Music in Schools Today Teacher Curriculum

•Introduction

•About Chinese Opera

•Traditions

•Characters

•Performance

•Musical Accompaniment

•Gestures & Props

•Glossary

Chinese Opera Teacher's Guide and Curriculum
Musical Accompaniment in Chinese Opera

In Chinese Opera, the musicians and their instruments are divided into a string and wind section and a percussion section.

The percussionists plays to introduce action, including entry, movement across the stage, and character activity of any kind. Traditionally, Chinese music is improvised as it follows the action.

Qin Hu (fiddle)

Ban Gu (small drum)

Yue Qin (moon guitar)

The Qin Hu (fiddle) accompanies the singers, playing their melody line. This instrument's job is to support the voice. It has two strings, which are played with a bow. The instrument is held upright on the musician's knee. In addition, the slightly larger Er-Hu (second fiddle) plays the same melody as the Qin Hu, an octave lower. Its sound is deeper and softer.

The Ban Gu is a wooden drum that has a small central hole with a skin tightly stretched over the hole. The Ban Gu produces a high pitched sound and is played with bamboo mallets. The Ban Gu player assumes the role of conductor. He or she controls the other players and is responsible for moving the action forward. The Ban Gu player also plays the wooden hand clappers.

The Moon Guitar (Yue Qin) provides harmonic support to the melody. It has four strings and frets on a short neck. It's plucked with a plectrum and is held vertically on the performer's knee.

High and Low Pitched Sounds activity (Relates to Science curricula)
You need a variety of sound makers such as xylophones, descant and tenor recorders, string instruments, drums, or even art straws. Violins and violas are excellent for this activity, if available.

Demonstrate that the larger the soundbox of an instrument, the lower the sound produced.

Compare the Qin Hu and the slightly larger Er Hu to violins and violas/cellos.

Have the students experiment with the instruments you've assembled to compare sound box size with pitch.

Talk about what they've discovered.

Depending on the age and level of the students, a discussion of soundwaves may work well here.

The Qin Po (gong) is high pitched and uses a characteristic 'distorted' sound. It is struck by a wooden stick with pointed ends which is then drawn across the gong's surface. This high pitched gong is often played as the female lead character enters the stage.

Saucepan lid activity (Relates to Science curricula)
You need a selection of metal saucepan lids; wooden and metal spoons, forks and other implements; and one bucket of water per group.

Show students a diagram of the Qin Po gong and its mallet, and play a snippet of the beginning of a Chinese Opera, so they can hear the sound it makes. Explain that this instrument is often used to announce the arrival of the female lead in an opera.

Put the students into small groups, giving each group has a variety of lids and spoons.

Have the children tap the lids trying out different spoons until they get "the best" sound. Explain that by "best," you mean the sound closest to that of the Qin Po gong. (Try to get the students to avoid loud banging.)

Immerse the "ringing" lid in the bucket of water and listen to the sound "bending." Explain that this is the sound closest to the sound of the real Qin Po.

Additional percussion instruments used in Chinese Opera are, most notably, bells and cymbals. Also, the large gong, which is similar to those used in Western orchestras but a bit smaller, is used in particularly exciting moments in Chinese Opera.

Other instruments include the Sheng (reed pipes), Pipa (Chinese lute) and Suo Na (Chinese clarinet).

Listening and appraising activity
You need a recording of Chinese Opera. (See suggested listening material.)

Before your students listen to Chinese Opera excerpts, it is a good idea to begin with a class discussion to prepare the children for the unfamiliarity of the sound of the music they are about to hear. You may wish to see if any of your students are already familiar with Chinese Opera.

Suggested discussion points:

Traditional Italian opera uses a particular singing style not used in everyday life. Chinese Opera has its own sound, too.
Percussion and strings play an important role. Alert the students that they will hear gongs with a "distorted" sound and stringed instruments supporting each singer's melody line.
Percussion instruments (drums, gong, wooden clappers) are used to announce action, movement or the arrival of a new character.
Show the pictures of the instruments and make comparisons to Western instruments. Where possible, compare.

