FREE THE NARRATIVE ARTS OF TIANJIN: BETWEEN MUSIC AND LANGUAGE 1ST EDITION PDF

Francesca R Sborgi Lawson | 9781351885324 | | | | | - Document - Francesca R. Sborgi Lawson: The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language

Thank you for visiting nature. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer. In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. Recent scholarship in the field of music cognition suggests the need for increased interdisciplinarity in moving beyond the boundaries of Western European music, and the study of the relationship between language and music is an especially fruitful area that can benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration. This paper heeds the call for collaborative research in cultures outside of Western Europe by focusing on Xiangshenga form of Chinese musical comedy that features an intriguing relationship between speech and song in performance. The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition present The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition argues that analytical tools and perspectives from conversational analysis, communicative musicality, empirical research on music-language relationships, and performative mutuality in ethnomusicology all speak to the idea of musicality —the underlying capacity that undergirds our ability to communicate both verbally and musically —as a common foundational behavior in both speech and song. Musicality is particularly apparent in the way Chinese Xiangcheng actors relate to each other and their audiences in both spoken and musical modalities, and this paper suggests how judiciously employing a variety of methodological approaches in the study of musicality can yield important insights for researchers from all disciplines. In Octobera number of scholars gathered at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Esthetics The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition Frankfurt, Germany to discuss the future of cross-cultural work in the field of music cognition Jacoby et al. The scholars agreed that the The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition majority of the research conducted in music psychology has heretofore involved Western participants and focused primarily on Western music, so they recommended that future research in music psychology should consider 1 increased interdisciplinary collaboration to promote cross-cultural work and 2 a new emphasis on ways to overcome disciplinary differences in assumptions, methods, and terminology, particularly with regard to the distinctions between empirical and musicological approaches p. The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition, examples of interdisciplinary research projects that focus on music already abound. For example, Savage and Cross et al. Although somewhat less prevalent, there are also studies initiated by ethnomusicologists, many of whom The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition on music outside of the Western European tradition, while collaborating with or employing methods from scientific disciplines, including BeckerTolbertWiddess et al. Despite these important interdisciplinary studies, however, the participants at the Frankfurt meeting remind us that continued scholarly collaboration is necessary for cross-cultural research to survive Jacoby et al. As a response to this call, this paper presents a case study of Chinese musical comedy that is rooted in ethnomusicological fieldwork—an example from outside the Western European musical tradition that encourages a broadening of intercultural perspectives. Further, the current study focuses on musicalitywhich is the underlying foundational capacity that undergirds our ability to communicate both verbally and musically. Since the relationship between music and language is an area of research that Aniruddh Patel claims is of particular interest for both scientists and ethnomusicologists in the study of music cognitionp. Relying on statistical, linguistic, and ethnomusicological methods, the research described in this paper also represents a collaboration that bases many of its premises on concepts and methodologies from several unexpected and unrelated disciplines, including sociology, developmental psychology, music psychology and neuroscience. The following section discusses some of the different fields that have contributed to the study of the underlying musical elements of language— elements that are critical to understanding how speech and song are related in Chinese musical comedy. The subtle ways in which people move, talk, and gesture have The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition researchers from a variety of disciplines. Based on the work of scholars, such as Gordon Allport and VernonErving GoffmanNalini Ambadyand Ann Wennerstromwe have learned how expressive verbal and non-verbal behaviors are especially rich in social information Ambady, p. In addition to the research on verbal and non-verbal communication in adult interactions, child psychologists, sociolinguists, and pediatricians have been studying the highly sophisticated exchanges between mothers and their pre-linguistic infants for the past six or more decades. Using similar methods of videotaping interactions as their counterparts who focus on the expressive behavior of adults, scholars studying mother- infant interactions have made remarkable discoveries about the delicate ways infants and their mothers relate to one another. They believe that CM reflects a human ability to share a sense of time, shape jointly created pitch contours, and move with anticipated