A Performance Guide to Tan Dun's Elegy: Snow in June

A Performance Guide to Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June

by

Xue Dong

A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts

Faculty of Music University of Toronto

© Copyright by Xue Dong 2020

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A Performance Guide to Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June

Xue Dong

Doctor of Musical Arts

Faculty of music University of Toronto

2020

Abstract In 1991, Tan Dun composed a work titled Elegy: Snow in June in the form of a concerto for solo

cello with percussion quartet. His composition is positioned at the junction of legend (The

Injustices of Dou E), contemporary music, and traditional Chinese cultural references. By using

traditional Chinese musical materials and a combination of Western and Chinese instruments in

Snow in June, Tan created a successful work thanks to his strategic incorporation of varied

musical ideas and broader intercultural influences. The thesis includes an examination of the

compositional techniques and strategies, information about Chinese traditional theatre, and

interviews with performers who have championed this composition. It constructs a performance

guide for Elegy: Snow in June by providing information about how to approach the cello when

performing works that combine Western musical notation with musical ideas derived from

traditional Chinese music, and also addresses the practical setup of percussion quartet, balance

issues and appropriate instrument selection.

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Dedication and Acknowledgments

This thesis is dedicated to amateur and professional cellists and percussionists across the globe. I

am hoping that this dissertation will provide useful information for all musicians who will play

Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June in the future.

I would like to extend my thanks to the cellists and percussionists who shared their

experiences with me: Felix Fan, David Hetherington, Nicholas Photinos, Bryan Holt, Robert

Schultz and Third Coast Percussion: David Skidmore, Robert Dillon, Sean Connors, Peter

Martin.

A special thanks to my thesis committee members:

Supervisor: Aiyun Huang. Thank you for keeping everything on track. Your support,

patience and expertise contributed to the quality of my research, and your encouragement

motivated me to complete my degree.

Professor: Shauna Rolston Shaw. Thank you for inspiring me through all of my years at

the University of Toronto. Your invaluable cello and life lessons will continue to play a big role

in my future career.

Professor: Robin Elliott. Thank you for being my committee member and helping me

progress through the thesis writing. Your insightful reviews and the detailed perspective took my

thesis writing to a different level.

Professor: Tom Wiebe. Thank you for being my external examiner. Your detailed and

pertinent suggestions and comments are very helpful and provided some ideas which greatly

improved my thesis.

Finally I thank my family. I could not have finished this without your support.

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Table of Contents

Dedication and Acknowledgments ................................................................................................. iii

Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iv

List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………………….vi

List of Plates……………………………………………………………………………………..vii

List of Examples………………………………………………………………………………...viii

Chapter 1 Historical Background and Origins of the Chinese New Wave ..................................... 1

1.1 General Historical Background ........................................................................................... 1

1.2 Brief Overview of 20th-Century Chinese Music .................................................................. 4

1.2.1 The period between the May Fourth Movement and the Establishment of PRC

(1919–1949)…………………………………………………………………….….4

1.2.2 The period between the Establishment of PRC and the beginning of the

the Cultural Revolution (1949–1966) .................................................................... 10

1.2.3 The Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) ..................................................................... 13

1.2.4 The Post-Cultural Revolution Era (1976–) ............................................................... 17

1.3 Chou Wen-Chung and Chinese New Wave ...................................................................... 19

1.3.1 Chou Wen-Chung and His Views on Influence vs Confluence ............................... 19

1.3.2 Chou Wen-Chung’s Contribution and Chinese New Wave ..................................... 23

Chapter 2 Tan Dun and Elegy: Snow in June ................................................................................ 29

2.1 Tan Dun .............................................................................................................................. 30

2.1.1 Biography ................................................................................................................. 30

2.1.2 Organic Music .......................................................................................................... 33

2.2 Interpretative Analysis of Elegy: Snow in June .................................................................. 36

2.3 Technical Challenges For the Cellist .................................................................................. 41

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2.3.1 Pizzicato ................................................................................................................... 42

2.3.2 Challenging Double Stops ........................................................................................ 46

2.3.3 Special Pitch Materials ............................................................................................. 48

2.4 Musical Quotations from Chinese Music ............................................................................ 49

Chapter 3 Interviews and Discussions with Cellists and Percussionists ....................................... 54

3.1 Interviews with Cellists ...................................................................................................... 54

3.1.1 Email Correspondences with Felix Fan .................................................................... 54

3.1.2 Interview with Nicholas Photinos (conducted via Zoom on 25 February 2020) ..... 59

3.1.3 Interview with David Hetherington (City of Toronto, 20 January 2020) ................. 65

3.1.4 Interview with Bryan Holt (City of Toronto, 13 January 2020) ............................... 69

3.1.5 Summary Table of Cellists ....................................................................................... 73

3.2 Interviews with Percussionists ............................................................................................ 74

3.2.1 Interview with David Skidmore (conducted via Skype on 8 January 2020) ............ 75

3.2.2 Email Correspondences with Robert Dillon ............................................................. 78

3.2.3 Email Correspondences with Sean Connors ............................................................. 86

3.2.4 Interview with Peter Martin (conducted via Zoom on 19 February 2020) ............... 90

3.2.5 Interview with Robert Schultz (conducted via Zoom on 13 February 2020) ........... 96

3.2.6 Summary Table of Percussionists ............................................................................ 99

3.3 Analysis of All Interviews ................................................................................................ 100

3.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 107

Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 110

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List of Figures

Figure 1 Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June from 1a to 1b ............................................................ 42

Figure 2 Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June bars 87–102 .............................................................. 45

Figure 3 Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June bars 251–273 ............................................................ 46


Figure 5 Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June bars 57–72 ................................................................ 47



Figure 8 Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June Introduction .............................................................. 50

Figure 9 Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June 1c .............................................................................. 50





Figure 14 Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June bar 46 ........................................................................ 83




Figure 18 Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June bar 325 ...................................................................... 88






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List of Plates

Plate 1 Cai Yuan Pei (1867–1940) ............................................................................................... 4

Plate 2 Xiao You Mei (1884–1940) ............................................................................................. 7

Plate 3 He Lu Ting (1903–1999) .................................................................................................. 8

Plate 4 Nie Er (1912–1935) ........................................................................................................ 10

Plate 5 Song Tong (1923–2011) ................................................................................................. 13

Plate 6 Peking Opera Mu Gui Ying Takes Command ................................................................. 15

Plate 7 Revolutionary Opera The Red Detachment of Women ................................................... 15

Plate 8 Chou Wen Chung (1923–2019) ...................................................................................... 20

Plate 9 Erhu Pictrue .................................................................................................................... 57

Plate 10 Tan Dun: Elegy - Snow in June (Third Coast Percussion and Joshua Roman) .............. 63

Plate 11 Mandarin Spoken Tones ................................................................................................. 65

Plate 12 Performance Positions of Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June ............................................ 66

Plate 13 Stage Setup from Bryan Holt ......................................................................................... 71

Plate 14 Instrumentation of Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June ....................................................... 74

Plate 15 Sketch setup from Robert Dillon .................................................................................... 81

