MUSIC COMPARISONPurple Bamboo Melody to Bright Sheng’s

Shanghai Overture

CHINA❖ 2nd largest country by land mass❖ Population: 1,361,170,000❖ 91.51% Han Chinese❖ 34 provinces

❖ Dialects: Mandarin, Wu, Min,Xiang, Gan, Hakka

❖ Most common dialect: Mandarin❖ Borders 14 countries, and shares

maritime borders with 4 others

❖ The People’s Republic of China ever since 1959

❖ Went through movements like the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution

❖ Ancient China was based on dynasties and was very advanced at the time

❖ Influenced many of the surrounding countries

❖ Traditional Chinese instruments were the predecessors of many others

❖ Guzheng (古箏 ): Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum, and the Japanese koto

Traditional Chinese Instruments❖ Erhu (二胡 )❖ Pipa (琵琶 )❖ Zheng or guzheng (古箏 )❖ Yangqin (揚琴 )

ERHU (二胡 )❖ Spike-fiddle of the huqin family

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz1YMjLwExE

PIPA (琵琶 )❖ Pear-shaped lute http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtrthXXmKgA

ZHENG or guzheng (古箏 )❖ A zither with movable frets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bof1GlvAo0

YANGQIN (揚琴 )❖ A hammered dulcimer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbgx5MyLhm8

Purple Bamboo Melody (紫竹调 )http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOLrL-qDd68

BRIGHT sHENG (Sheng Zong-Liang)❖ Born in Shanghai, December 1955❖ Sent to Qinghai (near Tibet) during

Cultural Revolution❖ Moved to America 1982

STUDIES❖ Learned piano, but had to teach

himself music theory while in Qinghai❖ Went to Shanghai Conservatory of

Music to study music❖ Studied with George Perle, Hugo

Weisgall, Chou Wen-Chung, Jack Beeson, Mario Davidovsky, and Leonard Bernstein in America

INFLUENCES❖ Chinese folk music❖ Béla Bartók, a Hungarian composer

NOTABLE WORKS❖ Madame Mao❖ Shanghai Overture ❖ The Song and Dance of Tears❖ Nanking! Nanking!❖ China Dreams

SHANGHAI OVERTUREhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82-Na-g7G3g

COMPARISON❖ Both have an intro, then the

melody focuses on one of two players at a

time with the other players providing accompaniment

❖ Shanghai Overture uses the main theme of Purple Bamboo Melody

❖ Instrumentation (traditional Chinese vs. classical symphony instruments)

❖ Use of dynamics❖ Variations of the style

DIFFERENCES

THE END 結束

WORKS CITEDhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbgx5MyLhm8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bof1GlvAo0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtrthXXmKgA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz1YMjLwExE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82-Na-g7G3ghttp://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/long-bio/Bright-Shenghttp://www.brightsheng.com/http://www.brightsheng.com/programnotes/Shanghaioverture.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOLrL-qDd68http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82-Na-g7G3g