Qupai in Chinese Music

Melodic Models in Form and Practice

Alan R Thrasher, Alan R Thrasher

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317386711
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medios de comunicación y artes escénicas
• Subtopic: Etnomusicología

Presenting the latest research in the area, this volume explores the fundamental concept of qupai ??, melodic models upon which most traditional Chinese instrumental music (and some vocal music) is based. The greater part of the traditional instrumental repertoire has emerged from qupai models by way of well-established 'variation' techniques. These melodies and techniques are alive today and still performed in 'silk-bamboo' types of ensemble music, zheng ?, pipa ?? and other solo traditions, all opera types, narrative songs, and Buddhist and Daoist ritual music. With a view toward explaining qupai as a musical system, contributors explore the concept from multiple directions, notably its historic development, patterns of structural organization, compositional usage in Kunqu classical opera, influence on the growth of traditional ensemble and solo repertoires, and indeed on 19th-century European music as well. Related essays examine the use of shan'ge ?? folksongs as qupai models in one local opera tradition and the controversial relationship between qupai forms and the metrically-organized banqiang ?? forms of organization in Beijing opera. The final three essays are focused upon traditional suite forms in which qupai and non- qupai tunes are mixed, examples drawn from the Minnan nanguan ?? repertoire, Jiangnan 'silk-bamboo' tradition and the ritual music of North China.This is the first Western-language study on the nature and background of the qupai tradition, and the methods by which model melodies have been varied in creation of repertoire. The volume is essential reading for East Asian music specialists and contributes to the fields of ethnomusicology, musicology, music theory, music composition, and Chinese music and performing arts.

Part A
Introduction

1 Qupai in Theory and Practice

Alan R. Thrasher

Most traditional Han Chinese instrumental repertoires and some opera repertoires are built upon a system of old melodies that have served as structural models. Generally speaking, these models are collectively known as qupai 曲牌, a concept variously translated as ‘named song,’ ‘labeled melody’ or ‘titled tune.’ In everyday terminology among instrumentalists, qupai are simply called paizi 牌子 (‘labels’). Although some Chinese scholars suggest that the term derives from the old practice of writing the titles of music to be performed on announcement boards (Gao 1981: 295ff.; 1989: 4),¹ others believe the term merely refers to melodies with names.

Qupai is a broad concept, commonly employed in identifying songs in Kunqu 崑曲 opera, whereas others are used in narrative song genres and specific types of instrumental music. Some qupai are well known throughout China and shared among various genres; others are known to be regional and more limited to specific genres. Chinese opera scholars believe that as many as 70 or 80 qupai are still in usage (Liu 1981: 59ff.), but hundreds more are found in other genres, especially in instrumental music. Shanghai scholar Gao Houyong 高厚永 has argued that these melodic structures emerged from vocal sources, notably from Song period ci 詞 poems (960–1279), Yuan and Ming qu 曲 songs (16th century), xiaodiao 小調 urban melodies and other types (1989: 4ff.). But it is clear from analysis and absence of texts that some structures are purely instrumental in origin.² Indeed, the names of many qupai have been found in the literature from these earlier periods, but most of the associated melodies themselves have not survived—at least not in notation.³ However, several scholars, including Cheung Sai-bung 張世彬 (Zhang Shibin), Chen Tianguo 陳天國 and Qiao Jianzhong 喬建中, have suggested that instrumental music during the late Song period was largely based on qupai-type models and that this repertoire was in popular usage during the Ming dynasty (14th to 17th centuries). So, it is not difficult to imagine that some of the earliest tunes may well have survived in today’s performance practice, and there is strong circumstantial evidence that this is the case. Further discussion of this history will be found in Chapter Two.

Qupai are best considered to be a repertoire of melodic models. The nearest Western equivalent is that of cantus firmus, the corpus of source melodies derived from the Gregorian chant tradition and secular songs dating from the medieval period, which were subsequently quoted or expanded in the creation of new compositions.⁴ In their basic forms, qupai are essentially short structures, with melodies several or more phrases in length, in the equivalent of mixed quarter- and eighth-note rhythms, and performed at moderate to moderately fast tempos.

