Open Collections

An Audience of One : The Private Music of the Chinese Literati

University of British Columbia. School of Music; University of British Columbia. Hong Kong Studies Initiative; University of British Columbia. Centre for Chinese Research; University of British Columbia. Department of Asian Studies; University of British Columbia. Department of History; University of British Columbia. Department of Theatre and Film; St. John's College (Vancouver, B.C.)

To most ethnomusicologists, music is a social activity with the main goal of interacting with an audience. China’s qin music, often associated with the literati who play primarily for themselves as a private activity, is an exception. While qin ideology stresses extra-musical meaning and cultural significance, it is also an expressive art. In this talk I will argue that, in playing privately, the player turns inwardly toward himself rather than outwardly toward an audience. In such a performance context, music and musicality need to be assessed by criteria different from those commonly accepted for public music.

Moving Image

2017-10-13

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/63286

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/