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The first thought that came to mind after the show was that we’d actually done all this stuff – the graphics, the music, the sound production, the props production and venue set-up, the live performance, etc. At the same time, I was glad that I didn’t make any mistakes with my live instrumentation or singing during the show, because that both the dance performers and I had some mental pressure about what was coming before the show started.
More than anything else, I am thankful and happy for this performance project. I am thankful to all the people who worked with me on this project, and to the teachers who gave us a lot of help and advice. This is the first time I’ve worked on a stage performance with people from different disciplines, and it was a novelty and a joy for me to work with them. Although we had a lot of work to do with the production of picture, sound and more, as well as the complicated rehearsal and set up of the scene, we had a lot to do.But after all the work was done, and especially after seeing the video of the official performance, the feeling of accomplishment was unparalleled.
In conclusion, it was an immensely valuable experience for me, and again, thank you to my group members, and also to Jules and Andrew who have been so helpful to us.
In the fourth part, the story line is gradually coming to a climax and the protagonist is going through intense psychological changes and self-conflicts. At the same time, throughout the performance, the fourth part is the part that tends to show the dark line of the story most directly, i.e. the story of the carp living in the depressing waters and longing to cross the dragon’s gate, alluding to the fact that people in modern society are struggling in the crowded living environment.
Therefore, this part of the music was produced with a strong contemporary style and a lot of real-life sound samples, such as alarm clock samples, typing samples and loud vocals. At the same time, this part of the music is chaotic and noisy in general, using a lot of pre-produced piano tones and noise tones, trying to create a conflicting and dramatic aural effect with these dissonant musical elements.
The song expresses the theme of the story (including the metaphorical part) relatively directly, elaborating on the dark end of the story. And during the process of making the music in the project, it occurred to me that, as a form of performance similar to a stage play, it might be possible to write a song similar to the style of an opera to create an ending similar to the curtain call of a film or stage play.
So I produced the song and created subtitles with lyrics similar to the end credits of the film. Since it’s a live singing performance, only the backing vocals part was uploaded, and the vocals were not pre-recorded.
The music in this section is derived from previously uploaded original music composition demo, but with some percussion samples added to the original.
This part of the original plan was considered to set up some digital media content: the sensors were set up on the drums and played live, so as to influence the video footage through the live drum playing. However, in practice, we found that the sensitivity of the sensor was too difficult to manipulate in such a sound environment, and was prone to errors during live performance, so we changed this stage to direct percussion.
The percussion samples come from a Chinese national instrument, the demi-drum, which simultaneously produces the sound of a drum being struck, the sound of a bell, and the sound of metal rubbing against metal. In this piece of music, some of these drum samples are added and played live, using the instrumentalist’s walking route as a clue to lead the audience from the corridor into the formal performance venue.
To furthermore, percussion and vocal samples are also used in this piece. The vocal samples originate from the north of China, and this special singing style is called hu mai, which is a special method of singing to achieve the effect of singing in harmony with one person, with a unique ethnic characteristic.
In part 2, in order to state the background of the story (fish live in depressing and crowded waters), the color of the music in this part turns low and depressing, and the 0 to 43 seconds need to give way to sound space for the lines, which are mainly produced as background music. 43 seconds later, the dance joins in, and there is a strong twist in the visual effect, in the case of the original piano as the base, the more intense percussion and string groups were also added.
In the third part, the music is accompanied by the sound effects of the water flow, which is also composed as an aural effect with fluidity, consisting mainly of delayed electronic pads. At the same time, the percussion in the second half of this piece of music is joined by a processed electronic sound similar to poor contact, in order to articulate the next part of the fifth part of the segmentation of different music.In this section, the music is less melodic than in the previous sections, partly because of the need to give way to the lines, and partly to match the sound effects and balance the frequency range.
The first rehearsal was postponed due to the length of time it took to arrive at the production for our show and the complexity of setting up a 5.1 sound system at the same time. During this rehearsal, we identified a number of issues for improvement.
