Music of China
MUSI 3721Y
University of Lethbridge, Calgary Campus
John Anderson
Importance of Written Language and History
• A non-alphabetic
ideographic script meant
that Chinese could be
used by neighbors with
totally different languages
• Classics written centuries
earlier could be
understood by
contemporary readers
Importance of Written Language and History
• This led to a great regard
for history, high status for
scholar-officials, and an
imperial state system
based on bureaucracy
• Each dynasty had its own
historical records, much
of which provided
musical documentation
Highly Specific Musical Systems with
Codification at Many Levels
• This includes stock
character types in
theatrical genres,
particular musical styles
used in specific contexts,
instruments used in
standardized ensembles,
solo instrumental
traditions, each with its
own special notation,
repertoire, and idiomatic
technique
Music and Politics
• Music and politics have long
been interconnected
• Confucius (551-479 B.C.E.)
believed that proper music was
capable of promoting proper
behavior
• “Extravagant music” (i.e., loud,
fast music) could stimulate
excessive, licentious behavior
• Mao Zedong also believed in
music as an important
educational tool for the
propagation of state ideology,
rather than the expression of
virtue
Heterophony
• The Jiangnan sizhu ensemble,
like Middle Eastern groups,
comprises a small number of
different musical instruments
• The music is heterophonic, for
there is no harmony, just
different renditions of the same
tune, each distinguished by its
own sound texture and by
ornamentation specific to the
instrument
• Try to pick out the tune by
humming it, if possible
• Can we create heterophony?
Liu Shui (Flowing Water)
• The performer is Professor Wu
Wenguang of the China
Conservatory of Music in
Beijing, the foremost qin player
in China today
• A rhapsodic piece of
descriptive music
• Portrays a waterfall cascading
from a mountain top, falling
through various levels of rock,
and then becoming a rapids
eventually running out to the
sea
Liu Shui (Flowing Water)
• Almost all qin compositions
have programmatic titles
• Typical form:
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•
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Sanqi (Intro.)
Rudiao (Expo.)
Ruman (Develop)
Weisheng (Closing)
• From this story arose the phrase
“zhi yin,” literally meaning “a
good friend who understands
my music,” and it is still
popularly used today to signify
profound friendship.
Excerpt from Hua San Liu
(Embellished Three-Six)
• Beginning and conclusion played
• Heterophonic texture
• Instruments include:
• dizi (transverse flute)
• yangqin (hammer dulcimer)
• pipa (4-stringed, plucked lute)
• erhu (two-stringed fiddle)
• Begins slowly and increases
• Improvised embellishments on the basic melody
Three Examples of Peking Opera arias
• The narrative aria
• Usually used to provide
narration in an
unemotional manner
• The dramatic aria
• Free rhythm
• Fast tempo
• Used to reveal a
character’s psychological
state
• The lyrical aria
• Slow tempo
• 4/4 meter
• Often melismatic
We Workers Have Strength
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•
•
•
•
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Words with a message
Solo-chorus interchanges
Symphonic orchestration
Western harmony laced with Chinese pentatonic themes
Typical of the 1950s
Synthesis of Western Protestant hymns, modern school
songs, Chinese folk songs and Russian revolutionary
songs
• Short, simple
• Use Western scales
Discussion Questions
• How could we say that minority music affected
mainstream music in our country the way it did
in China?
• To which Western musical instrument would
you compare qin practice, and why?
• What are some comparisons in the Western
music repertoire to programmatic pipa music?
Discussion Questions
• What could be a Western equivalent to
Jiangnan sizhu? (jazz, jam sessions?)
• In what ways can we compare jingju to
Western opera or a Broadway musical?
• What are some Western equivalents to ban
in the construction of new songs and
works?
Discussion Questions
• How is music used for propaganda in our country?
• Or, how is music used to instill values in our country?
• Why did Communists censure Confucian musical
practices?
• Conversely, why did the Communists during the
Cultural Revolution (1966-76) utilize Western musical
practices such as orchestration, harmony, ballet, and
scenic design, in spite of being anti-Western?