Way of the Pipa

E. Myers John

Description

"Over the centuries a repertoire of solo pipa pieces has developed and this study focuses on those found in the Hua collection, which encompasses the pieces in the repertoire of the Hua family, and was printed, using the wooden block technique, in 1819. Among the works are many ancient melodies which were handed down through oral tradition. Myers discusses the history and development of the musical aesthetics, and the relationship between imagery in the titles and corresponding melodic devices. He relates these recurring themes to elements in East Asian culture and philosophy. Included are transcriptions of pipa music into Western music notation. It is a welcome addition to the library of anyone interested in Chinese music and culture"-Elaine Bradtke, Come-All-Ye

Sujets

• Reference work
• Music

Informations

• Publié par: The Kent State University Press
• Date de parution: 15 juin 1992
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781612779669
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The Way of the Pipa
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The Way of the Pipa
STRUCTURE AND IMAGERY IN CHINESE LUTE MUSIC
John Myers
THE KENT STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Kent, Ohio, and London, England
© 1992 by the Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio 44242
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 91-33965
ISBN 0-87338-455-5
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Myers, John, 1951—
The way of the pipa : structure and imagery in Chinese lute music / John Myers.
p.    cm. — (World musics)
Foreword also in Chinese.
Originally presented as the author’s thesis (Ph. D.—University of Maryland at Baltimore, 1987) under title: A critical study of a 19th century handbook for the Chinese pipa-lute.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Discography: p.
ISBN 0-87338-455-5 (alk. paper)
1. P’ i p’ a music—History and criticism.       2.    P’ i p’ a music— Analysis, appreciation.      I.  Title.    II.   Series.
ML1015.P5M9    1992
787.8’2—dc20            91-33965
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication data are available.
To Alice
That you would include me in your indescribable collage of meaning and beauty, I remain permanently grateful.
Contents
Music Examples
Foreword and Translation
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1 / THE BACKGROUND
1. A General History of the Pipa
2. Chinese Music Aesthetics
Part 2 / THE SEAMLESS CLOTH
3. Musical Structure in the Hua Collection
4. Levels of Structure
5. Folds in the Seamless Cloth
6. Musical Structure in the Xiban
7. Musical Structure of the Daqu
Part 3 / MUSIC AND IMAGERY
8. Patterns of Correspondence
9. Glimpses Beyond
Notes
Glossary
References
Select Discography of Solo Pipa
Index
Music Examples
The following is a list of the music examples found in The Way of the Pipa . The works are listed in the order of their title number (for example, T64F refers to section F of the sixty-fourth piece to appear in the Hua Collection, “The Five Elements of Supreme Ethics”) and are frequently referred to in the text in their abbreviated form. Title number Musical Work T2 “Silk Thread” T4 “The Phoenix Birds Courting” T6 “A Cluster of Grapes” T7 “The Thick Clouds Descend” T13F “Skirmish” T13G “Battle Cry” T16 “Zhaojun’s Lament” T23 “A Speckled Dove Crosses the River” T27 “Rain Strikes the Banana Tree” T35 “The Morning Dew” T44 “A Thousand Victories” T45 “Beautiful Spring” T47 “Endless Waves of Clouds” T57 “The Bee and the Butterfly Fight Over Spring” T61 “The Butterfly Makes Love to the Flower” T64A “The Stable” T64F “The Five Elements of Supreme Ethics” T65E “Transition” T65H “Small Trumpeting” T66E “Floating on the Clouds” T66M “Duel in the Sky” T67A “Night Moon Over the Island” T671 “Jade Pagoda of a Thousand Floors” T68C “Incense and Praise” T68G “Song of the Yu Mountain Temple Blocks”
Foreword and Translation