rhythms and emotions Trevarthen and Malloch,p. Believing that it is essential to acknowledge the musicality inherent in the bodily and vocal expression used in managing human relationships, they argue that communicative musicality is an appropriate and descriptive term to depict these rhythmic, melodic, and kinetic gestures 3. Their use of the word musicality points to the human abilities that are not music, per se, but instead represent the capacity 1 to speak, make music, dance, and engage in all the other temporal arts and 2 to interact with others in a communicatively intimate way. They explain:. We define musicality as expression of our human desire for cultural learning, our innate skill for moving, remembering and planning in sympathy with others that makes our appreciation and production of an endless variety of dramatic temporal narratives possible—whether those narratives consist of specific cultural forms of music, dance, poetry or ceremony; whether they are the universal narratives of a mother and her baby quietly conversing with one another; whether is it the wordless emotional and motivational narrative that sits beneath a conversation between two or more adults or between a teacher and a class… It is our common musicality that makes it possible for us to share time meaningfully together… 4—5. Ellen Dissanayake contributes to the argument about CM by providing an ethological explanation for its centrality in human evolution. As a consequence of these anatomical changes, the gestation period was reduced, requiring constant, attentive care from adults for much longer than any other primate Malotki and Dissanyake,p. The behavioral adaptation that arose from the anatomical changes was the communicative behavior that would assure intense maternal care for the helpless infant—what Malloch and Tervarthen refer to as communicative musicality Dissanayake,p. Dissanayake also agrees that musicality is an appropriate label since the interactions employ melodic vocal contours, are organized in rhythmic bouts over time, and utilize expressive dynamic contrasts and variations, all the while interspersed with periods of silence between bouts. Moreover, the interactions are multimodal for both mother and infant since vocal, facial, and bodily movements occur together according to regular rhythmic pulses Malotki and Dissanayake,p. Scholars who study mother-infant communication are not the only ones to recognize the significance of musicality in human communication. Henkjan Honingp. Distinguishing between musicality and music is central in understanding the theoretical mindset of scholars in the sciences, many of whom focus on the biological underpinnings of musicality, compared to scholars in the humanities, most of whom focus on cultural differences in creating, performing, and consuming music. Despite some of The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition obvious differences between the musicality that undergirds music and the musicality that is inherent in the expressive behavior studied by linguists, sociologists, and researchers who study mother- infant communication and linguists, might there also be commonalities? I argue that finding areas of congruence between the musicality of speech and song may be a fruitful endeavor that could shed light on both music and language, allowing scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds to provoke each other into insights that neither would have found independently. An example of how one might pursue such an interdisciplinary question comes from the following invitation by Dissanayake. One could certainly argue that music scholars have already addressed similar questions about communicative interaction among performers. For example, studies of jazz performance have contributed substantially to an understanding of the intimate relationship between performers who present or create the initial signal and other performers who respond and contribute back to the signaler. In Thinking in JazzPaul Berliner details the many ways jazz performers respond musically to each other by matching timbres, adjusting beat placement, mirroring rhythmic ideas, encouraging soloists, and engaging in imitative interplay pp. The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition, jazz musicians converse musically with members of the audience. Musicians listen carefully to how the audience responds, and if the response is positive, the performer develops the musical idea further, thereby continuing to excite the crowd. Of course, jazz performances are not always conversational; however, when spontaneous banter does occur between musicians and between musicians and their audiences, that performance becomes a highly charged event Hamilton,p. In addition to jazz scholarship, evidence of reciprocity between performers and audience members abounds in ethnomusicological research Middleton, ; Small, ; Frith, ; Hesmondalgh and Negus, ; Nettl, ; Turino, ; Tsioulakis and Hytonen-Ng, For example, the various case studies contained in the edited volume Musicians and their Audiences feature an impressive array of scholarship on performative mutuality. Their central thesis is that the musician-audience relationship should be seen on a continuum of interactive possibilities rather than as discrete, dichotomous modes of interaction, and researchers should focus on the dynamic nature of the relationship between audiences and performers through an ongoing practice of renegotiation. In the end, Tsioulakis and Hytonen-Ng argue that the division between performers and spectators is not as stable and self-explanatory as musicologists might have