Firstly, the actors’ movements need to be further explored and improved. During the rehearsal, we found that the carp characters were not very expressive and it was difficult to show rich emotions, and the use of the carp characters also limited the actors’ movements – the actors could only lift the carp characters to do some simple movements. So from the audience’s point of view, the whole plot and story line of the performance, including the emotions of the characters, were not expressed very clearly.
Secondly, after a group discussion, we agreed that we needed to add some more lines and dialogues. We found that the existing acting, music and sound effects were not sufficient to adequately convey a clear plot and storyline.
In addition, we found the realisation of the original dance section to be more difficult than we had imagined. Our original plan was to have members of our group perform the dance, but after rehearsals we found that the non-professional dance performances were not expressive enough, so I contacted my friend who is a dance major and communicated with her about the overall timeline, story and content. Expressed emotions and invited her to join us for the performance.
Also, after completing the setup, we realised that the venue setup (sound system, decorations, projector and screen setup, etc.) was taking much longer than planned, and we had to find a way to shorten this time while arriving and setting up the venue a little earlier than planned on the day of the official performance.
Finally, in the music section, I think some adjustments need to be made based on dance time adaptations and line additions. On the one hand, some of the music needs to give way to the frequency of the lines and dialogue; on the other hand, the music should have a greater sense of rhythm and passage when joining the dance to provide better conditions for the dancers to play.
This part of the music comes from the second half of a previously uploaded music demo.This part, being the climax and the most important part of the performance was considered a priority to produce and finalize a relatively complete version of the show, so that rehearsals for this part of the show could be brought forward.
This part of the music is still composed in a combination of frame and character instruments, with the string section’s staccato as the frame, and considering the cultural background of the mythological story of the Carp Leaping Dragon Gate, the character instrument chosen is the traditional Chinese Suona, which possesses a special, extremely loud and clear tone, and has a special auditory impact, which is able to push the whole story to the climax.
It is suggested that, Suona’s affordance that “thy songs were small pieces, but thy tunes sounded louder” makes it adept at conveying explicitly strong and straightforward emotions.(Wang, 2022). As a traditional Chinese instrument, the Suona often takes on the role of expressing emotions of great joy and great sorrow in music, and is often used in ceremonies, such as weddings or funerals, so the emotions and cultural colors conveyed by the Suona are extremely intense and prominent.
Reference:
Wang, J. & Li, W. (2022) Situating affect in Chinese mediated soundscapes of suona. Social semiotics. [Online] ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print), 1–20.
This part is the first part of the official show that begins after the performance in the corridor. Because there are no lines in this section, the design of the music should include not only the depiction of the background, but also the content related to the protagonist’s moving line, so I chose to use an instrument to represent the protagonist – bamboo flute.
The soft and soothing piano playing column chords and breakdown chords serve as background depictions, easing the audience’s thoughts into the overall storytelling environment, while a bamboo flute solo appears as the main character’s moving line. At the same time, the bamboo flute solo has been given some acoustic treatment to match the movement of the actors and the live performance of the bamboo flute.
The possibility of including a live bamboo flute in the formal performance is also being considered, with two main influencing factors being taken into account: the integration of the live instrument into the overall acoustics of the ambient sound and the possibility of borrowing and setting up a microphone for instruments.
We have tried the possibility of using the microphones in the classroom for live performance amplification, which seems feasible initially, but we need to take into account the setup of the live sound system, and will need to make further attempts in the subsequent official rehearsals.
This piece is an original theme music composition for our project, it is related to the background, the development of the storyline, and the overall thematic significance of the story. It is suggested that, the Chinese have long used images to convey auspicious wishes, such as plants, flowers, animals, birds and objects. (Laing, 2017). In this situation, fish express hopes for wealth because the pronunciation of the character for “fish” is identical to “abundance.”This is based on the tonal nature of the Chinese spoken language, one sound could have different meanings. In this context, carp were especially favored, because of their jumping ability, they were always associated with the idea of leaping through the Dragon Gate (an ancient Chinese myth) which symbolizes the attainment of success.
