Academic literature on the topic 'Chinese vocalist'

Background. The article is devoted to the scientific-methodical analysis of the phenomenon of a folk songs assimilation into the multicultural vocal tradition. A folk song is presented in the aspect of national self-consciousness and plurality of modern performing traditions in the conditions of multi-stylistic cultural attitude. The relevance of the topic is the theoretical comprehension of the role of a folk song and singing in multicultural context. The purpose of the research is a comprehension of the phenomenon of the folk songs assimilation in multicultural vocal traditions under the new wave of interest in national dimension of “West – East” and necessity of quality vocal education of rising Chinese students-vocalists. The article based on the studies of materials of curriculums, methodical elaborations and manuals developed in the department of solo singing at Kharkiv National I. P. Kotlyarevsky University of Arts. Research results. Modern multicultural performing traditions in conditions of expanding geography of creative experience exchange needs in new philosophical and scientific-methodical comprehension. Based on variety international cultural programs there are traineeship groups, exchange of students and teachers, presentations of common creative projects. The modern cultural background of Ukraine is enriched with unique concerts of Chinese students performing not only classical repertoire, but Chinese folk songs as well. Methodical comprehension of stylistic layers and ways of formation of multicultural traditions occurs according to the methods of comparison of general intonations in folk songs. Vocal methodic of sound extractions is founded on general grounds, regardless of national specificity, however, the comparison and plurality make the process of performing reproduction of vocal styles more accessible for comprehension by students. The issues of national certainty and vocal-technical skills, interpretative experience in the concert forms and singing genres are considered in the research. The innovative aspect of the topic disclosure is the involvement of Chinese folk songs and pieces by Chinese composers in interaction with pieces by Italian and Ukrainian composers in the repertory of the learning vocalists. The practical task is to reveal the multi-national potential of musical mindset of contemporary singers in the context of the steady tendency to the mental-stylistic plurality in the art of the 21st century. It is proved that the vocal-technical learning of general world experience occurs through the recognition of the plurality of stylistic features of folk songs. The folk song is the “cornerstone” of the performing tradition, the basis of the vocal repertoire of any national school. It is included in a composition of compulsory pieces for participation in national and international vocal competitions. Thanks to the folk song what is the carrier of the ancient information and performing features included by previous singer generations, a deep connection of the artist with folk-song traditions occurs. The category “folk singing” is a coherent entity that contains the minimum set of information what includes distinctive harmonic figures, instrumentation, texture, acoustic features of rendition. The traditional Chinese song, based on pentatonic scale, becomes an illustration of the national “general intonation”. "Sense" of an entire tone for the formation of the purity of vocal intonation assumes an exclusive meaning. The success in acquisition of pentatonic melodies is provided due to similarity of intonation sets what are typical for musical cultures of different nations over the world. The folk song in the repertoire of the learning vocalist is a reflection of the multicultural traditions in the conditions of the domination of academic vocal culture. The study of the melodics of the song and its harmony and form peculiarities contributes to the adaptation of the singer’s mindset to the alternative mental principles of vocal art and to the universalism of mindset in the forming of professional academic performing. The Chinese folk song, the Ukrainian duma, East mugham singing and other similar reflect the spiritual world of folk reproducing historical antiquity. Therefore, the folk song as an integral part of the modern repertoire in vast enriches the intonation, spiritually-aesthetic and cultural fund of a vocalist. The conclusions summarize the complexity of the problem, the components of which are the adapting of mindset to the alternative mental bases of vocal art and rising of universalism in conditions of multi-stylistic plurality. The bases of formation of multicultural traditions are generalized: the comparison of stylistic layers; exploring the general world experience through the national certainty (basic vocal repertoire as a synthesis of stylistic plurality); vocal-technical equipment, the comparison of melodic, harmonic and tempo-rhythmic principles of differrent folk songs; rendition of the folk song in the original language. All of these bases reveal the content of the movement to the formation of multicultural performing traditions in order to advance of the professional academic background.

