Hot Music Theory Courses (熱門課程)

AMusTCL -- 音樂理論考試研習課程 AMusTCL 初級文憑音樂 理論考試研習課程 本考試研習班 課程不單為裝備學員參予 Trinity Guildhall - AMusTCL 初級樂理文憑的專業公開考試而設 , 也同時提供相等於學位第一年程度相若的和聲學知識予學員,幫助他們掌握各類風格的和聲寫作和分析,...

Article & Poem (詩詞文章)

Recent Comments (近期迴響)

    深情與摯誠 (全文)

    前言: 在分析藝術作品時,不論是音樂,繪畫,文章,詩詞,電影和劇集也好,究竟可以用甚麼準則去衡量作品的好與壞呢? 你可以說有很多藝術分析理論,不論深淺,都可以應用,都是合適的。但如果我們只考慮就這麼一點點,就是找個簡潔易懂的準則去探討作品如何能牽動自己的感情起伏,從而使作為欣賞者的自己能忘我地投進作品的美學世界裡; 那麼,對於我來說,”深情與摯誠” 這條準則,無疑是可靠的。

    “深情與摯誠” 是我中學時代所學的第一個文學分析理論。今天的中學生應該不知道這篇文章,因它不是應讀的範文。但它卻陪伴過我踏遍無數各種各色藝術作品的內心世界,探討了,領悟了自己從未想過的,未學過的,未明白過的情感哲理和人生美學。

    謝謝那兩篇一英一中的短篇故事和隨筆 — I Love My SisterLKF。在寫作修辭的技巧上而言,這兩篇可能只算是入門水平的作品,卻能激動了我去提筆重寫那我已很多很多年,沒有寫過的舒情散文和小品隨筆。誰說只有洋洋數萬字的學術論文才是有貢獻的,有價值的寫作? 那能觸動心弦的,摯誠的,何嘗不能醉人心窩,縈繞心頭,讀後仍能留下一臉淚水! 藝術分析理論中的移情作用,是可以發生在欣賞者的身上。

    真的很多年了! 近十多年所寫的全都是學術性文章。

    正文:

    對於粵語流行曲,仍是喜歡那舊歌,想我是老了! 現在的流行曲歌詞,文采欠奉,文筆又不夠,雖感情是有的,但沒有好的文字表達能力,如何能負載真摯的情感。正所謂情不真,意不誠,那有佳作。簡單來說,文學理論 “深情與摯誠” 這個衡量準則,就是看看文章或歌詞所表達的,是有沒有流露出真摯的,不造作的誠懇感情,從而打動人心。

    林夕為周慧敏所寫的一首歌,你還記得從前嗎 (可能在這張大碟中全不起眼),所描繪的感情世界使我想起那篇 I Love My Sister 短篇小說。是! 是一份摯誠的感情,主角是澄來的嘛!

    我的填詞老師盧國占先生曾說過,創作只忠於那一剎那的真摯感情。我不曾完全明白。二十年後,直至我在大學研究音樂和美學意義時,頓有所悟。在欣賞作品時,不須拘泥於每個音符,每句句子,或每一段的文章在訴說甚麼,是否在帶動感情。作品感人的地方,能使人難忘的,感情揮之不去的,往往就只有那幾個片段 (fragments)。原來欣賞的,也是那一剎那的縈繞心頭,美的反應也就是存在那短暫的瞬間吧了。

    你還記得從前嗎  這首歌可能並不是佳篇,但佳句就肯定有。我亦想起盧國沾老師所說的遺憾: “寫了這麼多年歌詞,作品就只有佳句而無佳篇。”

    可是,我認為如果聽者真的能受到那幾句佳句所感動,又能感受到那份一剎那傳送來的深情,這已足夠。也表示這不再是首令人遺憾的作品了。

    牽動了我的思潮的那幾句,林夕是這寫的:

    (女) 是否情謎和依戀,不足夠將我活埋,還是彼比相愛不等於了解。
            若果是我根本看不懂你世界,寧願你我永不長大,
            …………….

            無奈幸福比青春得更快。

            但記得從前從前儍氣話,想起你與我的家,
            彷彿已是最美滿的畫,到面前實現時像笑話。

    讓我們走進這幾句歌詞的感情世界看看。隨著女方長大成熟,看見的愛情世界不一樣了。男方看來在感情方面,還是停留在起初熱戀浪漫的 puppy love 階段。她真的越來越看不懂他的世界。起初熱戀的浪漫是不足夠將自己對情愛的理性追求完全掩蓋,這是多麼可悲。成熟,自省的結果在婚姻中是值得嗎? …….

    我個人很喜歡那句:  無奈幸福比青春得更快。這句比喻就只用了一個動詞,就點出了初戀的幸福離開得很快。
    在感情上,她還愛他嗎? 答案很清楚。這是深情的表現。在現實生活裡,你可曾有過這樣的體會嗎?  很多是嗎? 可是,人真的能不長大嗎?

