Wednesday, September 24, 2008
一狂 Set analysis for intro
Although this is a contemporary piece of Chinese music, it is not written in an avant garde manner that makes it difficult for listeners to appreciate with few listening. It still contains aesthetic aspects which appeal to the masses, preserving folk and traditional elements and building upon them to create music that is new, yet not losing its sense of beauty – a philosophy held strongly by the composer.
1) Set analysis (concerned with unordered collection)
In this 1st erhu rhapsody, the composer draws upon tonal inflections from one of the minority race in Yunnan (or xi nan) to construct a 9-tone scale: C D Eb E F# G Ab Bb B (according to the writer 陈静), as well as various other elements from yunnan folk music instead of being constrained by the pentatonic scale, so as to depict the various musical imagery and a broader scope for expressiveness (i have not finished deducing all 9 notes yet).
The juxtaposition of a major and minor 3rd interval in a tetrachord seemed to be a characteristic of this piece (these four notes were introduced in the first set of notes played by the erhu right at the beginning and subsequently played at different inversions).
1) Set analysis (concerned with unordered collection)
In this 1st erhu rhapsody, the composer draws upon tonal inflections from one of the minority race in Yunnan (or xi nan) to construct a 9-tone scale: C D Eb E F# G Ab Bb B (according to the writer 陈静), as well as various other elements from yunnan folk music instead of being constrained by the pentatonic scale, so as to depict the various musical imagery and a broader scope for expressiveness (i have not finished deducing all 9 notes yet).
The juxtaposition of a major and minor 3rd interval in a tetrachord seemed to be a characteristic of this piece (these four notes were introduced in the first set of notes played by the erhu right at the beginning and subsequently played at different inversions).
Normal form: [2, 5, 6, 9]
Inversional form: [3, 6, 7, 10]
This set of notes corresponds to the prime form [0, 3, 4, 7].
Looking at this prime form, I think we can derive 4 notes in the self-constructed scale, i.e. C, D#, E, G
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As we can observe, this is a symmetrical set that maps onto itself at the axis between 3 & 4, 8 & 9.
The interval class vector (IcV) corresponding to this set is
So we can deduce that there is a wide palette of harmonic colours to work with, and the sonorities can consists of semitones, tones, minor 3rd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, tritones, which is evident in both the linear and horizontal dimensions in this intro section. It also implies T3 and T4 give the most common tones.
Relationship within set class [0, 3, 4, 7] as it is transposed and altered in the intro section:
(the following collection of notes has been reordered to show the relationship)
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As seen, materials are drawn from the set [0, 3, 4, 7] related inversionally, transpositionally and in terms of subset. In particular, notes G# and A# from the self-constructed scale is introduced in the 5th system.
There is also a strong sense of tonal center around D major and soon after, there is emphasis on ‘A’, which is the dominant of D, followed by a temporal return to tonic and back to dominant which served as a link to the key of A in the next section. Thus we can still observe functional harmony at work here.
The choice of key (D major) may be due to the nature of the instrument (open strings D, A), thus D major to erhu is similar to C major for the piano. Thus the plucking of strings technique in the 4th system using notes D and A would give more resonance.
I haven’t found a particular group of notes for the pc set in the Andante section, but there is a motive I picked up in bar 4 (beat 6) – bar 5 (beat 1), which is related to a subset of [0, 3, 4, 7] by T9.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Analysis project - 第一二胡狂想曲 (1st Erhu Rhapsody )
For my analysis project this semester, I would like to look into the 1st erhu Rhapsody by 王建民 (Wang Jian Min).
