On The Religious Music Of "Tashilhunpo Monastery"

Tibetan Buddhist music is an integral part of Tibetan traditional music; itsmusic and dance has developed greatly and has now become very mature.Tibetan Buddhist music involves not only monks reading scriptures, but alsoother spontaneous musical forms such as wind, stringed and percussioninstruments. In particular, the monastic religious Cham dance combines bothspontaneous music and musical accompaniment. The Cham dance is morecolorful religious music, and includes the special notation for writing down music.This Tibetan monastic religious music has been developed and become famousover the course of many centuries. Religious music pays an essential role in allTibetan culture. To date, the study of Tibetan Buddhist music is lagging behindother areas. In particularly, the study of music from different Buddhist sects andmonasteries needs more thorough research. Therefore, through this dissertation,I attempt to analyze the various kinds of Buddhist music which are practiced bythe monks of Tashi Lhunpo. I also analyze the music itself and the melodicnotation. I reveal the special style and unique features of this music, with all itsnumerous forms and bountiful content. Thus, this research is a small offering toassist in the understanding of the vast field of Tibetan Buddhist music. Thisdissertation is divided into five sections:The first section is a sketch of the history of Tashi Lhunpo monastery. In thispart, I will introduce that Tashi Lhunpo monastery was founded by the first Dalailama Gedun Drubpa in1447, and it is one of the six major monasteries ofGelukpa Sect, as well as the biggest monastery in the Tsang area. It alsodescribes the Buddhist doctrines which are practiced by the different collegesand some other annual rituals of Tashi Lhunpo. Finally, I show what religiousmusic exists in the monastery and its beneficial functions.The second section is the main part of this dissertation, which mainlyfocuses on the religious music of Tashi Lhunpo monastery. Firstly, I will discussabout assembled music. In this part, I will describe the content, forms and features of Durdang, Pardang, Yangchen.Secondly, I discuss the spontaneous music of Tashi Lhunpo monastery.According to the classifications of wind, stringed and percussion instruments, Ihighlight the differences of spontaneous music of Tsegon Namgyal CollegeandTantric College. I also discuss the different musical instruments such as theTibetan clarinet, large trumpet and the shine-bone clarinet. Moreover, I discussthe origin of these instruments, and their functions in the two Colleges.In the third section, I discuss the Cham religious dance of Tashi Lhunpomonastery. The first part is the history, content and religious function of theCham. The second part mainly focuses on the features and content of the twomain Chams i.e. Zigmochenpo of Namgyal College and theCham performed on the29th day of the12th lunar month by the Tantric College.The fouth section is an analysis of the musical score of Tashi Lhunpomonastery. The first part links Treatise of Music, to the analyzed musical scoreof Tsegon Namgyal College in the course of the ritual to propitiate protectivedeities. In the second part, I describe and compare the score of the largetrumpet which came into being during time of the7th and9th Panchen Lama. Idescribe the names of the musical scores and their practical playing methods.The fifth section mainly focuses on the history, content, establishment oforchestras and the feature of music and dancing to offerings. This part alsodescribes the special Arga songs sung by the monks of Tashi Lhunpo, mainlyintroducing its words, history and some other relevant points.