Plate 16 Rehearsal setup from Robert Dillon No.1 ...................................................................... 81



Plate 19 Diagram setup from Sean Connors ................................................................................. 89

Plate 20 Sketch setup from Peter Martin ...................................................................................... 94

viii

List of Examples

Example 1 He Lu Ting Beginning of The Cowherd’s Flute ......................................................... 8

Example 2 Nie Er March of the Volunteers .................................................................................. 9

Example 3 Revolutionary Song Oriental Red ............................................................................. 11

Example 4 Song Tong Evening Scene ......................................................................................... 12

Example 5 A page from Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy ..................................................... 16

1

Chapter 1 Historical Background and Origins of the Chinese New Wave

At the beginning of the twentieth century, music in China experienced fundamental

transformations shaped by political conflicts, cultural upheaval and rapid modernization. Most

profound among the many influences on Chinese contemporary musical life was the Cultural

Revolution (1966–76). This period and the response to it is crucial for understanding China’s

contemporary musical activities and cultural developments, especially when considering the

work of contemporary Chinese composers. Chou Wen-Chung, a Chinese-American composer,

helped lead a generation of Chinese composers to create new musical languages and

compositional styles founded on his notion of “confluence”.1 This group of Chinese-American

composers are now known as the Chinese New Wave and emerged as a powerful musical force

out of post-Cultural Revolution China. With an approach based on blending traditional and

contemporary Chinese influences with Western music (including both compositional language

and notation), these composers have created a significant impact internationally.

1.1 General Historical Background

In the twentieth century, China endured World War II, a Civil War and several major political

reforms. Political conflicts at the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) had plunged China into

cultural instability. After losing two Opium Wars (1839–1842, 1856–1860) to an alliance of

Western countries with colonial intentions—Great Britain, France, Germany, United States,

1 Confluence refers to the merger of two or more flows or streams together. In this thesis, it refers to the flowing together of diverse cultures as expressed by Chou Wen-Chung. He describes as the essence of his musical expression and associates it with his aspirations for the future of civilization. As a convergence, it implies inevitable mutual or reciprocal actions and influences. As a form of sharing cultures, Chou integrated Chinese traditional heritage within Western contemporary music and this new inventive music influenced a whole generation of composers from China. Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June is a typical example of Chou Wen-Chung’s concept of confluence.

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Russia, Italy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Japanese—the Chinese people, crippled by

war and famine, were thrust into a deep confrontation with defeat, the lasting effects of

colonialism and an urgent need for change. Attempts to rebuild led to a series of uprisings and

revolutions and eventually the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC) in 1911. A rapid

and turbulent modernization of Chinese life and culture on many levels and areas of governance

began.

Among the many changes in musical life, the May Fourth Movement (1919) helped

define the cultural move to modernization of a struggling nation through adapting a Western-

based educational system with music conservatories, thereby introducing Western music into the

Chinese consciousness. Negotiating the differences between cultures and adapting Western

classical music and its educational systems to China were part of the May Fourth Movement’s

goals. Western music was first brought to China by missionaries and foreign musicians, and later

by Chinese students returning from abroad. Under the influence of these new cultural modalities,

a variety of musical associations and conservatories were established, including the Shanghai

National Conservatory in 1927, China’s first modern professional music institute. In the years

following the founding of the Shanghai Conservatory, many other universities established music

departments based on this model.2

As an intellectual turning point in China, the May Fourth Movement was primarily

defined and led by Chinese intellectuals Zhao Yuen-Ren (赵元任), Wang Guang-Qi (王光祈),

Cai Yuan-Pei (蔡元培), and Liang Qi-Chao (梁启超). The movement engaged Chinese society

in a series of lasting reforms, both in ideology and in practice. Among the main advances were

2 Lan Jiang. The Interaction of Cello and Chinese Traditional Music, DMA Diss., University of Kansas, 2017, 3.

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the introduction of modern-era science, fledgling democracy, and modern educational models

and methods. This intellectual environment changed drastically in the 1960s with the advent of

the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) during which Chinese musicians were only able to

experience, listen to and perform a small collection of Western musical works based solely on

the ruling Communist Party’s approval.

These restrictive social, political and economic agendas forced most of Chinese musical

life into a void and broader cultural life under extremely tight state control until 1976. Some of

the most famous pieces from this period that can still be heard today include the Yellow River

Piano Concerto (1969) and the Butterfly Lover Violin Concerto (1959). Because of censorship

both in public and in private and the closure of conservatories, many musicians and musical

styles were forbidden, therefore, many musical activities went underground or creased. This

devastated the continuity of Chinese musical culture, but at the same time it set into motion

many changes.

The Cultural Revolution ended with the installation of a new policy called “Reform and

Open Door”. The new directions for national development embraced politics, the economy,

culture, and ideology, which was redefined by the government to be officially open.

Consequently, Western culture came in “like a flood to China”.3 It is with this infusion of

Western and other cultures and styles, and the establishment of new music conservatories, that

the New Wave sprang to life. This official shift had the most profound impact on the New

Wave’s musical outputs and career paths.

3 Jiang, The Interaction of Cello, 5.

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1.2 Brief Overview of 20th-Century Chinese Music

1.2.1 The period between the May Fourth Movement and the Establishment of PRC (1919–1949)

Chinese music had reached an early form of hybridity due to the interaction between Eastern and

Western cultures beginning in 1911. Many famous Chinese scholars encouraged the study of

Western culture. Cai Yuan-Pei (1867–1940), who was the Minister of Education in 1911,

recognized the uniqueness of each culture, and also suggested that “Western music could

nonetheless be assimilated to improve the development of Chinese styles.”4 He also elevated

music pedagogy to a significant part of standard Chinese education. For the first time, the

government issued a policy that music had to be included in Chinese national subjects along with

the methods and materials for music lessons in 1912.5

Plate 1: Cai Yuan Pei (1867-1940)6

4 Wai-Chung Ho, Westernization and Social Transformations in Chinese Music Education, 1895-1949. Hong Kong Secondary Music Education: A Sociological Enquiry, unpublished PhD thesis, Institute of Education, University of London, 1996. 296. 5 Ho, Westernization and Social Transformations, 296. 6 Cai Yuan Pei, Chinese educator, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cai-Yuanpei (accessed 13 February 2020).

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The May Fourth Movement in 1919 was a broad intellectual turning point in China and a

pioneering event for Chinese intellectuals. Within this movement, we find an early influx of

music styles as a kind of distant prelude to the re-opening at the end of the Cultural Revolution.

It directly affected the development of contemporary Chinese music. The reformers from the

May Fourth era generally believed that China could not control the invasion of Western culture

because of the weaknesses in its political, social and technological systems.7 The supporters of

the May Fourth Movement “praised the advantage of the West and imported a variety of Western

technologies, educational practices, and cultural institutions while condemning traditional

Chinese institutions and practice.”8 Chinese musical attitudes and tastes similarly shifted towards

an open acceptance of Western music.

Simultaneously, Chinese intellectuals began to dismantle some fundamental Confucianist

values,9 and promote a focus on science, technology and vernacular styles of writing.

International scholars such as John Dewey and Bertrand Russell were invited to visit and lecture

in Chinese institutions.10 John Dewey was an American educational philosopher who, upon

arrival in China in 1919, promoted his nationalist movement ideas to Chinese students with the

emphasis on “the importance of social bonds with national and transnational groups formed

through communication, give and take.”11 There were many magazines published that were filled

with discourses about culture and democracy. “Numerous magazines were published to stimulate

7 Peter Chang, Chou Wen-Chung: The Life and Work of a Contemporary Chinese-Born American Composer (Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2006), 180. 8 Lindsay Berg, Inventing Tradition: The Influence of Chou Wen-Chung’s Compositional Aesthetic and the Development of New Wave Composition, Master of Arts in History Thesis, University of Alberta, 2012.16. 9 Confucianism is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. With particular emphasis on the importance of the family and social harmony, rather than on an otherworldly source of spiritual values, the core of Confucianism is humanistic. 10 Ho, Westernization and Social Transformations, 297. 11 Leonard J. Waks, “Research note: John Dewey on Nationalism”, Temple University: Emeritus. Volume 1, no.2, Fall 2017,11.

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new thinking and democracy, and Chinese musicians introduced nationalism and the struggle for

‘democracy’ into their ‘new music’ by using Western compositional methods that seemed to

embrace new musical lifestyles.”12

Wang Guang-Qi, often considered to be the father of Chinese contemporary musicology,

insisted that Chinese music had been the result of “‘a thousand years of stagnation,’ and was a

tradition ‘at a standstill,’ defined primarily in terms of what it presumably lacked: a tempered

scale, functional harmony, counterpoint, orchestration, standardized notation and the engineering

prowess embodied by Western instruments like the piano.”13 The reformers from the May Fourth

era attempted to westernize Chinese music as they believed that it would transform something

old into a high-level, modern, international musical art.14 With this intention, in 1920 Xiao You-

Mei (萧友梅) established the Conservatory of Music at Peking University, and in 1927 he

established the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, which was the first Chinese music school that

was based on Western educational systems.15 Western theory, composition and orchestral

instruments were included in the curriculum and the faculty included many of the Chinese

musicians who had trained abroad in Germany or the United States. It also included a group of

European musicians, primarily Russians.16

12 Ho, Westernization and Social Transformations, 297. 13 Andrew F. Jones, Yellow Music: Media Culture and Colonial Modernity in the Chinese Jazz Age (London: Duke University Press, 2001), 25. 14 Jingzhi, Liu, A Critical History of New Music in China, translated by Caroline Mason. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2010, 13. 15 Berg, Inventing Tradition, 16. 16 Xin Guo, Chinese Musical Language Interpreted by Western Idioms: Fusion Process in the Instrumental Works by Chen Yi, DMA Diss., The Florida State University, 2002, 54.

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Plate 2: Xiao You Mei (1884-1940)17

As Chinese scholar Zhang Jin-Hong in 1966 described Chinese contemporary music in

Chinese Music Magazine (Yinyue yukan),

With the wide-ranging exchange of culture between China and other countries, Chinese contemporary music has become diversified in genre and individualized in expression and technique. Vocal music no longer holds a dominant position; there is an increased output of solo instrumental, chamber music, and orchestral works.18

Composer He Lu-Ting (贺绿汀) began composing in a wider range of Western genres

such as mixed chorus, instrumental solos, chamber music and orchestral works.19 His music

arranged existing Chinese melodies accompanied by Western musical principles, especially in

the use of harmonic song structures. For example, He Luting’s piano solo The Cowherd’s Flute

has a “Chinese melody in pentatonic modes and is successfully integrated with Western

counterpoint techniques and ternary form.”20

17 Contemporary Chinese Shortstories (Dang Dai Hua Wen Zhong Duan Pian Xiao Shuo), http://www.chinese-shortstories.com/Auteurs_de_a_z_Cai_Yuanpei.htm (accessed 13 February 2020). 18 Liu, A Critical History of New Music in China, 26. 19 Guo, Chinese Musical Language, 54. 20 Ibid.

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Example 1: He Lu-Ting Beginning of The Cowherd’s Flute

Plate 3: He Lu-Ting (1903–1999)21

In the beginning of the 1930s, Chinese composers began to create new musical

integrations by using Chinese tunes with Western harmony, instrumentation, orchestration and

21 He Luting, Baidu Baike, https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%B4%BA%E7%BB%BF%E6%B1%80/464891 (accessed 4 February 2020).

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composition trends based on European Classical styles.22 For instance, Nie Er (聂耳)’s March of

the Volunteers (see Example 2) was selected as the national anthem of PRC and it starts with a

Western-style military march rhythm and the melody gradually becomes more Chinese character

with a pentatonic scale, varying phrase lengths and different rhythmic patterns.23 Xian Xing-Hai

(冼星海)’s Yellow River Cantata found favour internationally by combining Chinese melodic

materials with Western music.24 Zhao Yuan-Ren (赵元任) uses Western music compositional

technique and absorbs traditional Chinese music. His famous song How can I stop thinking of

him has elements of traditional Chinese opera arias and also incorporates the German Lieder

structure, which employed standard 19th century Western compositional techniques including

harmony and musical form.25

Example 2: Nie Er March of the Volunteers

22 Charles E. Hamm, “Music and Radio in the People’s Republic of China,” Asian Music 22, no. 2 (1991): 8–9. 23 Ho, Westernization and Social Transformations, 299. 24 Ho, Westernization and Social Transformations, 300. 25 Ho, Westernization and Social Transformations, 300.

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Plate 4: Nie Er (1912–1935)26

1.2.2 The period between the Establishment of PRC and the beginning of the Cultural Revolution (1949–1966)

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, officially-sanctioned music

in China was primarily produced to serve revolutionary or nationalistic purposes, with lyrics

focused on celebrating Chairman Mao or the Communist Party of China. “Chinese composers’

exposure to modern music was restricted to only Soviet Union composers.”27 Therefore, Chinese

composers were compelled to compose ideological works employing folk, nationalist and ethnic

materials that also reflected European styles and musical techniques of the nineteenth century.28

Isabel Wong describes these uninventive approaches as deficient, stating:

During the Maoist era, little musical development occurred and “revolutionary songs,” or geming gequ, became the defining musical medium. Derived from Soviet mass music, geming gequ were dominated by march rhythms, orchestral effects, and choral singing. Their texts were written in easily comprehensible vernacular and were intended to familiarize the masses with government policies and to motivate them to support the realization of these policies.29

This kind of revolutionary musical production was the primary monoculture until the late 1970s.

26 Nie Er, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nie_Er (accessed 14 February 2020). 27 Wen-Chung Chou, “Whither Chinese Composers?” Contemporary Music Review 26, no. 5/6 (2007): 506. 28 Ibid. 29 Isabel K.F Wong, “Geming gequ” In Popular Chinese Culture and Performing Arts in the People’s Republic of China, 1949–1979, edited by Bonnie McDougall, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984,112.

