Is Chinese Music Western?
Not only in form but also in artistic conception, China has been the home of a colorful culture of folk music. Largely based on the pentatonic scale, Chinese folk music is different from western traditional music, paying more attention to the form expression as well.
How China influenced Western classical music?
Western classical music has made its way into concert halls and conservatories in most major cities in China. It has also crept into traditional Chinese music and opera performances. At the same time, Chinese melodies and philosophy started influencing Western sounds in the early 19th century.
How does Chinese music differ from Western?
When compared with its western counterpart, traditional Chinese music appear to be simply in orchestration and harmony but does constantly evolve and develop through inheritance. Compared to traditional Chinese music, traditional western music shows greater complexity in configuration, orchestration, harmony and so on.
When did traditional Chinese music start?
Traditional Chinese music can be traced back 7,000 – 8,000 years based on the discovery of a bone flute made in the Neolithic Age. In the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, only royal families and dignitary officials enjoyed music, which was made on chimes and bells.
Why is Western classical music popular in China?
Western classical music wasn’t introduced to the Chinese public until Christian missionaries came in the 19th century, but it quickly gained popularity and prestige as a symbol of the Western “culture of scientific progress and modernization.” The rigors of classical training fit the Confucian value of self-cultivation …
What is the basic difference between Western music and oriental music?
A major difference between Western music and Middle Eastern music is that Western music tends to be based on a scale (sometimes called a key), while Oriental music is based on a maqam. In the words of the late San Francisco musician Mimi Spencer, a maqam is “something more than a scale, something less than a tune.”
What is the origin of Chinese folk songs?
Music first started to develop in the Neolithic age, (7,000-8,000 years ago). During the Qin Dynasty (221-07 BCE), the Imperial Music Bureau was created. It was an organization united musical practices throughout China and organized the folk songs into court and military music.
What influenced Chinese music?
Music in China is strongly influenced by philosophy and concepts of important historical thinkers such as Confucius.
Why Western music is popular?
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Western music became widely popular through the romanticization of the cowboy and idealized depictions of the west in Hollywood films. Singing cowboys, such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, sang cowboy songs in their films and became popular throughout the United States.
How has Western music influenced the music of China?
At the same time, Chinese melodies and philosophy started influencing Western sounds in the early 19th century. Western music formally arrived in China in 1601, when the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci presented a clavichord to Wanli, the longest-ruling of the Ming emperors. Western technique changed the way Chinese instruments are played and made.
Does the future of classical music lie in China?
Chinese virtuosos and composers crowd the international music scene and Western critics regularly declare that the future of classical music lies in China. Musical influence has, however, largely been a one-way street, with Western musicians and audiences slower to adapt and import music from China.
What instruments were used in the 17th century?
In the 17th century a wide variety of continuo instruments was used, including lute, theorbo, harp, harpsichord, and organ. By the 18th century the practice was more standardized: the bass line would be realized on a keyboard instrument and reinforced by a monophonic bass instrument, such as a lute, viola da gamba, cello, or bassoon.
Why is the 17th century a turning point in music history?
The beginning of the 17th century was one of the most dramatic turning points in the history of music, even more so than the beginning of the Ars Nova and almost as revolutionary as the beginning of the 20th century.