Author Question: What is the role of the singer in the drama represented in the music? Describe the two basic types ... (Read 54 times)

folubunmi · **on:** Jul 25, 2018

What is the role of the singer in the drama represented in the music? Describe the two basic types of singing in the example. What is the musical relationship between the singer and the lead accompaniment instrument, the jinghu, a small two-stringed fiddle? Explain how this particular tune like other such tunes is reused from one drama to another.

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

What is the range of narrative forms in China? What narrative form (genre) is being presenting in WOM to illustrate this category?

What will be an ideal response?

fromAlphatoOmega22 · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 25, 2018

Answer to Question 1

The singer is in the role of qingyi, a serious heroine, renowned for her singing and acting ability. In this particular excerpt the heroine is introducing herself and her difficulties since her husband's death.
In the opening of the excerpt Li Shiji sings in a declamatory speech style, exaggerating the usual speech tones of Chinese. Starting at 1:04 the singer begins the lines of the erhuang manban, accompanied by instrumental ensemble. The lead accompaniment instrument, a small two-stringed fiddle (jinghu), approximately tracks the singer's melody and continues to play when the singer rests (stops singing) between her lines.
In the past, tunes like erhuang were reused from one drama to another . . . to save time and expense. Multiple versions of these tunes were developed to express the needs of the scene in question.

Answer to Question 2

Narrative forms in China range from story-telling with little or no musical setting to fully staged opera with large amounts of singing and acrobatics, and there are now several hundred distinct traditions across the whole of China.
WOM will introduce jingju (Beijing opera).
Jingju (Beijing opera)