Welcome to the Chinese folk song workshops

2014

Welcome
Introduce yourself in Chinese: The teacher and the learners from the Mandarin
beginners class and the post beginners class.

Sample: ----- ------------
///
Hello, my name is ---------. Im from England, but my -----
--- is from China/Malaysia/Singapore/Asia.
Beautiful China photographic exhibition from the Chinese Embassy was in Harlow
Chinese School recently

The Chinese officials said that the Exhibition would provide a window for the
local people to open their mind and know more about China.

The exhibition includes photos of the daily lives of the Chinese people in different
settings, including cotton fields, fishing scenes, family celebrations, Chinese solar
panels and the herding of a feathered flock on water.
The Chinese folk song workshops
2014
Our general theme and topic: Chinese music, well focus on
folk songs.

Todays aims and objectives
Theyll be checked before the lesson finishes.
1. After attending todays lesson, youll be able to identify 3 major
differences between the western music and the Chinese music.
2. Youll be able to recognise and match 4 Chinese ethnic groups names,
costumes, locations and a few main music features.
3. Youll sing a Tibetan folk style song in unison/round (depends on time).

I hope youll enjoy todays lesson, and are getting more and more
interested in Chinese.



Classroom rules:
1. Arrive on time.
2. Respect each other.
3. Mobile phone: off or on silent.
4. Attendance: If youll be late, absent, please inform your teacher. If you
need to leave earlier, please sit near the door.
5. No smocking.
6. Leave the class room clean.
7. Classroom discussions should be limited to study topics.
8. No gossip.
Heath & Safe:
1. Kitchen and toilets.
2. Keep floors free from obstruction. No drinks during the 1 hour lesson.
3. In case of fire, earthquake or any other disaster, please follow the
evacuation plan that is located by the exit door.
4. Not drive at a high speed in any of the parking areas at the School. The
children are present in the area (childcare classes).

If you have any other suggestion about H&S, class rules, let us know.
3 brief comparisons between the western music and
the Chinese musics features
Western countries: America, Canada, West Europe, Russia, Part of the South America.

1. Creators are different.
Western music: by God/Goddess according to the legends.
Apollo, god of music, and his half-sisters the nine Muses, of whom Apollo was
the leader, were patron goddesses of the arts and sciences, chief among these being
music. The word "music" itself, in fact, means the art of the Muses.
Muse with lyre Apollo, god of music
3 brief comparisons between the western music and
the Chinese musics features
1. Creators are different.
Chinese music: by humans according to legends.
The Five Emperors were a group of mythological
rulers and deities from ancient China during the period circa 2852 BC to 2070
BC, today considered culture heroes and the early music creators..

The Yellow Emperor 26982598 BC
n w
n w
1. Created the humans



2. Mended the broken sky

3. Invented a few musical
instruments
Clay Xun: http://youtu.be/Qgxl7rPrWmk

Bamboo and cucurbit Sheng : http://youtu.be/mFkZ-gMkHvQ





3 brief comparisons between the western music and the Chinese musics
features

2. Scales are different: From a theoretical point of view, western music is
essentially made up of 12 tones. Its called the chromatic scale.
The Chinese musical scales are all based pentatonic scales.
Try an improvisation by playing all black notes (Gb pentatonic scales).
Now, you can play a piece of Chinese music even you have never played piano
before. Watch a young girls improvisation. http://youtu.be/lAzeL0-68RA

3 brief comparisons between the western music and
the Chinese musics features
3. Music Notation
Comprehensive music notation began to be
developed in Europe in the Middle Ages.
In the middle of the 9th century, Gregorian chant, using symbols
known as Neumes as below. The modern five-line staff was first adopted in
France and became almost universal by the 16th century.
But in ancient China, Indian, etc, there were no such comprehensive
music notation system. Music was passed down orally, so one piece may has
a few versions. There are much less pieces to be preserved until today.
for chant appears in the 9
th
century.
The earliest western notation
14th-15th century
3 brief comparisons between the western music and
the Chinese musics features
3. Music Notation (extension task)
The earliest Chinese drum playing records at about over 2,000 years ago for their
archery competitions and banquets in ancient China.
indicated to play the smaller drums by the army riders.
indicated to play the square drums.
Picture 1: The earliest drum record

Picture 2: Another type of Chinese ancient musical
description about the fingerings, the number of the
strings, etc but no rhythmic, pitch's indications.
Now, we use jinp; literally: "simplified notation", a numbered
musical notation. See the sample of Jasmine Blossoms at the end of
the presentation. We also use the western stave or staff.
The similarities in ancient time
The Chinese character of Music/Happiness
A famous ancient Chinese scholar once said,
Though the instrument players body is in a hall, his
mind should be with the forests and streams.