Gao Houyong 高厚永, in surveying traditional instrumental music, makes the important observation that the qupai is the shortest unit of Chinese music (1981: 295). By shortest unit, Gao means basic melodic models, many of which are as short as several or more phrases, as opposed to taoqu 套曲 (the longest unit), which are extended suites of melodies organized in different ways.⁵ Examples of short qupai can be seen in Examples 1.1 and 1.2. Some intermediate-length and longer qupai structures exist as well. Qupai are typically identified by names (paiming 牌名) and in some regions by their number of beats as well.⁶ Phrase forms and lengths, however, are different from one model to another.

Although some qupai names (or titles) refer to places and people of historic importance, such as ‘Lady Liuqing’ (Liuqing Niang 柳青娘), others reflect their functional importance within a staged dramatic event, notably ‘Opening the gate’ (Xiao Kaimen 小開門). Some more broadly suggest the imagery of the natural world, such as ‘Wind in the pines’ (Feng Ru Song 風入松). There is no suggestion here that, in the qupai tradition at least, such names carry programmatic significance, though some can be associated affectively with on-stage dramatic themes (as seen below).

Qupai Types

Chinese scholars categorize qupai types according to varying criteria. The Beijing opera scholars Lü Zhong 呂中 (1955), Liu Jidian 劉吉典 (1981) and others differentiate between two main types based on idiom: instrumental qupai used in accompaniment of opera and vocal qupai from Kunqu classical opera. For instrumental qupai, Liu identifies 10 subtypes based on associated activity, such as those accompanying the entrance of officials, fighting scenes, sorrowful events, and banquets—as if these melodies were leitmotifs for the action on stage. For example, the bold qupai tunes Yizhi Hua 一枝花 (‘A flower’) and Liuye Jin 柳葉錦 (‘Willow leaf ornamented’) are often performed by mixed instruments and percussion as introductory pieces, played before the beginning of a given opera. They may be used elsewhere in the opera as well. Some qupai may be performed by either of two melody instruments, suona 嗩吶 (shawm) or jinghu 京胡 (fiddle), depending on the action on stage. Examples of suona qupai include especially bold themes, most famously Da Kaimen 大開門 (‘Great opening of the gate’), played when a high official enters the stage or announces a meeting; or Chuida 吹打 (‘Blowing and hitting’), played when accompanying ritual events, banquets and celebrations; and Liuqing Niang 柳青娘 (‘Lady Liuqing,’ Example 1.2) in accompaniment of staged fighting scenes.

Other more lyrical qupai tunes are played on the jinghu, examples being Xiao Kaimen 小開門 (see Chapter Four, Example 4.1) in accompaniment of the entrance of authority figures and other functions; Wannian Huan 萬年歡 (‘Ten thousand years of happiness,’ Examples 2.7 and 2.10), for lively scenes and dance accompaniment; and (again) Liuqing Niang—when played on jinghu—to accompany scenes of women sewing or doing other household activities.⁷

In contrast, vocal qupai have texts. These have entered the tradition by way of Kunqu opera and other vocal sources. In some operas the texts are sung by actors/actresses and are accompanied by instrumentalists; in others, the melodies are simply played instrumentally (without the texts). Examples include the very well-known qupai, Feng Ru Song 風入松 (‘Wind in the pines,’ Example 1.3), which exists in many vocal arrangements in Kunqu and is also played instrumentally in accompaniment of people entering or leaving the stage, traveling, and so on; and Jiang’r Shui 江兒水 (‘River water’), which exists in several versions and is usually sung, for accompaniment of stage conversation, socializing and drinking.

There is a fair amount of overlap in these associations, largely because the qupai tunes themselves are used for different occasions. The value of Liu Jidian’s approach is found in his attempt to show the relationship between qupai and on-stage dramatic functions—an important perspective within the opera context. Liu’s basic instrumental–vocal division is also found in Feng Guangyu’s 馮光鈺 broad-based monograph, Zhongguo Qupai Kao 中國曲牌考 (2009)—which, however, is organized in encyclopedic form.⁸

Other 20th-century scholars, in differentiating among qupai types as a whole, have tended to classify them according to the ensemble types in which they have been performed, no...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• PART A Introduction
• PART B Instrumental Qupai
• PART C Vocal Qupai
• PART D Taoqu Suite Forms
• Contributors
• Index