The pipa traditions of China have a two-thousand-year history. Multitudes of musicians have unceasingly practiced and perfected the pipa, resulting in today’s forms and standards. Because of this, the pipa has strong expressive power, beloved of those able to appreciate its depth. Over a long period, many performers and music scores have come forth. Internationally, one often finds approval and praise when China’s pipa is played well!
Although the history of China’s pipa traditions reaches back to ancient times, very few pipa music scores have emerged until recently. For example, a few hand-copied manuscripts from the Tang [ A.D. 618–905] and Ming [ A.D . 1368–1644] dynasties have appeared, but in terms of published pipa scores, the earliest is the Hua Shi collection, printed with woodblocks by Hua Qiupin, Hua Zitong, and others at the Xiaolu printing shop in 1819, during the Jiaqing period of the Qing dynasty [ A.D . 1644–1911].
During the early and middle periods of the Qing dynasty, the oral traditions of pipa were divided into the southern and northern schools. The Hua brothers of Wuxi, using carefully preserved manuscripts, studied the southern traditions with Chen Mufu and the northern traditions with Wang Junxi. Forgetting neither the aspirations of their teachers nor the customary regional styles of Xishan (now known as Wuxi), Chen Meibuo, Cai Kaiji, the brothers Hua Yingshan and Hua Zhitian, with Zhu Shiquan, Bi Yuquan and others, working and consulting together, edited and published the Pipa Scorebook in three volumes. Volume one was identified as “The True Sound of Yan Music,” indicating the small and large pieces from the northern traditions, and volumes two and three were identified as “The Refined Sounds of Wulin,” indicating the small and large pieces from the southern traditions. The book was reengraved and reprinted in 1876 by the Wenlin bookshop. (This edition, like the first, was also produced with woodblocks.) Again in 1924, during the Republican Period, it was reissued by Guan Publications and printed at the Tianjun Press, this time with engraved blocks of stone. Later, people referred to this pipa scorebook as the Hua Shi Pu (Hua Family Collection). Because it was published three times, its influence on later scholars has been comparatively great, and it provides precious material for researching the repertoire.
John Myers of the United States has diligently researched the Chinese pipa. He chose the Hua Collection as a topic, and translated its gongche notation into staff notation. His complete analysis has been defended and approved as a Ph.D. dissertation. Now it is to be formally published, and this is the foreword. The Chinese pipa is now the subject of a book written by an American who shares our interest and who sincerely conveys the Chinese pipa’s features to the world. This is a positive and significant event.
Although the early scores are primitive and are not actual performance versions, they are all the more convenient and correct as a basis for analysis.
Lin Shicheng
Central Conservatory of Music
Beijing, China
Acknowledgments
The most recent phase of study leading to the completion of this work was supported by a National Council of Learned Societies Research Fellowship (awarded by the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People’s Republic of China) for study with Professor Lin Shicheng, founder of the pipa department at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. I would like to thank Professor Lin for his generosity in sharing his great wealth of material and his lifelong dedication to the instrument, and I would like to thank members of the committee for the support that made this work possible. I would also like to thank Mr. Wang Shaochang of the Shanghai Film Orchestra for his encouragement and musical knowledge, and Ms. Pan Hueizhu of the Center for China Folk Arts Development.
I would like to thank my American mentors, Drs. Mantle Hood and William P. Malm, for their continued suggestions and advice, and my colleagues at Simon’s Rock of Bard College for their stimulating interdisciplinary perspectives and practical assistance (one of my visits to China was supported by a Faculty Development grant from Simon’s Rock). Each of my dissertation committee members at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (Drs. Thomas Benson, Mantle Hood, Jozef Pacholczyk, Liang Mingyue, and Yip Ka-Che) helped me in many ways as this project began to take its initial form. I would like to thank Thomas Ginsberg for his meticulous graphic editing of the music examples.
I am especially grateful to my family for their patience and endurance during my prolonged absences, both overseas and during my time at the word processor. Without the support of William and Yanglai Chin of Baltimore, even the early stages of this work would have been impossible.
The Way of the Pipa
Introduction
Imported to China via overland trade routes about two millennia ago, the pipa (Chinese lute) and its music have become treasures of Chinese culture. When first encountering this instrument, we Westerners are often struck by some fascinating contrasts—the familiar with the exotic, the delicate with the powerful. It has frets and a rounded body shape, but it is longer than the European lutes and mandolin to which it is historically related. Its size suggests the Spanish guitar, but its tone quality is closer to the American banjo. Upon closer examination, one notices that the frets are raised so that a player’s fingers do not contact the fingerboard, a feature shared with the Indian sitar and veena . The delicate sighs of microtonal embellishment resemble the sound of the blues guitar, and one is often startled by the violent strumming and spine-tingling tremolo usually associated with flamenco. In spite of these seeming familiarities, however, the character of this instrument’s traditional music is unmistakably East Asian.
The Hua Collection (1819), the first mass-produced edition of solo music for the pipa, helped to establish the legitimacy of solo performance and meditative self-cultivation on instruments other than the venerable qin zither, and is consequently a historically significant publication. This study of the Hua Collection serves as a window into the cultural/historical significance and compositional structure of the entire traditional solo pipa repertoire. One window then opens to others, the larger worlds of East Asian aesthetics and Daoist mysticism.
Of course such windows often turn into mirrors of sorts. We must recognize the subjective nat