Polyphonic Techniques In Chinese Piano Works

This essay is entitled, "The application of polyphonic technique within Chinese piano works", which encompasses three main ideas, polyphonic technique, China and piano works. China represents Chinese culture, while the piano is a product and a representation of Western civilisation, but with the polyphonic technique being the common denominator of the two. However, there are differences in representation of polyphony between the two cultures. From a macro perspective, the three main ideas portrayed in the essay describes the influences that Chinese and Western cultures had on musical works; while from a micro perspective, using the piano as a platform for specific observation, to study the application of polyphonic technique through the different stages in history and its unique method of usage by Chinese composers while writing piano pieces.Chinese polyphonic piano music went through stages of pre-Republic, early Republic, Cultural Revolution and the Contemporary era, while starting from zero and continuing to flourish from its infancy. Through this process of development our national composers continued to converge and digest Western polyphonic techniques and some other techniques of contemporary composing to create and develop piano'spolyphonic techniques with a unique and distinct nationalistic character. The writing and methodology of this essay encompasses such a background, and through the interpretation of China's different piano pieces over the ages tries to outline the tracks of application of polyphonic technique over the seventy and eighty years since its development in China.