Chapter 3 Jiangnan Sizhu (江南絲竹) and Cantonese
Changjiang (長江). Jiangnan sizhu is a genre of ensemble music flourished in the south of Changjiang, particularly the coastal areas, including southern Jiangsu (江 蘇), Anhui (安徽), Shanghai and Zhejiang (浙江). The history of jiangnan sizhu can be dated back to the mid-nineteenth century. There is a close relationship between jiangnan sizhu and the silk and bamboo music of shifan gongs and drums (十番鑼鼓) and shifan drums (十番鼓) popular in Wuxi (無錫) of the Jiangsu province. The subsequent absorption and changes helped to create the present genre of jiangnan sizhu.
The melody of many pieces of jiangnan sizhu is familiar to Chinese people of the present generation. Listen to an excerpt from Dance of a Golden Snake ( 金 蛇 狂 舞 ) (CD 1-13) performed by a modern Chinese orchestra and the traditional jiangnan sizhu piece Fan Obliterates Gong (凡忘工) (CD 2-1), and you will discover their close relationship.
When the present writer started to learn the dizi (笛子) in Hong Kong, Old Six Beats (老六板) was an obligatory piece to be played at an elementary level.
Having progressed to a certain level, we were required to learn Song of Joy (歡樂 歌) (CD2-2) and Street Procession (行街). When I was studying at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (香港演藝學院) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong ( 香 港 中 文 大 學 ), I learned Medium Ornamented Six Beats (中花六 板) and Four Together, As You Please (四合如意). Therefore, popular jiangnan sizhu pieces from Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang are in fact familiar to students learning Chinese instruments in Hong Kong.
1. The Combination of “Silk” and “Bamboo”
“Silk” ( 絲 ) represents string instruments, and “bamboo” ( 竹 ) represents wind instruments. Commonly used instruments in jiangnan sizhu include string and wind instruments, as well as percussion instruments like paiban (拍 板 , clapper), biqigu ( 荸 薺 鼓 , water chestnut drum)9 and bangzi (梆子,
9 Biqigu (荸薺鼓), also called diangu (點鼓), is a popular percussion instrument in jiangnan sizhu. It
woodblock). The leading instruments of jiangnan sizhu are the erhu (二胡) and dizi (笛子), and the secondary instruments are the pipa (琵琶), yangqin (揚琴), small sanxian (小三弦) and sheng (笙), etc. The percussion marks the tempo and the beat. Refer to Table 3.1 for the main “silk” and “bamboo” instruments used in jiangnan sizhu.
Table 3.1
The Main “Silk” and “Bamboo” Instruments Used in Jiangnan Sizhu String Instruments Wind Instruments
Erhu (二胡) Dizi (笛子)
Fanhu (反胡) Xiao (簫)
Pipa (琵琶) Sheng (笙)
Qinqin (秦琴)
Small sanxian (小三弦)
2. The “Eight Famous Pieces” of Jiangnan Sizhu
There are many pieces in the genre of jiangnan sizhu. Among them, eight are particularly popular, namely Medium Ornamented Six Beats ( 中 花 六 板 ), Three Six ( 三 六 ), Street Procession ( 行 街 ), Song of Joy ( 歡 樂 歌 ), Cloud Celebration (雲慶), Four Together, As You Please (四合如意), Slow Six Beats (慢 六板), and Slow Three Six (慢三六). They are called “The Eight Famous Pieces of Jiangnan Sizhu” (江南絲竹八大曲). Several of these pieces have similar titles since they are developed from the same “mother piece” (母曲, muqu) through
“adding flowers” (加花, jiahua). The “mother piece” means the original tune.
Old Six Beats (老六板) is the most famous and popular mother piece. It is called “Six Beats” since there are sixty beats in this piece, or the equivalence of sixty bars in modern notation. Medium Ornamented Six Beats (中花六板) and Slow Six Beats (慢六板) are both developed from Six Beats. Three Six (三六) and Slow Three Six (慢三六) are in the family of Three Six. Table 3.2 lists the relationship of the “Eight Famous Pieces” and their mother pieces.
Table 3.2
The “Mother Pieces,” “Eight Famous Pieces” and Related Pieces in Jiangnan Sizhu (Adapted from Witzleben (1995:64))
Mother Piece Six Beats (六板)
Three Six (三六)
Four Together (四合)
Song of Joy (歡樂歌) Eight Famous
Pieces
Medium
Ornamented Six Beats
(中花六板) Slow Six Beats (慢六板)
Three Six (三六)
Slow Three Six (慢三六)
Four Together, As You Please (四合如意) Street Procession (行街) Cloud Celebration (雲慶)
Song of Joy (歡樂歌)
Related Pieces Old Six Beats (老六板) Fast Six Beats (快六板) Ornamented Six Beats
(花六板) Medium Tempo Ornamented Six (中板花六) Double
Ornamented Six Beats
(花花六板) Triple
Ornamented Six (三花六) Fragrant Wind Tune
(薰風曲)
Three Playings of Plum Blossoms (梅花三弄) Ornamented Three Six (花三六) Three Six Beats (三六板) Original Ban Three Six (原板三六) Plum Blossoms Three Six (梅花三六)
Four
Together, As You Please (四合如意) Four Together Beats (四合板)
Original Ban Four
Together (原板四合) Ornamented Ban Four Together (花板四合) Street Procession, Four Together (行街四合) Street Procession, Three Six (行街三六)
Medium Ornamented Six Beats and Slow Six Beats are developed from Old Six Beats through a process called “fangman jiahua” (放慢加花, literally
Three Six through a similar process.
