Organizing Music
The performance of identity in Chinese popular music Groenewegen, J.W.P. Citation Groenewegen, J. W. P. (2011, June 15). The performance of identity in Chinese popular music. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/17706 Version: Not Applicable (or Unknown) Licence agreement concerning inclusion of doctoral thesis in the License: Institutional Repository of the University of Leiden Downloaded from: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/17706 Note: To cite this publication please use the final published version (if applicable). Chapter 5: Organizing Music §1 Evolution “Huh-ooohw,” hovers an unstable, low male voice, “huh-eeehw.” A sudden Mountain-Song-like movement lifts the melody to a high pitch: like a rubber band stretched and then released, the voice howls: “ee-oo.” It remains high, but the volume now wavers and decreases, into a nasal falsetto. “Ii- ih-i-i,” on the last bit of breath. Silence again, a loud sigh “whiiiy,” followed by high, barely audi- ble, “e-e-e” sounds. Low again: “whoo-oo-ee.” The melody now jumps back and forth between al- most painfully high and low registers, while simultaneously working the overtones through changes of the vowel. Silence, another sigh, followed by a glissando. The sixth phrase is relatively conven- tional – a few drawn-out high notes with only microtonal fluctuations, briefly interrupted by a sud- den dive into lower registers. Then the glockenspiel enters with a quiet tremolo. On Taoism 道极 (1985) begins with composer Tan Dun singing the germ cell of the composition. A bass clarinet and bass bassoon take turns developing the melodic line provided by the voice, render- ing the music almost monophonic: a single calligraphic-melodic line divided over the three solo in- struments employs a palette of tone-colors on a canvas of strings.1 The seven phrases of the open- ing, the seventh accompanied by the glockenspiel, also foreshadow the division of the thir- teen-minute composition into seven parts.
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