To furthermore, this original demo maintains plenty of Chinese traditional elements, for example Chinese pentatonic scales, as well as a part of Chinese traditional music instruments. The entire composition is structured into three distinct parts:
To begin with, the first section delineates the environment, spotlighting the protagonist (the carp) navigating its existence within the polluted waters, some Chinese traditional instruments like Instruments‘XUN’, evoked a somber and murky ambiance.
Additionally, the second segment delves into the character’s actions, emphasizing its leap over the dragon gate and the ensuing series of endeavors.
Next, the third part crescendos into the climax of the piece.Instruments such as the Suona, Pipa, and Bamboo Flute build upon the atmosphere layer by layer, culminating in a climactic finale. The unique technique of the Suona unveils the resolution of the story.
Reference list:
Laing, Ellen Johnston. “Carp and Goldfish as Auspicious Symbols and Their Representation in Chinese Popular Prints.” Arts Asiatiques 72 (2017): 97–109. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44656691.
Theme1:Story with Chinese traditional elements/Oriental background feature elements.
Narratives and creative pieces imbued with stylistic, ethnic, and regional elements possess a captivating allure, offering immense value forcreativity, both visually and narratively. Simultaneously, they ignite the audience’s imagination, transporting them to diverse and vibrant worlds.In China, a myriad of myths and legends abound, steeped in ethnic diversity and imbued with magical allure. Simplifying and adhering to typical story themes can enhance the performance’s effectiveness. While impresses people, it also makes the cultural themes more obvious.
Theme2:Oppose gender discrimination(From ancient China story-the “abandoned infant tower”).
During the waning years of the Qing Dynasty, the populace bore a heavy burden, grappling with scarcity of essentials like food and clothes, as well as a multitude of other challenges. Influenced by feudal ideals, families often viewed the birth of a girl as a burden, leading to their abandonment. This real story recoreded a stark picture of the plight faced by baby girls at the time.An ancient adage underscores the societal preference for sons, neglecting the value of daughters.In most cases,midwives wouldn’t even inquire about the mother’s wishes, instead, waiting for the husband’s consent before condemning newborn girls to a tragic fate of drowning.Some family members couldn’t bear to harm their own flesh and blood, so they opted to leave their children at a place known as the “abandoned infant tower,” allowing them to fend for themselves. Perhaps there were families eager to have a child who would take in these baby girls and raise them with care, but such occurrences were exceedingly rare at the time.
True to its name, the “abandoned infant tower” serves as a refuge for discarded babies. Its rudimentary structure, often comprising only tree stumps and piled stones, is typically found in remote wilderness areas. This grim reality reflects the peak of feudal ideology, where infants face myriad dangers within the tower. However, their parents devoid of affection for their offspring, console themselves with the notion that their fate is sealed. Furthermore, impoverished couples may resort to leaving their sickly baby girls in these towers, unable to provide the necessary care. In ancient times, peopple belief that babies were not fully formed, thus eschewing the need for elaborate burials in coffins. Consequently, by abandoning infants in the tower, parents spared themselves the expense of burial, as if the babies had never entered the world, it is rumored that every three days, someone would come to dispose of the bodies.
Indeed, the practice of abandoning babies in the tower reflects a troubling aspect of ancient society. It reveals the profound helplessness experienced by some individuals during that era. Economic constraints often left families unable to afford the costs of child-rearing and medical treatment, exacerbated by the limited advancements in medical technology at the time. Additionally, the pervasive cultural preference for sons played a central role in the abandonment of baby girls. In a society where women held lower social status, they faced grim prospects such as being sold, forced into brothels, or subjected to early and unhappy marriages as they grew older. These factors collectively underscore the harsh realities endured by womenand children in ancient times.