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Example 3: Revolutionary Song Oriental Red

In 1950, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing was founded and other

conservatories and music departments within universities across China were founded thereafter.

This development included establishing “schools of music, symphony orchestras, opera houses,

ballet theatres, music publishers, scholarly books, journals, and other printed materials, at a

whirlwind pace”.30 However, with China following the Soviet Union’s lead, the government’s

control of musical education followed the Soviet model and study was limited to learning

Western classical and romantic music. Students were also encouraged to go to the countryside to

experience rural life and collect folk songs as original musical materials.31

The composers during this period were similarly influenced by Soviet music and culture,

and explored different genre of Western music such as concertos, symphonies, ballet music. The

30 Berg, Inventing Tradition, 12. 31 Peter Chang, Chou Wen-Chung, 54.

12

examples include On the Soil of the Fatherland (1957) by Wu Zu-Qiang (吴祖强), Festival

Overture (1958) by Du Ming-Xin (杜鸣心)，The Long March Symphony (1959-1962) by Ding

Shan-De (丁善德)，Second Symphony “Immortality through Raging Fire”(1964) by Luo

Zhong-Rong (罗忠容). 32

However, not all compositions after 1949 simply combined Chinese tunes with Western

harmonies and counterpoint. For instance, Sang Tong (桑桐)’s Mongolian Folk Songs (1953),

Caprice (1959) combined twelve-tone serial techniques with Chinese melody. Compared with

the earlier mixtures of Chinese and Western music from the previous period (1911–1949), his

compositions stand out as unique attempts at establishing a stronger middle ground for musical

synthesis.33

Example 4: Song Tong Evening Scene

32 Guo, Chinese Musical Language, 60. 33 Berg, Inventing Tradition, 12.

13

Plate 5: Sang Tong (1923-2011)34

1.2.3 The Cultural Revolution (1966–1976)

The growing musical exchange between China and the West was interrupted by the Cultural

Revolution (1966–1976). Almost all music departments were banned. The professors and

students from conservatories and music departments were relocated to the countryside to live

with peasants and serve as laborers, rendering all intellectual and creative pursuits suspect.

Music learning had to be conducted without any external resources or influence.35 Amateur and

folk music became much more important than international and professional aspirations.

During the Cultural Revolution, perhaps the most famous music example of cultural

propaganda is the invention of the Model Opera. Model Operas, also termed Yang-Ban-Xi, are

based on Peking Opera. Preserved in Model Operas are some characteristics of Peking Opera:

the traditional four role types and performance conventions like heightened tonal theatrical

34 Sang Tong, Baidu Baike, https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%A1%91%E6%A1%90/5724406?fr=aladdin (accessed 14 February 2020). 35 Guo, Chinese Musical Language, 62.

14

speech, singing and dance forms. However, the mythological and fantasy elements of traditional

Peking Opera are replaced in Model Opera with narratives based on party-related parables from

contemporary political life. Standard and familiar Peking repertoire arias were repurposed with

new lyrics to convey the political ambitions of the ruling party. This type of opera served as a

vehicle for propaganda most significantly under the direction of Jiang Qing (Madame Mao).

During this period, clear party-centric political messages and lessons moving the reassembled

opera narratives forward were promoted. There are only Eight Model Operas that could be heard

during the Cultural Revolution: The Legend of the Red Lantern, Shajiabang, Taking Tiger

Mountain by Strategy, Raid on the White Tiger Regiment, On the Docks, Red Detachment of

Women, The White-Haired Girl and Shajiabang the Symphony. These operas abandoned the

“emperors, kings, generals, chancellors, maidens, and beauties” from the traditional Peking opera

and only told the stories from Chinese revolutionary struggles.36

The principle of model opera is “three prominences”, which was used to promote the

hero’s positive feature. The typical work of model opera is Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy

(see example 5); as Nancy Yunhwa Rao notes, “After the approval of [this] model opera, a work

spearheaded with a score for a Chinese-Western mixed orchestra, subsequent works took up the

same form of orchestration.”37 As a musical theatricalization of the political, model operas

combine Chinese operatic practices, traditional vocal genres and Western symphonic traditions.38

36 Barbara Mittler, ""Eight Stage Works for 800 Million People": The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in Music — A View from Revolutionary Opera." The Opera Quarterly 26, no. 2 (2010): 377. 37 Nancy Yunhwa Rao, “Chinese Opera Percussion from Model Opera to Tan Dun” in China and West: music, representation, and reception, edited by Hon-Lun Yang and Michael Saffle. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2017, 166. 38 Ibid.

15

Plate 6: Peking Opera Mu Gui Ying Takes Command 39

Plate 7: Revolutionary Opera The Red Detachment of Women40

39 Peking Opera, Mu Gui Ying Takes Command, Entertainment Sina, http://ent.sina.com.cn/j/2011-01-11/10493203655.shtml (accessed 14 February 2020). 40 Revolutionary Opera, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary opera (accessed 14 February 2020).

16

Example 5: A page from Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy41

41Rao, “Chinese Opera Percussion,” 166.

17

Rao further points out that

Although model operas were created as political propaganda and glorified revolutionary heroes, their genesis was anything but straightforward. Rather than being hastily and cheaply put together by lesser talents, they were created collaboratively by large numbers of highly regarded musicians, including singers and instrumentalists associated with the Beijing opera, scholars and practitioners of folk genres, and composers versed in nineteenth-century European music traditions, as well as scriptwriters, stage directors, and dancers. Melodies, musical characterizations, dramatic sequences, orchestral scoring, and so on followed formulas ordained by officials at various levels.42

Although the official musical culture from this period was under political restrictions,

Chinese composers gained opportunities to explore and rediscover Chinese musical traditions

more seriously. The interaction between Chinese and Western music still existed, with Soviet

musical elements which rely on Western functional harmony and forms being combined with

Chinese folk melodies. On the one hand musicians focused on the cultural and artistic content of

Chinese music, on the other hand, this focus was through the lens of Western music conventions

which then further blended into Chinese music and became an inseparable component.43

1.2.4 The Post-Cultural Revolution Era (1976–)

The Cultural Revolution ended when the new policies of “open door” to the West were

implemented. The Model Opera focus ended and the conservatories reopened. Many

composition students were accepted to study at the conservatories and began to create new music

with a greater hybridity. As had been the case with the May Fourth Movement, there was a

strong creative thrust towards modernizing with Western musical conventions. Many foreign

musicians and composers such as Alexander Goehr, George Crumb, Chou Wen-Chung and Toru

Takemitsu were invited to give lectures about contemporary compositional techniques in

Chinese conservatories.

