Our Yoyo and Luming Choirs are two fairly new groups in our Tuscaloosa Chinese Community. Yoyo is our children’s choir, while Luming is our adult choir. The name “Yoyo Luming” directly translates to “deer singing”. This phrase comes from the two-thousand-year-old classic Chinese poem Shijing, which represents the welcoming songs sung before ancient chineese parties.
Even though our choirs were founded in the summer of 2017, we thought of this idea a long time ago. Many community members like to sing, so we thought of turning our musical talent away from karaoke and towards a more formal music ensemble. The Yoyo and Luming choirs don’t only provide a welcoming environment for music lovers in our community, but also enhance our children and adult’s musical knowledge and enhances intercultural harmony in Tuscaloosa.
October 1st, 2017: For the moon cake festival, our Yoyo choir presented a song called “Making Moon Cake with Grandpa”. It is a lovely song that relates to the relationship between kids and grandparents. Additionally, our Luming Choir presented the songs called “Rippling Brook”, which is a Chinese fork song talking about a love story, and “Chrysanthemum Flower Bed”, which is a very popular Chinese pop song written by celebrity singer Jay Chou.
Alex Diaz grew up in Tuscaloosa, passing through the different choirs of the Alabama Choir School until his voice changed, then spending four years at the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham as a voice major. He went on to study Vocal Performance, Music Composition, and Japanese language at Bennington College in Vermont, where he was involved in several staged productions, including Songspiel Mahagonny by Kurt Weill, Myths and Hymns by Adam Guettel, and Don Giovanni/Don Juan by Mozart and Moliere, respectively. He also performed as a lounge pianist and vocalist locally, and was used on campus as a rehearsal pianist and fill-in vocalist. He spent two years teaching one-on-one voice and piano lessons to all ages full time in both Vermont and, later, in Seattle, Washington and continues to teach private lessons. He also composes 2-4 choral pieces for the Alabama Choir School every season, with an eye towards education and musical proficiency training, and teaches camps about Music Theory and History during the summer for children of all ages. He started conducting both the Luming and Yoyo choirs in August of 2017.
Dr. Xiao (Michelle) Tong earned her Ph.D. in Human Environmental Sciences with an emphasis in Textile and Apparel Management from the University of Missouri in 2006. After working as a commercial development analyst with INVISTA for two years, she is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Clothing, Textiles, and Interior Design at the University of Alabama. Dr. Tong also directs the China Retail Study Tour program at the University of Alabama. After hearing about the creating of the Yoyo and Luming choirs, she opted in to direct the executive functions of the Yoyo Choir.
Mrs. Yan Wang is a staff member of the University of Alabama. She helped CST community create Luming Choir and opted in to direct the executive functions of the Lumimg Choir.