The Music of China

By:Group 4

Introduction:

Chinese music is based on the doctrines or

believe or beliefs of some of the chinese
philosophy, social and political order, where
chinese music and philosophy advocated a
stable hierarchy reflecting natural balances
and maintained by individual virtue and
restriant(according the confucian
Philosophy

What are the elements of

Chinese Music?

1.Pitch/Tonal System-Most Chinese music is

in pentatonic scale , which is derive from
the Ling Lun Chinese music.It is believe that
the five-tone scale system among the
chinese is connected to their patterns in life
like their outlook in cycle of
dynaties,seasons, the five planets and five
bases of elements.The useof phentatonic
attributes is like:

Kung It is the primary tone which is

associated with the Emperor
Shang It is the tone associated with
minister
Chih- the tone associated with the state
Chaio-It is the tone associated with the
people
Yu- It is the tone associated with the
Chinese object

2.Timbre

In Han Chinese culture,the style of singing is

usually thin and nasal.High pitched or shrill
vocal quality conveys lifes adversity in the
northern part.In contrast of the southern
part of china,lifes expieence ismuch
lighter,so the music in south is lyrical and
gentle

3.Meter and Rhytym

Chinese music is mostly in duple rhytym or
two quarter transmit the principle od
natural duality like female-male or yinyang relationship may also convey the
zhongyong,a confuncian concept
A Doctrine of the mean ,the goal is to
maintain balance and harmony from
directing the mind to a state of constant
equilibrium and stick to it

4.Texture

Its generally thought that chinese music is

homophonic texture because it is mainly the
distinguishing characteristic of early Chinese
ritual music like the Ya Yiieh ,which is classical
music; but in the instrumental music of China,
most commonly the musicians of make use of
embellishment on the melody in unison with the
music and instrumental accompaniment
immediately follwed by the pattern of
singing.Thus,it gives the rise of heterophonic
texture in most of Chinese folk music of han
people

What are the types of chinese

vocal music?
1. Religious Music- it is classified into two:
A. Buddhist Music is also known as
sanskrit Music.in Buddhist music , vocal
intoning is usually referred to as chanting
music , covering verse , hymns and liturgies
B.Taoist Music - The music is influenced by
regional folk and it Buddhist music

The Art Song

Xiaoling is a vocaln music of 12th 13th

century based on the poetry of qu which is
one type of art song wherea soloist
sometimes performs with a wooden clapper
as an accompaniment

Narrative music

Zhugongdiao is one of the significant types

of narrative songs.the song is about a
romantic legend accompanied by an
instrumentation like in drum song

Chinese folk music

Describe the livesmof the most Han Chinese

people. Shange is a mountain song created
in strophic form and it uses fewer restrain,
compose of two or four phrases with the
same length and each phrase has another
musical thoughts

What are the example of

instrument pieces of instumental?

1.Solo Instrument pieces- the qin is a six

footed string zither instrument same with
japanese musical instrument called koto

This solo instrument piece has a theme a

variation with a four part structure
copose of six stanas with a coda

A. Stanza No. 1 The Sanqui it introduces

two to three basics tonal centers

B.Stanza no.2-5 Rudiao (Aentering)

this phase introduce the meter and the
main motives which differs in tonal
development or reduction of themes
C.Stanza No.6 restatement(Ruman
becoming slower)-these themes are
interpreted again in a different rhythmic
arrangement

Instument Ensemble
Instrumental ensemble can be perform on
the Following:
A. Guchi this instrumental ensemble is
usuallyheld in urban areas during holidays
where a gong and drum ensemble
commonly perform
B. Sizshu it is reffered to as the solk
bamboo ensemble where the instruments
play traditional tunes where the texture is
heterophonic