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Creating with Asian folk and traditional music : a study of the Chinese folk dance suite for violin and orchestra by Chen Yi and a compositional response
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Type
Thesis
Files 1-Prelude.mp3 (2.03 MB) 2-His face is hidden.mp3 (3.11 MB)
Audio attachment
Audio attachment
Author
Cheong, Sharon Hwee Ling
Supervisor
Dairianathan, Eugene
Tang, Kelly
Abstract
This study examines Asian-Western musical fusion through the use of Asian folk and traditional music in the case of Chen Yi’s Chinese Folk Dance Suite for violin and orchestra. The study consists of two parts. The first part, Chapters 1 to 5, examines how Chen Yi (b.1953) incorporates seven Chinese folk and traditional musical elements into her western mode of musical expression in the Chinese Folk Dance Suite for violin and orchestra (2000) and how she straddles the paradoxical dialectic of individual artistic creativity and the representation of Chinese music tradition in her music. In examining the creativity versus tradition dialectic, the analysis in each chapter compares Chen Yi’s employment of the folk and traditional sources with the referenced Chinese musical sources. The analytical procedure is informed by the commentary of the work; Chen Yi’s social, cultural and musical context; Chinese Han music theory; yang ge musical practice and Xinjiang music theory. Chen Yi’s solution to the creativity-tradition dialectic is displayed in her treatment of four main aspects of the work: instrumentation, orchestration, theme and structure. In Chen Yi’s approach in each of the Chinese musical sources, the process in dealing with the inherent differences in the Chinese musical references and the western musical idiom is revealed.
The three movements of the work are named after three Chinese folk and traditional genres: lion dance, yang ge and muqam. The study shows that these titles are misnomers; each movement is a re-creation of its Chinese musical references, instead of a pastiche of the Chinese musical sources. The re- creation creates new ways of perceiving the Chinese musical references. Besides the presence of Chinese musical influences in the Chinese Folk Dance Suite, the work is also found to be western in expression, sound and structure. The study of the use of the Chinese folk and traditional musical references in each movement can only partially explain the compositional process involved in this work. Further research is recommended to examine the western influences in the work to provide a more comprehensive account of the interplay of influences. In addition, while Chen Yi has shown us the value of writing with folk and traditional music from one’s cultural background, the means used to achieve the ends have underscored the fact that a composer’s voice is not shaped singularly by one’s culture. The composer’s voice is a complex of one’s background, experience, soundscape, and training.
The second part of the study consists of Chapter 6 and my compositional response to the study, an original seven-movement oratorio entitled Song for the Earth for Soprano, Tenor, Choir and mixed ensemble. Chapter 6 comprises my response to the preceding study and the influence of the findings on the compositional objectives of my oratorio; the explanation of the compositional strategies that I have adopted from Chen Yi; and the commentary of Song for the Earth, where influences of the preceding study are highlighted where applicable.
The three movements of the work are named after three Chinese folk and traditional genres: lion dance, yang ge and muqam. The study shows that these titles are misnomers; each movement is a re-creation of its Chinese musical references, instead of a pastiche of the Chinese musical sources. The re- creation creates new ways of perceiving the Chinese musical references. Besides the presence of Chinese musical influences in the Chinese Folk Dance Suite, the work is also found to be western in expression, sound and structure. The study of the use of the Chinese folk and traditional musical references in each movement can only partially explain the compositional process involved in this work. Further research is recommended to examine the western influences in the work to provide a more comprehensive account of the interplay of influences. In addition, while Chen Yi has shown us the value of writing with folk and traditional music from one’s cultural background, the means used to achieve the ends have underscored the fact that a composer’s voice is not shaped singularly by one’s culture. The composer’s voice is a complex of one’s background, experience, soundscape, and training.
The second part of the study consists of Chapter 6 and my compositional response to the study, an original seven-movement oratorio entitled Song for the Earth for Soprano, Tenor, Choir and mixed ensemble. Chapter 6 comprises my response to the preceding study and the influence of the findings on the compositional objectives of my oratorio; the explanation of the compositional strategies that I have adopted from Chen Yi; and the commentary of Song for the Earth, where influences of the preceding study are highlighted where applicable.
Date Issued
2009
Call Number
ML336 Che
Date Submitted
2009