Background. One of the main positions of the vocalist’s practice is to understand the recitation as a kind of interpretation of the musical text, which is fixed in the notes. In the process of performing a piece of music, be it the song, the romance, the recitative, the aria in an opera or a musical drama, one specific variant is selected each time from its many potential meanings. This is the performer’s interpretation of the declamatory intonation, because the composer usually does not indicate the tone, timbre and strength of the voice, minimally orienting a singer in the desired intonation, in the duration and location of pauses for breath and in another wide arsenal of methods of declamatory expression. The aim of this research is to study the interpretive properties of recitation in the sphere of vocal music. Discovering the nature of the interpretive properties of declamatory intonation, based on the simultaneous and consistent sound of speech and music, will help to overcome the performance difficulties in the vocalist’s work on mastering the artistic technique of this area of expression. The main results. The specificity of the combination of words and music in the structure of melodic declamation, its origins in various national cultures, both European and Chinese, the peculiarities of being in different genre conditions (musical drama, opera recitative) are considered, certain difficulties and tasks for the singer-reciter are outlined. In European art, the tradition of melodic recitation has its roots in ancient mysteries. The beginning of European secular melodic recitation was marked at the end of the 16th century, but it was developing in the works of musicians known as the “Florentine Camerata” (Vincenzo Galilei, Giulio Cacchini, Jacopo Peri, Ottavio Rinuccini, etc.), becoming one of the origins of opera. A distinctive feature of melody recitation at that time was the desire for solo recitative singing. Later, as an expressive mean, recitation was existing within the opera genre, and from the middle of the 18 century in Europe, this technique was contributing to the formation of an independent concert genre – chamber and vocal works with ballad texts, which found their place in the works of romantic composers (F. Schubert, R. Schumann, etc.). Note, that in the process of historical development, the genre of melodic declamation, on the one hand, modifies in the form of a recitative in European opera, on the other – remains independent within the musical-stage drama, still popular in various national cultures. The Chinese Suzhou musical drama, which is indicative of our study, originated more than 200 years ago, beginning with folk melodies, including xiaochang (“little songs’), tales, dance movements, gestures (khuaguden dances – “with flowers, drums and lanterns’) etc., and gradually spread at the area near the city Suzhou in the lower Yellow River. It later spread to Anhui Province, the Northern parts of Jiangsu Province, and the Southern parts of Shandong Province. The creative achievements of this art, local at the beginning, later assimilated in the national Beijing Opera. But from its origins, this kind of musical and stage action is inextricably linked with the life of the Chinese people, is based on unpretentious plots, so it remains popular to this day, capable of significant emotional impact on the recipient – the audience and listener. Note, that the genre varieties of musical drama developed from the 16–17 centuries both, in China and in the different cultures of the European, American, and Asian continents, where they exist and today. This stability of the genre is not least due to the fact that in the structure of musical drama is an artistic synthesis of several types of art: the word interacts with music, live stage action. The melodic reciter in this context faces certain difficulties. So, one of the basic means of musical expression for the singer is diction, clear pronunciation of a word, which, in close connection with the melody, is subject to the task of transmitting the artistic content of the work – from composer to listener. It is impossible to convey the musical idea of the composition, to create a certain emotional mood, to embody one’s interpretation of the poetic image of the performed music without a clear proclamation of language inversions, which contain the significance of the immanent artistic content. This requirement does not apply to technical musical constructions used for singing, for “warming up” the singer’s vocal apparatus, nor does it apply to vocals performed without words. Every artist, including a vocalist who uses a verbal word, must understand its importance in creating a unique artistic image, consciously use diction as an articulatory technique of revealing the musical text content in the poetic context of chamber, opera, or musical-dramatic genres. Conclusions. So, verbal-musical factors of declamatory intonation have the immanent possibility of various interpretations in the process of vocal performance. Recitation is based on the expressiveness of the word, perceived by the listener or theatrical spectator on several levels: 1) auditory – we hear the intonation richness of shades of musical speech; 2) mental – we understand the logical meaning of texts; 3) psycho-emotional – with the help of imagination, fantasy, we sympathize with the moods, emotions of the heroes of the work of art. At the same time, the basis of interpretation in the art of singing is the voice as a physical phenomenon: it is not only a material carrier of speech sounds, but also the main tool for expressing musical meanings: the variety of voice sound modulations is inexhaustible. Therefore, the role of breathing in the process of clear proclamation of the word, diction in the process of vocal intonation is difficult to overestimate. It is necessary to emphasize the presence of constant transitions in the part of the performer-reciter from linguistic constructions to recitative and pure vocal. Mastering the techniques of correlation of singing and recitation is relevant for any vocalist, which caused an in-details study of this problem.

