'The Rain Falls on the Leaves of the Banana Tree': the Chinese yangqin in history and performance. |
By: Roger Hansford |
Ethnomusicological analysis of a recording by Lily Yuan from The Ancient Art Music of China, LYRCD 7409. New York: Lyrichord Discs, 1990.
The sounds of gentle dripping alternate with those of a fierce rainstorm in The Rain Falls on the Leaves of the Banana Tree, a programmatic depiction of a torrential downpour for solo Chinese dulcimer. The piece has much to show us about this Eastern instrument and its place in the aesthetics of ancient Chinese art music. Paradoxically, an analysis of the piece and its manner of performance prove it to be infused with influences from the Western world.
The Rain Falls on the Leaves of the Banana Tree (hereafter The Rain Falls) is part of the tradition of instrumental music in China. The programmatic title reflects the fact that the ‘old social ideals and literary stories’ told by piece titles are assigned high importance by Chinese performers and listeners (Thrasher 1993:331). It also places the piece among the kind of solo instrumental music which, according to Bruno Nettl (1983:211), may describe symbols in Chinese culture by representing ‘images, scenes and objects . . . with titles such as “High Mountains, Flowing Streams”’. This imitation of natural sounds (Mingyue 1985:18) reflects the fact that Han music theory makes no differentiation between a natural sound and a musical note (Yingshi 2002:115), and links to the Daoist philosophy that music should bring the individual closer to the forces of nature (De Woskin 2002:97-8). Complementing Daoism in ancient Chinese aesthetics were the tenets of Confucianism, which viewed music as a method of self-cultivation, and a ritual expression (De Woskin 2002:97) of appropriate behaviour (Wong 1992:90). According to Alan Merriam (1964:245,93) music promoted the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, knowledge, and faith, as well as natural elements. Therefore music in China ‘at all times is related to cultural functions’ (Thrasher 1993:331). Although The Rain Falls is too ‘popular’ and ‘light’ (Gold 1990) to have had a state function like that of the huangzhong or ‘yellow bell’ described by Lucie Rault (2000:140,143), it strongly reflects the connotations of yue, the Chinese word for ‘music’. The term denotes enjoyment or happiness, and therefore music in China is ‘not an isolated phenomenon but rather a contextual phenomenon related to all aspects of living’ (Mingyue 1985:11).
Although the liner notes to The Ancient Art Music of China present The Rain Falls by describing practices of the Tang (618-906 AD) and Sung (960-1279 AD) Dynasties (Gold 1990), the yangqin was not used in China until at least the fifteenth century (Mingyue 1985:275). Pronounced yang chin, the instrument is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer belonging to the zither family (Gold 1990). The popular name of this chordophone - ‘butterfly harp’ - is owed to the shape of zither used in the Guangdong Province (Mingyue 1985:275). The yangqin belongs to the “silk” or si category of instruments, which originally had their strings made from silk. The category includes bowed and plucked string instruments as well as struck strings like the yangqin. In the Jiangnan Province the si instruments combine with the zhu or “bamboo” category wind instruments to create the sizhu wind and string ensemble, which performs in traditional tea houses (Wong 1992:79).
It is generally thought that the yangqin entered China during the late Ming Dynasty of 1368 to 1644 (Thrasher 2001:659, Ben 2002:179). Whilst Wu Ben (2002:179) believes that the instrument originated in Turkey and was imported by sea from Europe, most sources (Malm 1971:69, Thrasher 2001:659) agree that the yangqin is derived from the santur (or santaur, santir, santour or santouri) of Persia. The Persian santur has seventy-two strings tuned to twenty-seven different pitches (Wong 1992:44) and these are arranged in quadruple courses and pegged, either on both sides of the body like an American dulcimer, or just on one side like the Arab psaltery (Malm 1971:69). The Chinese yangqin has a wooden sound box with metal strings arranged in ‘sets’ or ‘courses’ of between two and four strings. The two bridges each hold seven to ten strings, providing a two octave range which is tuned to a six- or seven-tone scale. During performance the yangqin, which has been developed since the 1950s, is rested on a table and its strings are hit with light bamboo sticks (Ben 2002:181). The instrument is popular not only in the Han Chinese region but also in the minority regions such as Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia (Ben 2002:179). That the instrument is popular throughout both northern and southern China (Thrasher 2001:659) shows how China’s ‘cultural pluralism’ (Thrasher 1993:330) can sometimes override the nation’s strong minority traditions.
