Guoyue - Traditional Chinese Music
When the Republic of China (中華民國) was founded in 1912, its leaders set about to create a unified national identity out of the diverse traditions and cultures that made up imperial China. The most important aspect of this effort was the creation of Mandarin Chinese, China's first national language. See History of Mandarin Chinese. Another aspect was the creation of a unified national Chinese musical tradition, which the Republic of China dubbed (國樂 "guoyue" or National Music). See History of Chinese Orchestra.
Music is an important part of Chinese life and China has had a rich musical tradition for thousands of years. Some Chinese instruments still used today such as the dizhi and ocarina, date back thousands of years. Music is so important in traditional Chinese culture that it was considered one of the Six Confucian Arts (六艺) that all upstanding Chinese were expected to participate in.
Like the many languages and dialects spoken by the Chinese people at the time of the Republic of China's founding in 1912, different regions of China had their own rich musical traditions featuring different musical styles, different instruments, and different musical tones and notation.
In keeping with the political ideology of its nationalist leaders, the Republic of China decided China should have a unified national musical tradition. Because no common Chinese musical tradition existed, it needed to be created.
In 1927, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China directed Tsai Yuan Pei / Cai Yuanpei (蔡元培) to establish the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (上海音樂學院). Tsai was a famous Chinese scholar who was the president of Peking University, and founder of the Academia Sinica. While the Shanghai Conservatory of Music's primary activity was teaching Western music (its staff were graduates of the finest Western music schools such as the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany), this intimate knowledge of Western music allowed the Shanghai Conservatory to undertake the task of adapting traditional Chinese music to Western musical notation and theory.
Beginning in 1927, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music deployed researchers across China to collect data about local music and instruments. The Conservatory's scholars then synthesized their findings into a unified Chinese musical tradition. They studied the various regional variations of traditional Chinese instruments, such as the erhu and, created a standardized version with a standard tuning. These standardized Chinese instruments ("reformed instruments") were organized along the lines of a European orchestra. Chinese musical notation and musical tones were also standardized along Western lines.
The result is known as guoye (國樂 or National Music). In guoyue, the musicians are arranged like a European orchestra with a conductor and sections made up of families of instruments. The reformed Chinese instruments correspond to the various sections (brass, string, percussion). Most Classical Chinese music was rewritten for the new guoyue style. Thanks to the efforts of these early pioneers, China today has an outstanding national musical tradition.
© Copyright 2014 A Little Dynasty LLC, All Rights Reserved, Unauthorized Use Prohibited
Music is an important part of Chinese life and China has had a rich musical tradition for thousands of years. Some Chinese instruments still used today such as the dizhi and ocarina, date back thousands of years. Music is so important in traditional Chinese culture that it was considered one of the Six Confucian Arts (六艺) that all upstanding Chinese were expected to participate in.
Like the many languages and dialects spoken by the Chinese people at the time of the Republic of China's founding in 1912, different regions of China had their own rich musical traditions featuring different musical styles, different instruments, and different musical tones and notation.
In keeping with the political ideology of its nationalist leaders, the Republic of China decided China should have a unified national musical tradition. Because no common Chinese musical tradition existed, it needed to be created.
In 1927, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China directed Tsai Yuan Pei / Cai Yuanpei (蔡元培) to establish the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (上海音樂學院). Tsai was a famous Chinese scholar who was the president of Peking University, and founder of the Academia Sinica. While the Shanghai Conservatory of Music's primary activity was teaching Western music (its staff were graduates of the finest Western music schools such as the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany), this intimate knowledge of Western music allowed the Shanghai Conservatory to undertake the task of adapting traditional Chinese music to Western musical notation and theory.
Beginning in 1927, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music deployed researchers across China to collect data about local music and instruments. The Conservatory's scholars then synthesized their findings into a unified Chinese musical tradition. They studied the various regional variations of traditional Chinese instruments, such as the erhu and, created a standardized version with a standard tuning. These standardized Chinese instruments ("reformed instruments") were organized along the lines of a European orchestra. Chinese musical notation and musical tones were also standardized along Western lines.
The result is known as guoye (國樂 or National Music). In guoyue, the musicians are arranged like a European orchestra with a conductor and sections made up of families of instruments. The reformed Chinese instruments correspond to the various sections (brass, string, percussion). Most Classical Chinese music was rewritten for the new guoyue style. Thanks to the efforts of these early pioneers, China today has an outstanding national musical tradition.
© Copyright 2014 A Little Dynasty LLC, All Rights Reserved, Unauthorized Use Prohibited