A Preliminary Analysis of Sang Tong’s Composition: ‘The Vocal Works’
Lu Yi11, Yeoh Pei Ann1*
1 UiTM Faculty of Music, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Level 11, Menara SAAS, UiTM Main Campus, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: [email protected] Accepted: 15 November 2022 | Published: 1 December 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.55057/ajact.2022.4.4.1
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Abstract: Sang Tong (1923-2011), a well-known composer had made great contributions to the development of Chinese music culture. He combined western traditional and modern harmony techniques with Chinese music theory and musical forms to build a harmony theoretical system with Chinese characteristics. His most representative work, ‘The Theory and Application of Harmoniousness, is widely applied in Chinese professional music teaching and has laid a solid foundation for the development of Chinese music theory. Although he has provided an extensive contribution to the modern Chinese musicology, little research is devoted to understanding his music compositions, especially from the perspective of piano coaching.
Hence, this study is designed to provide an analysis of Sang Tong’s eleven compositions of
‘The Vocal Works’ from the piano coaching perspective. This study employed a qualitative research design focusing on the analysis and interpretation of musical contents of eleven works of Sang Tong based on the digital resources in the form of audio and video recordings. The findings revealed that his compositions comprised of varieties of genres and styles ranging from Chinese national-style to ancient and modern poem art songs that include the elements of nature, mountain, labour, nationalism and the ethnic minority's tones. The lyrics used are more connotative and closely integrated with artistic and literary qualities. The piano accompaniment part of Sang Tong's vocal work has rich expressiveness in the prelude, interlude, and end, which are closely related to the theme of the music and vividly set off the artistic conception of the music. He often combines traditional Chinese harmony with western modern music harmony theory in his compositions that set a precedent in the Chinese musicology. The findings of this study anticipated to fill the research gaps regarding the contribution of Sang Tong to modern Chinese music and therefore warrant more studies to investigate different aspects of his compositions as well as promote the development of music culture in the Asian context.
Keywords: Chinese music; piano coaching; modern music; piano pedagogy; Sang Tong ___________________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
The analysis of musical structure in compositions in the form of melodies, harmonies and rhythm of the phrases is essential to comprehend the way each piece is structured and how root progression patterns and other components of the music contribute to the style of its composition (Parncutt and Hair, 2011). In the Asian region, there are many satellite musical systems with the fundamental musical concepts that reflect the basic ideas of the cultural core (Ho and Law, 2004). German-Jewish refugee composer, Wolfgang Fraenkel's multi-faceted
interaction with the Chinese people during the 1940s provides a rare opportunity to study the various facets of musical influence in the new cultural environment (Utz, 2004). As a result of it, a number of well-known music accolades were born among whom Sang Tong probably had the most extensive experience with Fraenkel in musicology (Utz, 2004). Sang Tong, one of the founders of the national pianistic art is regarded as the first Chinese composer to apply modern techniques of a composer writing based on the national musical elements.
The early period of the creativity of Sang tong (1950–60’s) was the basis for the formation of his composer personality. He was an advocate of Chinese modern music and has made outstanding contributions to the development of Chinese music culture. After joining the composition department of the National Vocational Music School in Shanghai in 1941, he was under the guidance of Wolfgang Fraenkel and Julius Schloss from whom he learned about twelve-tone and atonal music (Utz, 2021a). The artistic song composed in Year 1943, ‘Red Blossoms Fading Away in Spring’, was Sang Tong's first song with modern composition techniques. The song was composed of lyrics based on Li Yu's poem ‘Joyful Reunion’, which was written in the late Tang Dynasty. It was regarded as a masterpiece because of its delicate matching of lyrics and music. The composer had pursued his master’s degree in the field of piano pedagogy and transformed into a professional piano pedagogue later in the local university. Being an experienced piano coach, Sang Tong had been involved in dozens of Chinese music performing arts, piano accompaniment and conducted extensive work in the field of piano pedagogy (Chen, 2021).
Sang Tong has a good understanding of the theory of harmony (Wai-Ling, 2016). Indeed, he is fondly remembered in China for a solo piano piece composed in 1947 called ‘In the Land, Far, Far Away’ that marks his bold attempt to envelop a well-known Chinese folk tune with harmonies that are far from being tonal (Wai-Ling, 2016). Among his contributions, he combined western traditional and modern harmony techniques with Chinese music theories and musical forms to build a harmony theoretical system with Chinese characteristics (Cheong and Hong, 2018). Sang Tong's ‘The Vocal Works’ contains nine compositions. Among them,
‘Frontier Mountain Village Sentiments’ consists of three compositions and therefore, there are a total of eleven compositions. These compositions can be roughly divided into a few categories according to the music genres, which are Chinese folk music, Chinese ancient poetry art music, Chinese modern poetry art music and foreign poetry art music (Chingchih, 2010).