42 Rao, “Chinese Opera Percussion,” 166. 43 Guo, Chinese Musical Language, 76.

18

An important figure in this post-revolution musical identity was the Chinese-American

composer, Chou Wen-Chung (周文中). Thanks to his extensive involvement with this then-

young generation and the developing musical life of Chinese conservatories, Chou became a

leading influence. Arriving in Beijing in 1977, Chou was ideally positioned for providing what

would become the most influential and successful generation of composers with a much-needed

modernist direction. Chou also shared his highly abstract modernist compositional techniques

and aesthetic principles of individuality, and this influenced the nature of this burgeoning

intercultural synthesis. This movement is now known as xinchao or New Wave. The most

prominent composers from the New Wave include Tan Dun (谭盾), Chen Yi (陈怡), Zhou Long

(周龙), Bright Sheng (盛宗亮), Qu Xiao-Song (瞿小松), Ye Xiao-Gang (叶小纲) and Guo

Wen-Jing (郭文璟).

As Jing-Zhi Liu notes, New Wave compositions feature “the use of traditional Chinese

and Western avant-garde musical elements and compositional techniques, including the mixing

of Chinese and Western instruments to create unique combinations of instrumentation,

developing new sources of sound and tone color, utilizing non-standard rhythms, and

incorporating Western harmonic languages and musical styles, including dodecaphonic music,

noise music, minimalistic music, electronic music, and many others.”44

Barbara Miller, the German sinologist has observed that New Wave composers are

creating works that resonate with the classical notion of chinoiserie. Chou Wen-Chung describes

“compositional chinoiserie as analogous to eighteenth century chinoiserie export wares, with

44 Jingzhi Liu, A Critical History of New Music, 54.

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their juxtaposition of quaint decorations borrowed from both East and West”.45 This is reflected

by New Wave composers incorporating some popular modern styles, such as neo-romanticism or

minimalism adapted for Chinese instruments. For instance, “Zhou Long’s Dong Shi Xiaopin

(Dong Shi knits her brows) shows traces of the early modernist compositional styles, particularly

Stravinsky; Chen Yi’s Strings and Percussion is very reminiscent of Stravinsky’s Petrouchka,

Guo Wen-Jing’s Chuan diao (Sichuan tune) is reminiscent of Prokofiev’s work; and Tan Dun’s

works display a pentatonic romanticist style, and also using both Western Renaissance music and

Chinese folk music in his opera Marco Polo.”46 These works are characterized by a clear

presence of Western musical techniques combined with Chinese melodies and instruments.

1.3 Chou Wen-Chung and Chinese New Wave

1.3.1 Chou Wen-Chung and His Views on Influence vs Confluence

Chou Wen-Chung was born in China's Shandong province on July 28, 1923 and died in New

York City on October 25, 2019. He grew up in a traditional Chinese intellectual family. At the

age of twelve, Chou began to study the erhu (a two-stringed bowed instrument), xiao (a vertical

flute) and the qin (a seven-string zither).47 During the study of these instruments, the qin’s unique

artistic aesthetic had the strongest impression on him. He also began to learn Chinese classical

poetry and calligraphy and to read Chinese classics. These experiences find a unique form of

expression in Chou’s music.48

45 Berg, Inventing Tradition, 36. 46 Barbara Mittler, Dangerous Tunes: The Politics of Chinese Music in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the People’s Republic of China since 1949. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1997, 149. 47 Peter Chang, “Chou Wen-Chung's Cross-Cultural Experience and His Musical Synthesis: The Concept of Syncretism Revisited”, Asian Music 32, no.2 (2001): 93–118. 48 Chang, “Chou Wen-Chung’s Cross-Cultural Experience,” 110.

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Plate 8: Chou Wen-Chung (1923–2019)49

When Chou completed high school, he taught part-time at the Shanghai Music School.

While working there, he determined to go abroad to pursue further instruction. In 1946, Chou

went to the United States and auditioned for the New England Conservatory. Although he was

accepted in violin performance, he quickly changed his major to composition. During his three

years of study there on a Carr Scholarship, he studied composition with Carl McKinley and

Nicolas Slonimsky.50

In 1949, Chou went to New York and began to study composition with Bohuslav Martinů

and this is the first time that Chou formalized his examination of the possibilities for the fusion

of Chinese and Western music traditions. During his time in New York, Chou was introduced to

the composer Edgard Varèse and had private composition studies with him from 1949 to 1954.

Chou’s artistic aesthetic was deeply influenced by Varèse’s stark modernism, and Chou

49 Streams and Echoes, Columbia Magazine, Columbia University, https://magazine.columbia.edu/issues/fall-2014 (accessed 14 February 2020). 50 Peter Chang, “Chou Wen-Chung's Cross-Cultural Experience”, 111.

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redirected his compositional approach by finding a path towards the synthesis of modernist

Western and Eastern sounds.51

In the 1950s Chou continued his studies with Edgard Varèse and became a scholar of his

work. This influenced Chou, who created his own insights and methodology based on modernist

techniques and atonal approaches. Chou’s compositional approach combines Chinese traditional

sounds, timbres and tempi with Western contemporary classical techniques. He formed a

sophisticated synthesis in the level of philosophy and artistic aesthetics of musical expression

that extended beyond just melody or stylistic influence.52

In an interview, while talking about the fusion of cultures, Chou points out that

“composing or being an artist has no meaning unless you are part of cultural flow, the historical

motion. You have to think of the future as well as the past.”53 This notion of flow exemplifies his

sophisticated notion of exchange between Western music and Chinese sensibilities. Chou’s

heritage, such as qin playing and wernren (Chinese literature), and other Chinese artistic

traditions, combined with the concept of “sound as living matter” from Varèse’s sonic

explorations, creating an innovative compositional approach which referred to as a “re-merger”

and musical “confluence”.54

Chou became the first “pivotal figure in the establishing of a successful and sophisticated

cross-cultural synthesis between Chinese and Western music traditions.”55 On one hand, he

51 Berg, Inventing Tradition, 7. 52 Berg, Inventing Tradition, 45. 53 Preston Wright, “An interview with Chou Wen Chung” in American Mavericks. American Public Media, with Philip Blackburn, American Composers Forum, July 2002, http://musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/interview_chung.html (accessed 13 July 2019). 54 Berg, Inventing Tradition, 45. 55 Berg, Inventing Tradition, 16.

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learned Western compositional techniques of exploration and individual creativity with musical

educational experiences in the United States; on the other hand, he rediscovered his Chinese

roots by educating himself to understand the unique performance practice and philosophies of

qin and the artistic aesthetics of wenren.56

During the International Music Symposium in Manila in 1966, Chou described his

concept of integration, called “re-merger”. He declared in his article East and West, Old and New

that “by ‘re-merger’ I mean that I believe the traditions of Eastern and Western music once

shared the same sources and that, after a thousand years of divergence, they are now merging to

form the mainstream of a new musical tradition.”57

In clarifying this notion of re-merger, he contends that it does not mean that musical

traditions will create a musical homogeneity. Rather, the cultural diversity of music traditions

should be increased rather than lessened by this process.58

I hope that we don’t have just one language. I love French. I love German. I love the sound of it; I hope that the languages and literatures will be retained. The same thing with music—you have a world spirit and we have a worldwide understanding of a worldwide ability to appreciate music or to exchange information … I hope that there will be a kind of universality in the music of the future, but nonetheless, that the beauties of individual cultural traditions will not be lost.59

On the basis of his “re-merger”, Chou further declared that contemporary integration of

Western and Chinese musical systems is actually a form of “confluence” rather than influence.

