Article:
From
time to time, composers have tried different ways to write their music with new
and modern sound. Some composers write
the music by employing total serialism, while others try to use ‘chance’
elements in their works. No matter which
compositional techniques they used, their efforts are only for one purpose;
that is, to make their music sounded ‘contemporary’ and ‘new’, which is
distinctive from the tonal idiom of the common practice period. Minimal music, textural music, serial music,
chance music, pointillistic music, free tonal music and many different kinds of
music flourished our music garden.
In the
course of seeking ‘contemporary’ sound for the music, interestingly, there are
two main controversial issues arouse.
Some composers prefer writing their ‘new’ sounded music by using the
traditional Western musical language, which is regarded as a kind of international
musical language though it is rooted from European musical tradition. They believe that this kind of musical
language has been generally and widely accepted by the listeners for a long
time and could be enough to express their music in a ‘contemporary’ way. They do not depend on the national elements
to produce a newly and originally sounded composition. Another composers, by contrary, would intend
to develop a unique kind of musical language and a new tonal system of their
own by adopting musical elements from the musical tradition of their
nations. Therefore, the music would
reflect a non-Western style and the musical sound, of course, is ‘contemporary’
or ‘new’ to the common music audiences.
To
Hong Kong local composers, the same issue is raised. Some Hong Kong composers, returning from the
overseas after studied abroad, started to write the contemporary music in
Western-based musical language. They
believed that their music could still sound new and contemporary through this
way. They did not feel a necessity to
focus on the Chinese musical elements to create the ‘contemporary’ sounded
music. However others did not agree to
this belief. They claimed that a real
‘new’ and ‘contemporary’ Chinese music is a kind of music that is rooted only
from Chinese traditional music. Only
through composing in a national style, or at least putting some national
characters in their music that the music can sound “contemporary,” which is
distinctive from the West. Focusing on
the national elements, therefore, becomes a tool to produce a ‘new’ or ‘fresh’
musical sound, which is non-Western style to the audenices.
Therefore,
if we really concern the development of the Hong Kong contemporary music, we
will want to find out the answer. After
watching the JVC Video of The World Music ad Dance – East Asia, this
tape perhaps, provides us some illuminations.
The
content of this video can separate into two main parts discussing about the
folk music of Xinjiang Ugur and Mongolia.
Both places are belonged to autonomous regions of People’s Republic of
China. Their music belongs to the
minority nations’ music. To me, as an
audience without too much knowledge on their folk music, it is interesting to
find that the music is rather ‘contemporary’ sounded. I think there may be four factors that
affecting the music sounded ‘modern’, that is, the traditional instrumental
color, rhythm, melodic linear motion and vocal gestures.
Firstly,
the most notable feature that made the music of Xinjiang and Mongolian sounded
‘contemporary’ to me is the traditional instrumental timbre. Penderecki, an important avant-garde music
composer in our day, has once stated that the problem of nowadays’ contemporary
music is that its sound is not ‘contemporary’ because the instruments we
commonly used are too old. We have great
developments in musical style, musical techniques and musical system, but there
is no change in instruments that we used in our music. We are still writing pieces for violin,
flute, or trumpet but these western musical instruments already have a few
hundred years’ history. In fact, today’s
listeners are familiar with the timbre of these western instruments. In the video, we can hear some special sound
produced by xushtar (bowed instrument), dutar (plucked lute), daf
(tambourine-like percussion) and many different kinds of conventional
instruments but sound unconventional to the general audience. The timbre of the plucked instruments, dutar
and yangqin in the music Mashrap – circle dance and Panjgah – mukam –
classical music give me a fresh impression.
These two instruments can be used for playing accompaniment to the
singers or dancers and also for playing main theme in an ensemble. The Mongolian Morin xuur (string instruments)
is another wonderful instrument for producing emotional (new) musical
sound. In the song Urtiin duu,
the morin xuur player plays a highly ornamented line that matches the
complexity of the sung part and the effective playing skills such as trills and
other fine melodic ornaments produce a sound of lonely mood and strengthen the
vocal part of the singer.
Secondly,
the rhythm is another essential factor that contributes the ‘contemporary’
feeling to the music. In the Western
classical music, metric division or pulse is a significant feature (except the
music in middle ages). Music usually
progresses in pulse. There is no obvious
sense of free rhythm. In the Mongolian
song Urtiin duu, it is sung in free rhythm. If we listen closely, you will hear that the
leisurely melody is structurally divided into three repeating section and it is
improvised by the singer freely to express the mood of the music. In addition, the Xinjiang Threshing song and
lullaby are also in free rhythm.
Perhaps, the lullaby is truly a universal form for all ethnic groups in
the world and thus, improvisation is one of the most natural ways to express
the mood of the song.
We
often agree that Western music tradition emphases the vertical relationship,
that is, the harmonic relationship.
Therefore, it will be a new experience for the listeners to hear the
music that focus on melodic linear motion, but not harmonic progression. The ensemble music of Xinjiang and Mongolian
always possess melodic patterns in different parts forming a somewhat
heterophonic texture. Sometimes, a vocal
line is accompanied by another instrumental line with ornamental
decorations. In the Mongolian song Urtiin
Duu (The beautiful sun of the universe), the morin xuur gives pitch to the
singer. The two performers then create
their melody together, with each sometimes anticipating, sometimes lagging
slightly behind the other. Also, the
melodic lines are constructed from some non-western scales, for example, the
modal scale. In the Xinjiang song, Doppasorman,
the initial melodic line contains many augmented seconds. These melodic
patterns sound ‘contemporary’ or ‘strange’ to the audience.
Finally,
the Xoomij, a kind of throat singing, is also an important feature to make the
folk music sounded ‘contemporary’. In
the Western musical tradition, the Italian bel-canto is nearly an orthodox
singing style for all kinds of vocal music.
But xoomij, is another kind of vocal style and it can produce
multiphonic musical sound. There are
several varieties of xoomij, focusing on different parts of the singer’s body:
the nose, throat, or diaphragm. Each has
a slightly different timbre, but the basic voice production technique is the
same. When we listen to the Mongolian
song, the chestnut horse with round hooves, and the dzoroo horse that
walks with small steps like a sheep, a contemporary musical sound is easily
heard. This is not the sound produced by
familiar bel-canto singing style. Of
course, the judging of this ‘contemporary’ sound is based on different
aesthetic. You may like it or dislike it but, unavoidably, it sounds new and
uncommon.
David Leung (theorydavid)
2013-01-02 Published