Elegant Music ANTHRO 329 S2 2019 WK II Homogeneity/Unity vs Heterogeneity/Indigeneity • Written System (Chinese Characters 漢字) • Religion: Buddhism and indigenous beliefs • Ideology: Confucianism • Influenced on the government system, social hierarchy and relationships, rites and ritual ceremonies, and patriarchal kinship system • Yayu e /Elegant Music • Musical Instruments: bamboo flutes, zithers, percussion 雅樂 Elegant Music Yayue (Chinese), Aak (Korean), Gagaku (Japan) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OA8HFUNfIk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-1-4eLjzh Elegant Music in East Asia • Chinese Influence • Indigenization • Both culmination and decline of court ritual music • Cultural nationalism; preserved and promoted as an emblem of each state (particularly, Japan and Korea) Confucius (Kongzi) • Confucianism: Ideology • Philosopher • Ways of behaving in society as social members • Codification by writing the rules • Emphasized the “RITES” – Efficacy, Formality, Propriety • Music and Dance—not only enhance the efficacy of rituals but also complements it FIVE Constants/Ethics Ren (인 humaneness; benevolence) Yi (의 righteousness or justice) Li (예 proper right) Zhi (지 knowledge) FIVE Xin (신 trust or integrity) RELATIONSHIPS ruler to ruled, father to son, husband to wife, FOUR VIRTUES elder brother to zhong (충 loyalty), xiao (효 younger brother, piety), jie (절 courtesy/manner), friend to friend yi (의 righteousness) “To be a complete man, one has to rely on music” (Lunyu [Noneo], chapter 4) “Is [music] merely bells and drums?” (Lunyu, in the chapter “Yang Huo”) Yayue vs Suyue 雅樂 (Elegant Music) 俗樂 (Vulgar Music) • Yayue, Aak, Gagaku • Suyue, Minsogak, Mingaku • Proper Music • Secular Music – Function and didactic • Pleasure and Entertainment messages • Music of Commoners • Ritual Music • Potentially harmful and • Music for Education (for and necessity of restriction by Literati) Ways and Efficacies of Music Propriety Efficacy Efficacies of Yayue • Didactic function – Teach people; cultivate good manners • Social governance – Manifestation and encoding of social values and ideology – Political tool • Self-cultivation – Meditation and purification • When done properly: cosmological balance, good relationships, and world order between heaven and human society MUSIC Man Nature Supernatural Powers “Personal cultivation begins with poetry, is made firm by rules of ceremonials, and is perfected by music” (Lunyu, in the chapter “Tai Po”) Guqin: Chinese 7 String Zither Confucius’s Instrument; Instrument of Junzi – Ancient instrument used by Confucian scholars (as early and 2nd millennia BC) – Court orchestral instrument (1600-1045 BC) – During Zhou (1045 to 256 BC), it became a solo instrument – Used for the Confucius scholars’ intellectual enlightenment and self- cultivation (5-3C BC) *Describe the instrument! Images inscribed with the instrument Listen, “Flowing Water” Watch a clip on Guqin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= B8F0G4QEQYg&feature=related Guqin master Pui-Yuen Lui performing "Flowing Water", Los Angeles, California 2009 Musical Characteristics of Guqin A. Sectional: introduction; metered section; slowing down; conclusion B. Poetic titles, programmed imagery and story EVOKE the MOOD C. Sound effects: glissandos (sliding pitches), harmonics, portamento, vibrato D. Timbre changes and effects: Right hand and left hand techniques E. Kinesthetic: hand movements Kinesthetics of Guqin performance • Bell Yung, the musician’s movements of hands on the instrument = choreographer designs of the dancers in the dance space. • “Metaphoric resemblance” may also solve an apparent paradox which all zither players are aware of. It involves a particular kind of finger movement that occurs often in many pieces: after a right-hand finger has plucked a stopped string, the left hand, without leaving the string, moves to one or more different positions along the same string. Theoretically, several tones should be produced, each one at a stopping point of the left hand. In practice, the tones are hardly audible after the second or third stop. If the tones cannot be heard, why are the movements so carefully notated in the tablature? . While the tones might not be physically audible, they are nevertheless kinesthetically perceived, or imagined, through the hand movement and the tactile sense of the finger (Bell Yung 1984: 511-512). • “Guanglin-san” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u7egjAYP EE • “Dialogue Between a Fisherman and Woodcutter” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3NMrbWL bUc • “Yulan [Chinese magnolia]” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72tBHiIEglg Instrument of Chinese Literati – The primary aim of qin performance is to understand the literary content and prescribed mood of compositions – Notation • Interpretation of notation • Scholarly