Date of Submission
Spring 2024
Academic Program
Global and International Studies
Project Advisor 1
Robert Culp
Abstract/Artist's Statement
This historical research project explores the transformation of Chinese national music in the twentieth century and the reforms in traditional Chinese music, including its education and performance from 1911 to the present under different political and social backgrounds. It focuses on the impact of different ideologies of music reform, the fusion of Western music with Chinese national music in terms of compositional techniques, musical forms, and Western music theories, as well as the path of Chinese music reform. This inquiry takes as its primary example the Pipa, a traditional four string plucking instrument that has been played for thousands years in China, as it was gradually developed from folkloric to formalized, professionalized, and systematized over the past century.
This project attempts to examine the complex process of how Chinese music has reformed, developed, and innovated under the various political and social environments of different time periods. It also contributes to academic discussions on cross-cultural exchanges in musicology. In addition, the project emphasizes the role of music as an ideological expression and an enhancer of national self-confidence and cohesion during periods of major political and social change in China, that is, shaping and reflecting cultural and national identity through Chinese music. The project aims to answer several key questions: How did different contexts influence the development of Chinese music? How did Western musical techniques merge with traditional Chinese music? What role did music education and institutional support play in the spread of "New National Music"? What role did important figures in the music industry play in the evolution of music reform and music education in China? How did traditional Chinese music, such as the Pipa, make its way onto the global stage?
Open Access Agreement
Open Access
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Dong, Jinou, "Twentieth Century Reforms in Traditional Chinese Music" (2024). Senior Projects Spring 2024. 72.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2024/72
This work is protected by a Creative Commons license. Any use not permitted under that license is prohibited.
Included in
Asian Studies Commons, Chinese Studies Commons, Ethnomusicology Commons, Musicology Commons, Near Eastern Languages and Societies Commons, Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons