Music Chapter Journal

A very cool article about the Guqin (Qin) and the Guzheng (Zheng) from the New York TImes: An Ancient Chinese Instrument Is Making a Comeback, SHEILA MELVIN, Published: April 11, 2012 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Our Chapter 13 traces the development of the zheng from its origins to the present, interspersing information about other instruments (qin, pipa, erhu, sheng), other genres of Chinese music, and an abbreviated history of China.  A focus on music in relation to politics throughout Chinese history is a central theme here.

China: An Overview

China is the third largest and most populous nation on earth, with one of the oldest civilizations, dating back more than 3,500 years. Many inventions important to the development of modern civilization were developed in China long before they were known in the West. Pages 319-321 present a summary of Chinese history as a contextual framework for our study of the zheng and Chinese musical traditions.  Students should become familiar with some of the major inventions developed in China.

3.  What aspects of music theory and music learning were first developed in China?

Chapter 1 Journal  Part 1: The Informative Contents

 4. Define the following terms:

Chapter 13 Music Journal

Part 2: Questions/Music Listening and Analysis

Introduction to the Zheng

The zheng is a tremendously popular instrument with Chinese musicians worldwide. It is related to a number of other board zither chordophones found throughout Asia. This instrument has evolved in form since its first appearance some 2500 years ago. Pages 321-331 describe the evolution of the zheng since its earliest origins, development of its roles and repertoire in selected dynastic eras.

· Refer to the descriptions and illustration on pages 324-326, about the zheng as it first existed, and in its present-day configurations.

· Listen to Musical Guided Tour #7 at the Online Learning Center http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073526649/418948/MGT7_China.mp3Links to an external site. and use the transcript (pages 325-326) to clarify what you are hearing.

5.   Use the following chart to record your observations.

Major Musical Developments During the Dynastic Eras

6. Use the following chart to record significant musical developments in each of the 5 Dynasties below. Table 13.1 may be used as an example, but more detailed information may be included.

Other Chinese Instruments

In addition to instruments originating in ancient China (such as the zheng and qin), instruments encountered in foreign lands through trade became popular in China.

7. Listen to CD4-25 to hear an example of the qin.  Listen to CD4-26 to hear the zheng and pipa played separately and then together.  Describe the sounds (timbres) of each instrument heard in these examples.

8. What was the Silk Road and what was its importance in Chinese music?

Chinese Opera and Beijing Opera

Read “Chinese Opera and Beijing Opera in Dynastic and Post-Dynastic China” - pages 330-331. 9. Identify the four standard character types in Chinese opera.

10. Name the instruments typically found in the ensemble accompanying Beijing Opera.

11. Describe some of the changes in Chinese opera that took place during the Communist era.

Regional Styles

During the later Qing dynasty era, a number of distinct regional styles of solo zheng music and performance practice crystallized in different parts of China. 12. What musical form is common to all regional styles?

“Autumn Moon over the Han Palace,” Deng Haiqiong, CD4-27

 “Autumn Moon over the Han Palace,” a composition representative of the Shandong regional zheng style, is one of the best-known traditional zheng pieces in the baban form. Deng Haiqiong performs this work on CD4-27 on a 16-string zheng with steel strings, rather than on the more common 21-string zheng with metal-wound nylon strings.  “Autumn Moon over the Han Palace” uses a traditional Chinese melodic form with eight main melodic phrases known as baban; most traditional solo zheng pieces are in this form.  The basic unit of measurement for each phrase is called a ban.  Each ban is essentially like a 2 beat measure (2/4 time)- with a strong beat (ban) followed by a weak beat (yan).

13. Listen to “Autumn Moon over the Han Palace,” Deng Haiqiong, CD4-27 and use the following chart to record observations of specified sections.

14. How long has the zheng been part of musical life in Shandong?

15. List two reasons why Haiqiong chose to perform this selection on the 16-string zheng?

16. Describe Haiqiong’s experiences while learning “Autumn Moon over the Han Palace."   Focus on the teaching style of her teacher, revered zheng master Gao Zicheng. How does his teaching style compare to that of studio teachers in American universities (or of studio teachers in Chinese conservatories, for that matter)?

Emergence and Development of the Conservatory Solo Zheng Style in Mainland China

The conservatory tradition (xueyuan pai) of solo zheng playing has its direct roots in the Republican era of Chinese history. This era covers the years following the collapse of the Qing dynasty and preceding the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.

17. What were the two schools of thought regarding music reform during this period?

Music and the conservatory solo zheng tradition in Communist China

With the rise to power of Mao Zedong, music reforms continued, but with a thick overlay of explicit political content. All arts, including music, were now expected to expressly serve the goals of the socialist state. Although the melodies to folksongs and traditional musics were employed, lyrics were rewritten to propagate state ideology and policies.  Students should become familiar with Mao’s goals of the socialist state.

18. What was a major result of the 1958 government initiative to increase the official status of Chinese music and what was its impact on zheng performance and composition?

“Spring on Snowy Mountains,” Fan Shang’e, CD4-29

Fan Shang’e was one of the pianists who switched to playing and composing for zheng as a result of the government’s initiative to promote Chinese traditional music. She was an advocate of the virtuosic, piano-inspired approach to solo zheng composition. Again, although a folk melody is ostensibly used as the basis of this composition, the piece has little, if anything, to do with traditional Tibetan folk music.