Background. The mindset of people who inhabit one or the other country determines the process of formation and fixation of intonational vocabulary, which reflects and in the music culture, including songs. In such a case, phonetic and syntax particular qualities of verbal language intersect with national musical language. The proof of that is a vocal art, whose essential parameters (from intonational scale to the aspects of voice staging) present originality of national worldview. However, in recent decades, the preservation of the uniqueness of the artistic expression of peoples and ethnic groups is under threat. Culture integration increasingly unifies musical thinking of representatives of different countries. The striking instance of this is an art of modern China. Here, vocalists work either based on national traditions of singing, or developing the achievements of leading European schools. Moreover, choice, made once, determines a singer’s creative fate – his technique and repertoire. As a result, there is a gradual transformation of the entire system of musical culture in China, a rethinking of the basic intonation complexes, including those that embody the national image of the world. These facts define the purpose of given research – uncovering specificity of Motherland image presentation in modern China vocalists’ interpretation. The methodology of the research is determined by its objective, it is integrative and based on a combination of general scientific approaches and musicological methods. The leading research methods are historical, genre-stylistic and interpretative analyzes. Results. Themes related to Motherland image are an integral part of China musical art. In folk art, these are songs that sing about China, about people living in this country, about love for the Motherland. Authors often recourse to allegories using synonymic emblematic row: dragon, red color, Yin and Yan signs, Beijing opera. These kinds of songs are gradually beginning to be accepted as the symbol of the country, where they were created. Exactly this way happened with one of the most famous in the world Chinese folksong «Jasmine Flower», which words for the first time were written down in the time of Ming dynasty. The version of «Jasmine Flower», which nowadays is the most times performed, is credited with composer He Fang. He Fang made some changes both in lyrics and in verbal text of the folksong. One of the greatest interpreters of «Jasmine Flower» is Song Zuying singing in the folk manner. It is revealing that song «Jasmine Flower» at her concert sounds exactly like a symbol of China, what characterize a lot of performing interpretation aspects. The song is construed by the singer not as a lyrical utterance, but as an “aria di sortita”. One more variant of Song Zuying’s «Jasmine Flower» interpretation was performed to the public together with Celine Dion at the «Spring Festival» in China (2013). According to the director design, the singers performing one song together appear as the embodiment of the images of their peoples that is reflected in the visual row. On deeper layers of understanding, this performance shows musical thinking specificity of representatives of different cultures. Consequently, ancient Chinese song «Jasmine Flower» appears in modern art as open text, which transformation process, obviously, will continue. One more composition, which became the symbol of China, is the song «Me and my Motherland» composed in 1985 by Qin Youngcheng (on Zhang Li lyrics). In our thinking, the song «Me and my Motherland» is illustrative of intonational transformation of music characterizing the Motherland image in the China art. Written in the last third of the twentieth century, the song is a vivid example of the refraction of European musical traditions, there is continuity with ideologically biased, but artistically distinctive and highly professional the Soviet pop. In this song, a person appears as a part of more important wholeness: nature, nation, a family. It is felt also in Liao Changyong’s performing version. His interpretation is characterized by happy combination of Chinese and West European traditions; bel canto singing and musical texture of song smooth out those Chinese language phonetic properties that usually demonstrate national arts specificity. Conclusions. Songs, presenting the image of China, are an integral part in Chinese vocalists’ work. These compositions inspired by love for their native land withstood the test of time, spread in sing repertoire and reflect that huge way that Chinese vocal school has passed over the past hundred years. Today, both the national tradition and the stylistics borrowed from a number of European countries organically coexist there. The demand for such compositions in concert world space testifies to the action of a centripetal force aimed at preserving national identity in conditions of cultural globalization.

