Chinese Music and Its Cultural Tradition: an Introduction a Summary of Main Points TCAS Asian Studies Public Lecture Monday 8 February 2016

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Chinese music and its cultural tradition: An introduction A summary of main points TCAS Asian Studies Public Lecture Monday 8 February 2016

Dr Adrian Tien Sam Lam Associate Professor in Chinese Studies (Linguistics)

Main points  Chinese music was not a domain-specific pursuit  History and instrumentation    Chinese language and Chinese music

Chinese music was not a domain-specific pursuit  Chinese music is upheld as an integral part of scholarly pursuits  No clear divide between music (performance), musicology (study of music as a science) and language  Music, musicology and language are part of an overall, scholarly pursuit (along with philosophy, history, art etc.)  Perspective of the learned: erudite

Contemporary societal examples  Highly competitive Chinese musical scene in Singapore  High expectations of Chinese parents in Australia whose children are learning a western musical instrument  The 2008 Beijing Olympics exploited Chinese musical motifs (guqin, fou etc.)

o Yinyue 音樂 = Yin 音聲

+ Yue 樂 o Yue refers to orderly and organised clusters of sounds, set in rites and rituals (Duke of Zhou 周公)

 Yue related to the concepts le 樂藥 to have healing qualities leading to happiness.

Lárionad Léann na hÁise Choláiste na Trinity Centre for Asian Studies T +353 1 896 4282 Tríonóide Trinity College Dublin, [email protected] Coláiste na Tríonóide, Baile Átha Cliath, The University of Dublin, www.tcd.ie/Asian Ollscoil Átha Cliath, Dublin 2, Ireland. Baile Átha Cliath 2, Éire.

 The Chinese idea of yin yue encouraged making music for a given purpose or function, but tended to discourage music-making for the sake of mere pleasure or creativity.

The word music in English    (Ancient) western music thought to be the celestial creation of the goddesses who were also embodiment of the arts and knowledge.  The Muses were the source of inspiration and creation.  Western idea of music encouraged making music as an expression of creativity, whether or not the music actually served certain purposes or functions.

History and instrumentation

o He 龢 > 和 > 合 shamanism; using reed pipes as communication and means of communication between heaven, man and earth following a good harvest

History  Two main musical periods • the ancient period (ca. 206 B.C. to 960 1911 A.D.) • the modern and contemporary period (the Opium War in 1840 up until now)

Families of Chinese musical instruments jin (metal) e.g. bianzhong ( bells set) shi (stone) bianqing ( stone slappers set) si (silk) guqin (seven-stringed zither) zhu (bamboo) pai xiao (bamboo pan flute) pao (gourd) sheng (mouth organ) tu (earth) xun (ocarina) ge (animal hide) gu (drum) mu (wood) muyu (wooden fish)

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Ya yue 雅樂 vs. Su yue 俗樂  Ya yue 雅樂 o Righteous and virtuous music; conventionalised or self-cultivation

 Su yue 俗樂 o Music of the common folks; for entertainment and self-pleasure

 Music of the ancient period is characterised by the distinction between ya yue and su yue.

Ya yue 雅樂 Su yue 俗樂 lit. 'elegant, refined music' lit. 'vulgar, unrefined music'

Justification needed (why); music for social or functional purposes v. Justification not needed (why not); music for its own sake

Conventionalised v. Creative

Self-cultivating or internalisation of the world v. Popular or pleasurable

Exclusive audience v. General audience

Non-sensational v. Sensational

Music as an indulgence; needs to be regulated and constrained v. Music as a desirable form of entertainment

Main Taoist philosophies behind ya yue  the ears and flavours numb the 老子)  hindrance to human progress.

(Mozi 墨子)  Zhuangzi 莊子: if music has to exist at all, it is acceptable only when it serves

emotions so as to strike a harmonious balance with the external world (i.e. internationalisation)

Confucian philosophies behind ya yue  Music-making is acceptable only when it served a purpose e.g. o for a ruler to regulate his people and affairs of the state etc. (socio- political purpose) o To achieve universal harmony (metaphysical purpose) o Ceremonial and ritualistic functions  Music must be righteous and virtuous  Music for sheer human desires and feelings must be rejected because these may lead to corruption and excesses

Chinese music of the ya yue kind  Musical expressions are introverted, heldback and subdued and non-artificial  Displays of Implusive and explosive emotions and dramaticism frowned upon  Values artistry and musicianship, rejects showmanship  Music evokes or impresses, rather than expresses  Silence preferred over sound  No great contrast between levels of volume, dynamics etc. If anything,  Soft preferred over loud, slow preferred over fast

o Musical example: Liu Shui 流水 The flowing

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z3hoLsj1 B4)

o Famous guqin piece, legendary rendition by GUAN Ping Hu 管平湖, as recorded and sent to outer-space by NASA in 1977

 Concept of orchestra not Chinese at all  Concepts of harmony, polyphony and conterpoint not practised in ancient Chinese music  Quiet/gentle sound preferred over overwhelming sound  Small ensembles did exist  Instruments had a smaller scale range and expressive capacity

o Musical example: Dawn at Mount Yang Ming 阳明春晓 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBvZ0mQ Mpho) o This example illustrates the early stage of the development of the

Chinese language and Chinese music

What ancient Chinese thought about music and language  Traditionally closely knit with language  Qu 曲 musical composition with words  Chinese songs, poems and chants were an inseparable whole during the ancient period  No clear distinction between instrumental and vocal music  Songs in the western sense evolved only since the beginning of the modern and contemporary period

The human voice (人聲) and the musical sound (樂聲)  Vocal or instrumental production of sound: both from the inner force and reflects extent of internalization of the universe  Despite the great differences between the human voice (ren sheng 人聲) and the sound of musical instruments (yue sheng 樂聲) , the inner force which

generates both kinds of sounds is believed to be the same (sheng 聲).

o Musical example 1: Verses (Xiao Shi 小詩) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpCDPeW tViU) o Lyrics/poem by HU Shi (1892 1982), song composed by ZHAO Yuanren, sung by YING Shangneng o tradition.

o (Dong Feng Po 東風破 ) by Jay CHOU (周傑倫) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q- QLd91L_Zk) o Use of neo- and pseudo-classical Chinese texts.

By Adrian Tien, Trinity College Dublin February 2016