If we listen to pieces of jiangnan sizhu casually, we may find that they are more or less the same. However, different performing groups have different approaches to the way of “adding flowers.”
The pieces of jiangnan sizhu use a metrical system called “banyan” (板眼).
The “ban” ( 板 ) is a strong beat while the “yan” ( 眼 ) is a weak beat. The patterns generally found in jiangnan sizhu are “one ban followed by one yan” (一 板一眼) (similar to the time found in Western classical music) and “one ban followed by three yans” (一板三眼) (similar to the time).
For example, the metrical pattern of Old Six Beats is “one ban followed by one yan.” Medium Ornamented Six Beats is developed from Old Six Beats to
“one ban followed by three yans” through the process of fangman jiahua.
3. Heterophony in Jiangnan Sizhu
In performances of modern Chinese orchestra, there are more than one player for each type of instrument, and the musicians are expected to play according to the notated score. In contrast to this situation, there is generally only one player for each type of instrument in the performance of traditional jiangnan sizhu. Improvisation is an important feature in performing this genre and interactions among different players in the ensemble are essential. All the players of the ensemble are performing the same skeletal melody (骨幹旋律), but each player will add extra notes through a process called “jiahua” (加花, literally meaning “adding flowers”).
The way of “adding flowers” varies in different performances. For example, if the erhu (二胡) player is “adding flowers” in a highly ornamented manner, the dizi (笛子) player will “add flowers” in a reduced manner (減花, literally meaning
“subtracting flowers”). If the pipa (琵琶) player is performing in a high register, the small sanxian (小三弦) player will play in a lower register. This kind of co-operation is a common practice in the performance of jiangnan sizhu.
The simultaneous performance of a skeletal melody by different instruments
with different ways of “adding flowers” and “subtracting flowers” creates a texture called “heterophony” (支聲複調). Figure 3.1 illustrates how heterophony works.
Figure 3.1 Old Six Beats and Its Ornamented Versions
Line a Line b Line c
The melody of Line a in Figure 3.1 shows bars 1-8 from Old Six Beats (老六 板). This is the skeletal melody. Line b is a melody ornamented by the process of
“adding flowers.” Some beats originally having two quavers are now having four semiquavers, or having a dotted rhythm. Line c is even more ornamented.
The number of notes in Lines b and c is more than that of Line a, but they keep Line a as the skeletal melody.
4. Jiangnan Sizhu in Hong Kong
The type of traditional Chinese instrumental ensemble music predominant in Hong Kong is Cantonese music. Jiangnan sizhu is not as popular as Cantonese music. In the early years, pipa performer Lui Pui-yuen (呂培原, 1933- ) and his instrumental group gave some performances of jiangnan sizhu in Hong Kong. In the late 1970s, erhu maestro Tang Liang-de (湯良德) moved from Beijing to Hong Kong and was in charge of the Chinese Music Section of the Music Office (音樂事務統籌處). Jiangnan sizhu thus began to flourish in Hong Kong.
Most students of Chinese instruments in the Music Office have had a chance to learn jiangnan sizhu since then.
There is training on jiangnan sizhu at the Hong Kong Academy for
in the Academy, is a former student of Tang Liang-de. There was also a Chinese instrumental group at the Music Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong which was supervised by J. Lawrence Witzleben ( 韋 慈 朋 ) who studied in Shanghai. Witzleben retired from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2007.
Witzleben (1951- ) is a renowned ethnomusicologist with a focus on Chinese music. In the late 1970s, he studied for his Master’s degree in ethnomusicology at the University of Hawaii, and the area of his thesis is the gaohu (高胡) used in Cantonese music. He came to Hong Kong to learn the gaohu with the maestro Loo Kah-chi (盧家熾). Subsequently he learned jiangnan sizhu in Shanghai for writing his doctoral dissertation. He learned the erhu (二胡), dizi (笛子), zheng (箏), etc., as well as the performance practice and style of jiangnan sizhu at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In 1995, he published the book “Silk and Bamboo” Music in Shanghai: The Jiangnan Sizhu Instrumental Ensemble Tradition (江南絲竹音樂在上海). This book has become an essential reading for students doing research on Chinese music both in China and abroad.