once thoughtp. For example, Laura Leante acknowledges that Hindustani classical musicians engage in a presentational performancep. By using one camera that provided a frontal shot of the stage and another one focused on the audiencepp. In doing so, Leante argues that people with different abilities can join and contribute to the intensity of the performance—a situation actively encouraged by the vocal soloist, who considers this interaction as part of a strategy in creating a positive reception of the music by the audience p. While still presentational, Leante notes that there are instances in which audiences become an active part of music production through a sense of communitas p. Even in presentational settings where the audience is sitting quietly throughout a performance, audience members can still be deeply involved in a more muted—though no less intense—kind of connection. For example, in the film, Singing the Dark Away Davitt,a documentary about Joe Heaney, the late sean-nos master, a short snippet of a video recording of a sean-nos singer performing for a small group of listeners provides a vivid example of a highly engaged audience in a presentational performance. From minute — we see the sean-nos singer holding the hand of one of the male listeners directly in front of him, moving his arm clockwise in a small circle, as though the singer is transmitting the song directly to the listener. Although the performance is presentational, this male listener, in addition to the others who are listening but not moving their hands, epitomizes what Ruth Herbert refers to as an example of highly engaged absorptionp. As absorption is difficult to observe and even harder to quantify, ethnomusicologists have struggled in discussing this aspect of audience engagement, often failing to explain the nuances of absorptive listening and sometimes even misreading and misinterpreting responses that do not fit neatly into the presentational-participatory paradigm. Consequently, I suggest that we take a cue from researchers in expressive behavior and CM to see how we might use technology to expand our understanding of the complex reciprocal relationships between audience members and performers. The goal of expanding our methodological approach would be to gain a more detailed understanding of the symbiotic nature of performative mutuality, thereby allowing us to enter into a conversation with other scholars who engage in similar kinds of intersubjective research in other fields. Research published in from the University of Cambridge provides an example of a study that can further such interdisciplinarity on the topic of intersubjective communication. The Cambridge researchers used ELAN, a video analysis software, to gather and analyze data regarding pulse and intonation in the spontaneous spoken interactions between eight pairs of same-sex friends in video-recorded performances Hawkins et al. After learning about the Cambridge study, I immediately thought about the conversational dialog and musical exchanges between the two actors featured in the Chinese narrative genre known as xiangsheng XS or crosstalk, a genre I researched during the course of my fieldwork Lawson,pp. XS is an interesting example in light of the Cambridge study because it is a performance tradition that displays the porous border between speech and song during the course of performance. Perry Linkp. Although the ability to internalize a script is a requirement for an actor in any literary- centric culture, the slapstick nature of XS makes a spontaneous performance especially difficult for all but the best actors Lawson,pp. This form of scripted comedy is conceived in four sections, with the first three building up to the punchline or baufuwhich happens at the end of the fourth and final section Tsau, —, pp. Moreover, XS always incorporates four elements into a performance: shuo speakingxue mimicrychang singingand dou the provoking of laughter Lawson,p. While the first three elements refer to the way performers The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition their voices, the fourth implies the two ways in which actors may relate to each other to provoke an audience to laughter. Nevertheless, even when he is perceived as a supporting actor, the penggende is recognized as wielding considerable power Moser,p. Since audience response is also openly acknowledged as foundational to comedic performance in XS Liu, ; Xue,how exactly might the rhythmic punctuation of audience laughter factor into the musical and verbal volleys of the actors? While I personally did not work with or interview either Guo or Yu, they are currently recognized as popular performers who have been particularly successful in updating XS to appeal to younger audiences of Millennials Cai,so the recording provided a contemporary example for the project. His hilarious portrayals of Chinese classical art forms lead to the baofu or climax of the performance in which he sings the concluding line of an especially difficult and notoriously high-pitched opera aria. However, his final triumph only comes after a painful process of playfully harassing Yu Qian, who acts as a foil to Guo throughout the performance. Moreover, Guo teases Yu by baiting him. After these The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition starts, Yu finally agrees to sing the first line, Guo triumphantly completes the aria, and the audience erupts into loud laughter and sustained cheering applause, marking the conclusion of the performance. The purpose of the XS study Lawson et al. Additionally, we wanted to look at the relationships between the performers and the