Chinese MusicChapter 13

Deng Haiqiong (Haiqiong Deng)

Internationally renowned zheng (guzheng) virtuosohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMgrTaKdFyM

Director of FSU Chinese Music Ensemble

Zheng, History, PoliticsChapter focus: “a particular instrument, the zheng, which

we will discuss through the lens of Chinese history and the political movements and ideologies that have shaped it.” Dynastic era

Qin (3rd century BCE) Han (202 BCE-220 CE) Tang (618-907) Ming (1368-1644) Qing (1644-1911)

Republican Era (1912-1949)Communist Era

Initial Communist period (1949-1965) Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) Period of Openness\Internationalization (1980-pres.)

The ZhengFigure 13.1 – Labeled Diagram (p. 324)

Board zither21 nylon/metal stringsMovable bridges

Musical Guided Tour (transcript, pp. 325-26) Tunings, playing techniques and textures,

ornamentationgua-zou = glissando

The Zheng in Imperial ChinaQin (3rd c. BCE)

Legend of “dispute” (= zheng) between two sisters in imperial palace In their fight, 25-string zheng broken in half. One “half

instrument,” with 13 strings, sent by Qin emperor to imperial court of Japan, became koto; the other, with 12 strings, sent to court of Korea, became kayagum.

Koto Kayagum CD 2-1 – traditional CD 4-24 Rin’s Sakitama – contemporary

Japan/Korea: Koto and kayagumKoto – “Tori no Yo ni (You ni)” (Like a Bird), composed by

Sawai Tadao (same piece as CD 2-1)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hojU-Q9-LZo

Sankyoku (koto, shamisen, shakuhachi) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwCuI3Xn7_E

Rin “Sakitama” music video(recording CD 4-24) Also features the biwa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICkPs-xlgpY

Kayagum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TrWww6lR_s

Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220CE)Zheng had mixed reputation – “vulgar” for some,

high moral character for others Solo tradition of zheng playing may date back to this

era, though mainly an ensemble instrument. Confucius, Confucianism, and the qin (zither)

Moral virtue as “right” social order Proper music/instruments for each social class Junzi “superior individuals” (though not necessarily by

birth!) Seven-string qin (guqin) zither the instrument of choice for

junzi Confucius himself played the qin CD 4-25 – solo qin performance (melody based on ancient

Buddhist chant)

Clockwise: Qin; koto, qin … kayagum; zheng

Junzi playing the qin(Could it be…Confucius?)

Qin videos“Remember Old Friends,” perf. by Deng

Haiqionghttps://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMgrTaKdFyMFrom 8:20-end of the video (which is a TV

profile of Haiqiong) Tao-Chu Shen qin performance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvhKTFzQG8Y

Fight scene (Jet Li vs. Donnie Yen) from Hero (2004) https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeeoEpmyb2Y

Tang Dynasty (618-907) Another golden age for ChinaZheng reached its apogee during this period

Music ministry – 30,000 musicians and dancers from throughout empire employed

Zheng In many different ensembles elaborate decoration (silver-engraved frames, jade

bridges), earliest known examples of notation Women performers (continuing association) – Emperor

XuanzongSilk Road – pipa and other instruments brought to

China (CD 4-26 – zheng, pipa duet)

Silk Road Ensemble

Wu Man (pipa) and Kayan Kalhor (kamanche) of the Silk Road Ensemble, directed by Yo-Yo Ma.

Ming and Qing dynasty Chinese opera

Peking (Beijing) opera Traditional

Golden age, early 20th century (late Qing – Republican era)

Revolutionary (Communist era/Cultural Revolution)

Peking Opera examples UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage “Peking

Opera” videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtV3iAuYN48

The Red Lantern (Legend of the Red Lantern) -- Revolutionary/Model Opera – 1964) Plot: three generations in family of Chinese

revolutionaries, China-Japan war (1937-1945) CD 1-5 (vocalist Wei Li) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0mtijWiR6g

Leehom Wang “Mistake in the Flower Fields” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSNVCPkNl4U

Regional Styles: Traditional Solo Zheng Music Crystallized late Qing dynasty era (mid/late 19th c.)

Shandong, Henan, etc.Each regional style: distinctive yun (regional character)Deng Haiqiong studied Shandong style w. Gao Zicheng

“Autumn Moon over the Han Palace” (CD 4-27; pp. 332-34)Baban form -- length per cycle 68 ban (1 ban = ban +

yan) 8 phrases per cycle All phrases 8 ban in length, except Phrase 5 (12 ban) Yijing of sadness (but complex – “gentle, moderate, controlled”) Intricate ornamentation of melody 16 steel-stringed zheng (rather than 21 nylon-steel)

Communist EraConservatories and conservatory solo zheng tradition

actually hark back to Republican era, pre-communism (1912-1949)“Return of the Fishing Boats” (Lou Shuhua, 1936)

Communism: music overtly political, ideological, “On the Golden Hill in Beijing” (CD 4-28, sung by Li Xiuqin)Folkloric research, appropriation of “folk traditions,” and

harnessing of Western elements (compositional, piano/harp) all fed into solo zheng style “Spring on Snowy Mountains” (CD 4-29, pp. 338-40), comp. Fan

Shang’e Programmatic music “Tibetan” melody, revolutionary program, piano/harp techniques

(tremolos, arpeggiated chords, etc.)

“Fighting the Typhoon” OMI 26 (excerpt, performed by Deng HaiqiongClassic performance by the composer, Wang Chang Yuan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEvyu1rTOvM&index=34&list=RDiclV4wcVBQ8

…and from a more recent concert by WC“High Mountain, Flowing Water” https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=293&v=UBbUuvGl8kc

Period of Openness1976-1979 – Turbulent years following Mao’s

death (Gang of Four) 1980s – Deng Xiaoping ushers in “Period of

Openness”“Whatever they write or create can only be

investigated and resolved by artists. There will be no [political] interference in these matters.” (D. Xiaoping, 1979)

“Music from the Muqam CD 4-33 – “Music from the Muqam” (second half)

Based on Uighur musical tradition Word muqam related to Arabic maqam Mode/scale (D F# G A C) Five-beat meter (aksak = “limping” rhythms) Melodic ornamentation Elements of formal design

Chinese conservatory elements Profusely virtuosic style (e.g., gua-zou glissandi), and thus

Western influence Equal-tempered “translation” of the traditional Uighur mode Problems of musicultural appropriation (also Tibetans and

other “minority” groups in China)

Tan Dun Tan Dun

CD 4-32 – “Desert Capriccio” from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – featuring Yo-Yo Ma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhCHw0Ovqf4 (swordfight scene)

Other scores include Hero

Cui Jian“Nothing to My Name”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYwsPt854Xo&list=RDkYwsPt854Xo#t=21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvn8Ql5GOYA (live) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzNZKOZpoBU

(documentary)“Fake Monk” (w. zheng)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXbC2f1BV_Y featuring zheng)

Bei Bei CD 4-31 – “Hot Thursday” from Into the Wind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGZR8j5hh

jo (music video)