Transcript slides

MUSICALITY MEETS TONALITY
—A TONAL CONGRUENCE INDEX (ITG) FOR CHINESE VOCAL
Hongyuan Dong
April 3, 2015
NACCL-27 AT UCLA
MUSIC—
Overview
1
• Introduce methods to accommodate tones
in linguistic musicology (语言音乐学);
• Propose how tone sandhi, half 3rd tone and
neutral tone can be added;
• Create a mathematical index for evaluating
Chinese vocal music in terms of the degree
of tonal congruence;
• Discuss implications of this index for CFL
classes.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Background
2
• General assumptions:
– Melodic contour can imitate tonal contour;
– It is easier to understand melodies that better
accommodate tones;
– Composers are not constrained to preserve
tones. They can choose to do so or not.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Background
3
• In linguistics, previous studies focus on the
perceptions of tones in vocal music, esp.
Cantopop (e.g. Schellenberg 2013)
• In traditional Chinese musicology, there are
various methods to accommodate tones.
But these focus more on the composition.
Also the tones used are more citation tonal
forms (E.g. Zhang 1998)
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Background
4
• Issues with previous studies:
– Lack of mention of tone sandhi, half 3rd tone and
neutral tone accommodation.
– There is no specific method to compare vocal
music and judge which one preserves the tones
more faithfully.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Introduction
answer questions |rough idea
5
|convey meaning| big coat
|
[primary interpretation of lyrics]
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Introduction
6
• Tonality and musicality use the same
acoustic property: pitch
• Melodic contour gives rise to primary
interpretations of lyrics, although other
interpretations are possible depending on
contexts.
• To sing naturally and meaningfully requires
tonal accommodation to a certain extent.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Tonal Accommodation
7
• In this section I will discuss the following
principles of tonal accommodation in
linguistic musicology
– Tonal contour resemblance (Zhang 1998)
– Register distinction (I propose this based on
Wong and Diehl 2002 and Zhang 1998)
– Ad hoc grace notes (my new proposal)
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Tonal Contour Resemblance
8
• Zhang (1998) introduces the following
principles of tonal accommodation used in
traditional Chinese vocal music.
• No discussion of neutral tone or tone sandhi
• These principles can be lumped together as
“tonal contour resemblance”
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Tonal Contour Resemblance
9
• 1st tone: high notes mostly, can use a single
note or a downward succession of single notes,
but not upward succession
• 2nd tone: upward succession of two notes for
one 2nd tone, or two 2nd tones.
• 3rd tone: low notes, sharp upward progression
• 4th tone: high notes, downward progression
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Tonal Contour Resemblance
10
• The second word 明 is a 2nd tone realized by
B-D;
• The third word 柳 is a 3rd tone realized by AD;
• They do not seem to be sufficiently
distinguished. Zhang (1998) didn’t explain.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Tonal Contour Resemblance
11
• Both the 2nd tone and the 3rd tone have a
rising component.
• The 3rd tone has a 21 component too.
• The 3rd tone starts lower and goes up more,
i.e. 14, instead of 35.
• This is revealed in the traditional requirement
of a sharp upward progression for 3rd tone.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Tonal Contour Resemblance
12
• Therefore for the previously cited example, it
is reasonable that the two words 明 and 柳
have a similar melodic contour.
• But the 3rd tone still starts lower at A than the
2nd tone at B.
• For students of Chinese, confusability
between the 2nd tone and the 3rd tone is
quite common as well.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Register distinction
13
• Zhang (1998) does not mention the notion of
pitch register, although they are indirectly
referred to, e.g. 3rd tone should use low
notes as the start point while the 4th tone
should use a high note as the start point.
• But register distinction was not used
consistently as a principle for all four tones.
• Half-3rd tone is not mentioned.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Register distinction
14
• Wong and Diehl (2002) argue the 6 tones
(excluding the entering tones) in Cantonese
can be grouped into high-pitch (55 and 35),
mid-pitch (33 and 23) and low-pitch (21 and
22) groups.
• Although the exact contour of the tones
might not be wholly preserved, the register
distinction can still narrow the possible
interpretations to one of two.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Register distinction
15
• In Mandarin: the only non-controversial one
would be the 1st tone as a high-pitch tone.
• In the same fashion as in Cantonese argued
above, we can treat the 2nd tone as a highpitch tone as well.
Tones
Tonal values
1st tone
55
2nd tone
35
3rd tone
214
4th tone
51
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Register distinction
16
• For the 4th tone, in many cases it is realized
as 53 especially if the following tone starts
with a 5.
• Therefore the 4th tone can be considered a
high-pitch tone.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Register distinction
17
• The 3rd tone is often realized as 211 (half-3rd)
if it followed by 1st, 2nd and 4th tone. In this
case it is a low-pitch tone.
• Note that it is rather a low flat tone than a
low dipping tone, although it is often
abbreviated as 21.
