Haiqiong Deng 鄧海瓊 (China/US)
全曲沿袭了古典南印度音乐的曲式结构：引子(alaap)部分古筝和笛子慢慢的展示出这个音阶中的每一个音；紧接着是一个充满喜乐的三拍段落（Dadra Taal）为后面的主段落铺垫了情绪；接下来进入主旋律 (pallavi), 沿用了十六拍循环的teen taal 节奏圈并在其中穿插了三拍和四拍节奏的多样变化; 在印度鼓的独奏后，就进入了筝，笛，鼓的问答 （sawaal jawaabs）; 乐曲在热情洋溢的快板中结束，体现了法喜的心历过程。
这首乐曲源于果谷法师，由尹群老师委约演奏，又完全展现了Nalini 老师独特的印度音乐风格。这样的师生之源本身就是法喜之路。
旅美音乐家，教育家邓海琼博士六岁随汤永祥老师学习扬琴，十岁随姚怡德先生学习古筝。十二岁考入西安音乐学院附中师从尹群老师，并先后得到周延甲和高自成两位先生的长期指点。本科以优异成绩考入上海音乐学院第一年师从孙文妍和何宝泉教授，并在第二年开始随王蔚教授学习至毕业。后又随邱大成教授学习一年并成功在北京举行了第一场个人古筝独奏音乐会。邓海琼在上音期间亦先后随林友仁和龚一两位先生学习古琴。
2001年邓海琼获美國佛罗里达州立大学音乐学院全额奖学金。先後取得了艺术管理(2003)和民族音乐学(2006)双硕士学位，以及音乐学博士(2020)学位。多年来，她一直在该大学担任中国音乐教授，並先后後在佛罗里达州立大学，Tallahassee 社区大学，和南佛罗里达州立大学担任客座授课。教授的美国本科大学生课程包括世界音乐文化，中國音乐文化，西方音乐欣賞，西方流行音乐史。
邓海琼博士先后被佛罗里达州文化部授予最高文化奖「文化传承大奖」(2017)，「个人艺术家奖」(2014), 和「传统艺术家奖」(2013)。她在美国出版的两张专辑《弦的回响— 由印度西塔琴和古箏所演绎的传统印度音乐》和《山水情—邓海琼演绎的中国古筝传统精曲》同時获得2014北美独立艺术家传统音乐制作奖提名。
在美国二十年期間，邓致力於在北美推廣中國傳統音樂文化，并与美国作曲家合作，首演并录制了数十首现代作品。邓在北美音乐厅, 艺术节, 大中小學, 博物館也進行了几百场音樂會及講座。邓海琼博士的學習及音乐经历亦成为美国Dr. Michael B. Bakan 教授所寫的北美深获好评的大学世界音乐教科书World Music: Traditions and Transformations世界音樂傳統與變遷 (McGraw-Hill, 2019) 中國音樂一章的主线。其四首乐曲也被收藏在由 Sony BMG所出版的CD裡发行。
邓海琼博士的學术研究课题涉及音樂和健康福祉，美學與哲學，傳統文化與變遷。2020年，邓海琼博士创立了Mindful Plucking Music Academy, 并先后推出了将音乐与生命健康结合的通识世界音乐文化系列课程，旨在通过音乐的教育，交流，和文化的多视角多层次的实践来提升个人的内心滋养，生命品质，以及增进人与人，文化与文化之间的理解和交流
Fa in Chinese means Dharma and xi, joy. This piece celebrates the teacher/student relationship for transmitting knowledge, wisdom, and dharma.
To Haiqiong, this piece embodies three precious teacher/student relationships: 1) Haiqiong with the master zheng player Yin Qun who started to teach Haiqiong when she was twelve; 2) Haiqiong with the master sitar player Nalini Vinayak who has been teaching Haiqiong classical Indian music since 2003; Haiqiong with Venerable Guo Gu 果谷法师 (Dr. Jimmy Yu) whose teaching of Chan has transformed every aspect of Haiqiong’s life.
This piece expresses the joy of following the righteous path of Dharma, the universal truth. This joint composition uses the Carnatic raga Amritavarshini. “Amrita” means nectar and “varshini” rain. Amritavarshini is an auspicious raga to express the joy of Dharma given by teachers.
The beginning alaap section explores the raga, unfolding the notes in their glory by the zheng and the flute. The sense of delight extends into a melodic progression in Dadra taal of three beats paving the path towards Dharma. It is followed by a seamless gath or pallavi composition in teen taal of sixteen beats, featuring complex rhythmic patterns of fours and threes. The exhilarating fast tempo Dhrut gath, in teen taal with the zheng repeating the gath like a wave or lehra while the tabla takes off with exciting solos. Following the tabla solo is the sparkling and scintillating the sawaal jawaabs (question and answers) section between the zheng, flute, and tabla with an exciting conclusion for the listeners to experience the ultimate joy of following the selfless path of Dharma!
The composition faithfully reflects the unique style of Guru Nalini Vinayak, her mastery of both South and North Indian music traditions, as well as the tabla playing.
Dr. Haiqiong Deng is a master player of the 21-string Chinese guzheng and a veteran practitioner of the 7-string guqin culture. She was the recipient of 2021-2022 Florida Specific Cultural Project Grant, 2018 Florida State University College of Music Research Fellow, 2017 Florida Cultural Heritage Award, 2017 The Ruby Chao Yeh Award from Association for Chinese Music Research, 2013 Florida Individual Artist Fellowship, 2012 the Master Artist of the Florida Folklife Apprenticeship Award, and the winner of the Outstanding Performance Prize at the 1995 Chinese National Zheng Competition in Shanghai.
In the last two decades, Dr. Deng has been active in promoting traditional and new music in North America. She has performed and lectured in various venues, including universities, museums, folk festivals, and communities introducing traditional Chinese music and culture. She has also premiered and recorded dozens of new compositions at national and international contemporary music festivals and conferences by composers from several countries.
Dr. Deng has also expanded her musical expressions through the exploration of diverse world music traditions. Her collaboration with master Indian sitarist, Nalini Vinayak, led to the 2011 release of the album—Stringing Echoes: Classical Indian Music by Sitar and Chinese Zheng—a CD that, for the first time in history, combined Chinese zheng, Indian sitar, and tabla on classical Indian Music. Her world music-influenced compositions include Layered Fantasy: for Indonesian Gamelan and Chinese Zheng (2014); Kora: for Intercultural Band Omnimusica (2018); and Guru (2020).
Dr. Deng is the featured artist in the chapter on Chinese music in the widely used university textbook World Music: Traditions and Transformations (3rd edition, 2019 McGraw-Hill) by Michael B. Bakan, Professor and Head of Ethnomusicology and World Music at Florida State University. In addition to extensive coverage of her music, life, and career in the text itself, there are recordings of her performing guzheng in the textbook’s accompanying CD released by Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
Dr. Deng received her Bachelor of Music in guzheng Performance from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (1997), Master of Arts in Arts Administration (2004) and Ethnomusicology (2006), and Ph.D. in Musicology (2020) from the Florida State University. Dr. Deng has taught at Florida State University, University of South Florida, and Tallahassee Community College. She also directed the FSU Chinese Music Ensemble for seventeen years.
In 2020, Haiqiong founded the Mindful Plucking Music Academy to provide a live and virtual platform to cultivate mindful listening, nurture cultural understanding, and contribute to human wellbeing to people from all over the world.