Books on Chinese music

[gawn]

My experience is, that in order to fully appreciate a piece of music - or other art - it helps to have a solid understanding of the artistic field in which it evolved, the tradition and its underlying theoretical principles and philosophical ideas.
I can listen to recordings of Chinese music for hours and be overwhelmed by it's beauty; still I feel that my understanding of it is remains superficial because I lack most of the above mentioned background knowledge.

Therefore I would like to ask you for reading suggestions:

What are your favorite books on Chinese musical history, regional traditions, styles, genres?
On Chinese philosophy as it relates to music and the performing arts?
On Chinese musical instruments?
On Chinese musical theory (pitch, scales, time, rythm...)?

I would really be grateful for your suggestions and compiling a little reading list here could certainly result into a great, valuable resource for others as well.
I'm not sure how much Chinese most of you read - mine is sadly not enough for reading such texts. For me personally, any book in Western languages, (i.e. English, French, German, Spanish) would be helpful.

Warm greetings,

Georg

[sanmenxia]

I agree, knowing something about the background of a piece of music is really essential.

I have these books and I can recommend them:

Folk Music of China by Stephen Jones (1995, Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press)

"Silk and Bamboo" Music in Shanghai: The Jiangnan Sizhu Instrumental Ensemble Tradition by J. Lawrence Witzleben (1995, Kent State University Press)

Musical Creativity in Twentieth-Century China: Abing, His Music, and Its Changing Meanings by Jonathan Stock (1996, University of Rochester Press)

Some more books but I haven't read these:

Ritual and Music of North China
Volume 2: Shaanbei by Stephen Jones
www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calctitle=1&pageSubject=3040&sort=pubdate&forthcoming=0&title_id=8552&edition_id=11530

Huju: Traditional Opera in Modern Shanghai by Jonathan Stock. Oxford University Press

In Search of the Folk Daoists of North China by Stephen Jones
www.ashgatepublishing.com/default.aspx?page=637&calctitle=1&pageSubject=1116&sort=pubdate&forthcoming=1&pagecount=0&title_id=10300&edition_id=13151

[davidmdahl]

I have the books by Witzleben and Stock, and they are good. In addition, I suggest "Music of the Billion: An Introduction to Chinese Musical Culture" by Mingyue Liang. It is out-of-print, but shows up on Amazon and other Internet sources now and then.

I don't recommend the books by Sin-Yan Shen available on Amazon.

I am in the middle of reading "Sizhu Instrumental Music of South China" by Alan Thrasher. It is expensive, so you might try borrowing from a library.

For filling in cultural understanding, you might check out literary classics. I have "A Dream of Red Mansions" on my shelf, but have not yet started it. My teacher highly recomends reading classical Chinese poetry.

Best wishes,

David

[sanmenxia]

There is also this book "Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture"

www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415241298/

I don't know if this a legit website but all the entries seem to be on

www.bookrags.com/browse/tf02036450652000C220/

Eg, this is the article for "bangzi"
www.bookrags.com/tandf/bangzi-tf/
and "traditional music"
www.bookrags.com/tandf/traditional-music-tf/#p2000c2209970606004




Alan Thrasher wrote the liner notes for his CD "Sizhu (Silk Bamboo) : Chamber Music of South China":



I guess "Sizhu Instrumental Music of South China" covers the subject in book length detail.

[gawn]

Hi folks,

I was able to purchase an affordable used copy of the "East Asia: China Japan, Korea" volume of the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music:

www.amazon.co.uk/East-Asia-China-Garland-Encyclopedia/dp/0824060415/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1304607749&sr=8-4 or www.amazon.com/East-Asia-China-Garland-Encyclopedia/dp/0824060415/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1304607749&sr=8-4

and I must say that it's really worth every cent of its price (I paid approximately 80 US$ for my copy). For those interested, I'll try to write a short review:

The book includes articles on various aspects of Chinese, Japanese and Korean music written by specialists from all over the world - both from within these countries and from "the West".