Although he has provided an extensive contribution to the modern Chinese musicology, little research is devoted to understanding his music compositions, especially from the perspective of piano coaching. Hence, this study is designed to provide an analysis of Sang Tong’s eleven compositions of ‘The Vocal Works’ from the piano coaching perspective. This study explores the composing background, lyric literary features, structures of compositions, harmony characteristics, piano accompanying features and the performance art practice of vocal music performers to reflect the value and significance of Sang Tong's musical work. This study is expected to provide a platform for the music enthusiasts and students to understand Sang Tong’s work and the importance of piano coaching in music performance art practice.
2. Materials and methods
2.1 Research design
This study employed a qualitative research design focusing on the analysis and interpretation of musical contents of eleven works of Sang Tong. The analysis and interpretation were mainly
conducted based on the digital resources in the form of audio and video recording in which the key points of the cooperation between the vocal and the piano music parts were explored.
2.2 Materials
Sang Tong’s work was collected in digital format from a compiled collection of his compositions known as ‘The music of the Music: A Collected Edition to Commemorate the 90th Anniversary of Sang Tong's Birth (Volume 3)’ published by Shanghai Music Publishing Press. The collection comprised of compositions such as Red Blossoms Fading Away in Spring (1943), The Eighteen Bends of The Yellow River (1950), Spring Field Mountain Song (1953), Gadameilin (1953), Langtaosha-Beidai River (1959), Let Our People Win the Victory (1960), Frontier Mountain Village Sentiments (1963/2002), Red Cloud Oh Cloud, Blue Sky Oh Blue Sky, There is a Golden Sun, Busuanzi-Ode to the Plum (1964) and Love (1981).
2.3 Data collection
Data pertaining to the lyrics of songs, the structure chart of the music, the applied spectrum of characteristic and vocal technique, the characteristic music of piano accompaniment, the analysis spectrum of piano accompaniment and the key spectrum of cooperation with the practice of music were collected for further analyses.
2.4 Data analyses
The musical analysis and the performance of Sang Tong's ‘The Vocal Works’ are conducted.
Analyses of the artistic connotation, song structure, melody of lyrics, writing characteristics of piano accompaniment and the problems in artistic practice cooperation were carried out. The CD audio data, video and audio data of artistic practice, and discovers the features of Sang Tong's musical works have been arranged, explored and analyzed respectively.
2.5 Ethical considerations
The digital materials that have been collected and analyzed in this study were copyrighted and solely used for the academic investigation and reporting purposes. The work and any other materials associated with this work were not used and/or distributed to any other parties for any profitable purposes.
3. Results and discussion
3.1 Variety of vocal music compositions of Sang Tong
The vocal music compositions of Sang Tong comprised of many varieties of genres and styles ranging from Chinese national-style songs, Chinese ancient and modern poem art songs to foreign poem art songs. In his compositions, Sang Tong tends to use the complete original folk songs such as in the ‘Plains Love Song’ whereas in the other pieces, the folk song themes were freely distributed and often revised (Lin, 1989). His folk songs include the elements of nature, mountain, labour, nationalism and the ethnic minority's distinctive tones (Lin, 1989). For instance, the rich and colourful lives and characteristics of different races are depicted in ‘Seven Piano Pieces on Themes from East Mongolian Folk-songs’ composed in 1952 (Lin, 1989). The expression and content of ‘Song of Mourning’ were adapted from another well-known folk song that tells of a martyr of the West Mongolian War who asks his friend to carry his last words to his mother; the mother then explains the mystery of her son's last words (Guthrie, 1988). The composer combined the melody of this song with that of "Sai Hen", to create a long and expressive melody. Besides, there are also art songs based on the poems of Mao Ze Dong that show the general's demeanour and lofty character (Guthrie, 1988).
3.2 The combination of the literary and the artistic character of the lyrics
Most of the compositions of Sang Tong are based on lyrics. The lyrics of Sang Tong's ‘The Vocal Works’ are more connotative, and both Chinese and foreign poems are closely integrated with artistic and literary qualities (Tong, 2007). In his work, Sang Tong understood the meaning of the lyrics, composed scores according to the theme, combined the lyrics and music perfectly and leaves a masterpiece for the audience. However, even though the rhythm, melody and tempo of the original songs have been changed in his compositions, Sang Tong tends to retain the artistic concept of the original songs. For example, the rhythm of ‘Longing for the Motherland’, the melody of ‘Song of Mourning’, and the tempo of ‘Children's Dance’ were revised in terms of expression of content (Lin, 1989). Nonetheless, several pieces retained and developed the artistic concept of the original words of the folk songs, while others created a new expression from single elements of the original material (Cheung, 1996). The liberties taken by Sang Tong never destroyed the style of the original folk songs. Indeed, because of his artistic sensitivity, the piano pieces are far more beautiful and delicate than the songs that inspired them.
