Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

A common perception of traditional Chinese music is that it is all based on pentatonic scales. While pentatonic materials have been prevalent in relatively recent times, this is in mainly due to their predominance in music of the latter Chines dynasties (Ming and Qing, spanning 1368 to 1911). The highly nationalistic ideologies during the period from 1912 to 1949 also led to music of that time being primarily pentatonic.
Looking back to earlier times in Chinese musical history, there is evidence that much more colourful tonal materials were in existence. A 7 tone mode with a raised 4th was in use by 770 BCE, and quite possibly before that. From around 220 BCE to 400 CE there was a 7 tone mode with a lowered 7th, and from about 1116 CE in the northern regions there appeared a 7 tone mode with a raised 4th and lowered 7th.
The use of Lydian modes with the lowered 7th in Sun God is a reflection of the richness of melodic and tonal materials in China's music of antiquity. The clarinet and pipa play equal roles in this piece, with melodic and accompaniment material shared between the two instruments.

Work Details

Year: 2018

Instrumentation: Clarinet in A, pipa.

Duration: 8 min.

Difficulty: Medium — AMEB grade 7