AbstractInfants develop language-specific biases favoring either consonantal or vocalic information. These phonological biases affect various levels of spoken-language recognition in children and adults. This study explored whether adults who speak a second language (L2) apply phonological biases during L2 lexical processing, and whether the biases applied are those of the native language (L1), or those appropriate for the L2. Two word reconstruction experiments were carried out in English and Mandarin Chinese. L1 and L2 speakers of English demonstrated a consonantal bias by changing English vowels faster than consonants. L1 and L2 speakers of Mandarin demonstrated a vocalic bias by changing Mandarin consonants faster than vowels. Even relatively late L2 classroom learners whose L1 triggers a consonantal bias (English) exhibited a vocalic bias in their L2 (Mandarin). Lexically related processing biases are thus determined by the phonological and lexical characteristics of the stimuli being processed and not solely by listeners’ L1.

The modern Chinese folk opera “The Yimenshan Mountains” is the genre of historical revolutionary drama. The Yimenshan revolutionary bridgehead is the setting (1). Dramatic events unfold against the background of the War of Resistance against the Japanese invaders, the breakthrough of Daqingshan, a defensive battle on the cliff of Yuanzi. The story of the unity of the opera characters, Hai Tan, Lin Shen, Xia He, Commander Zhao, in the face of a national threat is at the center of the plot. The spirit of self-sacrifice, the spirit of unity of the army and the people of Yimenshan is revealed in the opera. Outstanding screenwriters, directors, and composers from all over the country were invited to work on the opera, the leading roles were played by famous Chinese vocalists. As part of the tour, more than 100 performances took place. The drama received wide public attention and was noted as "a new direction in the development of folk opera".

The article reveals the features of vocal traditions development in China and Ukraine in the historical context. The stages of vocal traditions development in China and Ukraine are outlined. The essential characteristics of vocal traditions at each stage of development in the studied countries are defined. The comparative analysis of both vocal traditions enabled defining the main differences and the common features in the development of the studied phenomenon. The differences lie in the fact that Ukrainian vocal tradition has been constantly improving, while Chinese – has experienced periods of decline; in China the basis of vocal training is philosophical, while in Ukraine – spiritual. The common features include implementation of foreign experience in the content of vocal education and training of vocalists in various fields – academic and folk, as well as the spread of pop singing.

This paper studies phonological variations within a Cantonese dialect preserved in Éléments de Langue Chinoise Dialecte Cantonais (1900), a textbook of Cantonese written by the French navy officer Commandant Lagarrue. The Cantonese pronunciations recorded in this book were transcribed using Romanized Vietnamese (Quôc Ngu), rather than Chinese characters. When transliterated back into the Chinese script, the same characters are found to correspond frequently to a variety of slightly different spellings exhibiting certain regular phonological correspondences. These variant recordings turn out to reflect either free vocalic alternation, variation induced by contact between Vietnamese and the Yue dialects spoken in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, or differentiation of tones determined by lexical meaning differences. The observed phenomena, in sum, present us with a precious record of the Cantonese dialect spoken at the Sino-Vietnamese border in the late 19th century.

The research aimed to describe the phonological system of the Pontianak Teochew dialect spoken by the Chinese community in West Kalimantan, including vocals, consonants, and tones, using descriptive method. The phonological escription in question included both phonetic and phonemic descriptions with the subject of language that objectively and accurately describes the current aspects of Teochew’s phonology. The phonetic system of the Pontianak Teochew language would be articulately identified based on the way sounds are formed by human speech tools, namely through consonants, vocals and diphthong. The research data were obtained from three Pontianak Teochew informants who used the Teochew dialect as their daily conversation language. The informants were around 70-75 years old. Based on the research results, there are 18 consonant phonemes, 88 vocal phonemes, and eight tones. The research results show that the Pontianak Teochew dialect has its own characteristics that distinguish it from the other regional Teochew dialects.