His view of “confluence” posits that the relationship of interaction and influence between

56 Berg, Inventing Tradition, 16. 57 Wen-Chung Chou, “East and West, Old and New.” Asian Music (University of Texas), 1968–1969: 19. 58 Berg, Inventing Tradition, 51. 59 Bruce Duffie, Composer Chou Wen-Chung, A Conversation with Bruch Duffie, http://www.bruceduffie.com/chou2.html. (accessed 17 July 2019).

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Western and Eastern musical systems is inevitable.60 Chou also pointed out that it is necessary to

believe that Eastern musical traditions have the same important foundational role as Western

musical traditions and further explains that both Eastern and Western traditions are progressing

as living traditions into the present. In defining the difference between influence and confluence,

he argues that rather than a single music culture influencing another, both Western and Eastern

composers are actively involved in contributing to the “confluence” of both music cultures.61

In Chou’s article Asian Influence on Western Music: Influence or Confluence he explains

that he was “more concerned about how the basic concepts and practices of Asian music

gradually and unobtrusively integrate into the mainstream of Western contemporary music and

how Eastern composers can reinvigorate and change them by evolving their own style.”62 He

expressed that there should be less talk about influence and more of a focus on “confluence”,

which prescribes inevitable mutual or reciprocal actions and influences.63

1.3.2 Chou Wen-Chung’s Contribution and Chinese New Wave

During visits to the reopened music conservatories after the Cultural Revolution, Chou

frequently discussed a “focus on the concept of musical sound, not only as a medium for artistic

expression, but also as a physical phenomenon that extends beyond cultural boundaries.”64 He

also tried to transform his creative role by spreading his compositional philosophies and artistic

aesthetics. Chou promoted timely and necessary artistic openness and cross-cultural connection

strategies for many post-Cultural Revolution Chinese composers.

60 Wen-Chung Chou, “Asian and Western Music: Influence or Confluence.” Asian Culture Quarterly 5, no. 4 (1977): 217. 61 Ibid. 62 Chou, “Asian and Western Music,” 218. 63 Ibid. 64 Hsieh, Hsien-Fang. The influences of Eastern and Western Music in Chen Yi’s “Percussion Concerto”. DMA Diss., University of Miami, 2016, 3.

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During the initial visiting scholar trips back to China beginning in 1972, Chou decided

that there should be a dialogue between Chinese and Western composers to improve and advance

individualistic modern composition education and address the inequities within the shadow of

the Cultural Revolution, stating:

Since they have been unable to read or study, Chinese artists tend to be a bit superficial; there’s no way for them to be selective. They are really copying other people and they think that they are being very genuine and original. We feel that it is important for them to be more intellectual about it.65

To this end, Chou eventually served on the board of the National Committee on US-China

Relations from 1977 to 1980 for arts exchanges.66

In 1978, Chou visited the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and with lectures and

demonstrations and composition lessons, helped to inform the course of contemporary Chinese

music through creative advocacy for confluence. In the same year, with the support of the

Central Conservatory of Music, Chou finally established the Center for U.S-China Arts

Exchange to “support Chinese intellectuals and artists, so that they regain their historical position

as leaders of society. In order to do that, they must modernize themselves.”67

The mission of the Center also included educating Western artists in understanding

Chinese cultural histories and artistic mentalities, and how these aspects can play an important

role in developing Western contemporary music culture.68 Chou was devoted to artistic

exchanges and musical communication between Chinese Conservatories of Music and Columbia

65 Duffie, Composer Chou Wen-Chung. 66 Chou Wen-Chung, “‘Other Professional Activities,’ in Chou Wen-Chung’s curriculum vitae,” https://chouwenchung.org/about/biography/. (accessed 30 July 2019). 67 Duffie, Composer Chou Wen-Chung. 68 Duffie, Composer Chou Wen-Chung.

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University as it was the only “bridge agency” between the two nations at that time.69

Significantly, the Center was also characterized by the exchange of other music materials that

included many Western music scores and recordings, and the establishment of a reciprocal

visiting artist lecture series that included teachers, artists, performers and theorists.70 With

Chou’s leadership, the Center eventually supported larger cultural exchanges, with touring

theatre productions and documentary films including a production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a

Salesman and the production of the documentary, From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China

(1981).71

Furthermore, at the beginning of the 1980s, Chou invited a series of Chinese composers

to study with him at Columbia University. He points out that he wanted to help young talent

develop their individuality as artists, “Especially someone like Tan Dun. I recognized their

talents, so I brought them out one by one.”72 According to Chou, he had the singular opportunity

for creating music exchanges, and he applied for funding for these Chinese composers and

sometimes even contributed his own personal funds for them.73 The most famous of this new

generation of composers who were Chou Wen-Chung’s doctoral students including Chen Yi,

Zhou Long, Bright Sheng, and Tan Dun.74

Edward Green, in his introduction China and the West – The Birth of a New Music, states

that New Wave music is “an emerging style of music that, while arising from the meeting of

China and the West, is far more than just a superficial mingling of the two. It is a new thing

69 David Ewen, American Composers A Biographical Dictionary (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1982), 130. 70 Berg, Inventing Tradition, 74. 71 Ibid. 72 Wright, “An interview with Chou Wen Chung”. 73 Ibid. 74 It is significant that the innovative artistic exchange has been created through Columbia University, because Columbia has a history of unique and supportive relationships with Chinese intellectuals. From the early 20th century onwards, Columbia has had a significant hand in inspiring and educating a host of Chinese intellectuals, many of which would go on to become prominent and influential leaders in Republican China.

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entirely: a child of both cultures.”75 Green also predicted that the New Wave would become a

tradition in the future.76 The New Wave’s international and commercial success indicates that

their works are important to the contemporary music scene and have extended into film music as

well as mainstream orchestra repertoire.

Almost all New Wave composers started to use instruments or sounds from Chinese

traditional music, such as classical court and folk music, in their new experimental compositions,

providing a fresh look at Chinese traditions through notions of timbre or dissonance. Many of

them rediscovered other aspects of Chinese music in their personal compositional development.

For example, composer Zhou Long was the first to write many “modern” chamber pieces in a

traditional Western composition style while including Chinese instruments.77

It is important to point out that the influences of Chinese culture were not limited to

music quotes and instruments inclusion but involved deeper more complex sensibilities about

space, light, depictions of nature and drama. In later New Wave works, some composers were

inspired by ancient Chinese sources of literature and philosophy such as the poetry of the Sui and

Tang dynasties and the magical stories of ancient philosopher Chuang Tzu and other

philosophers. 78

According to ethnomusicologist Bruno Nettl in his article “Cultural Grey-out,” non-

Western music has changed in many ways under the influence of the West. He explains these

changes as survival strategies, attempts to develop the music but at the same time keep its ethnic

75 Edward Green, “China and the West—The Birth of a New Music,” in Contemporary Music Review 26, no. 5/6 (2007): 493–494. 76 Green, “China and the West,” 495. 77 Frank Kouwenhoven, “Composer Tan Dun: the Ritual Fire Dancer of Mainland China's New Music,” China Information 6, no. 3 (1991): 1–24. 78 Kouwenhoven, “Composer Tan Dun”, 2.

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identity. There are significant cultural differences between East and West, and he suggests

striking a balance between tradition and innovation.79 This change of music expression was a

response to Western music education, but significantly, these composers retained essential

traditional Chinese qualities by looking to their past with innovative contemporary techniques,

and this confluence informed each of their own styles in different ways.80

The cultural practices that influenced the New Wave include Chinese philosophy

(Confucianism, Taoism), Chinese folk song (shange, haozi), Chinese instruments (qin, erhu),

calligraphy (xingshu-running), poetry and painting. Beyond these influences, more complex

notions of sound, color, ritual and space, including the use of organic materials (reflected in

music as sounds of earth, metal, wood, fire, paper and water), became important.

New Wave composers rapidly developed their compositional techniques to achieve an

individualized compositional synthesis. They garnered praise from international critics partially

because they reflected the significant compositional and confluence concepts of Chou Wen-

Chung. Addressing the impact of Chou’s idea of confluence on the New Wave, the musicologist

Liu Jing-Zhi describes the effects of this focus on individuality and identity:

Individual style, the essential quality that characterizes the New Wave, is the very factor that prevents the New Wave from fully embracing Chou Wen-Chung’s compositional techniques and artistic aesthetic. Composer Chen Qi-Gang believes that, the most essential step we need to take, if we want to establish a genuine modern Chinese culture, is to establish individual styles. These should not be Xian Xing-Hai’s style, or Tan Dun’s—every composer should have a style of his/her own. This, as everyone knows, is actually very very hard to achieve.81

79 Bruno Nettl, “Cultural Grey-Out,” The Study of Ethnomusicology—Twenty-nine Issues and Concepts (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1983), 48. 80 Hsieh, The influences of Eastern and Western, 10. 81 Liu, A Critical History of New Music in China , 540.

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The New Wave Generation of composers were described as “a rising generation whose

compositions are a phenomenon and truly unprecedented in the musical life of contemporary

Chinese—or even in the history of modern music in China.”82 In addition, the American

composer James L. McHard explains that “the incorporation of borrowed materials that are

developed over a long term is neither original nor irresponsible”.83 Many artists feel they have a

responsibility to pursue innovation, to become leaders and teachers, and to inspire the public to

explore the unknown areas in our world.84 By finding their own individual voices, New Wave

composers have been recognized and widely acclaimed for their international success in

composition through synthesis and contemporary innovation.

82 Liu, A Critical History of New Music in China, 542. 83 James L. McHard, The Future of Modern Music: A Philosophical Exploration of Modernist Music in the 20th Century and Beyond (Livonia, Michigan: Iconic Press, 2008), 290. 84 Berg, Inventing Tradition, 84.

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Chapter 2 Tan Dun and Elegy: Snow in June

In 1991, Chinese New Wave composer Tan Dun composed a work titled Elegy: Snow in June in

the form of a concerto piece for solo cello with percussion quartet. His composition is positioned

at the junction of contemporary music, traditional Chinese cultural references and a classical

theatre narrative. It is also an example of an informed “confluence” of Eastern and Western

elements. While including Western contemporary musical features in the work, Tan also holds

onto traditional Chinese musical characteristics and dramatic sensibilities. By using traditional

Chinese musical materials (e.g., rhythmic cells borrowed from traditional drama and pentatonic

melodies) and a combination of Western and Chinese instruments as a basis for composition,

Tan created a successful work.

This chapter will examine the composer Tan Dun and his work Elegy: Snow in June.

First, I will discuss his life with a focus on his musical experiences from his childhood and his

rural life during the Cultural Revolution. These two periods of his life are the most important

factors in the formation of his musical identity and compositional style, and also for defining his

concept of “organic music”. Second, I will provide an interpretive analysis to examine the

original story behind the title Snow in June and how Tan re-contextualized this legendary play in

his composition. Finally, I will look closely at cello specific technical challenges and provide

examples of musical quotations included in the work to demonstrate the notion of confluence.

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2.1 Tan Dun

2.1.1 Biography

Tan Dun was born in China’s Hunan Province, which is a landlocked province in central China.

In the course of his career, his music has reached Western and Chinese audiences and he has

established himself as “a key innovator in twentieth-century Asian music.”85 His unique artistic

qualities emerged from a complex set of musical circumstances during a kind of renaissance in

post-Cultural Revolution China. International audiences in Paris, New York, Berlin, Chicago,

Moscow, Amsterdam and London were all impressed by Tan’s vibrant, innovative music.86 In

1986, he arrived in New York, and quickly became the leading representative of the New Wave

Chinese composers. Among his many musical ideas is a “back to nature” theme, as his works

often evoke “primeval rituals, dances around a totem pole, eerie sounds of cave-dwellers, monks

and ghosts, but translated into a contemporary orchestral idiom.”87 His musical language includes

many juxtapositions and intertwines folk-like improvisations with seemingly incongruous

twentieth-century Western compositional techniques. Due to his combinations with folk ritual

and Chinese mysticism, he has been called the “snake charmer or the ritual fire dancer of the new

Chinese music.”88

Tan spent most of his early childhood in the countryside, living a rural life in a small

village. Significant to Tan as an artist, peasants often performed ritual music tied to occasions

85 Kouwenhoven, Frank. “Composer Tan Dun: the Ritual Fire Dancer of Mainland China's New Music.” China Information 6, no. 3 (1991): 1. The author is a music journalist and secretary of the European Foundation of Chinese Music Research (CHIME). He began to collect folk songs in the Chinese countryside in 1987, and studied for some time at the Shanghai Conservatory in 1988–89. He wrote a book about contemporary music in the People’s Republic of China. He has published many articles on new Chinese music in the English-language biannual journal CHIME (Leiden), and some excerpts of his previous articles have been incorporated in the article. 86 Ibid. 87 Kouwenhoven, “Composer Tan Dun”, 2 88 Ibid.

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such as the building of a house, walking long distances, and manual labour, or to mark births,

marriages and funerals.89 These memories are evident in his mature compositions that create

unique versions of such ritual folk songs and ballads.

During the Cultural Revolution, Tan Dun was relocated to Hunan countryside to “learn

from the peasants.” He became the local stage director and inspired local villagers to perform

their own folk operas and songs.90 The lively musical cultural experiences in the Hunan

countryside helped Tan Dun to develop as an artist. Tan began to focus on “the potential of folk

music” and “the musical implication of speech and language.”91 Moreover, the countryside

musical experience provided the foundation for his skill as a composer in dealing with ritual

chant and the human voice. When the Cultural Revolution ended, he went to Beijing to attend the

re-opened Central Conservatory of Music to study composition formally.

