Session 4 (August 6) - Sheila Melvin and Jindong Cai

[Shane Markowitz]

Tom, this Vice video on trap culture in Chengdu might interest you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs2zUv98IG4

Initially this scene wasn't particularly nationalistic but it has become more oriented that way. It seems that music artists have figured out that incorporating nationalist tropes provides an avenue to survive/be tolerated by the government. Eric Fish, in China's Millennials, argues that the population is generally drawn to nationalist sentiment, though, due to an emphasis on outside intrusion and exploitation in history education in school and on contemporary interference in the news media. So this could also simply represent the artists tailoring their music to the audience. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25906427-china-s-millennials

More on how Chinese rap artists are modifying lyrics to appeal to Chinese government: https://qz.com/1183806/chinese-rappers-fearful-of-authorities-are-cleaning-up-their-lyrics/

Why hip hop scares the Chinese Communist Party: https://www.economist.com/china/2018/01/25/why-hip-hop-scares-the-chinese-communist-party

 

[Shane Markowitz]

This is an excellent question, Ray! I was wondering this especially regarding classical music that tends to more religious-oriented. Eric Fish, for example, discusses the recent crackdown on proselytization in China and endeavors by the government to gain more control over the teaching of different faiths through state institutions. Would that carry over to works like Handel's Messiah? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25906427-china-s-millennials

Well it turns out that it does based on my Google search. The Economist reports that "singing Handel’s “Messiah” is forbidden in public" and that the government in effect "banned public performances of religious music". https://www.economist.com/china/2017/08/24/in-china-singing-handels-messiah-is-forbidden-in-public

 

[Tom Mueller]

Thank you Shane

[Ray Clark]

Actually, I really appreciated what you said in the live Zoom discussion about classical music in China being at a different level as far as accessibility. It does make sense for reasons of cost etc, that it is out of the range for the masses.  I think that is a little different than some Western Classical arts, because Shakespeare & Chaucer, for example, were written for the masses, but I think that some of the music may be similar to the Chinese case, although I know that some religious music wascomposed for the masses, but to show the extent of how "glorious" heavenly music was from "regular/folk" music.  In the same way, the great cathedrals were so magnificent, i.e. Notre Dame, so that humans entering would feel very tiny compared to God.

[Shane Markowitz]

This was a very exciting session and it definitely covered territory that is seldom discussed. I took note of all the music links participants were sharing (thank you!) and would like to play some of them for students next year during our unit on East Asia. This could be a way to provide them some exposure to the topic. I'm curious to see the future direction that modern classical music takes in China and whether it will evolve into something distinct that captures the global imagination like K-Pop from South Korea. 

[Juana Evink]

The video lectures as well as the class discussion on  western classcal music was very interesting. One idea that resonated with me was that China absorbs what it's beautiful from western culture and makes it better. I learned alot about how western music was first introduce to China by Catholic missionaries as early as the 13th century. China was open to western music, because it's part of their culture that the arts create better citizens, even as far back as Confucius where government officials had to write poetry to get a job.

It's impressive how much cultural value is placed on classical music in China, as mentioned in the readings Chinese parents as well as Americans believe it's a necessary skill to be admitted to  higher education institutions. The idea that the Chinese government supports the spread of western classical music to help improve China's culture and make it more sophisticated.  They built the Shanghai Music Conservatory and music schools. I was glad to hear thet classcial music still strong in China since it  was forbidden during the Cultural Revolution. I like to listen to classical music when I'm stressed, t's relaxing.

[Ray Clark]

Being fortunate to grow up in Europe, I loved seeing huge cathedrals & opera houses, and even as a child, I felt transported, and I am most definately NOT a musician!  Like you, I also teach history, and I have always imbedded the arts in my classes.  your final paragrapgh in particular resonates with me, and I am encouraged by the growth of many STEM programs becoming STEAM focused. I have been fortunate to collaborate with art and music teachers in the past, and I know for certain that all of our mutual students benefitted.

[Jessica Ng]

Hi Tom. You reminded me of a photobook I have about Beijing's underground music scene, mainly focusing on punk and experimental. They're not quite hip hop, but as you probably know, still similarly steeped in youth and counterculture. According to this book, which was published 11 years ago, one of the catalysts for the growth of the underground in China was "a dissatisfaction with the rise of a rabid, vapid, and often unsustainable consumer culture" and with the government. Sounds familiar, right? Among the musicians photographed are a Kazakh-Chinese man from Xinjiang who incorporates Kazakh instruments and folk songs into his work, and a band from Wuhan that uses bagpipes. Most of these musicians were struggling because state support and censorship worked in favor of inoffensive, conformist pop stars (and probably still do...?), which leads me to wonder if there are Korean underground counterparts suffering the same fate. And, of course, I wonder when and how the seeds of punk were sown in China!