audience in both spoken and musical exchanges during the performance—something that was not relevant in the Cambridge study. Even though we were looking to the Cambridge Study as a model, there were some major differences in performance and methodology between the two projects. First, although the scripted dialog between the XS actors is unlike the extemporaneous interactions between pairs of same-sex speakers in the Cambridge study, the audience reactions to the actors were both spontaneous and integral to the performance, constituting an element not present in the Cambridge study. Second, rhythmicity—the presence of regular rhythmic cycles in the spoken dialog—functioned differently in XS than in the interactions between speakers in the Cambridge study because of the presentational nature of a XS performance. In addition to using ELAN, we also used Praat acoustic analysis software and R statistical software to analyze the fluctuating relationships between presentational and participatory aspects of performance and between music and speech Lawson et al. We were especially interested in the ways in which the audience became a third performing agent in a presentational setting and the tendency for pitch approximation in the final bout of the XS performance as a result of increased affiliative involvement between audience members and performers. The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition details of the study, including a complete translation of the text, a comprehensive description of the methodology and analysis of the data gleaned from ELAN and Praat, and a statistical analysis of the findings in R from both bouts are found in Lawson et al. Tianjin, China unpublished paper. In the same way that the interlocutor responds with a type of backchannel-like commentary to the main speaker in a successful spoken bout in the Cambridge study on pairs of same-sex friends Robledo et al. The The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition of the bout occurs when Guo claims that his acting partner, Yu, will still be performing with him at his advanced age. The audience is clearly a major participant in this bout, albeit different from the way Turino explains participatory interaction. For the pitch data, we did notice an occasional matching of pitches Lawson et al. The second bout is a battle of musical pitches, showcasing both Guo and Yu taking turns singing a difficult opera aria from minute to minute at the end of the performance. In this bout the two performers have clearly switched to a two-sides-of-a-snap style of interacting in which both actors participate more equally than they did at the beginning of the performance—a situation which demonstrates a more participatory, rather than presentational, style of performing. Moreover, the audience also takes a more significant role in this bout, further contributing to the participatory nature of the bout. When analyzing the pitch and rhythmic data from ELAN, we considered each juncture between the pitch, measured in HZ, at the end of an utterance by one agent Guo, Yu, or audience and the initial pitch of the following response by the subsequent agent, similar to the turn transitions studied by the Cambridge group as outlined in Robledo et al. The data consisted of the ordered pairs of numbers in which the first number in the pair was the pitch of the last syllable of the first utterance by Guo, Yu, or the audience, and the second number was the starting pitch of the following response by Guo, Yu, or the audience. The analysis consisted of calculating the linear correlation coefficient between the ordered pair of numbers, and fitting a linear model where the dependent variable was the starting pitch in Hz of the following response. The independent variables were 1 the pitch of the last syllable of the first utterance, 2 the indicator that distinguished whether the audience or one of the actors gave the first utterance, and 3 the interaction between The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition indicator variable and the pitch of the last syllable in the first utterance. In Bout 2 there was a highly significant linear correlation between the pitch of the last syllable of the first utterance and the pitch of the first syllable of the response Lawson et al. Thus, the anticipatory and improvisational interactions between actors and audience members—through reciprocal pitch approximations and long audience responses—energizes the second bout, demonstrating a participatory kind of interaction, rather than the presentational style at the beginning of Bout 1. In the Cambridge study, the high level of emotional engagement referred to as attitudinal in the Cambridge Study that occurs between same-sex friends appears to be a prerequisite for what the researchers call a successful bout Hawkins et al. Music of China - Wikipedia

