Where East Meets West:  Contemporary

Chinese Piano Music for the Studio & Concert Stage

 

 

 

MTNA National Conference-2009

Atlanta, Georgia

 

 

 

Dr. Scott Beard, NCTM

Associate Professor of Music

Shepherd University

 

 

 

 

 

BACKGROUND/HISTORY

 

The piano in China

vFirst contact with Western music around1600.

vVisiting Jesuits performed on spinets.

v1700: Italian composer sent by the Pope to work for the Emperor.

-The court regularly heard western music and instruments.

vLate 1800s:  Notation using numbers developed for traditional Chinese Instruments.

vEarly 20th Century:  Russian & Jewish exiles are responsible for the spread of Western

             music to intellectuals and upper classes.

v1919-1949: Republican Period-introduction of Western style music.

vPiano is a prized possession for the middle class and intellectuals.

vCultural Revolution:

-Piano is a symbol of the capitalist spirit.

-Composition is restricted.

-National music is created.

 

INFLUENCES

vFolk Music:  Vocal & Instrumental: traditional instruments

vInstrumental Music: solo, small & large ensembles

vTraditional Cultural Festivals

vAesthetics & Philosophy

vLiterature

vNature:  Pastoral scenes (shepherd), Moon, Sun, Clouds, Thunder, Birds & other

    animals, Flowers

 

CHARACTERISTICS OF CHINESE PIANO MUSIC

vPentatonic Scale

vPrevalent use of 4ths, 5ths, 7ths and 2nds.

vPercussive effects (drums, gongs, cymbals).

vLayers of sound (orchestral).

vUnique synthesis of styles:  Bi-musicality

vMotoric Rhythms

vImprovisatory Elements (lack of barlines)

vInfluence of Folk Songs

–-Prevalence of Transcriptions

vColoristic harmonies

-Sometimes impressionistic, sometimes jazzy!

vUsually mono-thematic.

vPoints of imitation or canonic sections.

vHighly sectionalized-clear delineations.

vSectional developments in different speeds.

vEmbellishment of the melodic line on important notes.

vExtended sections in unison (orchestral influence)

vUse of trills (imitation of flutes/birdcalls)

 

 

 

SPECIFIC WORKS

 

Sliver Clouds Chasing the Moon by Wang Jian Zhong

vTypical transcription of a traditional folksong.

vPentatonic within A Major tonality.

vClearly delineated formal sections.

vEach verse of the tune is restated in a different way.

 

Tan Dun:  Eight Memories in Watercolor (1978; later revised)

vPremiered at the Kennedy Center by Lang Lang in 2001.

vEight short pieces that make an attractive addition to the concert repertoire.

vTextures are sparse at times, with most of the issues being those of sound and musical choices.

 

Eight Memories in Watercolor: #1

vMissing moon

-Improvisatory elements

-Pentatonic Scale

-Coloristic/jazzy harmonic inflections.

-Percussive effects.

 

Eight Memories in Watercolor: #3, #4

vHerdboys Song

-Improvisatory RH

-Pentatonic Scale

-Interesting rhythmic combinations.

-Percussive effects.

vBlue Nun

-Pentatonic Scale

-Use of canon.

-Delicate (transparent) textures are used in both pieces.

 

Dew-Fall-Drops

vUse of a pitch set.

vAvant garde techniques (use of amplification; non-traditional use of the piano)

vInfluence of traditional instruments: Pipa (lute)

 

 

did you see the sound?

hear the shape

catch the wind

can you write it on the sky?

the tree wants to rest

but the wind never stops

 

------TAN DUN:  Before and after the Dew-Fall-Drops

 

 

 

 

SPECIFIC WORKS, continued

 

Chen Yi:  Guessing (1989)

vMelodic material from popular Chinese folk song.

vAntiphonal qualities (vocal music)

vPentatonic and intervallic characteristics.

vMore advanced rhythms.

vPercussive effects.

vElements of the melodic material become the accompaniment.

