A New Training Technique for Using the Bel Canto Method to Sing Chinese Songs by Chong Wang A Dissertation In Voice Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS Approved Professor Gerald Dolter Chair of Committee Dr. Rebecca Wascoe Hays Dr. John Hollins Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School December 2018 Copyright 2018, Chong Wang Texas Tech University, Chong Wang, December 2018 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My sincere appreciation should go first to Professor Gerald Dolter, the Chair of my Committee, for your compliments and encouragement all the way. You are more than a mentor to me! Whenever I felt helpless and hopeless, you were there to provide great assistance; whenever I felt confused, you guided me as a lighthouse in the dark. As the first Chinese DMA voice student, I received your world-class education to complete the DMA at Texas Tech University. Beautiful and charming, Dr. Rebecca Wascoe Hays is my other voice supervisor. Your amiable words “Instead of taking you as my student, you are my colleague and friend.” have always been with me. In my daily life, your care was with me; in the class, your meticulous instruction and extensive knowledge were there to help me improve singing skills as much as possible. The most memorable episode was your attendance to my rehearsal in the theater two days prior to the official performance of the opera Susannah. You sacrificed your resting time and taught your stage experience of singing opera over the years to help me overcome many issues. Deeply in my heart, you are a terrific mother, an outstanding singer and educator. You have definitely set a great example for me. Dr. John Hollins is knowledgeable, profoundly professional, modest and amiable. As the conductor on my second project when I was the title role Susannah, you spent so much of your precious time and took the entire orchestra to rehearse the most difficult section of the opera with me, for I was the only foreign singer in the entire opera. It was such a timely assistance. On my third project, the Bach cantatas recital, I invited you to be the conductor once again. You would spare some time almost every week to accompany me for rehearsals in the church where you worked with other chamber players. You alleviated my inexperience immensely with this iconic composer. Thanks to your careful instruction, I gradually became confident on myself. Your extraordinary professionalism and music talent truly impressed a lot. Dr. Stacey Jocoy, I appreciate your Bibliography class so much as your student. At my first visit during your office hour, you wrote the paper abstract for my reference by hand. To all my questions, you have displayed significant patience. Even during your vacation in England, you replied my emails very fast. Your instruction on my paper really meant a lot to ii Texas Tech University, Chong Wang, December 2018 me. Before I came back to China at the beginning of this year, you spent several hours meeting me to discuss my graduation thesis. After learning about my general research topic, you once again wrote a paper structure for my reference by hand, which promised me a quite smooth writing process. Thank you again for your unconditional help. In addition, I offer my thanks to Dr. Michael Stoune, Dr. Quinn Patrick Ankrum, Dr. Gregory Brookes, Professor Karl Dent and Dr. William Averill for your patience, efficiency and kindness in all matters relating to my Texas Tech journey. Furthermore, my great thanks should also go to the famous tenor and professor Song Bo for taking my interview, Dr. Yahui Zhang for polishing the language of my paper, and Dr. Yang Li for helping me process and analyze the experiment data. At last, I’d like to thank my parents who gave me life and allowed me to receive regular music education at all costs since my childhood. You are always there for me and have constantly encouraged me to get closer to the summit of art. You have done everything, regardless of energy and wealth, to guarantee a further and smoother music road for me and contribute to the blossom of my artistic life. I love you, my dear parents! iii Texas Tech University, Chong Wang, December 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKOWLEDGMENT ............................................................................................................. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................ iv ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................. vii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... viii I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 9 1.1 Overview of the Three Main Singing Methods in China ............................................... 9 1.1.1 Traditional Chinese Opera Singing ....................................................................... 9 1.1.2 Folk Style Singing ................................................................................................. 9 1.1.3 Bel Canto Style .................................................................................................... 10 1.2 Challenges of Singing Chinese Songs in Bel Canto Style ........................................... 11 1.2.1 How do Students Majoring in Bel Canto Learn Bel Canto? ............................... 11 1.2.2 How do Chinese Vocal Music Teachers Teach Bel Canto? ................................ 12 1.2.3 Main Problems of Singing Chinses Songs in Bel Canto Style ........................... 12 1.3 Thesis Statement ........................................................................................................... 13 1.4 Delimitation .................................................................................................................. 13 II. BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................ 14 2.1 The Development History of Ancient Vocal Music Art ............................................. 14 2.1.1 Origin ................................................................................................................... 14 2.1.2 Development ....................................................................................................... 14 2.2 The History of Modern and Contemporary Vocal Music Art ...................................... 17 2.2.1 Before the Founding of the PRC ......................................................................... 17 2.2.2. After the Founding of the PRC........................................................................... 18 2.3 Two Major Styles of Singing in Chinese Vocal Music ................................................ 19 2.3.1 Literature Review of Folk Style Singing ............................................................ 19 2.3.2 Literature Review of Bel Canto ........................................................................... 21 2.3.3 A Comparison between Folk Style Singing and Bel Canto ................................ 24 2.4 How do I Sing Chinese Songs in Bel Canto? .............................................................. 26 2.4.1 Study in China ..................................................................................................... 27 2.4.2 Study in Scotland ................................................................................................. 28 iv Texas Tech University, Chong Wang, December 2018 2.4.3 Study in America ................................................................................................. 29 III. INTERVIEW .................................................................................................................... 30 3.1 Biography of Professor Song Bo .................................................................................. 30 3.2 Summary of the Interview Questions and Answers .................................................... 31 3.2.1 Bel Canto Training Introduction ......................................................................... 31 3.2.2 Similarities and Differences ................................................................................ 32 3.2.3 Main Problems of Bel Canto with Chinese Songs .............................................. 32 3.2.4 Some Techniques for Singing Chinese Songs ..................................................... 33 3.2.5 Significance ......................................................................................................... 34 IV. VOCAL PEDAGOGY ..................................................................................................... 36 4.1 Overview of the Bel canto Vocal Pedagogy ................................................................ 36 4.2 To Find out Common Problems of Students’ Singing ................................................. 37 4.3 General Singing Technique Training Idea ................................................................... 37 4.4 Training Ideas for Emotion and Expression .............................................................. 41 4.5 A New Chinese Diction Training Technique .............................................................. 42