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Brief background:
This piece was composed in 1988 and it is the first professional erhu piece that Prof Wang embarked on. Its creation was sparked off when he was approached to write a piece for an erhu graduating student, Deng Jian Dong from Nanjing Conservatory, and the conditions were that the piece had to be of a certain technical demand and depth. At that time, Wang just graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory not long ago and belonging to the group of younger generation China composer at that time, he felt obliged to delve into music for Chinese instruments and to bring Chinese Classical music to greater heights. Despite this Erhu Rhapsody being one of his earliest composition, it won him the 2nd prize in the 6th China National Chinese Music Composition (no first prize was awarded). The acclamations that followed after this piece was premiered spurred him to write the other two rhapsodies, which was completed in 1998 and 2003 respectively. But in between he wrote other pieces for the erhu and guzheng. Presently, these 3 rhapsodies are well-known in the erhu repertoire and commonly refered to as <一狂>，<二狂>, < 三狂>.
The 1st Erhu Rhapsody was conceived to be pushing the boundaries of traditional Chinese music, such as imbuing more freedom to the formal structure, use of self constructed scale (which I have not yet discovered), the playing with melodic and rhythmic motives, more daring explorations harmonically and greater demands in terms of performance techniques. For my analysis, I would be looking into these areas and hopefully it could help me appreciate how he preserves folk elements on one hand and incorporate western compositional techniques and styles on the other.
Generally, in all his compositions, Prof Wang strives to achieve a blend with both Western contemporary compositional techniques as well as folk elements from traditional Chinese music to create new musical styles and soundscape.
This piece was composed in 1988 and it is the first professional erhu piece that Prof Wang embarked on. Its creation was sparked off when he was approached to write a piece for an erhu graduating student, Deng Jian Dong from Nanjing Conservatory, and the conditions were that the piece had to be of a certain technical demand and depth. At that time, Wang just graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory not long ago and belonging to the group of younger generation China composer at that time, he felt obliged to delve into music for Chinese instruments and to bring Chinese Classical music to greater heights. Despite this Erhu Rhapsody being one of his earliest composition, it won him the 2nd prize in the 6th China National Chinese Music Composition (no first prize was awarded). The acclamations that followed after this piece was premiered spurred him to write the other two rhapsodies, which was completed in 1998 and 2003 respectively. But in between he wrote other pieces for the erhu and guzheng. Presently, these 3 rhapsodies are well-known in the erhu repertoire and commonly refered to as <一狂>，<二狂>, < 三狂>.
The 1st Erhu Rhapsody was conceived to be pushing the boundaries of traditional Chinese music, such as imbuing more freedom to the formal structure, use of self constructed scale (which I have not yet discovered), the playing with melodic and rhythmic motives, more daring explorations harmonically and greater demands in terms of performance techniques. For my analysis, I would be looking into these areas and hopefully it could help me appreciate how he preserves folk elements on one hand and incorporate western compositional techniques and styles on the other.
Generally, in all his compositions, Prof Wang strives to achieve a blend with both Western contemporary compositional techniques as well as folk elements from traditional Chinese music to create new musical styles and soundscape.
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In order to help me better appreciate contemporary erhu music, I've read up on 中国现代二胡曲创作概念, and it talks about the various developmental phase in contemporary Chinese erhu music.
Contemporary Erhu music can be largely classified into 3 phases (from 1949 – 1989).
In the early days, Chinese classical music were usually used to accompany Chinese operas, arias and assumes more of an accompanimental role. Many developments in erhu music can be attributed to 刘天华 (Liu Tian Hua) in the 1920s and 30s and it was him that elevated the status of Chinese music from serving entertainment purposes and progressed from ‘peoples music’ towards a more professional and sophisticated status.
Phase 1 (1949 – 1966)
The birth of New China provides the foundation for progress in erhu music, because the government supports folk music/ people’s music, and efforts were made to preserve and develop them. There were about 100+ erhu works being composed during this phase and most of the composers were erhu performers themselves and their works strive towards nationalistic ideals, inclusion of folk elements (e.g. folk tunes, scales, jiangnan sizhu music) so as to cater more to the masses. Composers built upon styles and performance practices broughtforth by pioneers such as 刘天华 and 瞎子阿炳 in the 1920s - 30s. 阿炳 is a well-known 'people's musician' with a unique style of playing 江南丝竹 music and his compositions were injected with jiangnan flavor.
