What we mean by “solo tradition” in this chapter refers to the performance practice and musical style of a particular instrument. Before the twentieth century, the concept of “traditional solo” refers to the repertoires of the qin and pipa.
These repertoires have their own melody writing practice, musical form and a long history of score transmission.
As for other Chinese instruments, such as the erhu and dizi, they were mainly used in traditional ensemble, Chinese opera or narrative singing before the second half of the twentieth century. They only began to develop a solo tradition in the mid-twentieth century.
From the mid-twentieth century on, all kinds of Chinese instruments have undergone big changes in their shape, timbre and repertoire. Composers and performers have adopted the aesthetics, timbres, tuning system and formal structures of Western classical music. They have “improved” the instruments, composed music of the solo repertoire, and established a new system of aesthetic value and musical style for the solo tradition.
In the past twenty years, examination systems for Chinese instruments have been established. There are now examinations offered by the Central Conservatory
of Music (中央音樂學 院), the China Conservatory of Music ( 中 國音樂學 院 ), and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (上海音樂學院) for almost all kinds of Chinese instruments used in the modern Chinese orchestra. The set pieces for these examinations number to over a thousand in total. Nowadays, in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South East Asia, numerous Chinese instrumental classes are offered in tertiary institutes, primary and secondary schools, and by amateur groups. It is now essential to learn the solo pieces in learning a Chinese instrument, and the transmission of Chinese instrumental music has been based on this solo tradition.
Listening Guide
2.1 Sigh of Ailment (病中吟) (CD 1-7) Information of the Recording
Composer: Liu Tian-hua (劉天華, 1895-1932) Performer: Jiang Feng-zhi (蔣風之, 1908-1986)
Title of the Record: Centenary Commemoration of the Birth of LIU Tian-hua, 1895-1995 (劉天華：誕辰百週年紀念專集 1895-1995) (ROI, 1994)
Listening Guide
Sigh of Ailment describes the composer’s suffering of the uncertainty about his future. It was first sketched in 1915 and was finished around 1918. It describes the composer’s depressed state due to his poverty, illness, the situation of jobless, as well as his struggle for the unfulfilled desire. The piece is written in ternary form with a coda. The tempi of the sections are in the order slow-fast-slow-fast. In listening to this piece, note the changes in tempo as well as the markings of slurs.
Section and Description of the Music 0:00 Section A, slow
There is a ritard. at 2:59, and then the first tempo is resumed.
3:12 Section B, faster
There is an accelerando at 3:38, and then the music slows down at the end of this section.
3:52 Section A, slow
Materials from the first section reappear in the beginning of this section.
4:38 Coda, fast
There is a ritard. and a descending glissando of a twelfth near the end. A few trills end the piece.
2.2 Wubangzi (五梆子) (CD 1-8) Information of the Recording
Performed by: Du Chong (杜沖) (solo dizi 笛子) and the Ensemble of Shanghai Musicians (上海音樂家小組) (sheng 笙 and percussion 敲擊)
Title of the Record: Fernleaf Hedge Bamboo under the Moonlight: Selected Chinese Wind Pieces (月光下的鳳尾竹：中國吹管樂精 選) (ROI, 1993)
Recorded in 1993 Listening Guide
This piece is an arrangement of the Hebei folk instrumental fixed tune Pengbangzi (碰梆子) arranged by the dizi performer Feng Zi-cun (馮子存). Its score first appeared in Selected Dizi Pieces by Feng Zi-cun (馮子存笛子曲選) published by the People’s Music Publisher (人民音樂出版社) in November 1958.
Wubangzi is a representative piece of the bangdi (梆笛). It is in variation form and is divided into four sections. Different sections are based on the same tune, but they differ in the rhythm, tempo and dynamics. Various kinds of tonguing and finger techniques are exploited in this piece. In listening to this piece, note the variations in the first eight bars of each variation, and the gradual increase in tempo and the changes in mood created by the different blowing and finger techniques.
Section and Description of the Music 0:00 Theme (The First Section)
Begins slowly, and then gets faster.
1:11 Variation 1 (The Second Section)
A rather fast moderato. The tempo gets a little bit faster at 1:41.
1:54 Variation 2 (The Third Section)
Allegro
2:22 Variation 3 (The Fourth Section)
A very fast allegro.
