CHINESE MUSICAL TRADITIONS: STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyse the development of the worldview system of Ancient China, in particular, the philosophy that directly determined the cultural and musical traditions of the country. The research methodology provides historical and biographical methods for the subject studying. We have researched the effects of the worldview of Ancient China on the country’s musical traditions. Furthermore, we have defined the historical names of philosophers who influenced the development of musical art and education mostly, which also affected cultural traditions. Conclusions. Chinese musical culture has been proven to be originated from the performance of ritual song and dance rites during work, then it was repeated in court and temple traditions. As a result, by the time of the early Western Zhou period (the 11th – 3rd centuries BC), a music institution was created, which started a school of music and dance. Music took a philosophical content in the late Eastern Zhou period (770 – 256 BC) following the emergence and spread of Confucianism and Taoism. During the Han period, due to the cultural influence of India and other Middle Eastern countries, Buddhism spread in China, and new musical instruments appeared. In the 6th – 7th centuries, musical compositions for qin and pipa were composed, written in the form of dialogues that included songs and dances; the role of the orchestral part began to grow. During the 11th – 13th centuries, musical styles were divided into northern (heroic moods, heptatonic scales) and southern (strict rules of composition, pentatonic scales). Since the 17th century, Chinese music has been introduced as folk songs. Jingju theatre performances became popular. Shi fan xue orchestra music was actively developing. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Chinese musicians did already use the European instruments and perform European music. Changes have been taking place in the vocal art, where the socalled musical form tanci has appeared. In the 20th century, Chinese professional music was formed, and the system of music education was developed. There was a search in the musical style in order to emphasise the national basis. Chinese composers in their original works combine national and stylistic origins with models of European music, thus creating their own nationally coloured style.