    時間永遠是自省的催化劑。感情的張力也由此帶動。人生的張力,也往往從人懂得自省開始。

    這又使我想起譚詠麟的遲來的春天。作詞的是向雪懷先生 (原名是陳劍和)。

    我其中最欣賞的佳句是:

    誰人將一點愛, 出希望,
    …………

    從前的一個夢,不知不覺再戀上。
    遲來的春天,不應去愛,無奈卻更加可愛,
    仍由得它開始,又多一趟。

    真的! 詞中主人公的處景,可能是我們朋友的真實經驗。但這一種特別的感情,是 ‘閃’出來的,也就是從來沒想過,無期望過。所以,感覺是真的,是誠的。

    可是,有時對人對自身感情自省的結果,並不一定像尹恩惠在 對我說謊試試 一劇中,可以為自已舖展幸福的未來。對這個年紀的人來說,能把握和珍惜閃出的 ‘愛’ 已是太奢侈了。

    從前明白這首歌的情感世界在說甚麼,現在感受到這個情感世界是甚麼樣子。
    詞中的主人公所感受的,全在這一個 ‘錯’ 字。張力也在此。理性上不能做,但感性上卻禁不來。所以仍是錯了。所以,我常常犯錯。

    主人公的理性是:

    將愛去淡忘,矛盾繞心中,沒法奔放。
    …………

    最喜歡的是這兩句:

    面對的彷彿多麼渺茫,更加上這道牆
    圍著我,縱有熱情,難再開放

    宋代詞人柳永那首雨霖玲有三句是這樣的:

    便縱有,萬種風情,更與何人說。

    真的。國學大師王國維評論柳永的詞乃第二高境界,這可沒錯。其詞感情真摯,深邃動人。
    文字雖沒有柳永的好,但向雪懷的 ‘縱有熱情,’難再開放’ 也流露出近似柳永這份誠意。

    如加上這道 ‘牆’,又如何?  感情的張力會更大嗎?

    這道牆是甚麼? 是年紀麼? 當然是。但還有甚麼?
    可堪回味的就在此。可以有更多。背景,地位,家人,朋友,社區眼光,道德規限,倫理標準 …….,又或是要對多年陪伴的另一半應盡的情義等。

    縱然有萬種能擦出愛情火花的因素,卻也不能…..…

    所以,

    便縱有,萬種風情,更與何人說。


    這份感情是真的,深的,摯誠的,但如何? 人又能怎樣? 有誰可對之傾訴。

    打動人心的,就是這樣的作品。

    轉回林夕的歌詞。

    副歌真的是感情真摯。在現實生活裡,兩人結合,從各自的路,匯合走上同一條路,雖說是絪緣際會,不經過理性上的自省而選擇,只隨感覺而行,但就如林夕所描寫一樣,彷彿看來是最美滿的畫。 可是,現實的相處卻是另一回事。當到面前實現時就像笑話。請停下來想想,環顧四周,這又豈不是我們的真實體驗麼?

    雖是比喻,也是真誠的描寫。你看過印象派的畫嗎? 試過走近三呎來看嗎? 遠看是美極了。但近看是……
    不用提…… 像是所有汚點都放大,影象也不清楚。

    所以,如果你想學會用心做分析,不是只用大學所教的理論做分析,首先請從自已的感情世界開始,學會開放感情,用心去感受,去觀察,去檢示。學術上的分析理論只是幫助我們選擇分析角度,找出成份元素和結構吧了。

    就如澄的學期論文有關貝多芬交響曲的詮釋,始終如國學大師王國維先生在人間詞話所言,在感性分析上是有所 “隔”。只因作者未能真正用到內心去感受領悟樂音,只用頭腦去了解樂譜的技巧。

    I Love My Sister 裡的角色的感情世界 (不是情節舖排),就如林夕這首歌的主人公的對換,角度也是從未成熟的女方那面而出發的。但在描繪到當女方驟然發覺愛人所愛的是自已的姊姊時,那份失落的感情就流露出女性獨有的那份內斂和深邃,感情倒是真摯。令人可堪回味的,我看還是女方那還未成熟到能了解男方感情世界時所散發出的純真和浪漫,應不是澄嘛! 我特別欣賞這個天真得儍裡儍氣的小女孩,就連與愛人約會也要姊姊相伴。在她的感情世界裡,倒是分不開蘿漫蒂克的愛和相依為命的親情的愛。要知道蘿漫蒂克的愛戀是含有健康的嫉妒。這是對的,合理的; 是帶有承諾的,有責任的,有情義的,因為這情感只是屬於兩個人之間的,是不能包含外人。這跟其他形式的愛有所不同,更遑論是相依為命的親情。

    可是,這又使我想起那個看似擁有無限精力去表現愛的鈴木保代美,在 東京愛情故事 (80年代柴門文的著名漫畫改編的劇集) 一劇裡,就是不懂區分何為男女的真愛 (蘿漫蒂克的愛) 和 博愛 (對其他人表現的仁慈和關愛)。結果,始終都未能與真心相愛的男主角開花結果。在感情生活上,為自己帶來無盡的思念和遺憾。所以,鈴木保代美的愛,正如劇中的對白所言: 愛是很疲累的。儍裡儍氣的小女孩的愛戀也會很疲累,不是嗎?

    我看兩位主人公不同之處,只在於 I Love My Sister 的女孩在感情上是在成長階段,還未成熟,但她終有一日會成熟地處理感情的事。而東京愛情故事 中的鈴木保代美則是性格使然。她永不會以理性去整理自己的感情。她不是不成熟,反之,在劇中她更是處事能力很高。但在愛情上,卻又那麼天真,那麼幼稚。

    又再次回到我們的純真女孩。

    話說當小女孩偷看姊姊電話訊息,發現了心愛的人原來是喜歡姊姊時,感情的張力就顯得格外高漲了。這裡所描寫的雖然帶有戲劇性,但對我來說,卻很真,因為我認識作者,所以看到這段描寫時,彷如歷歷在目,澄的眼淚就像灑在面前。雖然這個分析是略帶主觀,但卻不能不提。

    至於那篇名為 LKF 的隨筆,最感動我的,反而是在我的思想上,感情上,和道德上不能容忍的那一段描述。關於這點,我就不再在這裡覆述了。請參看拙作 “離別與思念“。 所以,在分析上,困難的地方,往往是分析者對作者有著深厚,近乎主觀的情感。這使在觀察作品時很易流於主觀。不過,話得說回來,世上那有完全客觀的評論。

    坦白說來,我不得不承認,能觸動我底心弦的,為我帶來震撼的,是在文章最後,描寫主人公的心裡歷程的那一段:

    經過無聊的,算盡機心的譗訕之後,男子最後要求成為這晚的入幕之賓。然後,女主人公的思潮就開展如下:

    (原文):

    “那刻,我靜了。沒有想應不應該,只有需不需要。

     

    我想每個在蘭桂坊出現女人,都在計一條數學題吧!你以為我們計的是男人的身型,學歷,性格。。。?其實,這不過是一條寂寞的算術,寂寞的數愈高,要求便愈低。

     

    ,算好了!今晚,我沒有寂寞到需要一個男人。”

    (完)。

    真的。這段描述道盡了今天香港女孩感情的世界和人生態度,同時也寫出了現代都市人的落寞和空虛。以前,很多歌詞都曾寫過,如城市足印,或昨夜渡輪上

    例如,城市足印 中描寫在現代生活中,人與人之間的冷寞是這樣描繪的:

    留心,街中每個人,彼此匆匆過,皺着眉心。
    重疊的足印,細踏了千遍,多千遍,看來也不要緊。
    留心,身邊每個人,冷冷的雙眼,是問何因?
    人在匆匆裡,那曾知道,今天你我是遠還是近。

    當然,用足印重疊,冷冰冰的雙眼在街上走過,理會無人,無人理會,來描述人際的疏離和冷寞,也有其張力。

    而馮德基在 昨夜渡輪上 就會這樣寫:

    莫問豪情似痴,酒醉後如同不知,
    ……..

    渡輪上,懷念你說過身如戰士,
    披戰衣,甦醒何妨重頭開始。

    ………

    這裡的迫力,顯見於每天機械式的生活的不斷循環,人人都如戰士一般戰鬥。甚麼理想,夢想,在這種天天重覆的生活裡,其中的豪情早已煙消雲散。所以何妨一醉。可是,酒醉過後,醒來卻是逃不過,還是要再披戰衣,重奔戰場。雖不知其他人的夢想如何,至少我有同感。

    騰折是永不息止。所以,這也是佳句。很貼似。

    不過,澄對寂寞這感覺所用的喻體很有廿一世紀的時代感。是用數值。是計算,是指數,這很香港。撩動人心之處,就是從這裡出發。可是,真不希望澄也會是這樣心計。

    老實說,雖有點害怕真有其事,但這段文字是可堪回味的。她是真摯的,是誠懇的,她是道盡現代人性的可悲可憐,雖然我仍然深信人性還有高貴的情操,真誠的一面。可是,我不得不承認,這種墮落的卑賤,仍充斥在香港這個物質至上,處處講求利益交換的城市的每一個角落中。

    好了。談了這麼多心聲,文章到此,也接近尾聲。

    我不知道去衡量一個作品的好壞,用 ‘深情與摯誠’ 這個原則是否常常都那麼有效。但我可以肯定的是,移情作用不單是創作者的獨享的專利,也是讀者或受者可以自由地感受到的。那即是身同感受嘛。當我們用真心去投入作品時,只要是好的作品,不造作,不過度誇張失實,不作無病呻吟,我們就可以發掘出作品的真摯感情出來。這有助於讓作品的誠懇牽引我們自身的真情,使我們更易於投進藝術作品裡的美學世界,領略美的箇中奧妙和真諦。

    全文完

    David Leung (theorydavid)
    2013-07-27 (published)

    離別與思念

    前言: ‘離別’這個題材,可算是我文章的常客。有些情感是很複雜的。若以’離別’作為載體,可免卻很多不必要的解釋,但又可表達思念之情。

    正文:

    聽說要走了。但不肯定。可是,如果要走,從理性上說來,是有一萬個必需理由; 從感性上說來,卻仍有一萬個不捨。

    ‘人有悲歡離合,月有陰晴圓缺’。

    人間的散了又聚,聚了又散 ,與花兒的開開謝謝,月亮的圓圓缺缺,同樣是宇宙萬物的必然現象。不捨的還是要分手。年多的相處,總教人依依眷戀!

    離別在於人生之中,正如風雨在於百花盛開。可見春花燦爛,滿山明豔,怎不叫人人讚嘆,人人愛惜。無奈世間總有風雨惱人,雨打飄零過後,滿地狼藉,不知花落幾許? 所以春花雖美,卻有風雨。風雨之所以成為春花的遺憾,乃證明天地間的不完美。人生,也復如此。

    知己相逢,把酒言歡,愛人共聚,對歌談心,是何等暢快。然而總會風流雲散,事難再,此事古難全。既是不全,徧強要全,此乃人性感情需要永恆如一的結果。可是知者眾眾,能明白箇中道理,又能超然物外,闖出感情枷鎖者,能有幾許?

    ‘深知身在情長在,悵望江頭江水聲’。話別臨歧,除了說聲珍重,還能說些甚麼呢? 偶開天眼,冷覷紅塵,縱有先進科技去縮短人世間的沼沼遠路,卻難延傳人心中的串串思念。人能否單靠短訊就能加深情誼,表達真愛嗎?

    可見離別與思念,總是形影相隨。不過,人之有別於禽獸,亦在於人對那份感情,那份思念的執著。既是執著,就是不為甚麼。這不是交換,也不是賺取,並不帶任何利益,更不是如澄所寫在蘭桂坊所經歷的,只喝一杯紅洒,陪聊數刻,就是為了換取一個可以踐踏人性價值與尊嚴的晚上。澄,這不是有否需要,而是應不應該的問題。

    人是有價值的,也有尊嚴的。

    是! 就是透過這份對感情的執著,思念才不至流於佚蕩的輕佻與虛飾的冷凝,又或是毫無意識的舉動與殷循。因此,離別與思念的並存,是為人間保留了一份無限深邃的沉醉,加添了一份恆久溫暖的真誠。讓人過得更有價值,活得更有尊嚴。

    若有天,偶然舉目,發覺天上的白雲,散了又聚,聚了又散,請不要驚訝。這豈不正是人生!