2.3 New Tunes of the Herdsmen (牧民新歌) (CD 1-9)
Information of the Recording
Composer: Jian Guang-yi (簡廣易, 1944-2000)
Performed by: Jian Guang-yi (dizi 笛子) and the Traditional Orchestra of the Central Conservatory of Music (中央音樂學院民族管 弦樂團)
Title of the Record: Fernleaf Hedge Bamboo under the Moonlight:
Selected Chinese Wind Pieces (月光下的鳳尾竹：
中國吹管樂精選) (ROI, 1993) Recorded in 1993
Listening Guide
This piece for solo dizi was composed by the dizi performer Jian Guang-yi ( 簡 廣 易 ) in 1966 when he was living in the Inner Mongolia. The
accompaniment was written in collaboration with Wang Zhi-wei (王志偉). This piece is based on tunes of Inner Mongolian folk songs, and the solo dizi depicts the scenery of the grassland of Inner Mongolia.
This piece is divided into five sections: 1. a broad introduction; 2. a sentimental adagio; 3. a lively allegretto; 4. an allegro largamente; 5. a presto animato.
In listening to this piece, note the ornaments of the intervals of a second and a third, the triple-tonguing technique used in the third section and the change of mode from the la mode (羽調式) to the do mode (宮調式) in the middle of the piece.
Most modern pieces for Chinese instruments have Western tempo and expression marks, which are not likely to be found in traditional pieces.
Traditional pieces more often have programmatic subtitles.
Section Description of the Music 0:00 Introduction
(ad. libitum, broad)
In la mode (羽調式). The scenery of grassland is portrayed by imitating the large-scale folk song of Mongolia (蒙古長調), with the dizi playing ornaments of the interval of a third, and the use of free rhythm and harmonics. The zhonghu (中胡) imitates the matouqin (馬頭琴), a Mongolian bowed string instrument, with glissando of the interval of a third.
1:33 Adagio
(slow, sentimental)
The main theme. The sleigh bells (馬鈴) and the Chinese woodblock (木魚) imitate the sound of horse gallop. The melody of the dizi has a Mongolian flavour, playing trills and dayins (打音, a lower ornamental note between two notes of the same pitch) of the intervals of a second, a third or wider ones.
2:54 Allegretto
(a little faster, lively)
The herdsmen’s horse riding is depicted by triple -tonguing of the dizi, accompanied by the sleigh bells and the Chinese woodblock.
3:51 Allegro largamente (proudly)
The melody played by the dizi is a drawn-out tune.
The music is in do mode (宮調式), in contrast with the preceding la mode (羽調式).
4:27 Presto animato (more animated)
The music returns to the la mode. The neigh of the horse is depicted by the flutter-tonguing (花 舌) and feizhi (飛指, the fingers of one hand move to and fro quickly over the holes while another hand is holding the instrument) of the dizi (4:46).
The piece ends with rhythmic figurations of demisemiquavers played by the dizi.
2.4 Bright Spring, White Snow (陽春白雪) (CD 1-10)
Information of the Recording
Performer: Lui Pui-yuan (呂培原, 1933- )
Title of the Record: Three Variations of Plum Blossom: Pipa: LUI Pui-yuan (梅花三 弄：呂培原琵琶獨奏) (ROI, 1993)
Recorded in 1993
Listening Guide
Bright Spring, White Snow (陽春白雪) is also called The Ancient Tune of Bright Spring (陽春古曲). It has a lively flowing rhythm and depicts the season in which the winter has gone and the spring is coming, the flowers and grasses are budding and the whole world is having a rebirth. The most popular version of this piece is transmitted by Li Fang-yuan (李芳園) and Shen Hao-chu (沈浩初) and the number of sections varies from ten to t w e l v e . This version is known as The Large-scale Bright Spring (大陽春).
The recording of this piece accompanying this book is based on a version transmitted by the pipa performer Wang Yu-ting (汪昱庭) and consists of seven sections. It is also called The Small-scale Bright Spring (小陽春) or Fast Bright Spring (快板陽春). It is developed from the traditional tune Old Six Beats ( 老 六 板 ) and is in the form of “exposition-continuation-change-conclusion” (起承轉 合) (see Chapter 4). Every section begins with materials from Old Six Beats.
This way of unifying a piece by employing similar materials at the beginning of different sections is called hetou (合頭, literally “unified head”).
In listening to this piece, note the technique of hetou. The following score compares the beginning phrase of Old Six Beats and Bright Spring, White Snow.
The beginning 16 beats of the folk tune Old Six Beats:
The beginning of the first section of The Small-scale Bright Spring transmitted by Wang Yu-ting:
Section Title Structure Description of the Music 0:00 Be the Best One
(獨佔鰲頭)
Exposition (起) A variation of Old Six Beats (see the score above).