3.3 The distinctive way of writing the piano accompaniment of music score
The piano accompaniment part of Sang Tong's vocal work has rich expressiveness in the prelude, interlude, and end, which are closely related to the theme of the music and vividly set off the artistic conception of the music. In the application of harmony techniques, it is rich and diverse. His bold attempt to combine traditional Chinese harmony with western modern music harmony theory set a precedent in the Chinese musicology (Zou, 2018). The sound pattern of the texture is even more crisscross, the links are orderly, and the handwriting is diverse, reflecting his rich music creation experience. In general, Sang Tong's music creation can be divided into three categories through the different harmony techniques used in his works such as the combination of pentatonic tones and pentatonic longitudinal harmony (Fan-Long, 1991).
Secondly, the combination of pentatonic melody and three-dimensional structural harmony.
Lastly, the use of modern harmony techniques with ‘atonality’ factors (Fan-Long, 1991). It is widely accepted that Sang Tong’s music creations had enriched the Chinese harmony theory system, combining ‘Chinese nationalization’ and ‘Western modernization’ composition techniques.
The composition of Sang Tong called ‘At the Far-away Place’ written in 1947 should be noted as an example of compositions that explored a Chinese polyphonic modal style (Lin, 1989).
Here the composer completely avoided the traditional Western functional harmonic system, and used dissonant harmony effects throughout the piece. On the other hand, Sang Tong also used the impressionist technique, the Debussy compound harmony technique, and applied it to the creation of ‘Red Blossoms Fading Away in Spring’ (Chen, 2012). The art song was composed using non-traditional harmony techniques and underwent frequent transpositions that have produced complicated semitones (Hoi-Yan, 2011). In fact, this is Sang Tong’s first successful art composition. In addition, the heterophonic texture is the main type of simultaneous variation of a single melody line in traditional Chinese instrumental music that Sang Tong utilized more in his compositions (Utz, 2021b). Generally, a heterophonic texture has two, three or more sub-tunes and each sub-tunes is altered from the same main tune. The rhythm and structure of the sub-tunes and the main tune are basically the same. There are similarities between the sub-tones, forming a similar unison effect. The sub-tunes can also be layered onto the main tunes to interpret climax of music, making the music richer and fuller.
These kinds of techniques are used in Sang Tong’s compositions widely.
3.4 The piano accompaniment of music score and development of new talent
In addition to writing, playing the piano accompaniment is also essential. The use of performance skills and the expression of musical works can enrich the musical performance and perfectly express the meaning that the composer wants to present. In addition, the creation of the musical atmosphere of different passages is also an important aspect of piano accompaniment. Being a piano coach, Sang Tong played a driving role in the vocal singing, and the breath of the vocal singing plays a vital role in the performing works (Chen, 2021).
When working with a vocal choir, performance needs to be unified in order to perform the music perfectly. Sang Tong had trained a group of outstanding music talents for his country in his years of teaching, such as composer Wang Li San, Rao Yu Yan, Wang Jian Zhong and Chen Gang. Sang Tong had not only made great contributions to music education, but also had insights into the research direction of composition theory.
4. Conclusion
In summary, this study has conducted a general musical analysis based on the eleven vocal compositions of Sang Tong's ‘The Vocal Works’. The study has focused mainly on the song creation, lyrics artistic conception, piano accompaniment characteristics and has conducted an empirical analysis of Sang Tong's music creation from the perspective of piano coaches. The findings of this study hoped to fill the research gaps regarding the contribution of Sang Tong to modern Chinese music and his compositions. Through this study, it is believed that more people can understand and appreciate Sang Tong's vocal music compositions, making them more popular among the society, thereby encouraging the publication of scores and audio materials as well as promoting the development of music culture in the Asian context. Since this study is attempted from the perspective of piano coaching, future scholars can conduct further in-depth research on vocal music singing, composition theories and techniques based on this research which will help reflect the value of Sang Tong's music creation and promote more of his work.
Acknowledgement
Sincere appreciation extended to UiTM Faculty of Music, Universiti Teknologi MARA for supporting this study.
Authors’ Contribution
Lu Yi: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Preparation of original draft, Revision and Editing. Yeoh Pei Ann: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision and Review editing.
Competing Interest
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
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