    今夜並沒有繁星點點,銀河耿耿。可是,在間歇風雨過後的深宵,卻是格外的寂靜。在將來,在遠處要去的地方,會有那麼平靜,那麼安寧的夜晚嗎?

    或許這是澄在此處最後要學會的東西:

    “人生到處恰何處,恰似飛鴻踏雪泥。泥上偶然留指爪,鴻飛那復計東西”。

    既是這樣,就要懂得珍惜。珍惜,是思念的母體。

    借用尹恩惠在 “對我說謊試試” 一劇中找到了內心短暫遺失的東西,學會珍惜當前所擁有的那個時候所說的一番話 (略作修改), 來表達我對 ‘離別’ 與 ‘思念’ 的感想:

    因為時間無限,不會留下痕跡。
    因為空間無限,不會留下蹤影。
    在無限的時間當中,我們生活在同一個時代,
    在無限的空間當中,我們相逢在同一個地方。
    這是個多麼奇妙的巧合,
    又是個多麼美麗的奇蹟。

    ………

    因此,就在這個可以讓過去,現在,和將來共存的文字空間裡,讓那思念的執著,執著的思念,在這個歪邪不正的世代裡,去重拾那長久已遺失了的,被踐踏了的人性的尊嚴與價值。

    全文完

    David Leung (theorydavid)
    2013-07-26  (published)

    我可沒有說過謊

    前言: 想不到我已前的文筆可以到這個水平。這篇散文在三十多年前公司出版的內部季刋發表過一次。少說也有五千多人看過。坦白說,當時文章牽起的震撼還不少。大家都想找出誰是文章中的主角們。近日!看到一篇新詩, 也可算是流露個人感受的隨筆,其中的一段,作者是這樣寫:

    總覺得世界
    全都是謊話  全都是假象
    …………..

    每晚也提醒著我
    不要再天真  樂觀很幼稚

    看過後,我忍不住從內心輕輕低喚,難道在這世界就沒有一句真言? 可是,我可沒有說過謊啊! 就算是逝去很多很多年的,在從前,在現今,也沒有過謊言。難道我就是那麼天真幼稚麼?

    我那篇文章是這樣開始的……………

    正文: 康乃馨

    有回憶,就有懷念。懷念,是回憶的伸延。

    不論是甜蜜的或是痛苦的回憶,每個人都會有像春天的花,秋天的月那樣平凡的日子。

    但就在這平凡裡,交織着人性的高貴與卑劣,成功與失敗; 愛與恨,喜與悲; 希望與幻滅 — 那是人生必經的經歷。

    她的影子為我創造了一份真實的回憶,一分懷念的情誼,一分永恆的悔過。

    她是一個嫻靜的女孩,含蓄而半帶憂鬱,更配上她那纖細的身栽,優美的擧止,就顯得她格外惹人憐愛。
    她懂得怎樣用愛心對待她那周遭的人,但她更懂得怎樣愛她的原則,堅守立場,不為世俗風雨搖動,就像她所喜愛的康乃馨一樣,有着這花獨特的純真,獨特的性格。

    她曾對我說: “以我來說,我做人有一套原則,但我的思想又是另一套。我不會從書本讀物,又或是別人看法中,去學習如何了解與認識人。我的人生哲理本就很淺薄。我對待朋友的方只出於我的本意,我關懷他們只出於我的內心。我從不計較他們對我的表現懷有甚麼看法。有些人或會誤會我是一個濫交的女孩,但到他們對我有一些深厚的認識時,他們就會了解。我是不會因旁人的看法而改變我的待人原則。人,本來就是很簡單,要愛就愛,要恨就恨。但為何俗世的人卻尋出這麼多複雜的思想和看法來呢?”

    很是慚愧。曾幾何時,當她將一籃充滿愛心與關懷的康乃馨送給我時,我又何嘗不是變作俗世的狂蜂浪蝶,誤將這純潔的花兒玷汚了。我可以說是罪過的。我是空無所有的。

    然而,這時剩下伴我的,就只有悔罪的淚光,半弦的明月,燦爛的星光。因為世間只有它們是純潔無疵的。我要用一縷柔絲,將痛苦的淚珠兒串起,繫在半彎弦月兩端。摘下滿天閃爍的星兒盛在弦月的圓凹裡,將它們變成一籃充滿純潔愛心的康乃馨。我更願將這籃花和愛,將關懷和憐憫帶給她的所有朋友,就像陽光照耀大地一樣,使世間充滿愛的花兒都長大起來。

    這樣,我就可以永願保留着她曾送我的那籃純潔無瑕的康乃馨,隨着我的回憶,我的懷念,永遠隱藏在我那永恆的悔過當中………………

    全文完。

    後記:

    我可真的沒有說謊! 這事發生在知道澄要出國留學之前。我見到她的背影。是! 沒說謊。在茫茫人海中。為何鉛華盡洗的我內心仍悸動不已。事實是,多年的風霜,沒有人可以認得我了。

    但我還是不懂。不懂為何想走另一條路。

    可是,有一點可以明白的是:

    望見澄詩的時候,我想問: 為何全世界都是謊言? 我知道自已並沒有說慌。

    借用張國榮的 Monica ,略作修改去表達我的感覺……..

    好多謝 (今) 天妳啟發了我,柔情難奉獻,時常能令我個心有愧。

    Thanks , Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Monica,

    誰能代替妳地位………

    theorydavid  Finished
    2013-07-25 (re-published)

    Charles Ives and His Philosophical Ideas of Stylistic Diversity

    Forewords:

    Charles Ives can be regarded as a legendary figure in the history of western music. Apart from his many compositional outputs, his philosophical ideas toward art, life, and humanity are still enchanting, worthy of reading. Below is the article about his works and his compositional ideas.

