoyed the food, she said, but a couple of McDonald’s pitstops were made nonetheless.

“The food isn’t at all like American Chinese food,” Colbrun said. “They don’t have egg rolls or fried rice. It’s a lot of healthy things like vegetables and things like that. Some [of the group] were nervous about the food, but it was great.”

Perhaps the strongest feeling of being a foreigner, they said, came when the group was walking through the streets of Beijing. Flynn said that the students’ light hair and fair skin made them stand out, and many times, local residents would ask them to pose for pictures and even pulled some students out of the group to talk. Though the experience was slightly awkward, she said, the hospitality and welcoming nature of the people was never in doubt.

“We had certain students who were fair, with light eyes and light hair,” Flynn said. “They would get literally pulled out of the group to have their photo taken. They were just so nice. We never felt any untoward feelings from them.”

On the long plane ride home, the students said, they were given the time to reflect on their experiences from the past week and were in awe of what they had seen and done. Hunter Langdon, a sophomore in the Color Guard, said that on the way back, all she could think about was how many of her preconceived notions of the country were dispelled. She said that after years of social studies classes and being told that China was a communist country, she expected a grim atmosphere with unhappy people, but found the exact opposite.

“You’re told for so long that it is a communist country, but when we got there, all we found was people trying to be friendly and kind to us,” Langdon said. “They did everything they could to make us feel like we were at home.”

Flynn said that another common feeling the return trip home was a sense of appreciation, because many of the students and parents realized that they most likely would not be going back to China ever again. Though there was much more they wanted to do, Flynn said that she was satisfied that the students took advantage of their time there and learned as much as they could. Her only hope was that the Chinese students and people they met got as much out of the interaction as they did.

“We wanted to go over there and leave the people we interacted with a good impression,” Flynn said. “The world is a big place, and America is just a small part of it.”


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