Chinese Composers on Marimba Composition

In the Early Twenty-first Century

By Wei-Chen Lin

Handout

I. Introduction of marimba composition in China and Taiwan

CHINA

1. The history of the introduction of marimba to China

Liu Guangsi, the father of percussion in China, was teaching in The Central

Conservatory in Beijing since 1961. In 1950s, he studied marimba and

percussion with the conductor of former Soviet Union Red Army stationed in

Dalian, Liaoning Province, and with Willie Kauffman, the conductor of the East

Berlin police band.

Liu Guangsi Taneya Mutsuko

Leigh Howard Stevens

After the Culture Revolution (1966-1976, until the arrest of the Gang of

Four), Taneya Mutsuko performed the arrangement of Paganini’s La Campanella

as one of the repertoires for her concert tour in CHINA in 1981. In 1984 Kitahara

Chidori, the president of the North Star Society, a Japanese marimba society,

visited China and held a series of “North Star marimba ensemble” concerts.

1992 Leigh Howard Stevens performed Rhythmic Caprice

2. The development of marimba solo composition in China

.

Lu Qingshan

According to the interview with Prof. Lu Qingshan, the deficiency of money

caused Prof. Lu owned his first marimba which was imported from Japan as late

as 1988. Prof. Lu started to learn marimba after 1988 with Prof. Liu Kuangsi and

started to teach marimba around 1992. Lu Qingshan became the first professor

of percussion department at the Shenyang Conservatory of Music in 1992 and

established the Shenyang Conservatory Percussion Ensemble there in 2000,

which is the first student percussion ensemble in the music history of China.

Feeling very unfamiliar with marimba, the composers in China rarely

compose for marimba solo; instead, Chinese composers Tan Dun and Qigan Chen

compose some important marimba parts in their orchestral works that require

higher performance technique, such as, Tan Dun’s Internet Symphony Eroica,

Violin Concerto “The Love” and Qigang Chen’s Creation of Enchantements

oubliés.

3. Solo works for marimba in China

a. Zerming Fan: Restless, composed in 2007 as the set piece of the China

National Youth Music Competition

b. Liu Gang: Sunshine over Tashkurgan arranged from violin solo piece.

4. The future event of marimba composition in China

Chinese Percussion Composition forum in Shenyang, China in 2015

TAIWAN

1. The history of the introduction of marimba to Taiwan

Tzong-Ching JU Ya-Wen Lien

Tzong-Ching Ju, the founder and artist director of Ju Percussion Group,

studied with Richard Hochrainer and received his Diploma of Music Perfomer at

Vienna Academy of Music in 1982. Mr. Ju is the former president of Taipei

National University of the Arts and currently the chairman of the Board of the

National Chiang Kai-Shek Culture Center in Taipei, Taiwan.

Ju Percussion Group established the first composer-in-residence for

percussion composition in the music history of Taiwan. The current

composer-in-residence is Ms. Chien-Huei Hong

Ya-Wen Lien, the founder and former artist director of Taipei Percussion

and the artist director of Lien Percussion and Kigo Music Education. In 1975, Mr.

Lien learned percussion performance with American percussionist Michael

Ranta at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei in 1978. Mr. Lien studied

abroad to learn percussion with Walter Veigle and George Frome at Vienna

Academy of Music in 1983. In 1985, Mr. Lien received his Diploma of Music

Perfomer. Mr. Lien is currently the principle timpanist of the Taiwan

Philharmonic.

2. Solo works for marimba in Taiwan

Wan-Chen Huang: Fire Dance for six mallets (2011)

Wan-Chen Huang: Moonlight forest for marimba solo (2005)

Hsin-Yi Chen: The Swallow (2002)

Hsin-Yi Chen: Variations on "Little Golden Oriole" (2002)

Chien-Hui Hong: Marimba Concerto (1997)

Yiu-Kwang Chung:

Concerto No.1 for marimba solo and band (2006), commissioned by Taiwan

Brass Society

Concerto No.2 for marimba and string orchestra (2006), commissioned by

National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra

3. The future event of marimba composition in Taiwan

The Ministry of Culture of Taiwan funds Taiwanese composers to compose

new works annually.

IV. Ting-Chuan Chen: Constantine for solo marimba

(2010)

The composer, Ting-Chuan Chen (b. 1977)

Assistant Timpanist of Taiwan Philharmonic

Structural form of Constantine

Form:

Quasi-Ternary Form (or Unique form)

Introduction m.1

A. m.2-70

a. m. 2-38 (Seconds)

Trans. m. 22-26 (Perfect Fifths)

b. m. 27-32 (Seconds + Perfect Fifths)

Trans. m. 33-38 (Seconds)

c. m. 39-70 (Perfect Fifths + Octaves)

B. m.71-118

d. m.71-92

e. m. 93-118

A’ m. 119-205

a” m. 119-126 (Seconds)

Trans. m.127-134 (Perfect Fifths + Octaves)

a”’ m. 135-148 (Perfect Fouths + Perfect Fifths + Octaves)

Trans. m.149-157 (Octaves)

f. m. 159-179 (Seconds + Octaves)

Coda m. 180-205 (Seconds + Perfect Fifths + Octaves)

Concept of Constantine

The music concept of the Constantine is from the movie with the same name

which is released in 2005. The piece won the Universal Marimba Composition

Competition in 2010.