    Article:

    Charles Ives (1874-1954), though was bought up in European musical tradition, is the first important western composer attempts to stand essentially outside the mainstream of European musical culture. Without influenced by the progressing scientific technologies, he is the first to use the unity of the human experience as a subject matter for composing. The result is that his music is in great diversities of style, which  not only appears in different works written in different periods, but also appears in one single composition. Ives composes proto-serial and proto-aleatory music. He invents block forms and free forms and he uses tone clusters and structural densities. He also writes in collage texture and freely quoted others’ tunes whatever he likes to his work, regardless of the stylistic inconsistent issue. He, at the same time, employs polymeters, polytonals and polytempi in his work and he also composes spatial music or music that could be realized in a multiplicity of ways. Furthermore, Ives also anticipates recent improvisatory works-in-progress, assemblages, and pop music, just about every important development of the last sixty years and some of the most notable of post-World War II avant-gardism. As such, majority of Ives’s composition of various styles are written in the first two decades of the century, which anticipates the main stream of the Modern avant-grade music after the World War II.  His stylistic diversity in music, therefore, is proved to be significant and influential in the western music history. 

     

    If not because of the book Essays Before a Sonata written by Ives in 1920 that provides the valuable information about his aesthetic thoughts and philosophical ideas, it is difficult for us to understand the factors that affecting Ives’s development of his musical style. In the following discussion, I am going to explore the aesthetic and philosophical ideas of Charles lves behind his compositions, as well as the external environmental factors that give incarnation of the musical diversities in his style.

     

    The development of the personal musical style of Charles Ives can be traced back to his childhood. He is trained as both an organist and pianist. This standard keyboard knowledge is often reflected in his mature compositions. At the same time the vernacular music of the small Connecticut town in which Ives has grown up, including the hymns, the popular and patriotic songs, the marches and dance tunes. These various forms of music are equally important in the formation of Ives’s personal musical style. Furthermore, these precious musical experiences during childhood, albeit remaining only fragments after years, provide prodigious resources for quotations in his music. The melody of At the River, taken from a well-known hymn tune by other composer, is a typical example. Although here Ives borrows the entire melody, more commonly he quotes only fragments from the catholic hymn tunes, popular songs of the day, marches and ragtime music from the daily life of his day. Therefore, Ives’s musical training and environment in his childhood are the notable external factors that greatly influence his music, especially in developing his stylistic musical diversity.

     

    Another factor that affects Ives’s musical style is his amateur identity as a composer. After Ives graduated from Yale University, he came to a decision not to take music as a profession. Instead, he began his life insurance business. This decision led him to a total isolation from the public and from other musicians from about 1895 to 1917, in which he worked intensively on composition. As a result, Ives’s music is virtually unperformed at this time, and thus has no immediate influence on other composers or vice versa. The isolation was itself proved essential for Ives to develop his own unconventional predilection. In addition, as a life insurance agent, Ives is guaranteed the financial independent that he is able to compose exactly as he wishes without worrying about pleasing the public or other musicians or other public critics, or even the performance of his works. Hence, Ives wrote strictly for himself, frequently not even bothering to put them into completely finished form. This is important for Ives’s conception of music as an ‘open’ art form. Ives could now freely encompass all types of music, including his fading memories of childhood’s sound, mingled them into a higher synthesis that eventually became his unique style of musical diversities.

     

    As we have discussed before, the diversity of the music style of Charles Ives is not only shown in different works written in different period, but also reflected in one single composition. In order to understand why Ives seems to turn back from the main stream of European avant-gardism, which was centered on the exploration of the twelve-tone music or the neo-tonal music, the philosophical ideas of Ives toward music, art and even life should be considered. 

     

    The important foundation of Ives’s philosophical idea is stated in the Essays Before a Sonata and most of his other writings from 1910s and 1920s. These documents ingenuously reflect Ives’s personal and social idealisms, especially his idealism in music or idealism about music. Ives believes that the main path of all social progress has been spiritual rather than intellectual in character and he has mentioned that there is a ‘universal mind’ existed in the world. It is very important to the progression of the mankind. This common ‘universal mind’, albeit developing gradually, brings forth a unity within the diversities and eventually becomes a cure of the bifurcations of human existence. Such conception, undoubtedly, is at the root of all Ives’s idealisms, in the world of his insurance business, as well as in his art. The result of this conception nurtures Ives gradually to accept his intuition as the surest and the most reliable teacher than any other tradition, authority, guiding his spiritual seeking of daily life. 

     

    In order to illustrate the idealism of Ives in the conception of the intuition and the universal mind, let us take the Scherzo, Over the Pavements (1906-13), as an example.  This work is a typical example of a single composition consisting diversities of style. The music is a combination and coordination of multiple layers of conflicting rhythmic activities. Ives asserts that this piece is a kind of take-off street dancing, and it evokes the audience about the sounds of people going to and fro, all different steps, and sometimes all the same – the horses, fast trot, canter, sometimes slowing up into a walk. He asserts that he is struck with many different and changing kinds of beats, time, rhythms, not chaotic, but natural or at least not unnatural. As such, the music of the Scherzo Over the Pavement contains complex cross-rhythms and metric subdivision. The drum announces each downbeat of the notated 5/8 meter. The clarinet and trumpet are moving in imitation, dividing the measure equally into two groups of 5/16, and thus contradicting the notated 8th note pulse. Simultaneously, the bassoon, piano and the trombones altogether play a drum-like cluster in a syncopated rhythmic figure that dividing the three measures as a whole into ten equal subunits. Therefore, this work is exemplar to reflect Ives’ universal mind that just he has mentioned: there is a unity within the diversities though it comes slow.

