Since the term “凤点头” refers to the drumming pattern of Chinese opera, this piece must be infused or embellished with such rhythms.
So, I’ve spent some time delving into this aspect which is not very familiar to me and managed to identify a few main patterns. It was an eye-opener for me as I have seldom come across such specific percussive rhythmic patterns being infused in a melodic instrument; much less provide a rhythmic structure for the music.
Ø Bars 9 - 12 (0’11 – 0’15) resembles the rhythm “ 3/4 [乙才] [乙台] 匡” ([yi cai] [yi tai] kuang) also termed as “马腿儿” (ma tui er) rhythm unique to opera music.
N.B. [ ] represents quaver because this blog dosent support e underline format
So, I’ve spent some time delving into this aspect which is not very familiar to me and managed to identify a few main patterns. It was an eye-opener for me as I have seldom come across such specific percussive rhythmic patterns being infused in a melodic instrument; much less provide a rhythmic structure for the music.
Ø Bars 9 - 12 (0’11 – 0’15) resembles the rhythm “ 3/4 [乙才] [乙台] 匡” ([yi cai] [yi tai] kuang) also termed as “马腿儿” (ma tui er) rhythm unique to opera music.
N.B. [ ] represents quaver because this blog dosent support e underline format
Ø Bars 77 – 84 (1’41 – 1’55) piano accompanimental rhythm uses the characteristic interval of minor 2nd (see R.H.) and major 7th (see L.H.) to create a timbre that is similar to that of the Chinese big drum. The rhythm [XX] [0X] [0X] [0X] is also distinctive to the drumming patterns of this Chinese drum.
Ø Another very distinctive operatic element could be heard from 4’36 – 5’05.
It is quite amazing how the composer uses this element as a link to connect section A to section B. This is often found in Chinese opera music, especially the part just before the main character is put into the limelight.
We can also extrapolate this essence into the concerto, since the upcoming section after this string of characteristic rhythmic figurations pose a sharp contrast to section A in terms of mood, texture and soundscape, it's like another ‘character’ being introduced on stage.
Thus in a sense, the competitive atmosphere brought from the previous A section between the yangqin and piano could be viewed as an ‘overture’ for the main theme of section B.
Thus in a sense, the competitive atmosphere brought from the previous A section between the yangqin and piano could be viewed as an ‘overture’ for the main theme of section B.
9 comments:
Hi JR!
I just want to ask what are the characteristics of operatic elements you mentioned here regarding rhythm. Is it the off-beat accents and syncopations?
Thanks
*jean*
Hey Jean.,
The operatic elements I refer here are the percussive and drumming patterns unique to Chinese opera music.
It's like when we hear music in 3/4 with one “down-beat” that is stressed upon and two “up-beats”, we know it is a waltz.
So in a sense it is how the off-beat accents are placed, the changes in tempo, but most importantly, it is the prominent feel of opera music heard here.., brought about by the characteristic rhythms taken from these opera music.
jr
hi JR,
This is very fascinating stuff for the class. Perhaps you can share on your understanding of the Chinese concept of "ban".
One clarifying question from me: are the pair of quavers in the 马褪儿(horse-gallop) rhythm only those of the first two beats or is it the entire 3-beat pattern (i.e. inclusive of the third-beat accented quavers)?
hi Dr Chong
The standard 马褪儿(horse-gallop) rhythm for the chinese opera actually only consist of pairs of quavers in the first 2 beats.
But this is just the basic structure of the rhythm.. In this piece, the rhythm is slightly transformed, but essentially one can still feel the 'groove'...
And of course in music performance we can't take the accents too literally, since it just demark the relative stress and sense of direction- so although it is marked accented for both quavers in the 3rd beat, we still stress more on the 1st quaver... hence revealing the 'horse-gallop' (literal translation)rhythm.
Re the gallop motive, now that I have the score, I notice that bs. 5-8 uses the rhythm ss ss c (s=semiquaver, c=crotchet), which is somewhat similar to the gallop motive except that it is in 2/4. Question: is this motif always triple in metre in traditional Chinese music? (One would have expected duple or quadruple time to be more appropriate for a gallop).
Re your reply to Jean's question, I thought the operatic rhythmic element is the acceleration on the repeated note. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Finally, do you really hear the middle section as the main musical event? Preceded by a lengthy intro which returns to close the piece?
Oh bs. 5-8 would not be considered the gallop motive because of the difference in relative time.
Actually the term "gallop motif" which u translate 马腿儿 as is not exactly right, because 马腿儿 really has nothing to do with gallops. Sometimes we cant directly translate chinese terms into english...
Just like the chinese title of this piece, which has no relations to "phoenix". There are even more specific classification terms for the “凤点头" rhythm, which includes the “大凤点头”and “小凤点头", which denotes different drumming patterns.
Yup so the 马腿儿 rhythm is almost always in triple meter in Opera Music.
Of course, the REAL gallop rhythm q ss q ss (q for quaver, s for semiquaver) which i think you are refering to is almost always found in duple or quadruple time.
Oh and the operatic rhythmic element is actually the whole of that 4 bars (bs. 209-212), not just the acceleration part.
Hmm.. I realized what i wrote on the post about this rhythm preceding the main character is a bit misleading. What I actually meant was that it served as a link to introduce another character, which is the contrasting 'B' section in this case.
JR: Thanks for the clarification on 马腿儿。
Can you shed more light on the operatic element at bs. 209ff? It's still not clear to me what exactly is the rhythmic element here, that is, what is the defining characteristic? This exact rhythm or something more general like an acceleration element (with various possible rendition)?
Incidentally, is this your own association with the operatic element?
haha.. this is not my own association with the operatic element. Initially I didnt know this was a characteristic rhythmic element from the opera and I just plainly played according to the directions given (esp. the tempo). But later when my yq teacher sang (and also acted it out with gestures) the correct interpretation of this phrase to me, I could immediately associate this to the operas (戏曲) that I have watched before.
Ah.. I find it difficult to describe in words here... Hmm the defining characteristics are actually those of the treatment of tempo (not marked out in detail on the score) and rhythms (particularly the whole of b.209 plus the acceleration element in b.210-211). Perhaps there may be different renditions based on this two main rhythmic motifs. But from my memory of the few operas I've seen, I realize the exact rhythms from b.209-213 seem to usually appear as a whole when a new character came on stage with their distinctive pose. My teacher calls this "亮相".
The acceleration element on its own is quite commonly heard in opera music but are not unique to the part where the character is being introduced.
Hopefully it's clearer now? maybe you can understand better if you see/ hear it used in actual 戏曲... see if i can find videos of it and upload here :D
Yes, it would be helpful (and I'm sure the rest of the class would be interested too) to see a relevant snippet from an actual opera. Perhaps after your exams when you have the time to look up one?
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