Both believes were that music was not only an
amusement, for meditation but also to purify
peoples thoughts.
From the oracle bones scripts to todays
simplified Chinese character, the meanings of
remains unchanged.
Chinese musical instruments traditionally have been classified
according to the materials used in their construction: metal, stone,
clay, skin, silk, wood, cucurbit , bamboo.


The classification used in the western orchestra according to the type
of vibrating material used to produce sound, dividing instruments
into woodwinds, brass, strings, and percussion.

Group discussion Nowthere are advanced and more type of
western musical instruments than the Chinese traditional ones, Why?
One of the answers is as more inventions came from the Industrial
revolution, and(
Brief comparisons between the western music and the Chinese musics features
4. Musical instruments (Extension Task)
Orchestra (Extension Task)

56 Chinese races 56
There are 56 ethnic groups in China, the Han race is about 92% of population.
About 8% are a mix of minority races, most of whom live near boarders and have
their own traditions, languagesmusic and dances, etc.
Han Race hn z
1983 Map of ethno linguistic groups in mainland China and Taiwan
what colour is Han?
The Han Race hn z
Yans singing: http://youtu.be/l4Ry8RyAujM Version 1 Jasmine Blossoms
The Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to East Asia.
In mainland China: approximately 92% of the population.
In Hong Kong: 94% of the population. In Macau: 95% of the population. In Taiwan: 98% of the population.
In Singapore: 74% of the population. In Malaysia: 24.5% of the population.

And about 19% of the entire global human population, making them the largest ethnic group in the world.
There is considerable genetic, linguistic, cultural, and social diversity among the Han, mainly due to
thousands of years of immigration and assimilation of various regional ethnicities and tribes within China. The
Han Chinese are a subset of the Chinese nation (Zhonghua minzu). Sometimes Han and other
Chinese refer to themselves as the Descendants of the YanHuang Emperors and n w
,.
Non-religious, Chinese
folk religion (including
Taoism, ancestral
worship and others),
Confucianism,
Buddhism, and
Christianity in recent
centuries.
Chinese Folk Songs

Handed down from generation to generation often without the aid of music
notation, or passed on by cultural interaction of folk musicians with other
communities and perhaps adapted and changed over time.
Music features: 1) simple language 2) vivid imagery 3) Expressions of the
emotions, feelings by the working classes
There are 9 categories according to music genres in Han folk songs: work
songs , mountain songs , field songs , small tunes , dance
songs , fishermans songs, ritual songs childrens
songs, vendors cries .
The different ethnic minorities all have their own songs as above mentioned
categories. Besides, love songs, narrative songs and religious songs
are all give high importance.
A matching game: Ask learners to match the tune to the correct category.
Examples: see scores.
1) 2 3 4 5



The Chinese folk song has the longest history, simplest
structure, richest numbers, and widest spreading musical
genre among traditional Chinese culture. The poems of
Chinese earliest poetry anthology appeared 3,000 years ago.
Minority 1: Mongols
Yan performed a Mongolians folk song: http://youtu.be/hjczneaOkaE

Group discussion: Talk about your impression about Mongols.
Minority 1: Mongols
Location: The Mongols, or Mongolic peoples, are a Central and
Northern Asian (Inner Asia) ethno-linguistic group. They also live
as minorities across Northern Asia, including in Russia, China,
and many of the former Soviet Union states. In China, they live
mainly either in Inner Mongolia or, less commonly, in Xinjiang.
Language: Mongolic languages.
Religion: Half are Buddhists, 39% are non-religious.
Music and dance: Mongolian people sings about: the blue skies,
the wandering clouds and the stretches of grasslands. The song
serves as a symbol of the maternal love for the grassland that is
vast and profound. It represents different types of folk songs such
as toasting music, love songs and dancing music.
Demo: The Herdman's Song:
The Mongolians are renowned for their love for music and
singing. Any celebrations by the Mongolians always turn into a
celebration of singing.
Longsong and morin khuur are the greatest features of the
Mongolian music. http://youtu.be/f3pyB395oFY
http://youtu.be/g5eIKXPWzSY Traditional Mongolian
Music & Dance Ensemble. One of Mongolia's best known songs
"My Beloved Country" song.