maturity – Qindao: Way of Qin than Sound of Qin “musicians who focus on performance are criticized for doing an injustice to the music.” --Before practice/performance: rites to prepare and maintain the purity of mind • Ruan Ji (210-263), a sage and composer for qin: “Birds and beasts know sound but do not know melodic lines, and the commoners know melodic lines but do not know music. It is only the gentle man who is able to know music.” “The Way and Virtue are calm and placid, therefore the five tones have no flavor.” Who are the audience of guqin? • A Story of Boya and Ziqi No one could understand Boya’s qin playing. As he played on a river boat one day, Ziqi (Zhong Ziqi), a wood cutter, heard the very objects and scenes Boya played out. When Boya was focused on Mount Tai, Ziqi said, “wonderful, as grand as Mount Tai.” When Boya’s focus was flowing streams, Ziqi said, “Vast and swelling, like flowing streams.” When Ziqi passed away, Boya smashed his qin and never played it again, for no one else could understand his music. Ideal audience? Zhiyin: a kindred spirit, someone who “knows the music” Guqin Notation, Jianzi Pu 減字譜 • Training required to read, understand, and realize the notation • Gaps in the instructions • Personal interpretation – DAPU Jianzipu Jianzipu + staff notation Listening • “Liushui [Flowing Water]” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG6MIvpf6 W8&feature=related Performed by Guqin master Li Xiangting 李祥霆 Additional Readings • Van Gulik, Robert. 1969. The Lore of the Chinese Lute: An Essay in Ch’in Ideology. Monumenta Nipponican 3. Tokyo: Sophia University Press/Turttle. (Originally published in 1940). • Henochowicz, Anne. 2009/10. “’Guqin’ Ideology and National Sentiment.” College Music Symposium 49/50: 375-384. • Yung, Bell. 1984. “Choreographic and Kinesthetic Elements in Performance on the Chinese Seven-String Zither.” Ethnomusicology28 (3): 505-517 • Yung, Bell. 1987. “Historical Interdependency of Music: A Case Study of the Chinese Seven-String Zither.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 40 (1): 82-91. What would Confucius say if he sees this photo? BREAK Protection of Traditional Performance Cultures in East Asia • Japan, The Law for the Protection for Cultural Properties (Bunkazai hogohō) in 1950 • South Korea, the Cultural Properties Preservation Law (Munhwajae pohobŏp) in 1962 • Taiwan, the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (Wenhua zichan baocun fa) in 1982 PRC, the Law on Intangible Cultural Heritage (Fei wuzhi wenhua yichan fa, in 2011 UNESCO--United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 2001, 2003, 2005: Registration of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity 2003, the adoption of the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Until today . Provine, Robert. 1992. "The Korean Coutyard Ensemble for Ritual Music (Aak)." Yearbook for Traditional Music 24: 91-117. Q1) What is the name of the particular type of Chinese Aak introduced to Korea in 12th century and practiced and preserved in Korea? Q2) The Courtyard Ensemble sent to Korea was a much smaller size than the one prescribed for the emperor himself in China. Why? Q3) Why was the performance setting of the aak different from that used in Chinese court? Q4) What happened to the court ritual music during Joseon (Chosŏn) Dynasty? How it was indigenized, why it was gradually reduced, and why it was maintained throughout the dynasty? Q5) Why did Korean court at the end of 19th century want to increase the number of singers but not the size of orchestras? Q6) What are the names of two court ritual sacrifices preserved in Korea today? Lancashire, Terence. 2003. “World Music or Japanese - The Gagaku of Tôgi Hideki.” Popular Music 22 (1): 21-39 Q1) How and why has Togi Hideki, a hereditary imperial court musician, reinterpreted gagaku and reintroduced it to modern audience? Q2) What does it matter with this musician? Q3) Why is Togi Hideki’s music controversial and has it made gagaku musicians feel uncomfortable? Q4) What does this story of Togi inform us about the relationship between gagaku and ancient Confucius instruction of good music? Additional Reference: NHK featuring Togi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xcOYFeEv6c Gagaku https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRM_FNooJHc Timeline of Chinese History Dynasty Western Dates • Xia . 21st to 16th century B.C.E. • Shang . 1700-1027 • Western Zhou . 1027-771 • Eastern Zhou . 770-221 • Spring and Autumn Period . 770-476 • Warring States Period . 475-221 • Qin . 221-207 B.C.E • Han . 202 B.C.E.-220 C.E. • Wei, Jin, Northern, and Southern Sui . 220-581 C.E. • Sui . 581-618 • Tang . 618-907 • Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms . 907-959 • Song . 960-1279 • Yuan . 1279-1368 • Ming . 1368-1644 • Qing . 1644-1911 • Republic Period . 1912-1949 • PRC . 1949-present.