With dozens of color photographs and insightful text, Chinese Music and Musical Instruments describes in detail the musical instruments with which a Chinese folk orchestra is equipped and their working and sounding principles. There are as many as a thousand different kinds of musical instruments in China. Only a tiny portion of them are used in an orchestra. The selection of musical instruments for an orchestra depends on how well they complement one another. A Chinese folk orchestra is composed of four sections: wind, plucked, percussion and bowed. This book is also devoted to the description of the development of classical Chinese music and the introduction of some music-related tales of profound significance. Chinese music is a big family composed of various distinctive types of music: Chinese folk music played at weddings, funerals or in festivals an fairs. The religious music played in religious services conducted in Buddhist and Taoist temples. Court music, which reached its zenith during the Tang Dynasty. The scholars' music based on Confucian thinking was the embodiment of the musical life of academia and refined music of this kind is still prevalent in today's society.

This accessible, illustrated introduction explores the history of Chinese music, an ancient, diverse and fascinating part of China's cultural heritage.

Grounded in a desire to bring back to life rare items from the University of Hong Kong’s Fung Ping Shan Library that are entwined within the world of music and to place them in a context of books and images in American, British, and other Asian collections, Chinese Music in Print views the library as a repository not of information but of artifact, and then uses these artifacts as a means for generating scholarly narrative. It begins by assessing seminal texts in the Confucian canon set against the delicacy of the concubine and amanuensis Shen Cai’s calligraphy and poetry. Confucianism was itself a crucial aspect of courtly life, and an exploration of its ritual is the book’s second theme. Vernacular genres of opera and song are represented in the third chapter, while the Great Sage returns in the fourth for an exploration of the repertoire and richness of his favourite instrument, the qin. The final chapter ends the journey with discussion of the legacy of generations of Europeans who have visited China and their contribution to the understanding of a more vernacular instrument, the erhu. “Like the 2021 exhibition called ‘Music in Print’ that preceded it, this exploration of Chinese music history introduces many rare books from the University of Hong Kong Libraries. The essays combine professional expertise in musicology with an excellent grasp of traditional bibliography, which allows the one to illuminate the other. Bravo!” —J. S. Edgren, Princeton University “I am most impressed by the critical reading of the author who excels in classical studies, whose expertise in calligraphy, seals, editions, and other related disciplines in Sinology is admirable. His meticulous investigation into the complicated situation regarding the book printing business of dynastic China is professional and convincing.” —Yu Siu-wah, chief editor of Anthology of Chinese Folk and Ethnic Instrumental Music: The Hong Kong Volume “Such a wide-ranging but meticulously researched book that now contextualizes the dissemination and transmission of music into the discussion of manuscript and printed culture in China will clearly be an important addition to the holdings of libraries supporting Chinese studies and book studies broadly taken, as well as those supporting the study of music. Obviously, it will be of direct importance for specialists in East Asian book studies and for musicologists of East Asian traditions.” —Elizabeth Markham, University of Arkansas “This beautifully illustrated and carefully edited book is the first English-language monograph dedicated exclusively to the history of Chinese music as captured through the medium of print. It introduces a host of new sources and methodologies to the English-speaking public, fruitfully complicates established narratives of music history and of print cultures in both East and West, and offers a vital building-block for the creation of a truly global music history.” —Karl Kügle, University of Oxford

Western music reached China nearly four centuries ago, with the arrival of Christian missionaries, yet only within the last century has Chinese music absorbed its influence. As China and the West demonstrates, the emergence of “Westernized” music from China—concurrent with the technological advances that have made global culture widely accessible—has not established a prominent presence in the West. China and the West brings together essays on centuries of Sino-Western musical exchange by musicologists, ethnomusicologists, and music theorists from around the world. It opens with a look at theoretical approaches of prior studies of musical encounters and a comprehensive survey of the intercultural and cross-cultural theoretical frameworks—exoticism, orientalism, globalization, transculturation, and hybridization—that inform these essays. Part I focuses on the actual encounters between Chinese and European musicians, their instruments and institutions, and the compositions inspired by these encounters, while Part II examines theatricalized and mediated East-West cultural exchanges, which often drew on stereotypical tropes, resulting in performances more inventive than accurate. Part III looks at the musical language, sonority, and subject matters of “intercultural” compositions by Eastern and Western composers. Essays in Part IV address reception studies and consider the ways in which differences are articulated in musical discourse by actors serving different purposes, whether self-promotion, commercial marketing, or modes of nationalistic—even propagandistic—expression. The volume’s extensive bibliography of secondary sources will be invaluable to scholars of music, contemporary Chinese culture, and the globalization of culture.

Grounded in a desire to bring back to life rare items from the University of Hong Kong's Fung Ping Shan Library that are entwined within the world of music and to place them in a context of books and images in American, British, and other Asian collections, Chinese Music in Print views the library as a repository not of information but of artifact, and then uses these artifacts as a means for generating scholarly narrative. It begins by assessing seminal texts.

Music in Chinese culture is not an isolated phenomenon, but is rather a contextual phenomenon broadly related to all aspects of life. In historical China, music was integrally related to banquets, archery events, dances, etc. The word for "music" in Chinese is yue. In its inclusive meaning, yue refers to the "arts" and to music, and, together with morals, law, and politics, was traditionally considered to be one of the four fundamental societal functions. Primarily because of this emphasis, every feudal state, dynasty and republic throughout history had established an official music organization or bureau of music indicating the import of music within the society. The book is organized into two parts: one, a diachronic orientation of major musical events throughout history, and two, a synchronic focus on musical content and context. In the historical section, the patterns and themes are emphasized, so that a sense of continuation, interrelationships and changes can be observed. In part two, six topical subjects have been selected, based on what the author believes represent a sense of balance of major subjects and styles in Chinese music, that is topics on aesthetics, notation-transmission, instrumental music (high art and regional styles), theatrical music, and major musical instruments. -- Back cover.

(Faber Piano Adventures ). ShowTime Piano Music from China is an exciting exploration of rhythmic dances, serene folk melodies, and original Chinese selections. The book is arranged for the elementary pianist and correlates with Level 2A in the Piano Adventures method. At this level, five-finger melodies with simple harmonies reinforce tonalities and intervals, and teacher duets offer inspiration and support. Students meet LeLe the musical panda, a furry friend who asks discovery questions to guide understanding. Creatively, a duet improvisation and a composition activity introduce the Chinese sound. Unique at each level of the series is a picture tour of China, a visual snapshot of history and culture. Songs include: Counting Toads * Crescent Moon * Foot Sloggers Tune * The Game * Nine Lotus Lantern * Rainy Day * The Toy.