While the yangqin has traditionally featured in instrumental ensembles, and accompanied Shandong and Cantonese opera as well as sung narrative genres (Ben 2002:180), its use as a solo concert instrument in The Rain Falls makes it part of the Western-influenced performance practice of China’s twentieth-century. Although the qin - China’s most revered string instrument - has always been played solo, this took place only in private (Wong 1992:84,87). The yangqin was traditionally played in public, but it is Western influence that has elevated its performers from cultivated amateurs providing background music at social events - with people ‘talking and moving about a great deal’ - to expert soloists performing to a silent, listening audience (Wong 1992:78). This change has been enabled by the education available to performers from Western-style conservatories established in the 1920s (Kuo-Huang 2002:373-378), as well as from the rise in status of the professional musician brought about by the Communist Party reforms of 1949 (Wong 1992:92). The Ancient Art Music of China clearly reflects China’s modern aesthetic, as the performer, Lily Yuan, promotes her education at the Beijing and Shanghai Conservatories, and is praised for her ‘virtuosity on the Chinese dulcimer’ (Gold 1990). Also, whilst ‘only a few traditional Chinese pieces have any attributed authorship’ (Wong 1992:91), The Rain Falls is clearly attributed to composer Yua Da Ba Jiao. Therefore The Rain Falls cannot really be seen as part of the ‘ancient art music’ of China.
Of the four main styles of music for solo yangqin, The Rain Falls - with its virtuosic effects and range of moods contrasting the triumphant with the poignant - would appear to be part of the north-eastern Chinese style. This ‘features vibrato and ornamentation generated by repeatedly pressing and relaxing the strings beyond the bridges’, and uses pieces in a ‘theme-and-variations form’ (Ben 2002:180). Although the amount of embellishment and the lack of definite closure after some sections makes the piece sound through-composed (Wong 1992:82), its actual structure can be codified as follows:
Introduction A A’ Link B C D Link E A’’ Link C’ A’’’ Link A’’’’ Coda
The varied repetition of the A section, interspersed with contrasting material, links the piece to the northern Chinese technique of ‘embellished variation’, although this is more often used for wind instruments (Thrasher 2002:236). The form echoes the Confucian principle of ‘resonance’, whereby similar elements in a piece contain the ability to connect, in the mind of the listener, across a distance (De Woskin 2002:98). Although the introduction is not in free meter, the form of The Rain Falls also links it to what Wong (1992:89) calls ‘the typical qin piece’ in which, once mode and meter are established, the principal motives are varied by ‘extension, reduction, and changes in timbre, tempo and register’.
Of all the musical features in The Rain Falls, it is timbre, and other features resulting directly from the construction of the yangqin, which are most interesting. The instrument appears to be capable of three distinct timbres - a low, dry register, a ‘ringing’ register and a soft, high register - which help distinguish the different structural sections. For example, the A sections usually have the ringing register, while the four link phrases always have the dry register. This differentiation assists the programmatic effect by mixing depictions of the rainstorm (section A) with that of leaves dripping (link passages). Sometimes, as in section D, two layers of timbres are combined. The important role of timbre in The Rain Falls reflects the fact that Chinese music is ‘medium oriented rather than repertoire oriented’, so it is usually the timbre rather than the melody that identifies a piece (Mingyue 1985:24). The delicate sound of the yangqin is an example of the way timbre in Chinese music has been refined with the influence of Western concert aesthetics (Stock 2001:692).
Articulation and dynamics in The Rain Falls support the timbral contrasts in heightening the programmatic effect and identifying sections. While the link phrases are articulated in a ‘dripping’, staccato manner, the A sections usually have a ‘wet’, sustained sound. At E, the yangqin is able to sustain a chord in the lower register while executing the staccato g motive in the upper register, and most of the ‘dry’ link passages have the final note of the preceding section sustained through them. Malm (1971:69) describes how the modern santur has a piano-style dampening mechanism used for separation purposes, and it therefore appears from the sound that the same is true of the yangqin. The use of dynamics also creates variation. The high-pitched part of section B and the entire A’’’ section are the softest parts of the piece, and this helps differentiate them from the other appearances of A. Dynamics can vary from f to p at just a note’s distance, as in the final part of section E. The ff dynamic is a characteristic feature of the virtuosic coda, and the crescendo and diminuendo that occur within the penultimate note are indicative of the timbral capabilities of the yangqin.
