Sustainability and Music

Whenever I think of China and music, I think of long held traditions that have been passed down for centuries. However, there was the Chinese Cultural Revolution that destroyed this aspect of tradition because people feared persecution for practice. Despite this, from the video clips Saga of Mulan and From Mao to Mozart and Titon’s blog about his trip to China, it seems as though traditions have survived and the idea of “tradition” is still important. It is unfortunate that for a period of time they were not able to freely practice, but I think it speaks highly of the culture that they returned to their traditions and uphold the belief about sustaining Chinese music.

            What stuck out to me in the video From Mao to Mozart was the opinions on Chinese music that was discussed. One being the belief that “we do not need Western music, we need Chinese music” and the other being “we need to develop Chinese music, but it is important to study Western Music.” When I was reading Titon’s blog with this in mind I thought of how it relates to the Qujiaying village traditional concert/funeral music he heard out in the town. Titon tells us that the concert style song was "suited" and is compared with Western music: because it included 13 divertimentos, and seven concerto grossos. Titon mentions how this might be because they are trying to make the music more classical. However, I think of the ideas from the video and how tradition Chinese culture and music is always changing just like all style of music. It is just more interesting because it is what they consider traditional. Besides this, the instrumentation of the concert and the people talking during it (regardless of if it is a funeral or not) still reflects the heritage of Chinese music.  This can also be seen in the Saga of Mulan because their voice parts and instrumentation is reminiscent of the traditional Beijing opera style JingJu.

            Chinese music is being sustained, but with minor changes over time. But for the most part, traditional aspects can always be seen.