With Chinese art forms gaining notoriety worldwide, it is only natural for there to be an uptick in interest in Chinese classical music. The expanding market in Chinese classical music, as well as the growing fame of Chinese composers, pave way for a new lucrative career in Mandarin-language vocalism. Singing in Mandarin: A Guide to Chinese Lyric Diction is a comprehensive guide to mastering vocal repertoire in Mandarin. In part one, Katherine Chu and Juliet Petrus focus on diction and language, providing detailed descriptions on how to create the exact sounds and pronunciations through International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and 'Pinyin'. Part two outlines the historical context of Mandarin vocal tradition, chronicling the development of the language and Chinese vocal repertoire over the last 100 years. Audio files narrated by native speakers demonstrating the sounds are also included. Singing in Mandarin provides guidance for both novices and those with previous experience singing or speaking in Mandarin and is the first book of its kind to help bring the rich, previously inaccessible heritage of Chinese vocal music to Western audiences.
Katherine Chu has worked as a performer, coach, assistant conductor, educator, and music administrator at the world's top opera houses and institutions. She is on the collaborative piano faculty at the Tianjin Juilliard School. Juliet Petrus is the leading Western interpreter of Chinese contemporary vocal music. She has had multi-city solo tours across China and soloist appearances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Chicago Symphony Center, National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Shanghai Symphony, and on national Chinese television.
Part 1: The Fundamentals of Chinese Diction Chapter 1: Consonants Beginning with consonants and progressing from familiar to unfamiliar sounds, this chapter uses comparative diction study to illustrate the differences and commonalities of Chinese diction to other, more familiar dictions. Unless readers can already recognize and pronounce Chinese characters, Pinyin will be a necessary step in transliterating, as currently it is the most common method. Being that the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a standard method of identifying phonemes, the book employs IPA to explain the Pinyin. Even in this early stage of Mandarin knowledge, by establishing the important connection between IPA and Pinyin, some students may comfortably continue to use the IPA system, while others may eventually progress to using only Pinyin as their form of transliteration. In addition to being able to hear all of the sounds pronounced by native speakers on the CD, there will be diagrams of tongue position, descriptions of how to physically create them, as well as exercises to help the readers acclimate themselves to Chinese pronunciation. Chapter 2: Vowels Continuing the systematic approach from Chapter 1, this chapter thoroughly examines all the categories including vowels, vowel clusters and vowel-consonant combination, many of which are unique to the study of Chinese diction. It discusses the important subtleties which cannot be compared to any other type of lyric diction. The very last section will address the effect that certain groups of consonants and semi-vowels have on vowels and vowel clusters that follow them. Chapter 3: Chinese Semantics, Syntax and Stress Once the Chinese diction system is presented and explained in the most scientific manner possible, attention can be turned to important properties that characterize this language. Each Chinese character is a monosyllable with a stand-alone meaning. Words in Chinese can be made up of multiple syllables. Like in English, correct stress while singing in Mandarin is essential for comprehension of the lyrics, not only because the tonal aspect of the language is completely lost in music, but also because the musical stress begins to superimpose on the phrasal stress. This chapter examines how proper stress and inflection restore the syntactic and semantic features of the Chinese language. Chapter 4: Stylistic Concerns The final chapter of Part 1 will be an overview of stylistic issues unique to Chinese diction, such other lyric dictions such as the peculiar and regional property of the final R, and the 'rounding off of a syllable' and its effect on legato. There will be also an examination of widely spoken dialects such as Cantonese and Taiwanese, and regional accents. These are stylistic elements that can transform mere diction into artistry, as they give nuance to interpretation. ----------------------------------------- Part 2: Chinese Vocal Repertoire Chapter 5: Overview of Modern Chinese Vocal Literature With vocal traditions such as Peking and Kunqu Operas, Chinese vocal music spans centuries in Chinese history. Despite this long and rich tradition, the body of work that is applicable to classically-trained, lyric singers began emerging in the early 1900s. Modern Chinese vocal music mirrors the course of contemporary Chinese history, reflecting political milieu, motivating new genres, revolutionizing the language, and assimilating Western influences, which impacted the stylistic development of vocal literature. The subsequent chapters are the examination of the types of repertoire developed from the last century to the present. Chapter 6: Modern Chinese Song Repertoire What can be identified as modern repertoire started in the decade after the Revolution of 1911. Art songs and folk song arrangements make up a significant part of the type of music accessible to the classically-trained singer. However, songs with a popular influence and vocal chamber music also make their way to the contemporary recital hall. This chapter will survey these works, as well as giving Pinyin and IPA for the most significant pieces. Composers represented will include the earliest pioneers such as HUANG Zi, QING Zhu, XIAO Youmei, and ZHAO Yuanren, as well as modern disciples such as CHEN Yi, LU Zaiyi, and composers from Hong Kong and Taiwan, illustrating their place and contributions to Chinese Art Song, the definition of which leads to many fascinating questions and lively debates. Chapter 7: Concert and Opera Repertoire Concert pieces for voice with orchestra and modern opera represent a recent phenomenon in Chinese compositional history. From the very earliest of cantatas to the first Chinese opera in the 1930's, the variety of genres fashioned in the Western compositional models in the last two decades is well evidenced by the remarkable output from composers, both Western-trained and home-grown. Encouraged by the growing number of theaters built and productions staged in China, opera is proving to be the epitome of creative expression, attracting many composers to turn their attention to writing for this multidisciplinary art form. Composers such as CHEN Qigang, CHOU Wen-chung, GUO Wenjing, Bright Sheng, TAN Dun, YE Xiaogang and ZHOU Long, help to push these genres forward.
I am thrilled to see this comprehensive guide available! Juliet Petrus and Katherine Chu have opened the door for English-speaking singers, their pianists, and their coaches to finally feel comfortable in approaching repertoire in this wonderful language. They present all the essentials with the utmost clarity, and it includes recorded examples. This is an important contribution to exploring this fascinating trove of vocal music. -- Martin Katz, international collaborative pianist and vocal coach