Esta tesis doctoral ofrece una introducción teórica y dialectológica del vocalismo de dos variedades del mandarín estándar (SM): Pǔtōnghuà (el mandarín estándar de China) y Guóyǔ (el mandarín estándar de Taiwán o TM). Debido a que el mandarín estándar (tanto de China como de Taiwán) adoptó su modelo de pronunicación de la pronunciación del chino mandarín hablado en la zona de Beijing, se realiza un análisis contrastivo entre: el mandarín de Beijing (BM), y el mandarín estándar de Taiwán (TM) o Guóyǔ. La tesis consta de dos partes: la primera parte, y principal, se centra en el análsis acústico del vocalismo del mandarín de Taiwán. Dado que en la actualidad existe mucha polémica sobre el número y las características de las vocales del mandarín, se estudia exhaustivamente el vocalismo del mandarín de Taiwán con el fin de clasificar y definir fonéticamente las vocales de TM. Este vocalismo se compara con el BM a partir de datos bibliográficos. Asimismo se ofrece una propuesta de la transcripción AFI más adecuada para el vocalismo de TM. La segunda parte trata de las cuestiones del aprendizaje de pronunciación de las vocales del mandarín estándar por parte de los aprendientes bilingües castellano- catalán. A diferencia del castellano y del catalán, el sistema vocálico del mandarín posee múltiples variantes alofónicas lo que le hace un sistema mucho más complejo. A través del análisis de errores, se intenta descubrir las transferencias lingüísticas y dificultades de pronunciación de las vocales chinas producidas por los españoles.
This research offers a theorical and dialectological introduction of the vowels of two different varieties of Standard Mandarin (SM): Pǔtōnghuà (Standard Mandarin Spoken in China) and Guóyǔ (Standard Mandarin spoken in Taiwan). Considering that Standard Mandarin adopted the pronunciation from the Beijing dialect, the comparative analysis of Mandarin vowels between Beijing Mandarin and Taiwan Mandarin is also conducted. This thesis is divided into two parts. The aim of the first part is to perform an acoustic analysis of Taiwan Mandarin vowels due to the fact that the Mandarin vowel system has been a controversial topic. In this section, the IPA phonetic transcription of Taiwan Mandarin vowels is also proposed. The second part focuses on the second language acquisition of Mandarin pronunciation by L1 bilingual Spanish/Catalan learners. Unlike Spanish and Catalan, Mandarin has complex vowel system that comprises several allofonic varieties of each phoneme. Therefore, we attempt to discover language transfer and pronunciation problems of Mandarin vowels pronounced by native Spanish/Catalan learners.

abstract: Late nineteenth-century French art song, also known as mélodie, is one of the most important genres in a classical singer’s repertoire and it cannot be ignored. Its creation represents a marked improvement over the song form of French Romance which dates from the eighteenth century. French art song was not introduced to China until the establishment of the New Republic of China in 1949. In the decades since then, French art song seems less favored by Chinese singers, when compared to Italian songs and German Lieder. Having studied both in China and the United States, the author realized that for Chinese native speakers, singing French art song is a difficult challenge. Two main problems immediately present themselves: the language barrier and the obstacle of a basic understanding of French poetry. The author’s purpose here is to examine these problems and try to help Chinese singers by offering them a systematic path toward correct French pronunciation, a brief discussion of poetic imagery often seen in French poetry, and a selected bibliography of sources on French poetry to advance their comprehension. First, the paper will introduce the phonology of Pinyin (Chinese Phonetic Alphabet), the system used in China to teach Chinese (Mandarin) and compare it with the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), which is universally used by people in the West to learn the pronunciation of most languages. The document will then show the sounds that are most challenging for Chinese singers and will give some suggestions and vocal exercises to help singers better pronounce French diction. Secondly, the author will examine a few poems used in French songs to point out some of the cultural differences between China and Western countries and identify the challenges in understanding the meaning of selected French art songs from the perspective of a Chinese singer. Since an exhaustive study of French poetry would be another broad topic to be researched, the author will offer only basic suggestions and a brief annotated bibliography of sources at the end of this research project. It is the author's hope that this document will benefit Chinese singers and voice teachers by acquainting them with French diction and by helping them to appreciate French song literature.
Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation Music 2019

