John Chambers writes:
>Do we have people here who are transcribing Chinese pop
>music? Actually, I'd be more interested in the traditional
>music, but new music is more interesting as a test case.
>
>From what I know of traditional Chinese music, I don't
>think there would be many problems putting it into abc
>form. Since it's mostly still pretty close to pentatonic,
>there aren't many problems with scales.
>
Here's a Chinese piece* for the Erhu, the Chinese two-string
fiddle. (I've always thought of it as classical, but I suppose it could be
called traditional, too.) It's usually played as a duet with the pipa
(Chinese lute.) I wrote it out for the pipes, which is why it's in D mix
instead of the original A mix. (I could say I arranged it, but a better
description would just be "sloppy transcription.") Surprisingly enough,
it does work well for the pipes, and the rule of thumb has it that it
would also work well for the flute, since good pipe tunes usually suit the
flute and vice-versa. (Caveat: as with any music lifted from someone
else's tradition, I continually have to go back to the original to remind
myself of how it really should sound. The dots are a help, but they only
indicate which way the tune goes, not how it should get there.) I may have
changed a couple of notes to fit, but hopefully not too many. The main
changes are omissions: the erhu is made to slide into and out of notes,
and there are many important slides in the piece, both up and down. I only
noted a few of the slides up and none of the slides down (can't do them
well enough on the pipes.) Trills are another problem: one needs to be
able to say where they start and when they stop. I just wrote "tr".
The reason for the two titles is that a friend gave me the first,
which I figure is probably correct, and the second was on the CD I
transcribed it from.
Question: does anyone here know how much latitude there is for
improvisation in traditional Chinese classical music? I have two
recordings of this tune. They agree for the first time thru, and
subsequent repeats are variations which I suspect might be traditionally
left to the performer. (The particular recording I transcribed had five
repeats. I wrote out two.)
Second question: I have a Chinese book of flute tunes, written out
much like abc, but in numbers, not letters. If I could read the Chinese
introduction, I probably wouldn't have to ask but...does anybody here know
anything about this notation? Is it particular to the flute, or is it a
general music notation?
Cheers,
John Walsh
* A story goes with it, and I'll pass it on, exactly as it was told to
me:
It was composed in the 1940s. The composer was a poor young man
who suffered greatly from the ruling class and Japanese troops. When his
lover, a folk singer, was taken away from him by evil forces, he was
extremely sad. Not long after, he became blind. One night he sat lonely
beside a stream, playing the erhu. He was in extreme grief and
indignation. Two Fountains Reflect the Moonlight was composed at this
moment.
--------------------snip snip-------------------------
X:1
T:Two Fountains Reflect the Moonlight
T:The Moon Reflected in Er-Quan
C:Hua Yen-Chun
M:4/4
S:Chang Jui, Erhu
Z:John Walsh 09/99
L:1/4
Q:1/4=140
K:DMix
B/A/B/|G2 G F/ Hz/|E4-|E4|PE2 JEF|D2 (DE)|F4-||F2 .F .A|B2 A2|BA Bd|
JA3 F|A2 AF|E2 B2|(AB) (DE)|F4-|F4|E>F Ad|BE FA|D4-|D4||
d2 (Bd|Jf2) fe|d3 JB|d>e ff|e2 (d>B)|JBd ef|A4-|A4|
a2 fa|b>a bd'|Ja3 f|Ja3d'|b2 b2|ab aa|af2A|(a2 f) a|
e>f ed|Bd dB|Jd4-|d3 z/ e/|Jfa d>e|fa f b |a4-|a4||
.Az .dz|BA Bd|(A3 F)|A3 F|EF Ad|BE FA|D4-|D4|
d2 Bd|f2 fe|d3 B|Jd>e ff|e2 d2|Bd ef|A4-|A4||
.Az .az|fa fa|b4|d'2 d'2|(a<f) {a}fa|ba d'b|(a3 f)|Ja3 d'|b2 b2|ab aa|
(a<f)-f d|a2 fa|ef ed|"rall"Bd dB|(Jd3 B)-|Jd3 e|Jfa d2|f>a{g}ab|a4-|a4||
A2 AB|AA FA|"tr"B4-|B4-|{A}B4-|{A}B4|b2 d'2|ba bd'|Ja3 f|Ja3 d'|b2 b2|ab
aa|(a f2) d|a2 (af)|ef ed|Bd dB|d3 B|d2-d>e|Jfa d2|f>a gb|a4-|a4||
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