Professor Mingmei Yip from the faculty of the Bard Conservatory of Music presents a three-week online course in English to introduce the music of China and its vital place in Chinese culture
Over more than three thousand years of history, China has developed a unique musical aesthetic tradition which intertwined with its philosophy, culture and customs. This course will present music in its social, philosophical, and cultural context and will be suitable for anyone who is interested in Chinese music and culture. It will introduce Chinese music through slide presentations as well as music recordings and videos. Other arts such as painting, calligraphy, as well as dance and architecture will also be discussed in relation to music.
The class will be taught primarily in English. Knowledge of Chinese is not required, although Chinese speakers are welcome. You do not need to be a Bard student to register.
Please join this interesting, informative and interactive course!
Course Details
Dates: Mondays and Wednesdays, July 12-28, 2021
Time: 7:30pm to 9:00pm Eastern Time (US)
Location: Zoom (remote online)
Fee: $200 (Financial Aid available.)
REGISTRATION DEADLINE JULY 2
Topics to be discussed
Beauty of Lines in Chinese Music and Art 中国音乐艺术的线条美与线性思维
Chinese Philosophy in Music 中国音乐哲学
Confucianism: “Great music is easy” 儒家：大乐必易
Daoism: “Great music has rarified sound” 道家：大音希声
Zhuangzi: “The best music has no sound” 庄子：至乐无乐
Aesthetic Characteristics of Chinese Music 中国音乐美学
Harmony 和
Sound beyond strings 弦外之音
Poetic imagery 意境
Empty and full 虚实
Breath resonance and lively animation 气韵生动
Sound and lingering sound 声韵
Union with heaven and humanity 天人合一
Literati Guqin Music 文人音乐 --- 古琴
Stylistic characteristics of qin music
Elegant gathering 雅集: in private studios, private gardens, or natural settings, in which qin playing is accompanied by tea tasting, poetry recitation, incense, as well as painting and calligraphy
Opera 戏曲
A composite art form
Characters
Formulaic performance
Symbolism
Music in Modern China 中国新音乐
Introduction of Western music to China in the early 1920s
A pioneer of modern Chinese music, Li Shutong’s (High Monk Hong Yi) 弘一大师李叔同 music and compositions: Farewell 送别, Song of the Three Treasures (Buddhist) 三宝歌, Remembering Childhood Times 忆儿时.
About the Professor
Mingmei Yip 叶明媚 received her PhD in musicology from the University of Paris (Sorbonne) on a full scholarship from the French Government. A master performer on the Qin, she has given lectures and performances at venues such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, the New York Philharmonic, Columbia University, Oxford University, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Beijing University, the University of Paris, Amsterdam University, Oberlin Conservatory, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the China Institute in New York.
Dr. Yip has served as consultant for Beijing’s Chinese Qin Association 北京中国古琴会, director for Chinese Kun Opera and Guqin Research Association 中国古琴昆剧研究会理事, artistic consultant for New York Cultural Art Association, as well as on the academic board of the Chengdu International Qin Conference.
Also a writer, Dr. Yip has published fifteen books (two more will be published in 2022 and 2015), with two on the qin. Her Art of Guqin Music 【古琴音乐艺术】was selected as “key publication” by the Chinese government and has recently won 2nd place in China’s National City Book Award. Her latest and 7th novel The Witch’s Market (Kensington Books) received a glowing review from the New York Times. Yip’s debut novel Peach Blossom Pavilion, the story of the last musician-courtesan of China, has received numerous favorable reviews and is in its fifth printing. It was also published by Harper Collins Avon in 2014. Her novels have been translated into nine languages and are currently available in ten countries. She wrote columns for seven major newspapers and has appeared on over 50 television and radio programs in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and the United States.
Dr. Yip is also accomplished as a painter and calligrapher. A one-person show of her paintings of Guan Yin (the Chinese Goddess of Compassion) and calligraphy was held at the New York Open Center Gallery in SoHo in 2002. She also won a scholarship from the Cleveland Museum of Art to study painting.
Dr. Yip’s calligraphy is collected by the Duke of Scotland, the renowned ABC, NBC, CBS TV host Forrest Sawyer, and the pharmaceutical company Novo-Nordisk. She was also commissioned to brush calligraphy by Estee Lauder, Prada, and the publisher Simon and Schuster. She has even been invited to teach cadets at the U. S. Military Academy, West Point, about Chinese culture, particularly Sunzi’s famous Art of War. Dr. Yip was lecturer and senior lecturer (associate professor) of music at Chinese University of Hong Kong and Baptist University respectively, and in 2005, an International Institute of Asian Studies fellow in Holland researching on the qin. She has taught qin playing and calligraphy at two major Hong Kong Universities.
Questions? Contact the Institute for more information.