     

    Another humorous example is found in the cadenza section of Over the Pavement. On the score there is a statement: ‘to play or not to play? If played, to be played as not a nice one – but EVENLY, precise and unmusical as possible!’ What amusing Ives’s indication! Undeniably, this indication is originated from his conception of intuition. The intuition dominates all authorities, even the practicality of music. Therefore, in the realm of music, Ives claims for the composer the right to search for new modes of expression according to his/her intuition, rather than perpetually following the rules and thus, inevitably, the diversities of Ives’s musical style is then achieved.

     

    The aesthetic idea of Charles Ives toward art, toward the music, is also an essential factor that gives incarnation to his diversities of musical style. Ives views art and life is an inseparable entity. Art and life has to do with the value of a poetic idea realized as a human action or activity. Despites all his presumed impracticality, Ives think of his music as a kind of non-passive, performance activity, primarily something to do, to be actively involved with and only secondarily to be listened to. He wants his music returning to reflect some underlying realities about human activities, about human experiences, no matter these experiences are complex, contradictive and incoherent. This is a speaking kind of music, a music that could be ‘jotted down to convey fresh impressions and thoughts, that could flow with the naturalness of plain speech; a music that could somehow get across the impenetrable barrier between art and life, not to ‘express’ nature but to flow along as part of it.’ His aesthetic idea about music, thus, is the representation of human experiences and activities or perhaps in a more accurate sense, his own experiences and activities.

     

    The product arouse from this aesthetic idea is a little contradictive. On the one hand, Ives write music that is difficult, which every part is a separate and individual activity; on the other, he write things that are easy, banal and popular. This is a diversity of musical style of Ives in general. However, Ives’s aim is to break down the distinction between man and nature, between art and life, and to integrate them into some all-embracing experience. As such, Ives’s aim assists to give birth to the formation of the diversities of musical style in even one single work. For example, Ives’s last unfinished piece, the Universe symphony, is an example. According to Ives’s idea, the work is to be a ‘Universe’ Symphony (its name is Universe) that should be played and sung in the field and mountains by thousands – indeed, by all of humanity.

     

    In another work, Ives seeks to capture American life – the human life in his view – especially American experiences – the human experiences in his view – with music, in a more directly programmatic way. The Housatonic at Stockbridge is this extraordinary work that evokes a walk by the river Ives and his wife shares soon after their marriage. The main melody is given to second violas, horn and English horn, and it is harmonized with simple tonal triads by lower strings and brass suggesting a hymn wafting from the church across the river. At the same time, there are some repeating figures set in distant tonal and rhythmic regions (upper strings) and are subtly changing over time. The sound seems to convey a sense of the mists and rippling water. How romantic the experience of Ives is! How fantastic the experience of human life is!

     

    Similar to the sonic setting of this work, most of Ives’s works about human life experiences, or his experiences, are composed in the form of various textural layers, distinguished by timbre, register, rhythm, pitch content and dynamic level. These sonic layers functions to create a sense of three-dimensional space and multiple planes of activity. For example, the Central park in the Dark, it is a work that depicts the noises and music of the city against the background sounds of nature, which are rendered as a soft series of atonal chords in parallel motion. In addition, the songs, such as The Last Reader and The Things Our Fathers Loved, suggest a similar source of memory through a patchwork of fragment from songs of the past. The music, eventually, becomes a complex collage of sounds. Collage, therefore, becomes a favorite technique of Ives, which helps Ives to develop his unique style.

     

    In conclusion, the musical style of Ives is unique, innovative and diversified.  Although Ives’s music enjoyed only a few public performances in Ives’s life time, this special situation turned to become an advantage for Ives to develop his avant-garde music style. Ives is proved to be one of the earliest artists to use the human experience as a subject matter for art and thus assisting the development of his musical diversities.  His ‘amateurism’ ensures him in a unique position of his composing career that he could create whatever he likes without necessarily care about the authority. In addition, Ives’s musical background in the childhood provided him unlimited musical experiences, the resources that he could quote in his music. In fact, the most important factor contributing to his musical diversities is his idealism about the music, about the social world. Ives accepts the conception that a unity within diversities would eventually come, no matter in the social or the artistic sphere. And Ives’s strong belief of intuition, as well as his aesthetic of music as a kind of human experience or activity, leads him to enjoy writing diversities of musical style even for a single piece. Therefore, Ives’s music styles can range from the simple hymn tunes, ragtime to the most complex, atonal polyphonies, bringing him to become one of the most important 20th century composers in the western music history. Furthermore, Ives’s idea of the totality of human experience within a personal utterance is proved to be an evocation of some Golden Age in which art and life are – or will be – naturally and inextricably woven together.




    David Leung (theorydavid)
    2013-05-10 published

    In Search for Home Culture: Muzak in Chiense New Year Celebration – Part 2

    前言: 本文接續前文,探討大型商場的背景音樂,對遊人,心理上,又或美學經驗上的影響。

    In Search for Home Culture: Muzak in Chiense New Year Celebration – Part 2

     

     

    The Sogo Department Store

            Although January 28, 2006 was a cloudy day with little rain, to most people, it was a public holiday of relaxing and enjoying.   Locals all knew that tomorrow would be the first day of the Lunar New Year.  In every Chinese’s cognitive mind and sensuous heart, New Year means a new opening.    In order to get a well preparation for its coming, people from different genders, aged groups, education backgrounds and careers, regardless of their social status or religious classes, were busy participating into their different daily life activities, such as, buying, shopping and entertaining.   As I was standing in the boisterous

    Yee Woo Street

    at CausewayBay around 2:00 pm in the afternoon, a sound of rock music attracted my attention.   Just in front of the entrance of the Sogo Department Store, there was a wide screen playing a video of western rock and pop music as usual.   Although there were many people gathering and waiting outside of or passing by the department store, only a few people watched the screen, or were aware of what the video was playing.    