It highlights both the larger musical connections between regions and nations in east Asia and describes in great detail outstanding regional traditions, individual genres, instruments and features chapters on the musics of major ethnic minorities such as the Uigurs, the peoples of Yunnan, the Mongols and others. It elaborates on historical and performance contexts; connections to philosophy, aesthetics and other arts. (Amazon permits you to take a look at the table of content - see there for details.)

My impression is that this is probably the most comprehensive overview (1150 large format pages) available in western languages and it also features very useful hints for further reading at the end of every single chapter/topic.

Negative would be that its very pricey and not a handy book at all - I can't read it during my daily ride on the commuter train simply because it's too large and heavy. It is almost ten years old now, so newer publications are not mentioned.

It has a strong focus on traditional folk and court music traditions; contemporary developments and pop/rock music are only briefly mentioned and while there are some details about twentieth century politics of culture, music and art, this is also not the focus of the book.

Sadly, the seller of my copy has not wrapped it very carefully, so even though it supposedly had been in a very good condition before shipping, it arrived with damaged hardcover-corners all around. Still, I'm more than happy to have it!

Should somebody want to order one, take care that you get the right volume (i.e. that on East Asia) - the used offers shown on amazon and other booksellers are sometimes other volumes (Middle East, North America....)! Check the ISBN.

[davidmdahl]

Thanks for the thorough review, gawn. Amazon (USA) has a copy bound upside-down for $50.

Best wishes,

David

[edcat7]

further to David's Chinese classics, there are five must read classics:

Journey to the West (or better known as Monkey)
Outlaws of the Marsh (or better known as the Water Margin)
Story of the Stone ( A Dream of Red Mansions)
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Creation of the Gods

I've read the first two but am bogged down on book 2 of the third. The other two I will read before I die.

The 300 Tang Dynasty Poems is also a must read

[gawn]

May 5, 2011 20:57:28 GMT davidmdahl said:

Amazon (USA) has a copy bound upside-down for $50.

As far as I can see, the upside down one on amazon is "The United States and Canada" (Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 3) - that's what I meant ... amazon is really misleading there. The cheapest used one for sale at the moment is apparently one on Amazon.com is 95 $.

[sanmenxia]

Another one is the Rough Guide to World Music, in several volumes and editions.

[Si]

I recently bought
CHINESE MUSIC (INTRODUCTIONS TO CHINESE CULTURE)

but alas I have not read it yet, but it looks good and not a very think book too and looks easy to read. Came out this year too.

[gawn]

I just got a nice new book:

"Die Geschichte der chinesischen Musik" (The History of Chinese Music"): www.schott-music.com/shop/2/show,229948.html .
It's a German translation from the Chinese. The original was published by the Chinese Academy of Arts' institute of music research. Editors were Liu Dongsheng and Yuan Quanyou. The book covers the musical history of imperial China from the neolithic period to the 19th century. I am still reading it, so I can't make comments on the text; but it appears to be theroughly researched (for over 30 years, it says) and has a strong archeological focus.
In the appendix it features a short list of secondary literature (all in Chinese) and a very useful multipage glossary of Chinese terms in Chinese characters, pinyin and German.
What I do love about the book is that it features hundreds of high quality illustrations: photographs of instruments (such als those excavated at the burial site of the marquis Yi of Zheng, early Guqins, Ses, Pipas, flutes, huqins from virtually all dynasties and many others) but also reproductions of paintings, murals, manuscripts and other depictions of instruments, musicians and ensembles. Its a large format, heavy coffetable book.

I know that the language of this edition (German) will be difficult to read for many of you, but the pictures are fantastic. Maybe the Chinese Edition is more accessible for those who read Chinese?
Anyway, if somebody is looking for images or informations on the history of a specific instrument or ensemble type I'd be willing to help out with some information on what this book has on it.