Erhu compositions in this phase were generally described to emote both the hardships people have went through in the past, and the promises, hopes and happiness that the new China holds for them. There were considerable improvements made to the structural, thematic and technical features in those compositions. Composers built on the compositional techniques of Liu Tian Hua and consciously inject folk elements to achieve a blend between musical characteristics from both Western and Chinese musical traditions. I also realize that most Chinese classical music conform to the ABA structure.
Phase 2 (1966 – 1976)
This period coincides with the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, thus all previous developments made to erhu music were almost put to a stop, as only simple arrangements of “样板戏”and “革命歌曲”were allowed. Thus there were almost no significant erhu compositions during this time. Music composed or arranged in this period generally served political agendas and pledged the support of the government. Hence, little or no considerations were made regarding the instrumental capabilities, structure, inner workings of the music. But rather, thoughts were put into the content of what is honored in the song, generating feelings of patriotism to the government.
Phase 3 (1976 – 1989)
This is a significant phase in the development of Chinese erhu music and marks the end of the Cultural Revolution. In this period, there is a sudden surge in quantity of erhu compositions, injected with new compositional techniques that comes with influences and contact with Western music and theories, as well as a greater variety of music genres.
Clearly, 王建民’s 1st Erhu Rhapsody belonged to this phase and he plays a pivotal role in opening up new territories for exploration in contemporary erhu music. I'll be looking further into this area in my subsequent post.
Contemporary Erhu music can be largely classified into 3 phases (from 1949 – 1989).
In the early days, Chinese classical music were usually used to accompany Chinese operas, arias and assumes more of an accompanimental role. Many developments in erhu music can be attributed to 刘天华 (Liu Tian Hua) in the 1920s and 30s and it was him that elevated the status of Chinese music from serving entertainment purposes and progressed from ‘peoples music’ towards a more professional and sophisticated status.
Phase 1 (1949 – 1966)
The birth of New China provides the foundation for progress in erhu music, because the government supports folk music/ people’s music, and efforts were made to preserve and develop them. There were about 100+ erhu works being composed during this phase and most of the composers were erhu performers themselves and their works strive towards nationalistic ideals, inclusion of folk elements (e.g. folk tunes, scales, jiangnan sizhu music) so as to cater more to the masses. Composers built upon styles and performance practices broughtforth by pioneers such as 刘天华 and 瞎子阿炳 in the 1920s - 30s. 阿炳 is a well-known 'people's musician' with a unique style of playing 江南丝竹 music and his compositions were injected with jiangnan flavor.
Erhu compositions in this phase were generally described to emote both the hardships people have went through in the past, and the promises, hopes and happiness that the new China holds for them. There were considerable improvements made to the structural, thematic and technical features in those compositions. Composers built on the compositional techniques of Liu Tian Hua and consciously inject folk elements to achieve a blend between musical characteristics from both Western and Chinese musical traditions. I also realize that most Chinese classical music conform to the ABA structure.
Phase 2 (1966 – 1976)
This period coincides with the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, thus all previous developments made to erhu music were almost put to a stop, as only simple arrangements of “样板戏”and “革命歌曲”were allowed. Thus there were almost no significant erhu compositions during this time. Music composed or arranged in this period generally served political agendas and pledged the support of the government. Hence, little or no considerations were made regarding the instrumental capabilities, structure, inner workings of the music. But rather, thoughts were put into the content of what is honored in the song, generating feelings of patriotism to the government.
Phase 3 (1976 – 1989)
This is a significant phase in the development of Chinese erhu music and marks the end of the Cultural Revolution. In this period, there is a sudden surge in quantity of erhu compositions, injected with new compositional techniques that comes with influences and contact with Western music and theories, as well as a greater variety of music genres.
Clearly, 王建民’s 1st Erhu Rhapsody belonged to this phase and he plays a pivotal role in opening up new territories for exploration in contemporary erhu music. I'll be looking further into this area in my subsequent post.
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