---
title: “Tianshi” on Alto Stick
date: 2010/08/17
tags: music, video, chinese, alto stick, chapman stick
flattr: 472329/Tianshi-on-Alto-Stick
---

When my colleague was in the middle of preparations for getting married, he
asked me to play a nice song at his wedding. “Nice” songs are a
neglected minority in Chinese pop music; most of the popular songs deal with
love affairs gone wrong, broken hearts, the loss of the original feeling, or
they describe the emptiness after the loved one has passed away. Nothing that
would really fit to the (admittedly cheesy) celebration of Eternal Love™.
Hence, my vast catalogue of popular songs was all but useless. I had to learn
how to play a new song: Mayday᾿s “Angel”.

This is my practise session in its blunt ugliness. I spliced in a solo section
recorded at a different angle to divert you from the boredom. As you will
probably notice, the introduction was lifted from my improvisation
[“Flow” which I recorded
earlier](/posts/2010-08-05-flow-on-the-alto-stick-video.html). 

(Yes, this is the same shirt as in my last video...)

My next recording will likely be an original song, unless I will be asked by my
friends at youku.com for more sino pop before it is ready.

<video width="100%" autobuffer controls poster="tianshi.jpg">
  <source src='/downies/videos/tianshi_low.mp4'/>
  <source src='/downies/videos/tianshi_low.ogv'/>
</video>

I offer this video for download in several formats. Choose one from the list
below. When you do not want to care about codecs, [download the free VLC
player](http://videolan.org). If you are on Linux `mplayer` will work fine,
too.


## Medium Quality (HD 720)

<div class="download">
  <table>
    <tr><th>codecs</th><td>h.264 + mp3</td></tr>
    <tr><th>bitrate A</th><td>192&thinsp;kbps</td></tr>
    <tr><th>bitrate V</th><td>3&thinsp;Mbps</td></tr>
    <tr><th>container</th><td>mp4</td></tr>
    <tr><th>size</th><td>109&thinsp;MB<td></tr>
  </table>
  <a href='/downies/videos/tianshi_medium.mp4'>download</a>
</div>

<div class="download">
  <table>
    <tr><th>codecs</th><td>ogg theora</td></tr>
    <tr><th>bitrate A</th><td>192&thinsp;kbps</td></tr>
    <tr><th>bitrate V</th><td>3&thinsp;Mbps</td></tr>
    <tr><th>container</th><td>ogv</td></tr>
    <tr><th>size</th><td>135&thinsp;MB</td></tr>
  </table>
  <a href='/downies/videos/tianshi_medium.ogv'>download</a>
</div>


## Low Quality (HD 480)

<div class="download">
  <table>
    <tr><th>codecs</th><td>h.264 + mp3</td></tr>
    <tr><th>bitrate A</th><td>128&thinsp;kbps</td></tr>
    <tr><th>bitrate V</th><td>1.5&thinsp;Mbps</td></tr>
    <tr><th>container</th><td>mp4</td></tr>
    <tr><th>size</th><td>56&thinsp;MB<td></tr>
  </table>
  <a href='/downies/videos/tianshi_low.mp4'>download</a>
</div>

<div class="download">
  <table>
    <tr><th>codecs</th><td>ogg theora</td></tr>
    <tr><th>bitrate A</th><td>128&thinsp;kbps</td></tr>
    <tr><th>bitrate V</th><td>1.5&thinsp;Mbps</td></tr>
    <tr><th>container</th><td>ogv</td></tr>
    <tr><th>size</th><td>55&thinsp;MB</td></tr>
  </table>
  <a href='/downies/videos/tianshi_low.ogv'>download</a>
</div>

## Streaming

The video is available on both
[Youku](http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTk5MDQ4MDE2.html) and
[YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSclwOFYIYc).