Reflection of Silk Road in Bright Sheng’s work through analysis, performance, and development of compositional styles

This study analysed four works written by one of the most famous Chinese- American pianists and composers, Bright Sheng (b. 1955), including My Song (1989), My Other Song (2007), Tibetan Dance (2000), and Dance Capriccio (2011). These works were chosen to be analysed as they are related with the Silk Road. The purpose of this research is to analyse the relationship of Sheng’s work with Silk road, and how silk road elements inspired the composer for the selected works. Therefore, the study found that the cultures of Tibet, Shaanxi, Qinghai, and Sichuan, as well as the musical elements of the Sherpa people, influenced the four selected works, which is the crucial reason for conducting this study. Exploring what influences and inspirations the Silk Road had on the composers is one of the gaps in the existing research, and it is also the main problem statement of this study. This is a musicological study that focuses on the compositional styles of the selected works, examining how the combination of traditional musical elements from the Silk Road and Western musical languages influenced or contributed to Sheng's selected works. The primary data including scores, in-depth interview with Bright Sheng and secondary data including relevant research by other scholars, video interviews with Sheng and the performer by different artists, performance videos of different versions in order to seek connections between the Silk Road and the composer's works, as well as his development along the path of composition and the corresponding performance issues. This study contributes to the field of Silk Road music culture, and hope to contribute to a more faithful interpretation of Sheng's works and reveal Sheng's compositional techniques. In addition, this study complements existing research from the perspectives of music and history, music and culture, and contributes to the creation of a comprehensive concept of cross-cultural works, as well as identifying the composer's style. Not only do these works achieve cooperation and innovation between Chinese and Western music cultures, but they also breaks through the bottleneck of the sensory system by fusing visual folk music and dance elements with different instruments to create audible musical works.

Text 122740.pdf Download (1MB) Official URL or Download Paper: http://ethesis.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/18647

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