What is a strophic song? What type of songs are especially ...

[naturalchemist]

What is a strophic song? What type of songs are especially adapted to strophic form?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Study the aspects of Lady Mengjiang listed in Worlds of Music that are common to many other examples of Chinese music. How are text lines sometimes linked? What are cadence tones? How are unity and variety achieved? Are melodic and textual structure identical?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[ghepp]

Answer to Question 1

 A strophic song is a series of verses, each sung to the same melody.
 This format is especially suited to songs such as Lady Mengjiang where each verse introduces the next item in a series (successive months in the case of Lady Mengjiang).

Answer to Question 2

 The end tone of one line may be re-used to start the next
 Cadence tones occur at the end of melodic phrases
 Unity is achieved through repetition of melody, re-use of end tone to start next line, and use of the pentatonic scale; variety is achieved through modified repetition, contrasting cadence tones, and added optional notes to the pentatonic scale.
 Melodic structure is not necessarily identical to textural structure.

[naturalchemist]

Thank you!

[ghepp]

Always glad to help...