19. What is the socialist program linked to “Spring on Snowy Mountains”? 20. Listen to “Spring on Snowy Mountains,” Fan Shang’e, CD4-29 and use the following chart to record observations--Note, in particular, the highly developed two-hand playing technique:

The Cultural Revolution Era

During the Cultural Revolution era (1966-1976), the government sought to rid Chinese culture of anything “alien to the egalitarian spirit of socialism.”  Students should become familiar with the oppressive policies instigated during the Cultural Revolution, particularly those effecting music and musicians.

21. What musical activities were still allowed and/or encouraged during the Cultural Revolution?

The Rise of Deng Xiaoping and the Period of Openness

In 1979, Deng Xiaoping announced sweeping changes in the move toward modernization of China and of Chinese socialism. As part of this change, Deng indicated that the government would no longer demand that literature and art (including music) conform to a set political agenda. He asserted that henceforth there would be freedom of artistic expression without government interference. As a result of this new policy of openness, a musical renaissance occurred.

22. Listen to Tan Dun’s “Desert Capriccio” (CD4-32). Identify the Western influences (characteristics) on this work. What are the Chinese elements of this work?

The Tiananmen Square Protests in Beijing, China 1989

New York Times Article from June 4, 1989 - "Demonstrations by students and workers demanding greater democracy and an end to Government corruption . . ." (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

New York Times Article from June 4, 1989 - "CRACKDOWN IN BEIJING" (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Chinese troops fire on protesters in Tiananmen Square - BBC News (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

The Tiananmen Square massacre is remembered 25 years on . . .  (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Rocking Chinese Music: Cui Jian 

The Chinese rock star Cui Jian (Tsway Jee-en) has been described by author and musician Dennis Rea as Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Kurt Cobain all rolled into one, a one-man rock and roll revolution whose poignant songs of alienation spoke volumes to a generation searching for meaning in a rapidly changing and increasingly globalized China. The same year as the Tiananmen Square uprisings, 1989, witnessed the release of Cui Jian’s most successful and influential album, Rock ‘n’ Roll on the New Long March. It is usually described as the first Chinese rock album.  

Cui Jian

23. Click on the link below and listen to and briefly describe what you notice in "Nothing to My Name" from Cui's Rock ‘n’ Roll on the New Long March.  List the instruments being played, and describe the mood being conveyed?

Cui Jian - Nothing to My Name (崔健 - 一无所有)Links to an external site. Throughout the song, the narrator addresses an unidentified girl, asking "When will you come with me", and lamenting the fact that she laughs at him for having nothing to his name. He tells her he wants to give her his hopes and bring her freedom, that "the earth is turning under your feet" and "the waters of life are flowing free", yet she persists in scorning him. He asks why she laughs at the pack he carries on his back, and he wonders why he keeps on going, with nothing to his name. At last, he tells her that he has waited for a long time, and that this is his final plea: he wants to grab her by the hands, to "take you away with me". As he sees her hands tremble, and her eyes "overflow with tears", he asks her, "Do you really mean to tell me, you love me as I am?"

University of Florida scholar Jonathan Matusitz describes the song's lyrics as a means of expressing politically sensitive ideas that could not be stated through any other medium. In this interpretation, the lyrics near the beginning, "I've asked you without end / When will you go with me / But you always laughed at me / for having nothing to my name" ("我曾经问个不休/你何时跟我走/可你却总是笑我/一无所有") are taken to express the "humiliation and lack of individuality, possession, and personal freedom",the "sense of loss and disorientation" among China's youth in the 1980s. 

Ethnomusicologist Timothy Brace has described this common analysis of the song lyrics as "recasting the setting of this piece from that of a boy talking to his girlfriend to that of a youthful generation talking to the nation as a whole."

24. What role did Cui Jian play in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests? Which of Cui Jian's songs was adopted as an unofficial anthem of the Chinese democracy movement?

 “Music from the Muqam,” Deng Haiqiong, CD ex. # 4-33

 “Music from the Muqam” is a composition for solo zheng with drum accompaniment created by three Han Chinese composers from the far northwestern region of China officially called Xinjiang, but referred to by Uighur nationalists as East Turkistan or Uighuristan. Although the composers are not Uighurs, they have studied and researched the muqam traditions extensively. 25. Listen to “Music from the Muqam,” Deng Haiqiong, CD ex. # 4-33 and use the following chart to record your observations.

26. According to the composers, which elements of “Music from the Muqam” represent traditional Uighur music? Which elements show the influence of the virtuosic conservatory style of zheng music? Which elements show Western influences?

Jay Chou 周杰倫 (born in 1979)  - amazing Taiwanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and director.

27. Click below to view, listen, and write a musical and reflective response to each of the following videos by Jay Chou:

a)

Jay Chou improvising on piano (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

b)

Jay Chou -  What Kind of Man?  (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

c)

Jay Chou -  Moulin Rouge  (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

d)

Jay Chou - Chrysanthemum Platform (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

e)

Jay Chou - piano battle from "Secret" (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Chapter 13 Music Journal  Part 3: Reflections