MUSI 303 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Middle Eastern Music, Peking Opera, Guqin
Document Summary
European central characteristic is harmony (2 notes at the same time) Heterophonic- simultaneous variation of a single melodic line (ornaments)- improvised- not harmony. China: gu qin, silk & bamboo, minyue- arguably most important, beijing opera- most national recognition and govt support, revolutionary beijing opera, sichuan opera. Traditionally muslim region: uyghur mum classical music. Saving for when we talk about middle eastern music. Large number of ethnicity but main is han (greater than 90%) Hundreds of distinct language dialects but of cial language is mandarin. One of the worlds most ancient instruments that is still used today. The instrument is associated with confucius philosopher teachings- social harmony (order, restraint, balance, hierarchy, etc) Different depending on how you pluck the instrument, sliding hands up and down strings, etc. Individuals can play the same piece of music & it will sound completely different. Gu qin music (composed) is written down in chinese characters & give limited information to performer.