• If the 3rd tone is followed by another 3rd
tone, it is realized as 35, thus a high-pitch
tone.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Register distinction
18
• Therefore a register distinction in Mandarin
would be:
Register
Tones
High
1st, 2nd, 4th . If 3rd is followed by another 3rd, then
yes
Low
3rd in most cases (Half 3rd)
• Thus the most obvious tonal accommodation is
to make the 3rd tone a low note, and the
contour does not matter that much.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Register distinction
19
• In this selection, both 3rd tone characters are
realized by one low note with no contour.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Neutral Tone
20
• According to 北京大学《现代汉语》
– A short falling tone after 1st, 2nd, 4th tones
– Tonal values: 2 after 1st; 3 after 2nd; 1 after 4th;
– A high short flat tone after 3rd
– Tonal value is 4
• Thus in music neutral tone should be higher in
pitch than the preceding 3rd tone or lower
otherwise.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Neutral Tone
21
• Note how the neutral tones on “ye” and
“de” are realized respectively.
• Also note the grace notes on xiǎo.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Ad hoc grace notes
22
• For tonal interpretation, the initial contour is
enough for correct identification.
• E.g. The following pitch contours can be
interpreted as the 2nd tone and the 4th tone
respectively.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Ad hoc grace notes
23
• Thus a singer can add ad hoc grace notes
to locally accommodate a tonal contour.
• These need not be written as part of the
music score.
• But if they are not indicated on the score,
we probably cannot use them to evaluate
the score.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Ad hoc grace notes
24
• Acciaccatura is especially commonly used
for 2nd tone and 4th tone.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Ad hoc grace notes
25
• Mordents can be used to give a non-flat
flavor. If the main note is a high note, it
could be interpreted as a second tone.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Ad hoc grace notes
26
• A special type of portamento in Chinese
vocal music can be used to locally
accommodate the 4th tone.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Tonal Congruence Values
27
Tonese
Register 0.5
Shape 0.5
1st
High register
Flat contour
2nd
High register
Rising contour;
Grace notes.
3nd
Low register;
Flat contour;
Rising contour (full 3rd or sandhi);
Grace notes.
4th
High register
Falling contour;
Grace notes
Neutral tone
High after 3rd;
Low otherwise
short flat after 3rd; short falling otherwise
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Tonal Congruence Index
28
where n is the total number of tones, xi is the
tonal congruence value at tone i.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Sample ITG (电影歌曲”酒神曲”)
29
• n=6
• x1=0+0.5; x2=0+0; x3=0+0.5; x4=0+0; x5=0+0.5;
x6=0+0.5
• ITG=2/6=0.33
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Sample ITG (费翔”故乡的云”)
30
• n=6
• x1=0+0.5; x2=0+0; x3=0.5+0.5 (full tone, not
sung as neutral); x4=0+0.5; x5=0+0; x7=0.5+0.5
• ITG=3/6=0.5
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Sample ITG (王菲”我愿意”)
31
• n=5
• x1=0.5+0.5; x2=0.5+0; x3=0.5+0.5 (neutral);
x4=0+0; x5=0.5+0.5
• ITG=3.5/5=0.7
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Sample ITG (王菲”我愿意”)
32
• n=5
• x1=0.5+0.5; x2=0.5+0; x3=0.5+0.5; x4=0+0;
x5=0.5+0.5
• ITG=3.5/5=0.7
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Sample ITG (李谷一”前门情思大碗茶”)
33
• n=7
• x1=0.5+0.5; x2=0.5+0.5; x3=0.5+0.5; x4=0.5+0.5;
x5=0.5+0.5; x6=0+0; x7=0.5+0.5
• ITG=6/7=0.86
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Sample ITG (京韵大鼓)
34
• n=5
• x1=0.5+0.5; x2=0.5+0.5; x3=0.5+0; x4=0.5+0.5;
x5=0.5+0.5
• ITG=4.5/5=0.9
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Ordering based on samples
35
• Based on the samples, we can order them
as follows:
酒神曲<故乡的云<我愿意<前门情思大碗茶<京韵大鼓
• Thus we have an option which song to
choose for students.
• But of course we can compare two whole
songs.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Two Whole Songs
• 我愿意 ITG: 0.54
Hongyuan Dong
36
• 前门情思大碗茶 ITG: 0.68
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Teaching Implications
37
• What level to introduce singing?
• Since tones are not always maintained in
songs, it would be better for students above
the beginning level.
• For beginning students, they need to
establish good tonal accuracy before
introduced to singing.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
Teaching Implications
38
• What songs to choose?
• Students generally prefer popular contemporary
songs.
• Pop songs written in a “folk song” style generally
maintain the tonal contours better.
• If possible, choose contemporary pop songs that
maintain tonal contours to a good degree.
• Thus the implication of my proposed Tonal
Congruence Index (ITG ) is that selection of works of
vocal music with a higher ITG can minimize any such
negative effect on students’ tonal accuracy, if they
are indeed a factor in tonal acquisition.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
References
39
• Wong, P. and R. Diehl. 2002. “How can the lyrics
of a song in a tone language be understood?”
Psychology of Music, 30.2, pp202-209.
• Schelleberg, M. 2013. The Realization of Tone in
Singing in Cantonese and Mandarin. PhD
Dissertation: Vancouver: UBC.
• Wee, L. 2011. Linguistic Tone and Musical Tune.
To appear in Rint Sybesma et al (eds.)
Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and
Linguistics. Leiden: Brill.
• 章鸣1998《语言音乐学纲要》,北京: 文化艺术出版社
.
Hongyuan Dong
Musicality Meets Tonality
April 3, 2015
thank you!
Contact me at [email protected]