Although timbre is very important to the Chinese listener, the melody of The Rain Falls is another of its characteristic features, telling us much about Chinese aesthetics. Yehudi Menuhin (1980:86) believes that ‘melody has reached a higher level of sophistication in the Far East than in the West’, and in the case of the yangqin this may be because its solo repertoire has developed from the vocal music it originally accompanied (Ben 2002:180). The nuances of vocal music are reflected by the large amount of ornamentation in The Rain Falls. This can be seen in sections A and A’’’’ where ascending and descending semiquaver runs change the shape of the melody by embellishing the principal notes. Two types of ornamentation occur within notes: the ‘shimmering’ effect used throughout to evoke raindrop sounds by rolling between two notes an octave apart; and the rapid repetition of a single note over a moving bass line, which helps distinguish section A’’’’ from section A. Enabled by the dual-stick playing technique, these embellishments reflect the Chinese notion that the performer is also ‘acting as composer’ because of the improvisation that occurs during performance (Wong 1992:83,92). Central to assessment of the performer’s ability, this improvisation involves treatment of dynamics, tempo, ornamentation and even the ordering of thematic material (Mingyue 1985:21). The improvisation is learnt by imitation and executed according to the characteristics of the instrument (Wong 1992:83,81), and the needs of the audience (Malm 1971:169). Therefore the melody of The Rain Falls may be unique to this Lyrichord recording (Thrasher 2002:243).
While improvisatory practices prevent melody from being the defining feature for repertoire in China, it is still what drives The Rain Falls, and is therefore the feature I have used to determine the structure for this analysis. The main feature of this melody is the organic nature of its development. Even though the piece does have a sectional structure with refrain, it is not organised as strictly as for a Western rondo; there are overlaps between adjacent sections, and not every reprise of section A is the same length. Organicism is also shown by the way the A section takes the minor third that concludes the introduction and explores it. The start of the A section has notes e, g, e in crotchet meter, but this motive has been explored and inverted to g, e, g and diminuted to quaver meter by the end of the section. The exploration is continued in section A’, which grows organically out of A by using only its middle line, and in A’’’’, where it is preceded by a development of the melodic outline from the introduction. Even the contrasting section D uses several third relationships, which suggests that it derives from section A. Octave relationships are also important in The Rain Falls: note the repeated octave gs in section E, imitation at the octave in section D, doubling at the octave during the coda, and the fact that closure of a section is usually signalled by a quiet repetition of the final note one octave below.
The programmatic effect of the melody in The Rain Falls is often supported by the use of rhythm and tempo. Even crotchets and quavers are employed throughout, perhaps suggesting the drum of rain, and deviations from this - such as the dotted rhythms of D and the syncopations of C and C’ - help contrast the sections. The rhythms also display organic development, as the dotted-crotchet motive concluding D is in dotted-quaver form for the end of A’’’, and for the closing statement. Bass notes usually sound half a beat after the corresponding treble note, to denote ‘dripping’ and show the dominance of the melody. Tempo changes have a strong programmatic effect, such as in the final link phrase where the accelerando makes the melody suggest an intensification of the rainstorm.
With its emphasis on timbre and melody The Rain Falls demonstrates some characteristics of pieces from China’s ‘New Wave’ music of the 1980s; however, the presence of Western-style harmony in the piece makes any link to this movement somewhat tenuous (Zhou 2002:342). The melody of section A’, for example, contains all the notes of the C major scale, and it is only the focus on third relationships (Yingshi 2002:116) that gives an oriental sound. This is therefore an example of the way conservatory-taught composers ‘made an effort to fuse Western harmony . . . with Chinese pentatonic material’ (Zhou 2002:339). There is certainly a unity of key as the piece begins and ends on e, and has a tonic-like bass g concluding most sections. There is clear functional harmony at A’, for example, with movement from G major to E minor to F major. This functional harmony occurs where the texture alters from the melody-driven monophonic texture, to the homophonic texture reminiscent of a western piano arrangement.
Therefore The Rain Falls is a theme-and variations piece that links to ancient Chinese aesthetics, is played on a traditional Chinese instrument within a western idiom, and achieves its programmatic effect by combining the timbral and melodic features of Chinese music with the harmonic and textural practices of the West; all within the largely homogenous rhythmic unity. In short, The Rain Falls is an excellent model for China’s 1898 slogan (Wong 1992:75): “Chinese culture as the essence, and Western learning for practical use”.
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