While listening, ask the children to put up their hands when they hear, for example, a small gong with its "bending" sound, or the wooden clapper sound, etc. Can the children identify the sound of the large gong, signaling that an exciting moment is taking place in the opera? In other words, encourage active listening. This will be more fun for the children, and will speed up the students' process of internalizing the music and becoming familiar with the art form.

Composing activity using a pentatonic scale
You need tuned percussion (e.g. xylophones) or other melodic instruments. Encourage any student who is studying an instrument to bring it to school for this activity.

A. Working alone or in pairs.

Discuss with the class the fact that Chinese melodies are often based on a Pentatonic (five-note) scale.
Using the black notes on a piano or the notes C D E G A on tuned percussion, ask them to invent a short tune that repeats. A repeating pattern is called an "ostinato."
You may wish to suggest that they start with a three-note tune at first to keep things simple, and to repeat notes as often as they want.

B. Working in larger groups of four to five students. Combine the above activity with the following:

Add repeated rhythmic patterns on percussion instruments.
Introduce ostinato patterns to the students by asking them to say a short phrase about, for example, what they had for breakfast. Then get them to "make their hands say the same phrase" (clapping along to the syllables/rhythm) and clap the pattern over and over several times.
Once they get the pattern down with their hands, they try it on an instrument.

Traditionally, Chinese musicians would memorize their music rather than write it down. Ask your students to see if they can memorize their tunes and perform them for the class.

Discussion points:

Decide with each group who starts and how many times they play their pattern as an introduction before the next person joins in.
Help each group decide how their music ends. Does it end with a bang/ flourish, or does it fade away?
To add interest/complexity as appropriate, groups may vary the number of players playing at any one time, include a silent part or use dynamics (louds and softs). You may also allow each group to experiment with different combinations of instruments.

Once the children have worked out a piece of music, allow them time to practice it before performing it for the class.

Accompanist activity

Have a student who is studying an instrument play the tune of a familiar song on his or her instrument, while the class sings the song. This would be comparable to the role of the Qin Hu (fiddle) player in Chinese Opera.
Alternatively, a student may provide chordal support for a familiar song on his or her guitar, in the style of the Moon Guitar player in Chinese Opera.

There are three notation systems used in Chinese music. The most traditional system is written in Chinese characters, with each character representing one pitch, such as doh. This system is still used in opera. Secondly, the music is sometimes written as standard staff notation. However, the most common system is the moveable doh, or numerical system. Notes 1 2 3 5 and 6 of any Western scale correspond to doh re me so la (which is the Chinese pentatonic scale). In Western music, these notes can be likened to CDE GA in the C major scale (C being note 1) or DEF# AB in D major scale (D being note 1), etc. In other words, the base note 1 could be the base note of any scale.

Playing by numbers activity
You need tuned percussion instruments (xylophones or a piano will do), pencils and paper.

Sing "doh re mi soh la" up and down, to familiarize the class with the pentatonic sound. Explain to the children that Chinese musicians sometimes play from a number score.
See if the children can play from a numerical score. Give them note number 1 (e.g. C). Can they play: 123 321 (doh re me me re doh);or, 35356 (me so me so la)?
Ask them to write their own number score and to choose a base note. Let them practice their music, then play to the class, on the piano or tuned percussion.

Folk music, rice planting and tea picking songs are used in Chinese Operas. The opera performers often improvise from these melodies. Pauses are important in the songs.

Here is an excerpt from the folk song, "Song of the Great Wall" (from Chinese Folk Songs published by New World Press):

Great Wall, you run for ten thousand miles,
A splendid dragon coiling over the hills.
High walls rising sheer
Recall the battles at this northern frontier.

Songwriting activity
You need pencils and paper, and a tuned percussion or other instrument. Have the students work in pairs.

Help the students familiarize themselves with the rhythm of the extract from "Song of the Great Wall" by clapping out the words.
Have the students invent a tune for the song. Use the notes from the C pentatonic scale, as in the composing activity above, or, if you prefer, use "doh re me so la" from the solfege system.
Encourage the students to keep the melody simple, without too many leaps and bounds, and have them try to memorize it the melody they create.
If possible, have each pair accompany their song with a string instrument to help support their singing.

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