Chapter 10: Introduction to the Region

2. Chapter 10: Introduction to the Region • Guqin - ancient Chinese zither • has seven strings, traditionally made of silk, but no frets • it is a curved board about four feet long set on a low table and plucked • the sound is very soft • the guqin is associated with the Confucian religion and its social class of literati who cultivate the ideals of balance, harmony, and moderation

3. Chapter 10: Elements of Traditional Chinese Music • Monophonic, Heterophonic Textures • Importance of Ornamentation • Timbre as a Compositional Element • Variation Form

4. Chapter 10: Elements of Traditional Chinese Music • Religion and Music in China • the three historical religions of China are: • Daoism • Confucianism • Chinese music has maintained a clear demarcation between • Yayue - the refined and elegant art music of the court and rituals • Suyue - common entertainment and folk music • Buddhism

5. Chapter 10: Elements of Traditional Chinese Music • Traditional Music Theory in China • Bianyin – alternate pitches outside a Chinese pentatonic mode • pentatonic scales are sometimes called anhemitonic (without semitones) scales • Diao - anhemitonic pentatonic modes

6. Chapter 10: Elements of Traditional Chinese Music • Traditional Music Theory in China • the five possible pentatonic modes are:

7. Chapter 10: Elements of Traditional Chinese Music • Traditional Music Theory in China

8. Chapter 10: Traditional Chinese Instruments • Chordophones • Zheng – curved board zither • associated historically with the household and romantic songs • Pipa - pear-shaped lute • has traditionally been associated with banquet music and storytelling

9. Chapter 10: Traditional Chinese Instruments • Chordophones cont. • Hu or huqin - a generic name for traditional bowed lutes • Bowed fiddles are common throughout Islamic countries and in Central Asia, where they are held vertically • Erhu – Chinese bowed spike fiddle • most important hu type • Jinghu – Chinese high bowed spike fiddle

10. Chapter 10: Traditional Chinese Instruments • Chordophones cont. • Sanxian - a lute with a very long fretless fingerboard and a shallow box resonator covered in snake skin • Yueqin - the “moon lute” • is used in regional opera and storytelling genres • the earliest version of this instrument is the ruan, which was invented in the third century

11. Chapter 10: Traditional Chinese Instruments • Wind Instruments • Huang zhong – “yellow bell” ancient Chinese pitch standard • Paixiao - bamboo pipes arranged to resemble the wings of the phoenix bird • Xiao - bamboo vertical flute • Dizi – Chinese bamboo transverse flute

12. Chapter 10: Traditional Chinese Instruments • Wind Instruments • There are two varieties of traditional double-reed instruments: • the guan - a short, cylindrical double reed • the suona or laba - a loud outdoor instrument • sheng - a multiple pipe instrument, like the paixiao, but with single reeds and an air chamber

13. Chapter 10: Traditional Chinese Instruments • Percussion • Luo – Chinese gongs • often used in folk bands and Chinese opera • Yunluo - collection of dish-shaped gongs on a stand • sometimes used in theater music

14. Chapter 10: Traditional Chinese Instruments • Percussion • Bianzhong –collection of Chinese bronze bells • sets of such bells were associated with imperial courts from the time of Confucius • Qing - astone chime • bianqing – Chinese collection of stone chimes

15. Chapter 10: Traditional Chinese Instruments • Percussion • Dagu - large, barrelshaped drum with riveted heads • Xiaogu - a small horizontal drum on a stand • Ban - aset of small wooden slats tied together on a string

16. Chapter 10: Guqin Music • guqin, or simply qin - the Chinese zither • the most revered instrument in China • An ancient instrument known in the time before Confucius • the earliest surviving guqin are from the Han dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE) • has been associated with the Confucianist social class • represents the epitome of the Chinese ideal of music as meditation

17. Chapter 10: Guqin Music • A Guqin Performance • fan yin (harmonics) - a playing technique where the left hand lightly touches the vibrating string at certain points (marked by inlaid dots on the soundboard), but does not completely stop the vibration

18. Chapter 10: Guqin Music • A Guqin Performance • The following graphic illustrates this process by overlaying a schematic representation of the first statement of the core tones (blue) with the following variation (red) • The numbers refer to the pitches in the scale (here transcribed as a 1-345-7 mode)

19. Chapter 10: Folk and Contemporary Music • Instrumental Folk Ensembles • While the instrumentation varies in different regions, these bands usually provide music for ceremony and music for processions • Bo – small cymbals • Luogu - gong-and-drum ensembles • Guchui – Chinese folk double-reed and drum ensembles • Wu - military operas

20. Chapter 10: Folk and Contemporary Music • Sizhu • silk-and-bamboo ensembles • generally feature a dizi, sanxian, erhu, and perhaps other soft instruments such as the xiao, sheng, yueqin, or yangqin • ensembles play traditional tunes in an elaborate heterophonic tapestry with a soft drum or clappers (ban)

21. Chapter 10: Reform Music • After the fall of the empire (1911) and the subsequent rejection of old Confucian values, reformers created “Songs for the Masses” with European modes and harmonies, often based on models from the Soviet Union. • When Mao Zedong and the communists assumed power in 1949, they adopted a policy of socialist realism in the arts—that is, all art should serve the state and be a genuine expression of the masses rather than entertainment for the elite.

22. Chapter 10: Chinese Dramatic Music • Narrative Song and Folk Dramas • Guqu -the drum song (a shorter type of sung narrative) • the singer accompanies himself or herself with a clapper and wooden frame drum (dagu) • Each presentation of guqu lasts about fifteen to twenty minutes • performances may be strung together for an evening’s entertainment or placed in between acts of another drama or variety show

23. Chapter 10: Chinese Dramatic Music • Regional Opera • In Chinese opera, spoken dialogue, mime, and acrobatics combine with singing to produce a unique synthesis • The staging often lacks the elaborate and realistic sets and props found in the West • Kunqu - a classical dramatic form known for its ornate sophistication

24. Chapter 10: Chinese Dramatic Music • Jingxi—Beijing Opera • A jingxi play is divided into dialogue, songs, dances, pantomimes, and musical interludes • jingxi operas are based entirely on two modes: • Xipi - it uses a 123 –56 –mode, but mode includes many other concepts in addition to the scale • considered bright and happy • Erhuang – uses a 12– 45–7 mode • is usually more serious and introspective

25. Chapter 10: Chinese Dramatic Music • A Jingxi Performance: The Drunken Concubine • entirely in the erhuang mode, as befits its serious and thoughtful subject • Different rhythmic types (ban) and subtypes of erhuang provide the contrast among the opera’s musical pieces • The play opens in the primary rhythmic type (yuanban) • The first series of songs is in the subtype of the erhuang mode known as sipingdiao • Dan – leading female character

26. Chapter 10: Popular Music • With the new opening of China to foreign trade and influences in 1978, Taiwanese romantic ballads, now called tongsu, became greatly popular in the mainland. • Many Chinese popular music groups have tried to distinguish their music from that of Western popular music and to impart distinctiveness and authenticity through, for example, the use of pentatonic melodies (although still accompanied by Western diatonic harmonies) and occasionally traditional Chinese instruments.