            As I entered Sogo, I found every corner was crowded with people.  Some of them were working, while others were selecting their favorite gifts.  Noises of cashiers’ ding-ding sound, department store’s advertising announcement, people’s chatting, children’s screaming, youths’ whispering, and the background music, the muzak, were entangled among each other in a complex, multifarious sonic web.   I then walked down to the lower floor to the superstore of Sogo, where a place offered various kinds of good for customers.   I felt little stuffy and pressured, as it was so small the space but with so many people and goods.   Wearing with a happy and contented smile, customers were queuing up for payment in front of the cashiers.   As Hong Kong people are notorious for their impatience and annoyance due to the efficiency-aimed life style, this was quite strange to see such a scene in the store.    The festive mood might be one of the magic cures for this notorious style of sickness of impatience.   However, I believe that the muzak played also assists to enhance such relaxing and enjoying environment, influencing the behaviors, practices and feelings of the local customers.  
            The rock and pop music heard from the video screen outside Sogo showed an intensive, or even ironic contrast with the muzak played inside.  I observed that the muzak played during the period of Spring Festival were merely Chinese traditional instrumental music.    There was no exception here.  When I was looking at the queue of the customers in front of the cashiers, the piece played was a Cantonese traditional instrumental music, Spring Festival Overture, reminding me of the coming of the New Year.    My memories were stirred up, thinking of my friends and relatives, whom I would like to visit in the coming days.  “Did I prepare enough presents for them?” I began to ask myself the question in my mind.   To Chinese people, visiting their relatives and friends and giving new presents to each other in the first day of the New Year is an important socio-cultural practice.  It not only means to show love care and kindness to others, but also to show a sincere respect to the Chinese traditional culture.  It is only Chinese, whether they locate in which part of the world, that perform such practice to celebrate the New Year in this particular time. 
      
            Just like the typical style of Hong Kong life that is absent of enough patience, in normal case, I would prefer not to queue up for payment, but to buy these three sets of chocolate, which were newly selected from the stand from the other stores.   To me, waiting is a waste of time, and time often means “money.”   However, at this particular moment, I did not mind to wait for the payment.   My sense has already well prepared for such environment and was told by experience that every store was also crowded with customers, which was similar to the situation of today’s Sogo, because this was the time of Chinese New Year.     I thought Roy Mak, a middle-aged property broker near forty, possessed a similar kind of thinking and feeling as me. 
            In my memories, Roy was a short figure with little fat, eyeglasses wearing, talkative and friendly, behaving just as a sort of salesman that you could easily meet in the Central everyday.  It was this “ordinary” appearance that attracted my attention.  When I talked with him in front of the restroom near the cashier, he was waiting for her girl friend.   In his hands there were a few sets of biscuit and chocolate.   
           Q: Have you finished buying the presents for the New Year?
       Roy: I thought that I have already prepared all the presents for the New Year.   But when my friend and I passed by the store (Sogo), I was reminded that I might have forgot a few customers. 
            Q:  How do you remember?  What makes you thinking of this matter?
        Roy:  I think those people crowded in the store reminds me a lot.  
            Q: How about the music in background, what do you think?
        Roy:  Oh, Yes, the Chinese music.   I have heard this before but I don’t know much about music.  But this kind of music is played everywhere now.  It is Chinese New Year.    I like this music because it creates the Chinese New Year atmosphere. 
            Q:  How do you feel in this period of time?
        Roy:  I am happy and feel much relaxed. I enjoy the Chinese New Year holidays.  Buying new things and shopping in this period of time make me feel more like a “Chinese.”   We celebrate different kinds of festival in Hong Kong, such as Christmas.  I like them too.  But only these activities (buying and shopping) make me closer to our tradition.   I really don’t mind to spend more in this period of time.  I have been doing so.
            After I have chatted to Roy, a loud crying voice was heard.  There was a little boy claiming his mother for a new toy.   Perhaps, mother will scold this kind of naughty normally.  However, I heard the mother comforting to her boy that she would buy this “present” to him a while later.   But the mother emphasized that she only did it this time because of the New Year.  The tiny matter reminded me of some Chinese traditional practices.   Apart from having all things new, Chinese do not like crying or any other unhappy things happened in the New Year.  But on this occasion, be it the unexplainable power of the Chinese music in background, the New Year milieu was a crucial factor to influence people’s behavior to a certain extent.   This might be why the mother did not want to scold her child, even when he showed greatly naughty.  
            The music played in the background now was called Rosy Clouds Chasing the Moon when I went upstairs to the other departments.   It is a well-known Cantonese instrumental piece, which is often played in the Mid-Autumn Festival. The title and contents of this piece seems to have no direct connection, or otherwise, to the Spring Festival.   It is selected only because it contains Chinese traditional melodies, playing with ethnic instruments.  In my opinion, the muzak used for the so-called Chinese New Year Celebration is a shorthand-like selection.   I knew that Vivian Cheung has absolutely agreed with me.
            When I met Vivian, a fashioned young girl below thirty, she was drinking a bottle of cola near the escalator.  She looked nice and pleasant, half-leaning against the wall and looking at the surroundings.  It is quite interesting that when many people were carrying bags of present, she got none in her hand, except that cola.
     
