Loke Shiuk-Tung writes:

>...there are 2 types of "Chinese" music, which some of us might be
>confused - (i) Traditional Chinese music with the use of instruments such
>as "pi ba", "er hu", "gu qin" etc.  "Chinese Orchestra" if one can put it
>this way.  They have distinct "Chinese" sound.  I doubt that there is any
>influence by the western be it political or music idea.

It was hugely influenced, whatever way you may look at it.  The guqin
has in someway been used in the orchestra.  They are making new guqins
nowadays.  The erhu's repertoire is very recent, starting from Liu
Tianhua's time, in 1911+, and also Ah Bing.  Ancient pieces exist, but most
of the pieces are more recent.  The pipa, never a Chinese instrument to
start with, has a firm main body of ancient pieces, but many other pieces
using advanced techniques have been written nowadays.  The instruments have
been undergoing constant change in shape, sound and nearly every other
aspect you can think of.

>Yes, this is what I am talking about.  This is good music, and well worth
>a better understanding.  There are some points of Western influence,
>however, which I will outline.

This is all very true.  It's frankly shocking, to the newcomer to Chinese
music and history.

>First, and one cannot discuss Chinese music without it, the Cultural
>Revolution was obviously politically inspired by the West.  ...

Also remember there was Liu Tian Hua who played a bigger role than Ah Bing
(Hua Yan Jun)

>...  The idea of the "orchestra" has also become much more prevalent in
>China, at least for these instruments (there are percussion and wind
>orchestras, seldom heard, with long histories).

this is very true.

Let me tell the story of the liuqin.  The liuqin was a two-stringed
plucked instrument (like a lute) used for opera.  The plucked-string
section of the chinese orchestra is particularly important, but it did
not have an instrument in the soprano range.  For the express purpose
of creating an instrument, the liuqin was modified in 1958 to the
three-stringed version (just before the Great Liberation) and again in
1971, during the Cultural Revolution to the four-stringed version.  The
liuqin as we know it is a modern invention, a phenomenon quite unheard of
in these times.

>(ii) Chinese or Chinese-like music composed to be played on
>"Western" instruments such as piano, violin, etc. and orchestra.

Some very lovely concertos written recently: Guan Naizhong's cello
concerto "Endless Way" Also many other pieces, but I must say that the
repertoire here is not as important as the core repertoire for Chinese
instruments.  Anyway there are a lot of things Chinese instruments can do
that Western instruments fail miserably at imitating.  (what can sound like
the suona, or the jinghu, for instance?)

"Derek Lim" <[log in to unmask]>