0:30 The Wind Blowing the Lotus
(風擺荷花)
Continuation (承) The tempo gets a little faster. This section begins with the notes from Old Six Beats (a technique called hetou 合頭).
0:57 A Bright Moon (一輪明月)
1:22 Buddhists Sitting in Deep Meditation (玉版參禪)
Change (轉) The rhythmic intensity gets lower at 1:35.
1:50 The Sound of Horse Galloping (鐵策板聲) 2:19 Music from a
Monastery (道院琴聲)
The tempo gets faster. There is a series of harmonics (泛音) , producing the effect of “large and small pearls falling on a jade plate” (大珠小珠落玉盤) described by the poet Bai Ju-yi (白居易) of the Tang Dynasty.
2:39 The Cranes Crying on the Eastern Bank (東皋鶴鳴)
Conclusion (合) The tempo gets even faster. The hetou technique is used again. In the coda beginning at 2:58, the tempo gets slow and then accelerates till the end of the piece.
2.5 An Evening Song from a Fishing Junk at Sunset (漁舟唱晚) (CD 1-11)
Information of the Recording
Arranged by: Lou Shu-hua (婁樹華, 1907-1952) Performer: Wang Zhong-shan (王中山)
Title of the Record: Zheng Concerto and Other Pieces of WANG Zhong-shan, Vol.
2 (王中山古箏獨奏專輯 (二)：岳飛) (ROI, 1997) Recorded in 1995
Listening Guide
An Evening Song from a Fishing Junk at Sunset ( 漁 舟 唱 晚 ) is an arrangement of the ancient piece Returning Home after Resigning (歸去來辭) arranged by the zheng (古箏) performer Lou Shu-hua (婁樹華) of the Henan (河 南) school in the 1930s. The title comes from two sentences from the prose Foreword to the Emperor Teng Pavilion (滕王閣序) by the poet Wang Bo (王勃) of the Tang Dynasty. These two sentences are translated as “An evening song from a fishing junk at sunset resonates in the shores of Peng and Li” (漁舟唱晚，響窮 彭蠡之濱).
This piece depicts the scenery of the returning of fishing junks to the shores at sunset with the fishermen singing. It is divided into two sections and a coda. The first section is slow, the second section is fast while the coda is freer in tempo. In listening to this piece, note the change in tempo in the second section.
Section Description of the Music
0:00 Section 1 (Slow) A beautiful melody in pentatonic scale in the sol mode (徵調式).
2:46 Section 2 (Fast) A 22-bar passage (2:46-3:17) is repeated twice (beginning at 3:17 and 3:32 respectively) with the tempo getting faster and faster.
3:55 Coda (Free Tempo) The piece ends in the do mode (宮調式), giving the audience a feeling of incompleteness.
2.6 A Battle against the Typhoon (戰颱風) (CD 1-12)
Information of the Recording
Composer: Wang Chang-yuan (王昌元, 1946- ) Performer: Wang Zhong-shan (王中山)
Title of the Record: Zheng Concerto and Other Pieces of WANG Zhong-shan, Vol. 2 (王中山古箏獨奏專輯 (二)：岳飛) (ROI, 1997)
Recorded in 1995 Listening Guide
A Battle against the Typhoon ( 戰 颱 風 ) is a piece for solo zheng ( 箏 ) composed by the zheng performer Wang Chang-yuan (王昌元) in 1965. It depicts the struggle of pier workers against the typhoon.
This piece is divided into five sections. In listening to this piece, note the depiction of the strong wind and heavy rain in the second section with the use of glissando (刮奏), as well as the variation technique used in the third section.
Section Description of the Music
0:00 Section 1, Fast Music with strong momentum, depicting the work of pier workers.
0:34 Section 2, Freely A depiction of the typhoon with abundant use of glissandi.
1:08 Section 3, Fast A depiction of the struggle against strong wind and heavy rain. Variation technique is employed, with the use of different rhythmic motives.
3:03 Section 4, Moderate tempo
Another scene of the struggle against the typhoon, with the melody in the high register and the tempo moderate. This section is in contrast with the preceding and following sections.
4:13 Section 5, Fast Reappearance of the materials of the first section, depicting the resumption of normal work of the pier workers after the typhoon.
Extended Knowledge
2.1 The Society for the Advancement of National Music (國樂改進社)
Liu Tian-hua (劉天華) and thirty-four persons from the music circle founded the Society for the Advancement of National Music (國樂改進社) in 1927. The objective of the Society was to improve and popularise Chinese music. In its inauguration article, the Society’s members proposed “to do research on Chinese music with the help of Western music.” In the article “The Beginning of the Society for the Advancement of National Music” (國樂改進社緣起) published in the first issue of Vol. 1 of New Music Tide (新樂潮) (1927), they wrote, “We have to keep the essence of our national music but at the same time accept the influence of foreign music. We aim to open a new page of Chinese music by mixing Western and Eastern elements.”
