Music Dynasty held its spring show last Sunday night in Bloomberg. One of the many a cappella groups on the Homewood campus, Music Dynasty is the University’s first and only Chinese a cappella group. The group performed to a full crowd, sharing their passion for Chinese music and culture through eclectic performances. This spring concert featured a number of pop songs with Chinese and English lyrics, including songs from artists like Jay Chou, Pentatonix and Meghan Trainor.
In addition to the regular program, the group performed a special farewell number for Music Dynasty’s president, senior Tom Zhang. They performed the song “For Good” from Wicked to help thank Zhang for all of his years of dedication to the group. Zhang helped found the group three years ago to offer Hopkins students a place to hear and perform both Chinese and American pop songs. Zhang thanked the group for their hard work and dedication to performing.
According to junior Cathy Tang, the mission of Music Dynasty is to share Chinese culture and create performances that feature a fusion of cultures.
“We are a group of music lovers, and we want to make great music, and we want combine Chinese elements into our music. So we have songs that are a fusion of Chinese and English,” Tang wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
Tang enjoys being a part of such a tight-knit group of performers who work together to help each other both in concerts and in Hopkins life. She joined Music Dynasty during her freshman year because of her own passion for singing and performance.
“Our group is super close. We share the same interests and we help each other a lot not only in music. I joined in my freshman year and I was very passionate about forming an a cappella group and singing in front of all the audience,” she wrote.
While preparing for the solo show, the group spent a lot of time together. They put a lot of hard work into making the show an entertaining experience. The group posted biographies of each of its members on the event’s Facebook page to build anticipation. Zhang shared some of the preparation that the group put into their spring concert.
“It’s a lot of hard work,” she wrote. “It’s tradition to have a cappella hell week and we practiced everyday the week leading up to the concert for three hours a day and the final day for six hours.”
According to Zhang, the goal of Music Dynasty is to “make amazing music and promote Chinese culture.” The group incorporates both American and Chinese pop songs and sometimes performs medleys of songs from both cultures.
The group is very close, as both Zhang and Tang said. Zhang discussed how the group found opportunities to bond with each another in the midst of long practices and frequent rehearsals.
“Lots of practice and lots of getting used to each other. But ultimately it’s extremely satisfying and rewarding,” he said.
Tang shared how the group worked to prepare for the concert Sunday night in an email to The News-Letter. The members of Music Dynasty prepared for this year’s Spring Concert through both hard work and extra practice.
“We had some extra practice this week and [refined] some details about the songs and choreography. We gathered together early today to draw the blackboard. We designed our poster [and] mural board two weeks early,” Tang wrote.
On their Facebook page, the group shared their description of themselves as Johns Hopkins University’s first and only Chinese [a capella] group!”
The program for the evening featured songs from artists such as Hebe Tien, Justin Bieber, Maroon 5 and Jay Chou. During intermission, singers from the group offered solo performances of “Wildest Dreams” by Taylor Swift and “When We Were Young” by Adele.
