Chinese Music

Posted by Marcy on 1.14.2006

This semester I have the pleasure of taking "Folk and Traditional Music in World Cultures." It's been three classes meetings so far and I've seen the prof once. He's in Hawaii for the week.

Today we had a guest professor from FSU come in and give a small concert demonstrating Chinese music. The funny part was that this lady said there is no "Chinese music" and it can't be defined because it's so vast. She asked how we would define "American music." It's a good point, but I think it totally invalidates the point of the class... (which if you didn't pick up is to study and identify and describe music from different parts of the world)

The zheng and qin were the two instruments demonstrated. She also sang acapella. Wow. I've never really been exposed to Chinese music before. Of course, I've been to Epcot and I've seen movies like Mulan (not sure if it's Chinese and come to think of it, that movie is probably pretty American, but you get the point, right?).

The singing was so amazing. She would tap an occasional beat on her thigh and I could totally hear percussion fitting right in behind her singing. It was crazy. So melodic. So rhythmic. She talked a lot about the Chinese concept of music - no space and four main types of... pronunciations. The word "ma" can be pronounced or sang in for different ways. And apparently the meaning changes from mother to horse to marijuana to a curse word. Ok so this lady really knows her audience.

Another thing that struck me was the lyrics that were translated into English. They have so much admiration and respect for nature. American music just doesn't mention the beauty of nature enough. All we ever sing about is emotions and material things. For real. When was the last time Green Day or the Black Eyed Peas sang about a cloud or mountain? Perhaps this observation is an insight into cultural values, but feel free to read into this as much as you care to.

The qin was a very quiet string instrument and the professor was very stiff about it not needing amplification improvements. She used a mic on it anyway despite her speech. This instrument was used for self-improvement way back when, along with other art forms like calligraphy.

The zheng was definitely my favorite part. Almost a combination of the piano and guitar but so much more amazing. I believe she said it had 21 strings and 13 inlays. And she was able to produce all 4 of those accents.

Overall, I enjoyed the brief concert. Chinese music definitely makes my A list.