Francesca R. Sborgi Lawson. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, Originating in the Warring States period and thriving during the Tang dynasty, narrative art has always been an important folk musical genre in Chinese society with both entertaining and educational functions long before modern electronic entertainment devices became widely available. The Han Chinese subcultures in different geographical areas also cultivated their The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition regional narrative-art genres throughout history. The Tianjin metropolitan area in northern China is particularly well known for its several narrative-art genres of the local style. Lawson chooses a unique perspective to look into the commonly shared musical, historical, and cultural background of multiple narrative genres in a single geographical area. As the first published monograph of this approach in both English and Chinese ethnomusicological literature, the book provides detailed description and analysis of the musical structures, performance forms, historical development, and social and cultural background of four out of the ten most important popular narrative genres in Tianjin: shidiao, jinyun dagu, kuaibarshuand xiang sheng. The author writes that "this book is not meant to be an exhaustive study of the narrative arts of Tianjin. The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition, it is an exploration into the ways in which the manner of performance influences and is influenced by the kinds of information that may be communicated during the course of performance" 4. However, the relationship between music and language is still the emphasis in her research. The book is divided into three parts. Part 2 is the main focus of this research. It introduces the history, performers, performances, language, and music of four narrative genres in four sections "Act" and a conclusion. Part 3 comprises appendices with music scores and the related Chinese- language source referenced in the book, such as speech tones, libretti, Chinese text, and characters. Those The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition important references for anyone who is interested in an in-depth exploration of the narrative-art genres introduced in this book. An audio CD of the selected music examples transcribed in the appendices is included with the book. Among ethnomusicological monographs on traditional Chinese musical arts published in recent decades, this book has several distinct features. First, by presenting the common background shared by multiple narrative-art traditions in a single geographical area, Lawson helps readers understand the general social, cultural, and historical background of all of these genres. The juxtaposition of the commonalities and distinctions of each genre helps readers better understand and differentiate the characteristics of each. Second, the author integrates her personal experiences in her field trips with ethnomusicological descriptions and analysis, creating an unusual writing style so the readers are immersed into the musical scene easily. Notably, the author writes in greater detail about the phenomenon of social networks guanxi and her personal interactions with the local people during field trips, which makes the book itself a narrative story about her research process. Third, Lawson paid meticulous attention to Chinese pronunciations in the romanization of Project MUSE promotes the creation and dissemination of essential humanities and social science resources through collaboration with libraries, publishers, and scholars worldwide. Forged from a partnership between a university press and a library, Project MUSE is a trusted part of the academic and scholarly community it serves. Built on the Johns Hopkins University Campus. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless. Institutional Login. LOG IN. Asian Music. In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by:. If you would like to authenticate using a different subscribed institution or have your own login and password to Project MUSE. Additional Information. Project MUSE Mission Project MUSE promotes the creation and dissemination of essential humanities and social science resources through collaboration with libraries, publishers, and scholars worldwide. Eliot Prose. Contact Contact Us Help.

Music of China refers to the music of the Chinese peoplewhich may be the music of the Han Chinese as well as other ethnic minorities within mainland China. It also includes music produced by people of Chinese origin in some territories outside mainland China using traditional Chinese instruments or in the Chinese language. It covers a highly diverse range of music from the traditional to the modern. Different types of music have been recorded in historical Chinese documents from the early periods of Chinese civilization which, The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition with archaeological artifacts discovered, provided evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou dynasty BC — BC. These further developed into various forms of music through succeeding dynasties, producing the rich heritage of music that is part of the Chinese cultural landscape today. Chinese music continues to evolve in the modern times, and more contemporary forms of music have also emerged. According to legends, the founder of music in Chinese mythology was Ling Lun who, at the request of the Yellow Emperor to create a system of music, made bamboo pipes tuned to the sounds of birds including the phoenix. Archaeological evidence indicates that music culture developed in China from a very early period. Excavations in Jiahu Village in Wuyang CountyHenan found bone flutes dated to 9, years ago, and clay music instruments called Xun thought to be 7, years old have been found in the Hemudu sites in Zhejiang and Banpo in Xi'an. During the Zhou dynastya formal system of court and ceremonial music later termed yayue meaning "elegant music" was established. Around or before the 7th century BC, a system of pitch generation and pentatonic scale was derived from a cycle-of-fifths theory. Chinese philosophers took varying approaches to music. To Confuciusa correct form of music is important for the cultivation and refinement of the individual, and the Confucian system considers the formal music yayue to be morally uplifting and the symbol of a good ruler and