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lcc in chinese - a start

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 10:21 am
by bobappleton
today we translated the first example of the C lydian versus the C major scales into chinese.

b

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:32 am
by johnlynch4492
That is interesting, I don't know the extent to which Chinese culture has been subject to Western influence (when I landed in Paris about 10 years ago and started flipping the radio dial around, I heard Louis Armstrong, Otis Redding, Rod Stewart before I found anything sung in French) but it would seem that the Concept would or could be a somewhat universal path to freedom from polarized notions of conformity to pre-existent practices and the alternative of "wrong" . . . I suspect that the musical tastes of many people involve an element of "what it isn't" [I like it because there are no screaming guitars or because there are no bagpipes or because there are no clarinets) or nostalgia or rebellion against nostalgia, whether this is or isn't your grandfather's music while music itself is not necessarily superglued to conventions or rejection of conventions . . . I myself am re-exploring the Concept and really a neophyte yet it seems to me to involve freedom without being value-laden . . . and not about whether you start out used to driving on the right side of the road or used to driving on the left side of the road . . . whichever side of the road you are used to driving on, I see the Concept as a useful way of broadening awareness and expression and deepening appreciation . . . it will be interesting to see how it is received and applied

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 7:15 am
by bobappleton
I just got back from Beijing. And now we're moving again. So change is in the air.

You do hear the same blues-based sounds from popular radio as you might in Europe, but they mostly have a Chinese accent. I would go to Starbucks for Jazz - not really, but it's about the only place I ever heard "the real thing" (Kind of Blue IS the Star Spangled Banner - one motif and you know it).

In my Design is Music workshop I used the amen from So What as a key to understanding change (all from GR's original Mississippi River diagram) - Wade in the Water to Moanin', to So What by Miles, then by George Russell. The not-so-gradual disappearance of the blues beat and the amen (among other things) tell us we're in the postmodern world.

I think change in China is fast, but also slow. Everything exists all at the same time: Punk Rock is hot. A vocalized jews harp in Mongolian folk music made me wonder if it pre-dates the instrument (and it probably does). I got close to some Classical Chinese music with its continuous turns and changes of mood. Those swooping notes in infinite harmonic ranges from loud to imperceptible are very moving. On the street (under highway bridges, anywhere) I loved the brash trumpet and saxophone sounds - crashing as Chinese cymbals - and all improvised.

I'd say the LCC would jump into this Chinese soup and boil happily with all the other ingredients.

Bob