In the early modern period, literary Sinitic (also known as classical Chinese) was a shared writing system and cultural asset in East Asia. The Sinitic text, while being voiced in various local languages, remained largely the same across the region. The shared Sinitic writing enabled educated people in East Asia who spoke different languages to engage in conversation through writing. It was the silence of literary Sinitic that enabled it to be a trans-local communicating system. However, where is the place for the Chinese sound in the neat picture of the Sinitic writing system versus its various local vocalizations in different countries? Focusing on the effort of Japanese scholars in restoring Chinese sound to the Sinitic text, this dissertation brings the conceptualization and practice of spoken Chinese in the eighteenth century Japan into the supposedly silent Sinitic culture. The early modern Japanese learners of contemporary spoken Chinese intended to vocalize the written Sinitic. When they realized that contemporary spoken Chinese and literary Sinitic writing were actually not compatible, they solved the problem by resorting again to writing. One solution was to propose a new form of Sinitic writing using colloquial expressions, the zokugo (colloquial [Chinese]) writing. The other was to retreat to the comfortable zone of how to pronounce individual sinographs and Sinitic terms—the phonological study of tōon (contemporary Chinese sound). This dissertation studies vocality as the interrelation and interaction of speaking and writing, to illuminate an early modern East Asian concept of language that cannot be contained in the modern, Western phonocentric view. Through examining the language learning and fiction writing that related to contemporary spoken Chinese in eighteenth-century Japan, this dissertation argues that spoken Chinese and literary Sinitic were not the two opposites of a binary, nor was the spoken language the preliminary to the colloquial Chinese writing. In both the spoken language and the colloquial writing, vocality was a spectrum of speaking and writing, the proportion of which was attuned to the preferences of different speakers, social settings, and literary genres. The chapters of this dissertation delineate the trajectory of early modern Japanese engagement with contemporary spoken Chinese in relation to writing. It begins with chapter 1 on Chinese popular fiction—the primary learning material for the study of contemporary spoken Chinese—and its colloquial style that imitates storytelling performance. Chapters 2 and 3 are devoted to the study of contemporary spoken Chinese in early modern Japan. Chapter 2 contextualizes the study of contemporary spoken Chinese in the early to middle Tokugawa (1600–1868) period—a time when Chinese language study gradually gained attention. Chapter 3 reconstructs the learning of tōwa (contemporary spoken Chinese) in eighteenth-century Japan by pointing out its spectrum of vocality. Chapters 4 depicts the contemplation of the incompatibility of contemporary spoken Chinese and literary Sinitic writing, as well as the transformation from the language learning tōwa to the phonological study tōon. Chapters 5 and 6 deal with the other transmutation of the tōwa study from language study to the zokugo writing, as showcased in the spread of colloquial Chinese fictions in early modern Japan. Chapter 5 examines how Chinese popular fiction was conceptualized and approached in early modern Japan. Chapter 6 shows how eighteenth-century Japan witnessed a gradual increase in the attention paid to the literary format of colloquial Chinese fiction, despite a general emphasis on the colloquial vocabulary. The epilogue discusses colloquial Chinese fiction in nineteenth-century Japan. Together, these chapters delve into the vocality of early modern Japan, as a fascination with speaking that is complexly entangled with writing. The early modern era offers illuminating cases of vocality, with fiction writing intending to capture the essence of oral performance and spoken language, and speech making full use of the literary Sinitic to enhance its cultural flavor. Whereas the eighteenth-century study of contemporary spoken Chinese did explore the spoken language, it was not based on modern phonocentric concepts but to seek to vocalize the written language in its most authoritative version. The multiple efforts to invite speaking into a conversation with writing reveal an early modern perception of language that could not be fully comprehended without considering writing-centered literacy.

This chapter presents an interview with composer, author, and vocalist Liu Sola, who has blended the musical traditions of China with jazz, blues, and improvisation. Since the 1980s, Liu Sola has scored many Chinese and international film sound tracks, as well as TV and drama productions. She has composed music for orchestra, ensemble, opera, modern theater, modern dance, and art exhibitions. This chapter presents an interview with composer, author, and vocalist Liu Sola, who has blended the musical traditions of China with jazz, blues, and improvisation. Since the 1980s, Liu Sola has scored many Chinese and international film sound tracks, as well as TV and drama productions. She has composed music for orchestra, ensemble, opera, modern theater, modern dance, and art exhibitions. Her range of musical styles includes classical music, jazz, early music, rock, traditional, and contemporary music. She is the founder of Liu Sola Music Studio, located in the Songzhuang art colony, a Beijing artist district. Liu Sola designed and built a music space for her ensemble to rehearse and record.