stable government. The answer was that it only mattered that the ruler loved his subjects. In ancient China the social status of musicians was much lower than that of painters, though music was seen as central to the harmony and longevity of the state. Almost every emperor took folk songs seriously, sending officers to collect songs to record the popular culture. The Imperial Music Bureaufirst established in the Qin dynasty — BCwas greatly expanded under the emperor Han Wudi —87 BC and charged with supervising court music and military music and determining what folk music would be officially recognized. In subsequent dynasties, the development of Chinese music was influenced by the musical traditions of Central Asia which also introduced elements of Indian music. The first major well-documented flowering of Chinese music was for the qin during the Tang dynasty ADthough the qin is known to have been played since before the Han dynasty. Through succeeding dynasties over thousands of years, Chinese musicians developed a large assortment of different instruments and playing styles. A wide variety of these instruments, such as guzheng and dizi are indigenous, although many popular traditional musical instruments were introduced from Central Asia, such as the erhu and pipa. The presence of European music in China appeared as early as when the Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci presented a Harpsichord to the Ming imperial court, The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition trained four eunuchs to play it. The New Culture Movement of the s and s produced a great deal of lasting interest in Western music. A number of Chinese musicians returned from studying abroad to perform Western classical musiccomposing work hits on Western musical The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition system. The Kuomintang tried to sponsor modern music adoptions via the Shanghai Conservatory of Music despite the ongoing political crisis. There were many different opinions regarding the best standard. Symphony orchestras were formed in most major cities and performed to a wide audience in the concert halls and on radio. Many of the performers added jazz influences to traditional music, adding xylophonessaxophones and violinsamong other instruments. In Shanghaia popular genre of music called shidaiqu emerged in the s. Shidaiqu is a fusion of Chinese and Western popular music, and Li Jinhui is considered to be founder of the genre. After the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art, a large-scale campaign was launched in the Communist controlled areas to adapt folk music to create revolutionary songs to educate the largely illiterate rural population on party goals. Musical forms considered superstitious or anti-revolutionary were repressed, and harmonies and bass lines were added to traditional songs. One example is The East Is Reda folksong from northern Shaanxi which was adapted into a nationalist hymn. Of particular note is The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition composer, Xian Xinghaiwho was active during this period, and composed the Yellow River Cantata which is the most well-known of all of his works. The golden age of shidaiqu and the Seven great singing stars would come to an end when the Communist party denounced Chinese popular music as yellow music pornography. Revolutionary songs would become heavily promoted by the state. The Maoistsduring the Cultural Revolutionpushed revolutionary music as the only acceptable genre; because of propaganda, this genre largely overshadowed all others and came almost to define mainland Chinese music. This is still, in some ways, an ongoing process, but some scholars and musicians Chinese and otherwise are trying to revive old music. The music would progress into Chinese rockwhich remained popular in the s. However, music in China is very much state-owned as the TV, media, and major concert halls are all controlled by the Communist party. The government mainly chose not to support Chinese rock by limiting its exposure and airtime. Annual events such as the Midi Modern Music Festival in Beijing attracts tens of thousands of visitors. Today, rock music is centered on almost exclusively in Beijing and Shanghai, and has very limited influence over Chinese society. Wuhan and Sichuan are sometimes considered pockets of rock music culture as well. It points to a significant cultural, political and social difference that exist between China, the West, or even different parts within China. While rock has existed in China for decades, the milestone that put the genre on the international map is when Cui Jian played with The Rolling Stones inat the age of China has also become a destination of major Western rock and pop artists; many foreign acts have toured in China and performed in multiple concerts in recent decades, including BeyonceEric ClaptonNine Inch NailsAvril LavigneLinkin Park and Talib Kweli. Mainland China has a high piracy rate along with issues of intellectual properties. The modern market is not only hindered by rights issues, as there are many other factors such as profit marginincome and other economical questions. Musical instruments were traditionally classified into 8 categories known as bayin. The scale is pentatonic. Chinese orchestras traditionally consist of bowed stringswoodwindsplucked strings and percussion. Chinese vocal music has traditionally been sung in a thin, non resonant voice or in falsetto and is usually solo rather than choral. All traditional Chinese music is melodic rather than harmonic. Chinese vocal music probably developed from sung poems