This Society proposed to improve Chinese music with the help of Western music, and to create a new kind of art form. Its proposed activities include interviewing maestros of Chinese music, preserving existing pieces, scores and instruments, recording performances and transcribing the music. They also proposed to build archives and libraries to preserve Chinese instruments and books on Chinese music, and to adopt a worldwide universal notation system in the publication of Chinese music.
They also proposed to do research on the improvement of Chinese instruments, to make publications in order to popularise Chinese music, to establish music schools, and to found research institutes aiming at creating a new kind of Chinese music.
As the Society for the Advancement of National Music did not receive support from the government and the society, among its objectives, only the publication of a music magazine called Music Magazine (音樂雜誌) was realised.
After the passing away of Liu Tian-hua, even the publication of Music Magazine came to a halt. This Society aimed at revolutionising Chinese music.
Their proposals show the reflections of Chinese intellectuals on their own culture at a time of the influx of Western culture.
Another aim of the Society was to raise the self-esteem of Chinese people by popularising Chinese music. Its idea of “improving Chinese music” was not a “complete westernisation,” but rather a “fusion of Chinese and Western cultures.” The “improvement of Chinese music” was realised in the twentieth century in the improvement of Chinese instruments, the publication of music scores, the composing of new pieces, and the establishment of music conservatories.
2.2 The Early Improvement of Gongche Notation (工尺譜)
Liu Tian-hua (劉天華) combined Western music theory and Chinese music according to the doctrine “Chinese in essence, Western in practice” (中學為體、西 學為用). In the article “The Beginning of the Society for the Advancement of National Music” (國樂改進社緣起, 1927), he wrote, “[We aim at] improving the notation [of Chinese music] so that the worldwide universal system will be used.
We hope to record the details of performance on the score, publish systematic music scores so that people can use them as learning materials. We also hope to establish factories for making instruments and to improve Chinese instruments.”
The improvement on the notation of Chinese music and the improvement of Chinese instruments are important contributions made by Liu Tian-hua. In that era, Chinese music was most commonly notated in gongche notation (工尺 譜). (See Chapter 6 for the way in which gongche notation works.) Liu incorporated the ways of notating rhythm and fingerings in staff notation into gongche notation, and thus established a better notation system. His notation of New Year’s Eve (除夜小唱) (see p. 26 of the hardcopy of this book) is an example of the combination of Western and Chinese notation systems. He used Chinese words from gongche notation to notate the pitches, the beat notation system (叮板, dingban) from Chinese music to notate the beats, and the rhythmic notation system and the slurs found in Western music to notate the rhythm, articulation and phrase structure.
2.3 Erhu (二胡)
The erhu (二胡) is also called nanhu (南胡, “southern hu”), distinguishing it from the northern huqins (胡琴) like jinghu (京胡). The erhu is traditionally used in jiangnan sizhu (江南絲竹), an ensemble genre popular in the area of Shanghai (see Chapter 3). The pole of the erhu is made of wood, and there is a snake skin mounted on its resonating chamber. The erhu has two strings. The performer plays with a bow in the right hand, while the left hand stops on the strings. Different from the violin, the erhu does not have a fingerboard. The performer’s fingers press on the strings when performing it. It is commonly believed that the family of huqins originated in foreign countries (and thus has the name “hu”
(胡)), and they were brought in China in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127 C.E.).
The improvement of the erhu in the twentieth century focused mainly on the timbre and volume. Before the twentieth century, huqins mainly used silk strings, and thus the timbre was mellow and the volume low. People seeking the improvement of Chinese instruments believed that huqins were not satisfactory because of their mellow timbre and low volume, and thus replaced the silk strings by steel ones. In this way, their volume increases and the timbre becomes brighter. (A similar situation was found in the guqin (古琴). See Chapter 4.) Moreover, the reformers also changed the position of the looping cord (千斤) so that there are more left-hand positions, which means that the range of the instrument is enlarged. In the past some thirty years, there have been experiments on building different shapes of the resonating chamber. In the 1920s, Lü Wen-cheng ( 呂 文 成 , 1898-1981) replaced the silk strings of the erhu by steel strings, and raised its tuning. In this way, the gaohu ( 高胡 ) mainly used in Cantonese music nowadays was invented. Recently, there have been experiments on replacing the snake skin of huqins by chemical substances so that the volume becomes higher and the quality of the instrument is improved.