The horse-head fiddle
Minority 2: The Xin Jiang (New Frontier)
http://youtu.be/5-KM037IHiY 200 Introduction
A folk song from Xin Jiang: http://youtu.be/cQOl1Bf1iQ8

The Silk Road Uyghur
Minority 2: The Xin Jiang (New Frontier)
By the end of the 19th century, 13 major ethnic
communities had established themselves there: the
Uyghur, Hans, Kazaks, Mongolians, Huis, Kirgiz, Manchu,
Xebec, Tajiks, Daurs, Uzbeks, Tatars and Russians. The
Uyghur comprised the majority, and this multiethnic pattern
remains even today.

Xinjiang includes China's northwest frontier in the
heartland of Eurasia.

Xinjiang is home to several distinct ethnic groups of
various religious traditions. Modern Uyghur
however are primarily Muslim, and they are the second
largest Muslim ethnic group in China after the Hui.

Uighur folk music arises from great deserts and high
mountain regions of Xinjiang Province. Like the people, the
folk music is warm-hearted and fun to listen to. Their
dancing and music is like a combination of Indian,
Turkish, and Russian styles. Their expressions and body
movements generally make Uighur musicians fun to watch
too.
Minority 3: The Tibetan Zng z
Religion: Tibetan Buddhism
Yan performed a Tibetan folk style song: http://youtu.be/z2qpH9m8tUA
2 Tibetan style songs, the Karaoke link 315 http://youtu.be/HNmH02I7pWg
Minority 3: The Tibetan Zng z
Location: The Tibetan people are an ethnic group that is native to
Tibet. Significant Tibetan minorities also live outside of Tibet
Autonomous Region (TAR) in China, and in India, Nepal, and Bhutan.
Language: Tibetic languages
There is a saying: Tibetans start singing when they speak the first word; they
start dancing when they take the first step.
Tibetan singers are particularly known for their strong vocal abilities,
which many attribute to the high altitudes of the Tibetan Plateau.
First and foremost Tibetan music is religious music, reflecting the profound
influence of Tibetan Buddhism on the culture. http://youtu.be/MVrMjyYFw9M
Tibet also has a long tradition of secular music. 1) Ihamo, a form of opera.
2)a solo, unaccompanied vocalist, but can also utilize a wider range of
instruments than religious music, incorporating traditional lutes (dramyin),
violins and flutes.
Cham is a sacred dance unique to Tibetan religious culture.
Warm-ups
1. Physical stretches
2. Humming ,
3. Sing nu
4. Extension task: Sing and listening game:
sing any note in C major chord. CEG,
and listen to the C major harmony.

5. Sing a simple round if we have time
Group discussion: About the Himalayas
The Himalayas is a mountain range in Asia separating the
Plains of the Indian Subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau.
Its a home to the planets highest peaks, including the highest
Mount Everest. Many Himalayan Peaks are sacred in both
Buddhism and Hinduism.


The Himalayas

Demo The piano accompaniment

http://youtu.be/Gf2Txx34HRg http://youtu.be/yt27PvFYN88
Plenary
Re-cap and check of learning: A quiz/question sheets.
Homework:
1) Learn the lyrics and tune, sing alone with my piano accompaniment.
2) Preview of the next lesson.
Summary
Q&A
Looking forward
We are a family! 56
Preview of next lesson
Jasmine Blossoms
A Chinese folk song from the Han race. The song is about
The water townsthe warm climate and the beautiful girls
About Jasmine Blossoms


Jasmine Blossoms--a folk song from Chinese water towns (Jiang Su Province)

This folk song has a long history, originated from a few hundreds years ago called " flower
tune". It has multiple versions. "Jasmine" is probably the most widely circulated song among
the overseas Chinese and Western people.

Between 1920 and 1924, Italian composer Giacomo Puccini ( 1858-1924)
used this song's melody in his last opera "Turandot" before his death.
Therefore, this song started to
circulate in the West.

It was played in both of past
Olympic Games: The 28th 2004
in Greece and the 29th, 2008.

Also on other important ceremonies
/ events, e.g. when Hong Kong and
Macau returned to China and the
US president visited China, etc.
Yans performance 2014
Version 2 Jasmine Blossoms
Video: http://youtu.be/_iLkZGVfg8k
The presentation slides are also available on my teaching blog, I will email you a link.
Please write to me if you have any comments, ideas about our lessons or are
interested in our Chinese musical clubs. yanlijones@hotmail.com Mrs Yan Li Jones