and verses with music. Instrumental pieces played on an erhu or dizi are popular, and are often available outside of China, but the pipa and zheng music, which are more The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition, are more popular in China itself. The qin is perhaps the most revered instrument in China, even though very few people know what it is or seen and heard one being played. The zhenga form of zitheris most popular in HenanChaozhouHakka areas, and Shandong. The pipaa kind of lutebelieved to have been introduced from the Arabian Peninsula area during the 6th century and adapted to suit Chinese tastes, is most popular in Shanghai and surrounding areas. Han people's music consists of heterophonic musicin which the musicians play versions of a single melodic line. Percussion accompanies most music, dance, talks, and opera. Han Folk Music had many aspects to it regarding its meaning, feelings, and tonality. This genre of music, in a sense, is similar to the Chinese language. This relationship is made by tones, sliding from higher tones to lower tones, or lower to higher tones, or a combination of both. These similarities mean that the instrument is a very important part in mastering technique with both left and right hands left hand is used to create tonality on the string, right hand is for plucking or strumming the stringparticularly for the classical literati tradition. Sometimes, singing can be put into the The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition to create a harmony or a melody accompanying the instrument. Han Chinese Folk's feelings are displayed in its poetry-like feeling to it with slow soothing tempos that express feelings The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition connect with the audience or whoever is playing the piece. Han folk music uses silences that alter its meaning, creating a sound similar to poetry. Chinese opera has been a popular form of entertainment for many centuries, from the Nanxi of Song dynasty to the Peking opera of today. The music is often guttural with high-pitched vocals, usually accompanied by suonajinghuother kinds of string instrumentsand percussion. Other types of opera include clapper operaPingjuCantonese operapuppet operaKunquSichuan operaQinqiangritual masked opera and Huangmei xi. According to current archaeological discoveries, Chinese folk music dates back years. Not only in form but also in artistic conception, China has been the home of a colorful culture of folk music. Largely based on the pentatonic scaleChinese folk music is different from western traditional music, paying more attention to the form expression as well. Han traditional The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition and funerals usually include a form of oboe called a suona and percussive ensembles called chuigushou. Ensembles consisting of mouth organs shengshawms suonaflutes dizi and percussion instruments especially yunluo gongs are popular in northern villages; their music is descended from the imperial temple music of BeijingXi'anWutai shan and Tianjin. Xi'an drum musicconsisting of wind and percussive instruments, is popular around Xi'an, and has received some commercial popularity outside of China. Another important instrument is the shengpipesan ancient instrument that is ancestor of all Western free reed instruments, such as the accordion. In southern Fujian and TaiwanNanyin or Nanguan is a genre of traditional ballads. They are sung by a woman accompanied by a xiao and a pipaas well as other traditional instruments. The music is generally sorrowful and typically deals with a love-stricken woman. Further south, in ShantouHakka areas, and Chaozhouerxian and zheng ensembles are popular. Sizhu ensembles use flutes and bowed or plucked string instruments to make harmonious and melodious music that has become popular in the West among some listeners. These are popular in Nanjing and Hangzhouas well as elsewhere along the southern Yangtze area. Sizhu has been secularized in cities but remains spiritual in rural areas. Jiangnan Sizhu silk and bamboo music from Jiangnan is a style of instrumental music, often played by amateur musicians in tea houses in Shanghai ; it has become widely known outside of its place of origin. Guangdong Music or Cantonese Music is The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition music from Guangzhou and surrounding areas. It is based on Yueju Cantonese Opera music, together with new compositions from the s onwards. Many pieces have influences from jazz and Western music, using syncopation and triple time. This music tells stories and myths, maybe legends. China has many ethnic groups besides the Hanwho reside in various regions around the nation. Zhuang folk songs and Han Chinese music are a similar The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition, and are mostly in the pentatonic scale. The lyrics have an obvious antithesis format. They frequently contain symbols and metaphors, and common themes include life experiences as well as allusions to classical Chinese stories. The Jing or Gin people ethnic Vietnamese are one of the smallest populations of ethnic and the only coastal fishery ethnic minority of China. They are known for their instrument called duxianqin lit. The music of Hong Kong notably includes the Cantonese Chinese pop music known as cantopop. Hua'er is a form of traditional a cappella singing that is popular in the mountainous northwestern Chinese provinces such as GansuNingxiaand Qinghai. Mongolian folk The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language 1st edition have a "long tune" and a "short tune".