2.4 Pipa (琵琶)
There are two versions for the origin and meaning of the word “pipa” (琵琶).
The first one is that the instrument is similar in shape to the fruit loquat (枇杷, pipa) and thus has this name. The second one is that “pipa” represents two different ways of plucking strings. “Pi” (琵) is outward plucking and “pa” (琶) is inward plucking. In the Sui Dynasty (581-618 C.E.), “pipa” (琵琶) was a generic term for all plucked string instruments, including the qinhanzi (秦漢子) of the Qin and Han Dynasties (221 B.C.E. – 220 C.E.), the ruanxian (阮咸) , liuqin (柳琴) and yueqin (月琴), etc.
In ancient time, pipas were divided into “straight-neck pipa” (直項琵琶) and
“bent-neck pipa” (曲項琵琶). The straight-neck pipa, having a round resonating chamber, has its origin in China. Examples include the qinhanzi and ruanxian.
In the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589 C.E.), the bent-neck pipa was imported to China from Persia through Uyghur (the present Xinjiang 新 疆). This kind of pipa had a pear-shaped resonating chamber. It was held horizontally and plucked with a plectrum in playing.
The pipas being used in the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911 C.E.) had a pear shape and a bent neck. Normally there were four xiangs (相, frets on the neck) and thirteen pins (品, frets on the fingerboard). Silk strings were being used.
The pipas being used nowadays normally have six xiangs and twenty-four pins, and have a straight neck. The four strings are either steel strings or strings with a steel core covered by nylon. As a result, their volume is higher than that of traditional pipas. The strings are either plucked with real or artificial fingernails.
Except the pin in the highest pitch, the xiangs and pins are arranged in a way that twelve-tone equal temperament is produced.
2.5 Guzheng (古箏)
The guzheng (古箏), or simply zheng (箏), is a plucked string instrument in which one pitch per string is produced in performance, as opposed to the erhu (二
胡) and pipa (琵琶) in which different pitches are produced on one string by pressing the fingers on different positions. The tuning of the zheng is in pentatonic scale.
The zheng has its origin in China. It is commonly believed that it was popular in the Qin State (秦國) of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.E.) and the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.E.), and was thus also called qinzheng (秦箏). The early zhengs had five strings. Most zhengs in the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.E.–220 C.E.) and the Wei State (魏國) of the Three Kingdoms Period (220–265 C.E.) had twelve strings. The zhengs used in some particular regions, like Kejia (客 家), Chaozhou (潮州), and Zhejiang (浙江), have sixteen strings. Nowadays, most zhengs have twenty-one strings and have a comparatively wider sound board (see the photo on p. 39 of the hardcopy of this book). Traditionally, silk strings were used in the zheng. Nowadays, the strings being used are mostly steel strings or strings with a steel core covered with nylon.
From the 1940s on, the zheng, like many other Chinese instruments, has continuously been “improved” and “developed.” Traditional zhengs have been altered to adapt to the need of playing music in the twelve-tone equal temperament.
In the 1960s, a kind of “modulating zheng” (轉調箏) was invented in which a pedal was added to the 21-string zheng in order to facilitate the playing of chromatic notes. There is also the “butterfly-shaped zheng” (蝶式箏) in which the traditional zheng is divided into the left half and the right half, with a yueshan (岳山) joining the two halves. One half is used to play music in traditional pentatonic scales, while the other half is used to play music in heptatonic and chromatic scales. However, these two types of zhengs have never been very popular in solo or orchestral performances. The “improvement” of the zheng has been in the same direction as many other Chinese instruments.
Glossary
functional harmony (功能和聲)
An important composition technique used in Western classical music from the 17th to the 19th centuries. In this system, there is a relationship between different chords of a key, and each chord progresses in a certain direction towards the tonal centre.
hetou (合頭) Literally meaning “unified head.” A technique in which different sections of a piece begin with the same or similar melodic
materials.
jiahua (加花) A term from traditional Chinese music, literally meaning
“adding flowers.” When a player is ornamenting a skeletal melody in performance, he is said to be “adding flowers.” If the ornamentation is in a reduced manner, it is called “subtracting flowers” (減花, jianhua).
pin (品) The frets on the sound board of the pipa (琵琶).
ternary form (三段體)
A structural form in Western music. A piece in ternary form is made up of three sections in the A-B-A format.
xiang (相) The frets on the neck of the pipa (琵琶).