[Jessica Ng]

I am grateful that Western classical music has found robust support and practice in China, as it seems every year I read some report from symphonies and orchestras about declining attendance and interest. The superstars China produces seem to galvanize foreign audiences (or at least in the USA) into packing concert halls when they're in town, especially when they're playing popular pieces.

As someone who focused on musicology, with plenty of exposure to performance students, and participated in a healthy dose of ethnomusicology (a problematic term, I know), I wonder what music education looks like at the university level in China? Do music students also study music history alongside performance and technique? To what extent and depth does their curriculum typically include study of music from other cultures? Will they eventually face their own version of Schenker-gate?

[Natalie Lau-Chien]

Wow, I didn't know that Farewell My Concubine was originally a work of the Beijing Opera!  I enjoyed the film--now I would like to see the oper, if I can find it on You Tube!

[Natalie Lau-Chien]

This was another fascinating combination of video lectures and readings about crossing boundaries--classical Western music being brought to China and the subsequent influences that they had on each other.  I have not heard this history before and found it very interesting to learn of the origins of Western music in China, first beginning with the arrrival of Jesuit Matteo Ricci and his harpsichord in the 16th century.  I wonder if there are other stories of western musicians/missionaries traveling to other countries across the globe with attempts to not only share their music but also spread their religion to other "heathens".  While the emperors did not convert, they were able to learn about western instruments and orchestration. 

I wondered if the western musicians that visited had any awe or interest in the types of music and instruments that the Chinese had at the time.   During the 16th-18th centuries, was there ever a two-way exchange or did the Europeans come with an arrogant elitist mindset that their classical music was top notch while the music, culture and instruments was substandard?  In the last article, "How China Influenced Western Music", the Sheila Melvin described that while the influence of music has been largely one way, there is evidence of numerous musical works written by Western composers who were influenced by Chinese music.  These range from a Chinese Overture composed by German composer Carl Maria von Weber, who was inspired by a Chinese "air" (folk song) that was brought back from China by a French Jesuit missionary, to 20th century composers from San Francisco, who were influenced by the Book of Rites or Book of Changes.  

 

[Natalie Lau-Chien]

On another note regarding the influence that Chinese music had on Western music, I was fascinated when Sheila Melvin mentioned that Puccini used the motif of the Chinese folksong "Jasmine Flower" in his opera, Turandot.  This was after he heard the melody through a music box owned by the Italian baron, Eduardo Fassini-Camossi.  (These music boxes were created by the son of a Swiss watchmaker, who was a violinist and composer that visited China for business and also collected and transcribed Chinese folksongs.  His family decided to include this songs in their music boxes.)  This passing of a Chinese folk melody from a Swiss businessman to an Italiian baron to an Italian compser shows numerous occasions of boundary crossing.  I first heard this melody when I was a teaching assistant in an elementary school Chinese summer class in Hawaii, which was a summer job while in college.  I had no idea that this folk song had also been also used in an Italian opera.  After going down more internet rabbit holes, I also found that this folk song was also used in the 2008 Olympic medal ceremonies as adapted by Wang Heshung and Tan Dun, one of the composers mentioned in the second lecture.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVnZ7RG70cM

This wikipedia link lists the numerous times that this folksong, also known as "Mo Li Hua", has been used in western films or musical performances. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Li_Hua

[Rebecca Blankenship]

I use parts of Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road documentary with my students each year.  They love it.  It is such a compelling way to show the interconnection of the silk road as well as how bringing in all of these diverse stories and sounds makes for a much richer song.  

[Rebecca Blankenship]

Butterfly Lover's inspired a story in A Thousand Beginning and Endings.  The book is comprised of short  stories by various Asian American YA authors.  The story itself is set in a post apocolyptic modernized warring states period in which disease is weaponized.  But at its center is the story of the butterfly lovers.  The story is called Bullet, Butterfly.  

[Rebecca Blankenship]

The connection to Confucianism was fascinating to me.  The idea of learning music as the pininical of what is meant to be learned has such an interesting role in the world.  I think this would make for excellent discussion amongst students especially in places where music education is not funded.

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