The music depicts the fighting between kindness and viciousness; and, due

to the ambition of Satan’s son Mammon, the collapse of paradise, human world,

and hell. The end of the octaves implies the honorable sacrifice of Constantine’s

life and depicts Constantine’s soul approaching to heaven.

The composition technique

1. The symbolism of intervals in part one and part three

a. major and minor seconds

b. Perfect fifths and perfect fourths

c. Perfect eights

2. Bass ostinato

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

3. Transposition of phrases

4. Extensive technique

a. Dead stroke

b. One-hand Roll

c. The awkwardness of playing position

5. “Unplayable tempo”

“For playing hand-to-hand for an extended period of time, an average

percussionist can play sixteenth notes at 160 per quarter note…. When holding

four mallets, speed is slowed to sixteenth notes at 120 per quarter note since two

mallets in a hand are more mass to move”1

1 Solomon (2004: 13).

II. Chen Yi Jing Marimba for solo marimba (2009)

The Composer, Chen Yi (b.1953)

Chen Yi is the first female composer who received the Master of Music from

The Central Conservatory in Beijing, China. Currently, she teaches at the

University of Missouri Kansas City.

The introduction of the instrument Jing-Hu (京胡)

The concept of Jing Marimba

The motive of the work: Extracted from a fragment of the Beijing’s Opera

fiddle’s typical fixed pattern that has a leap of an interval of seventh in

accompanying the opera singing.

Chen Yi’s Jing Marimba explores the percussive nature of the marimba.

Gordon Stout’s deft control of note-to-note dynamics, bringing out the different

voices of compound melodies, animates its moto perpetuo character. A segment

of the jinghu part from the Beijing opera repertoire serves as a jumping off point

for short musical journeys that always wind their way back to the main theme,

often in surprising ways.2

FORM: The usage of Golden Ratio (1.618:1)

“The form and structure of the work is based on Golden Section principle.

Take the 180 measures of music in 2/4 beat to time 0.6, to get the GS in m. 109

and the proportions starting at m. 109, m. 66, m. 40, m. 152, and so on. The

whole work is divided to two parts (the first from the beginning to m. 108, the

second 109 to the end). Texture changes take place when GS point in different

levels occurs. Here is a list of the details.” 3

2 Britt (2011: 137) 3 Zeltsman (2009: )

First Part m.1 – m.108

Part A Part B

a. m.1-23 m. 66-90

b. m. 24 -39 m. 91-108

a. m.40 - 65

Second Part M.109 – M.151

Part A Part B (Code)

m. 109 -151 m. 152-180

GS1

GS 2

GS 3

GS 4

Tonality

a. Pentatonic Scale

b. Heptatonic Scale

The instrumentation of Beijing Opera

Melodic Section

1. Bowed instrument 2. Plucked instrument 3. Blown instrument

Percussive Section

1. Leading percussion instrument 2. Brass percussive instrument

3. Supplementary percussive instrument

Compositional Technique

a. The contrasting image of A-flat – G-flat and A – G

M.122 to M. 132 two pentatonic scales overlap to each other. The dissonant

sound simulates the sound of percussive section of Jing Opera.

b. The transposition and juxtaposition of pentatonic scales

M. 133 – M.135 M.135 – M138

C D E G A C G E♭ F G B♭ C

C♭ D♭ E♭ G♭ A♭ B D E F♯ A B

Pivot Note: B (C♭)

M.135 – M138 M.138 – M140

E♭ F G B♭ C B♭E♭ G♭ A♭ B♭ D♭ E♭

D E F♯ A B D F G A C D

Pivot Note: D

M.138 – M140 M140 – M143

G♭ A♭ B♭ D♭ E♭ C♯ F♯ A B C♯ E F♯

F G A C D F A♭ B♭ C E♭ F

Pivot Note: F

M140 – M143

A B C♯ E F♯

A♭ B♭ C E♭ F

M148 – M151

The aggregation of the notes: Chinese Heptatonic Scale

III. Yao Chen: Asura for solo marimba and two Tibetan

bowls (2014)

The composer, Yao Chen (b. 1978)

Yao Chen received his PhD in music composition from the University of

Chicago. He was the part-time assistant professor at the University of Illinois at

Champaign-Urbana. Currently, he is the assistant professor at the Illinois State

University.

The concept of music

The composer depicts the Asura in the Buddhism:

“In the Buddhist cosmology there are six realms of Samsara, or the cycle of

birth, death and rebirth. They represent the inevitability of past and future

rebirths in different states. In order to end the cycle of Samsara, one has to

achieve the nirvana, or enlightenment. In one of the five lower realms exists

the asuras.”

The Form of Asura and the meaning of Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ

• Om purifies bliss and pride (realm of the gods)

• Ma purifies jealousy and need for entertainment (realm of the jealous

demi-gods, asuras)

• Ni purifies passion and desire (human realm)

• Pad purifies ignorance and prejudice (animal realm)

• Me purifies poverty and possessiveness (realm of the hungry ghosts)

• Hum purifies aggression and hatred (hell realm)

Unique Form

A. m.1-45

B. m. 46-89

C. m. 90-113

D. m. 114-149

E. m. 150-167

F. m. 168-205

Coda m. 206-230

Extensive Technique

1. Human voice

2. Dead Stroke

3. Consecutive wide range melodic pattern

4. Theatrical effect: Playing notes without producing sounds.

5. The technique of one-hand roll

Tibetan Thangka

Tibetan chakra. (2005, September 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Retrieved 09:19, March 2, 2014,

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tibetan_chakra.jpg