Bright Sheng's Hot Pepper for Violin and Marimba
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Bright Sheng’s Hot Pepper for Violin and Marimba: A Performer’s Guide to Interpretation D.M.A. DOCUMENT Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Musical Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Hexue Shen Graduate Program in Music The Ohio State University 2016 D.M.A. Document Committee: Dr. Kia-Hui Tan, Advisor Professor Alan Green Dr. Juliet White-Smith Copyright by Hexue Shen 2016 Abstract Bright Sheng is one of the most accomplished Chinese-American composers in North America, Europe, and Asia. His compositions cover various performance genres from opera to ballet, symphonic works to chamber music, solo works to innovative ensemble pieces. Bright Sheng’s works often combine the strong influence of Chinese folk music with traditional Western compositional techniques. His music has melodious musical lines, impulsive rhythmic drives, and dramatic mood changes. Hot Pepper for Violin and Marimba (2010) is one of Bright Sheng’s recent chamber works featuring the violin. Although he has acknowledged Chinese folk music influence in his early works, the composer has only provided vague information about the Chinese folk elements in Hot Pepper. This document describes different types of Chinese folk music in order to help performers who may not be familiar with Chinese music interpret the work properly. Chapter one offers background information about the composer. Chapter two represents an evolutionary outline of Bright Sheng’s compositional style by briefly examining H’un (1988), The Stream Flows for Solo Violin (1990), and Three Fantasies for Violin and Piano (2005). Chapter three provides an analysis of the form and tonality in Hot Pepper and concludes with a discussion about how to understand the relevant Chinese folk music that relates to Hot Pepper and make interpretive decisions based on the study. ii Acknowledgments First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank my advisor, Dr. Kia-Hui Tan, for her tremendous help, support, and guidance during my three years of study at OSU and throughout the process of writing this document. Thanks to Dr. Tan, I have become a better violinist, a better teacher, a stronger critical thinker, and a more adventurous explorer of new music. Looking back at the progress I have made under her insightful instruction, I feel grateful and fortunate to have encountered such an inspiring teacher as I conclude my formal education in the United States. Dr. Tan sets a standard for my future career as a violin teacher. I would also like to express my appreciation to the rest of my committee, Professor Alan Green and Dr. Juliet White-Smith, for contributing their expertise and giving feedback on my document. In addition, I want to thank Professor Mark Rudoff for having given me such positive and incisive comment on my solo and chamber music performances during my time at OSU. Lastly, I thank my dear mother for her priceless encouragement, which allowed me to study music thousand of miles from home for so many years. Without her support, I would not have become the violinist I am today. iii Vita July 2004 ........................................................B.A., Violin Performance, Guizhou University July 2007 ........................................................M.A. Violin Performance and Pedagogy, Guizhou University May 2010 .......................................................M.M., Violin Performance, West Chester University of Pennsylvania 2013 to present ..............................................Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Music, The Ohio State University Fields of Study Major Field: Music iv Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgments................................................................................................................ iii Vita ....................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... vii Introduction: The Motivation for and Purpose of the Study ................................................ 1 Chapter 1: A Biography of the Composer ............................................................................ 3 The Life and Education of Bright Sheng .................................................................. 3 A Summary of Bright Sheng’s Professional Career ................................................. 5 A Synopsis of Bright Sheng’s Major Works ............................................................ 7 Chapter 2: An Outline of Bright Sheng’s Compositional Style Evolution…………………9 Bright Sheng’s Early Style ....................................................................................... 9 The Path to Finding a Fusion Style ........................................................................ 12 The Profound Fusion Style .................................................................................... 16 v Chapter 3: Hot Pepper for Violin and Marimba Analysis and Interpretation ..................... 19 Formal Structure, Movement I ............................................................................... 20 Formal Structure, Movement II ............................................................................. 22 Chinese Pentatonic Scales: An Explanation .......................................................... 23 Movement I Tonality .............................................................................................. 26 Movement II Tonality ............................................................................................ 28 Chinese Folk Music and Hot Pepper: An Interpretation ....................................... 29 Movement I, First Theme........................................................................................ 30 Movement I, Second Theme ................................................................................... 37 Movement II: Folk Dance Music and the Lusheng ............................................... 43 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 48 vi List of Figures Figure 1. Chinese Folk Song, Xiaohe Tangshui (The Stream Flows), mm. 1-9 ................ 14 Figure 2. Bright Sheng, The Stream Flows for Solo Violin, mm. 1-9 ................................ 14 Figure 3. The Stream Flows for Solo Violin, mm. 30 ......................................................... 16 Figure 4. Bright Sheng, “Kazakhastan Love Song”, mm. 1-4 ........................................... 17 Figure 5. Bright Sheng, Hot Pepper Movement I Formal Structure .................................. 20 Figure 6. Hot Pepper Movement II Formal Structure ........................................................ 22 Figure 7. The Basic Chinese Pentatonic Scale ................................................................... 23 Figure 8. Four Inverted Chinese Pentatonic Scales ............................................................ 24 Figure 9. Six-Note Chinese Scale ....................................................................................... 25 Figure 10. Seven-Note Chinese Scale ................................................................................. 25 Figure 11. Hot Pepper Chinese Scale. ................................................................................ 26 Figure 12. Hot Pepper First Theme in Movement I, mm. 9-10. ......................................... 30 Figure 13. Shangtan Haozi, mm. 1-2. ................................................................................. 32 Figure 14. Hot Pepper Second Theme in Movement I, mm. 22-24 ................................... 38 Figure 15. Hot Pepper Movement I, mm. 59-63. ............................................................... 41 Figure 16. Hot Pepper Movement II, mm. 1-11. ................................................................ 45 vii Introduction: The Motivation for and Purpose of the Study Bright Sheng’s Hot Pepper for Violin and Marimba was commissioned for Bob Peirce for his wife Sharon Harroun Peirce’s birthday. The premiere performance took place on September 10, 2010, at Camerata Pacifica with Catherine Leonard on violin and Ji Hye Jung on marimba. In the piece, Sheng demonstrates his profound understanding of Chinese folk music and Western musical traditions. It stands as one of the finest recent works that reflects the fusion style of the composer. The dramatic musical setting and strong Chinese folk music flavor presented by the two Western instruments in Hot Pepper intrigued me, which led me to this study of the work and its composer. In general, Sheng’s music that features or includes violin has melodious lyrical lines that move smoothly among four strings, fresh and colorful sounds created by open strings and dissonant chords, dazzling techniques including harmonics, left- and right-hand pizzicato combinations, and an impulsive rhythmic drive that immediately attract both performers and audiences. As a violinist, I was interested in exploring Sheng’s violin works because they not only contain new sound effects that I wanted to explore in my own playing, but also display familiarity with the Chinese musical language with which I am most familiar. As a performer,