| Literature and music have been infiltrating each other since early eras,and oral narration is always a major channel between them.As a prose narrative centered on the theme of music activities,it is has been transmitted among people in different times and regions.The research of music literature in China needs to be expanded,especially that of the music content in folk narrative(named as “music folktale” in this dissertation).Based on analysis of the music folktales from the provincial volumes as well as some county volumes of “The Ten Collections of Chinese Folk Literature and Art”,and various folk literature anthologies and some classic literatures,combined with investigation via questionnaire survey and fieldwork,this paper attempts to make a comprehensive study of the internal text and external context of the Chinese music folktales through the perspective of type and structure investigations.The whole paper includes five chapters.In the first chapter,212 types are distinguished from more than 2000 music folktales according to the sequence of repeated motifs.All those folktales may firstly be concluded as four main groups,including “Music Creation,” “Music Transmission,” “Music Performance,” and “Music Custom.” And there are 20 series include in the those groups,which are divided into 199 main types and 13 subtypes.Among the 212 types,60 compound types produce the patterns of sequential affixation,disordered affixation,overlapping affixation or mixed affixation with the logical relations of cause and effect,juxtaposition,condition,transition and progression.When the theme of music overlaps with the themes of treasure,taboo and witty character,it forms the heterogeneous fusion of narrative motifs,showing the compatibility and uniqueness of music folktales.Each type can be divided into three structures according to the functions,actants and semantic matrix,which show the essential connotation of the music folktales,that is,the hope that the characters in story will reach new life via the ark of music.It leads to the research direction of the latter four chapters that are about the cultural implication,construction mechanism,and contemporary application of the music folktales.The second chapter discusses the concept of music in music folktales,including music cognition,music aesthetics,music ethics and music belief.First of all,based on the form of time and space and imagination,the elements of the public's sense of music explore the infinity of music with limited numbers,and achieve the integration of hearing,sight,taste,smell and touch with the help of the synesthesia of five senses.Secondly,as the natural image of human's emotion,beautiful music is constructed by the aesthetic experience of catharsis of senses,non-utility and the abstention of the refined or the vulgar.Through “Madness”,“Zhiyin” and “Liveliness”,the resonance among subjects can be achieved.Thirdly,musician should try their best to make music sound and avoid noise.This obligation benefits the desire and utility of purpose,from spontaneous and conscious to unlimited free pursuit.Finally,music,as the discourse of witchcraft,changes from the carrier of belief to the object of belief by the trilogy of music-wind pregnant with the world,music connecting with the will of Heaven and musicians ascending to immortality.This chapter not only interprets folk music culture,but also implicitly proves the conclusion of the first chapter,that is,music is a channel from material to spirit,from individual to society,from utility to obligation,from survival to morality in folktales.The third chapter explains the cultural connotation of music folktales,and discusses the operation order and significance of relevant activities based on the plot of music creation,music transmission,music performance and music custom.From farming to nomadic creation environment,from monarch to common people,from material to spiritual motivation,these multi-dimensional creation conditions lead to people's common appreciation of music.The transmission as a kind of re-creation,needs to follow the social order,which not only affects the “righteousness” between teachers and apprentices and the “benefit” of peers,but also promotes or restricts the innovation of performance.The tradition of music is generated in live performances.Musicians and listeners experience the beauty of music through emotional interaction,open the “authenticity” of music by mutual understanding,and harvest the“benignity” of reality by complementing skills with emotion.Music performance helps and follows the local customs.The sense of music power adds authority to the music ritual,rules of the music industry and music taboos in society,and thus strengthens the identity.In this chapter,Chinese music culture is explored from the perspective of folk texts,which show that people are eager moving towards the ideal harmonious life by music.The fourth chapter analyzes the construction mechanism of music folktales.In the relationship of time and space,group and individual,native place and the other,the four elements of history,place,ethnic group and narrator play important roles in the generation of tales.First of all,as folktales performed individually need to be consistent with the nature of the times or characters,while people in different periods have subjective cognition of the musicians,oral narratives,literati writings and historian records hence concoct an intertextual memory in layers.Secondly,the types of music folktales are distributed in the Northeast,North,Central,East,South,Northwest and Southwest of China.Each type spreads out variations in different regions,while the inner text reveals local imagination,which shows the influence of spatial separation and local identity on the folktales.Thirdly,the regionality of music folktales accompanied by the ethnicity,which evolves the narrative plot represented by the heroes of music creation.It reflects the subjective shaping of ethnic memory.Finally,by analysis of 25 variations of “Singing Heart,”,it shows that the narrator's gender,experience and regional cultural background make them recount different versions of a same type.In brief,the music folktales are accomplished by the objective materials and subjective identification.This conclusion actually answers thequestion “Where do music folktales come from.”The fifth chapter is about the practical application of music folktales in four aspects: municipal construction,contemporary music composition,national education,and professional beliefs.In the case,“Zhiyin” is a city card that Hanyang District and Caidian District of Hubei Province are competing for at present.Relying on respective local landscape memory,the two sides shared the market,which helped promote the recognition and reconstruction of Zhiyin culture by the public.However,the development prospects of both sides are constrained by the relationship of check and balance,and the reasonable way to break through the constraints and maintain stability is to build memory together.In the second case,childhood memory and Homesickness are the spiritual material of nostalgia music.Qi Bolag's musical composition of Morin Khuur named SuHe's White Horse expresses the multi-dimensional nostalgia for grassland,which drives the spread of the legend and the invention of tradition of related industries.Through the analysis of the texts of the Story of Boya and Moonlight and the investigation of the Central School of Wafang Township,Suzhou,Anhui Province,we can see in the third case that the two texts have both general and ethical educational significance in the practice of Chinese compulsory education of primary school.The fourth case shows that the music industry is inseparable from the industry belief.Marshal Tiangong is an important deity of puppet show worship in Western Fujian.It adheres to the interaction between oral legends,Temple of Tiangong and Tiangong puppet,and derives a troupe organization of Tiangong,which rectifies the industry order and guarantees the rights and interests of artists.Up to now,it still has the dual effect of spiritual discipline and communication maintenance for local artists of puppet show.Up to now,it still has the dual effect of spiritual discipline and communication maintenance for local puppet performers.As a means of combining culture and industry,music tales promote the healthy development of society,which answers the question “Where is the music folktales going.”In conclusion,music folktales are displayed as an ark to the new world both inside and outside the text,which shows the people's pursuit of a harmonious life.All kinds of music folktales,different texts and theme cultures can be analyzed in depth,and the various motifs of music-related tales need to be collected and sorted out.This paper only discusses the significance of music folktales for people's life from the five aspects of the structure of types,music concept,cultural implication,construction mechanism and contemporary practice,so as to provide research vision and relevant examples for folklore and ethnomusicology,help to get through the disciplinary barriers between literature and musicology,and promote the common prosperity of the two disciplines. |
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