Culturally informed music : portfolio of original compositions

Abstract

Keep pursuing inspiration throughout ones creative life, a composer may be influenced by various kinds of object and matter, e.g., a meaningful book, stunning natural sceneries, memorable experience, etc. Being a composer, my inspiration is rooted in the spirit and inheritance of Chinese culture. Besides showing my composition outputs written in the last four years, this thesis discusses how Chinese arts have been inspired by Chinese culture, and how its treasure is manifested in my compositional process. This thesis begins with the Introduction discussing the key characteristics of the five aspects of Chinese culture with my own artistic interpretation. The five aspects are (1) the traditional concept and spirit of wenren, (2) the relationship between nature and emotion in the arts, (3) the art of qin, (4) Chinese calligraphy and its connection to music, and (5) the practice of folk music. These topics are chosen because of their connection with my compositional and artistic visions. Then, 10 original compositions are presented in the format of a compositional portfolio which form the main body of this thesis. These compositions-chapters are grouped according to specific artistic themes, and therefore the order of appearance is not related to the composing chronology. Each chapter starts with an explanatory notes to introduce the inspiration or challenge and highlight relevant compositional techniques; it is then followed by the score. The recordings of all compositions are included in the attached disc.