 

Chen Yi:  Ba-Ban (1999)

vInterdisciplinary intersection of philosophy & music.

vTHE NUMBER 8: related to cultural idioms of Yijing (yin-yang).

v8 Lines of divination in yin-yang.

v8 hierarchies nature and personalities:

-Wind and wood

-Rain and water

-Sun and fire

-Mountain and marsh

v8 standard strokes in calligraphy.

vComplete integration of folk materials with western compositional techniques & piano writing.

vPitch material from the folk song.

vUse of 12-tone row & 5-tone pitch set.

vThe folk tune has 8 phrases, each phrase containing 8 beats

vRhythmic grouping of the 8 beats is random, freely mixing groupings of 2, 3, 4 or 5. (found in the coda).

 

CLOSING WORKS

Floating Clouds (#7) &  Sunrain (#8) Eight Memories in Watercolor by Tan Dun

 

 

Works performed in their entirety or in excerpts:

Staccato Beans (#2) from Eight Memories in Watercolor by Tan Dun

Buffalo Boys Flute by He Luting

Thunder Drum by Li-Ly Chang

Island Watch by Li-Ly Chang

Shepherds Joy by Lao Chih-Cheng

Silver Clouds Chasing The Moon by Wang Jian Zhong

from Eight Memories in Watercolor by Tan Dun, #1-#4, #7, #8

Dew-Fall-Drops by Tan Dun

Guessing by Chen Yi

Ba Ban by Chen Yi

 

 

RESOURCES

 

Composers

Tan Dun ( b. 1957):  www.tandunonline.com

Wang Lsian (b. 1933): http://www- rcf.usc.edu/~echew/projects/ChineseMusic

                          /composers/wang_lisan.html

He-Luting:  (1903-1999):  www.wikipedia.com, www.youtube.com

Chen Yi (b. 1953): http://www.presser.com/Composers/info.cfm?Name=CHENYI

Lou Zhong (b. 1953): http://www.oup.co.uk/music/repprom/zhoulong/

Wang Jian Zhong (b. 1933):  see Chinese Music Society site

 

Web Resources

Association for Asian Studies: http://www.aasianst.org/

Chinese Music Society:  http://chinesemusic.net

Living Composers Project: http://composers21.com/

Music from China: http://www.musicfromchina.org/

European Foundation for Chinese Music Research: http://home.planet.nl/~chime/

 

Selected Bibliography

 

Chen, Jie.  Chinese Piano Favorites.  (2003).  [lcd recording:  liner notes]. 

Naxos:  8.570602, 2003.

 

Chew, Elaine.   An Essay on Wang Lisans Impressions of Paintings by

Higashiya Kaii. (2002).  Paper presentation at the 17th International Musicological Society Conference.

 

Cheung, Pang Jane.  An analysis of selected piano works of Wang Li-san.

(1996).  Dissertation, New York University.

 

Deschnes, Bruno.  Chinese composer Tan Dun Fuses Old and New. (2004).

La scena musicale, Vol. 9, No. 5 (February 4, 2004).

 

Deschnes, Bruno.  Where East meets West:  Contemporary Chinese Music.  

(2004).  La scena musicale, Vol. 9, No. 5 (February 11, 2004).

 

Kagan, Alan.  Chinese Music.  (2008).Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. 

Http://gem.grolier.cm

 

 

Selected Bibliography

 

Kraus, Richard.  Pianos and Politics in China:  Middle-Class Ambitions and the

Struggle over Western Music. (1989).  New York:  Oxford University

Press,

 

Li, Xiaole.  Chen Yis piano solo music:  Chinese aesthetics and Western models. 

(2003).  Dissertation, University of Hawaii.

 

Liston, Lyn and Oteri, Frank.  He said, she said:  Zhou Long and Chen Yi. New

Music Box.  (2006).   (web magazine from The American Music Center), http://www.newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=4740  (August, 2006).

 

Melvin, Shelia.  Rhapsody in Red:  How Western Classical Music Became

Chinese.  (2004).   New York:  Algora Publishing.

 

Teng, Teresa.  Melodious Songs for the Moon Festival. 

http://english.cri.cn/4026/2007/09/26/1361@227963.htm

 

Wang, Rong Sheng.  A Study of Five Chinese piano pieces with a review of the

introduction and development of the piano in China. (1995).  Dissertation,

Ball State University.

 

Yi, Chen.  Piano Concerto (original composition). (1993).   Dissertation, Columbia

University.

 

Zwilich, Ellen, ed.  The Carnegie Hall Millennium Piano Book, Notes from the

Composers.  (1999).   New York:  J. W. Pepper.