            Q:  How are you?
    Vivian: I am fine, thank you.  I am taking a rest.  I have been shopping for more than an hour here.
            Q:  Do you always enjoy shopping?
    Vivian:  Absolutely!  I love shopping.  It is one of my habits every week. 
            Q:  Is there any difference between today and previous shopping?
    Vivian:  Of course!  Tomorrow will be the New Year.  I enjoy the festive mood here.  You see people are celebrating the festival.  They are busy for preparing the New Year, buying goods and presents for themselves and for their friends and relatives. 
            Q:  How can you feel the so-called “festive mood” you have just mentioned?
    Vivian:  Can you hear the music?  When you are in the shopping malls or even in the street, you can hear this kind of Chinese music playing.  I played Gu Zheng in my secondary school, but I stopped after I came to work after graduation.  Chinese New Year, of course, needs Chinese music for celebration. 
            Q:  But this is Rosy Clouds Chasing the Moon!
    Vivian:   Who cares!  It is Chinese music (she emphasized the second time).
            Q:  As a Hong Kong local, do you enjoy or celebrate other kinds of festival? 
    Vivian:  I enjoy all festivals.  For example, I like Christmas.  But I also like traditional festival, such as the New Year.  I celebrate all festivals no matter they are Western or Chinese.  
    Q: Owing to many different forms of festival existed in our daily life, do you think the traditional one will soon disappear?
    Vivian:  I don’t think so.  You see we are keeping our New Year practice under this festive mood.  I do not always prefer traditions, but Chinese New Year is an exception.  The atmosphere makes me feel a “Chinese” more. 
            After talking with Vivian, the muzak was changed to another piece, A Night Gathering, which is not a Cantonese music, but a symphonic repertoire that is always heard in CCTV 4 at all kinds of celebratory programs.[1]   The shorthand form of muzak now seems to be accepted by many local Chinese as a musical representation of “Chineseness.”   Whenever there are traditional cultural occasions, regardless of its natures, the traditional instrumental music is the necessary repertoire.   As I was much fascinated by the functions of this shorthand version of music, I also bought one piece of CD, which, according to the salesgirl, contained the music that was playing at the current time in the store.  The CD is labeled as “Chinese Celebration Music,” not only indicating its multi-purpose nature, but also acting as a representation which contains traditional values of our ancestral cultures.
    Conclusion
             
    I have spent more than one hour’s time in Sogo.   Through immersing myself in the festival atmosphere and participating the activities of shopping and buying, just as Roy has commented, I seem to be more attached to our Chinese traditional culture, and to behave more like a “Chinese.”   Indeed, there is not always a chance for an ordinary Hong Kong people to act like a Chinese.  Not only do we have too many multicultural choices in our everyday life, but also we are brought up from the so-called colonial political environment that no traditional cultures have been emphasized.   However, our ancestral culture will never disappear.  It can be preserved, albeit displaying in guises, through the continuation of a particular social activity.
     
    At present, increasing numbers of local Hong Kong are realizing the importance of Spring Festival to their culture, and enjoy doing things in the traditional ways.   Viewed from this traditional aspect, great importance is attached to the New Year festive activity with its many cultural connotations.   It is essential for both the spiritual and material demands of the people, as it is traditionally a time when the best foods and best new clothes are worn.   While many locals do their New Year house cleaning or “preparing new things,” others go out together with family, shopping and buying presents for the New Year visits, as well as for their family.   This celebratory activity offers a chance for them to maintain relationships with family members and friends, to show their love for their family, to establish more harmonious interpersonal relationships, to relax and to leave behind the stresses of modern life for the moment.   And, the shorthand form of the background Chinese music played in department stores can function as a process that affects one’s sensuous feeling from tense to relax, from serious to happy, opening up a wider aesthetical dimension for one to conform to the Chinese New Year tradition.  

    In short, the shorthand-like muzak for Chinese New Year celebration not only affects the customers’ consuming behavior and sensation, but also creates a metaphor of the Chinese identity for the locals under this particular moment of a relaxed and happy festive atmosphere.  Although all the time there are more and more new fashionable things to do, and may be they do replace traditional customs, I believe that our home identity and traditional culture can be found through this shopping and buying activity year-by-year in the Chinese New Year period, which is enhanced by this particular muzak played in the shopping malls and department stores.  

    全文完
    Completed

    David Leung (theorydavid)
    2011-05-12 (published)


    [1] CCTV4 is the Government TV channel of the Mainland China.

    Music and Arts: Articles and Poems

    I-and-the-village-Chagall
    I and the village Chagall

    Learn Contemporary Music?

    The Lute Player — Franc Hal

    This is Young Mozart!


    Presentation of young Mozart to Pompadour 1763 Vicente de Paredes

    Life Long Learning is a Pleasure -- Contact Leung Sir

    Lady sit At the Virginal — Vermeer

    SC 2012 Concerts (1800 attendants)



    Pierre-Auguste-Renoir
    Pierre Auguste Renoir


    monet-sunrise
    Sunrise - Monet


    JeanHonore-Fragonard-The-Swing
    The Swing - JeanHonore Fragonard


    JastrowDuckFliegende
    Jastrow Duck Fliegende


    The Music -- Klimt (Modernism in Vienna)
    The Music - Klimt (Modernism in Vienna)


    Distorted-image-Korean-artist
    Distorted image - Korean Artist


    Placidity-SQ3_Page_01
    Placidity-SQ3_Page_01


    IMG_0645


    David-Teniers-and-the-Cabinet-of-Archduke-Leopold-William
    David - Teniers and the Cabinet of Archduke Leopold William
    Jastrow Duck Fliegende


    Toulouse-lautrec-Two-women-waltzing
    Two-women Waltzing - Toulouse-lautrec


    Kandinsky-Composition2
    Composition - Kandinsky


    Violin-Sonata-Classical-Style

    Violin Sonata in D major - midi composition modelling


    Elizabeth-at-the-Piano-Eakins
    Elizabeth At The Piano - Eakins


    The-Love-letter-Vermeer
    The Love letter - Vermeer


    Armand Guillaumin - Young Girl at PianoYoung Young Girl at Piano - Armand Guillaumin