During this period of study, he focused on Western classical music. The Hunan folk

music he knew had not become a part of his musical vision yet. He wrote piano and chamber

works that echoed Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt. Writing in this style, his talent became

apparent, especially in 1979, when at a music competition held by Central Conservatory of

Music, he received both first and second prize for two of his compositions. In the same year, he

began composing his first symphony titled Li Sao, completing it in 1980. Kouwenhoven notes

that although this piece contained “many Chinese ditties, Chinese accelerations of rhythm, a lot

of theatrical rumpus, impulsive gestures, and perhaps a somewhat nonchalant form, it was less

imitative, technically more advanced, and more personal than any of the conventionally romantic

89 Kowenhoven, “Composer Tan Dun”, 3. 90 Joanna Lee, “A Language of His Own: The Music of Tan Dun,” in Artention (New York), No. 10, Jan/Feb. 1990, 20–23. 91 Kouwenhoven, “Composer Tan Dun”, 3.

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symphonies of the older generation.”92 It was the first sign of a new direction of musical

evolution in China.

In 1982, Chou Wen-Chung invited Tan Dun to study in the United States. He was refused

permission to go abroad as he had to first complete his bachelor’s degree. Finally, he arrived two

years later. During these two pivotal years, Tan reconnected meaningfully with his early musical

and cultural experiences but also with Chinese culture more broadly. He began to draw on “not

only its classical poetry and philosophy, but also the rituals, tribal life that existed in China many

centuries before the philosopher Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu had emerged.”93 He re-evaluated his

musical direction and composed what is considered to be his first mature work, On Taoism,

which created a sensation in many Western music centres. This is a significant milestone on the

path to his eventual idea about Chou Wen-Chung’s concept of confluence of cultures. In a later

interview regarding his initially denied travel permit, he claims that, “If I had left China in 1982,

I would perhaps not have become the Tan Dun who I am today. I would have become a copy of

an American composer instead.”94

During these last two years in Beijing, Tan discovered his own voice and created a new

language based on his rural Chinese experiences combined with his knowledge of Western

music. In the process of envisioning the confluence of East and West in his music, Tan

discovered dichotomies which cannot be easily resolved. In his On Taoism, he wanted to use a

mixed vocabulary of Chinese and contemporary Western idioms to express a musical world that

is essentially Chinese, but the aesthetic difference between the two seemed significant to Tan

92 Kowenhoven, “Composer Tan Dun”, 4. 93 Kowenhoven, “Composer Tan Dun”, 12. 94 Ibid.

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himself. Remarking on this, he admits the he “was basically looking for a musical language with

which ‘both Chinese and Westerners would feel comfortable.’”95

Tan Dun finally arrived in New York in 1986. In September of the same year, he started

his Doctor of Musical Arts degree with a scholarship under Mario Davidovsky and Chou Wen-

Chung. When the Beijing Central Philharmonic Orchestra had a tour to the United States in late

1987, they performed On Taoism in New York, Chicago, Washington and San Francisco, and the

audience response was overwhelmingly positive.96

2.1.2 Organic Music

Three documentaries helped to introduce Tan Dun to American and European audiences a

decade after he arrived in the West. The earliest one is Soundshape: Works & Process, a co-

production between BBC Scotland and the Guggenheim Museum in New York (1990), which

contains interviews with Tan and captures aspects of his personality.97 In it, he explains the

concept of his “organic” music and also carefully discusses his desire to express “West” and

“East” equally and he argues that “although there was still a long way to go, both ‘Easterners’

and ‘Westerners’ have gradually developed more open minds, and that the 1980s represented, for

the first time, the possibility of a true East-West meeting.” 98

In the film, Tan Dun claims that his compositions feature not only Chinese or Western

elements, but also that he was influenced by Chinese ritual music, Indian, South American, and

even medieval European music. Even with different influences guiding Tan’s compositions, his

95 Kowenhoven, “Composer Tan Dun”, 13. 96 Kowenhoven, “Composer Tan Dun”, 15–17. 97 Eric,Hung, Tan Dun Through the Lens of Western Media. Vol. 67. 3 vols. Music Library Association, 2011, 603. 98 Hung, Tan Dun, 603.

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childhood experiences are undeniably significant.99 In one telling scene of the film, Tan visits a

Taoist temple, opens the doors and finds bells, drums etc. In his childhood, the temple was a

place for performing operas, funerals and weddings with music ensembles. Tan discussed how

Taoist thought has influenced his identity and philosophy and how he repeatedly borrowed from

Taoist ritual elements in his operatic and theatrical compositions. In addition, he cites the folk

music that influenced him during his childhood. Tan’s music after his On Taoism (1982) is

largely based on the folk culture of his childhood. 100

In another documentary entitled Water: The Tears of Nature, Tan states “Organic music

is natural sounds and human voices combined as one”101 (Water: The Tears of Nature, 6:30). He

also describes how he heard folk songs in the village and describes how beautiful it is that the

singers “are from nature, and living in it, and singing of it. Here, life is music, and music is

life”102 (7:08). In addition, he expresses concern that the loss of humanity and nature has led to

the destruction of nature and folk traditions.

In describing the thematic concepts behind his works in Water: The Tears of Nature, Tan

laments that “Right now, I feel that water is tears: tears of nature. Every time when I travel

around, I find it’s very difficult to find clean water. Everywhere is polluted, almost, so I feel it is

hard to sing with my music. I remember as a child … I always felt that water is transparent.

Water is so clean and the sound is so terrific”103 (8:30). In another documentary entitled Paper:

The Song of Nature, Tan complains that “you can no longer find paper or water music in our

99 Hung, Tan Dun, 605. 100 Ibid. 101 Tan Dun, Water Concerto. DVD. Tan Dun / Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Directed by Helen Elmquist. Waldron, Heathfield, East Sussex: Opus Arte, 2009, 2007. OA1014D. 102 Ibid. 103 Ibid.

35

village because the younger generation has no idea what their great grandmother, great

grandfather did”104 (Paper: The Song of Nature, 1:30). Speaking of his work and these concepts

further, he enigmatically states, “I think the only way to expand tradition is to do it with your

own creation. To play with it and to let it burn our spirits again. Let tradition become the most

powerful engine for our inspirations”105 (1:47). He finally clarifies his creative approach as a

“theory, which has been my major practice recently, not just visual and aural, not just organic

and orchestral, or not just east and west, or inside and outside, or old and new, or past and future,

but all of those, technically to figure how 1+1=1, but not=2”106 (Water: The Tears of Nature,

2:46).

In other words, Tan believes that his task as a composer is not looking for new skills and

sounds, but in some way to embrace traditional techniques and sounds to rediscover the unity he

sees between humans and nature. He asserts the process is “very, very tricky and difficult, and

very, very personal, of course” (3:15).

Tan Dun’s music emerged from his rural life experiences but was forged by his advanced

study and life experiences in New York. His musical imagination remains fixated on nature.

Water, paper, rocks, stones, anything can be used as his musical material. His musical idea of

“1+1=1, but not=2” is not so much a fusion of the East and the West, but rather an individualistic

expression that resolves the inner dualities within both of East and West.

104 Tan Dun, Paper Concerto. DVD. Tan Dun / Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Directed by Helen Elmquist. Waldron, Heathfield, East Sussex: Opus Arte, 2009, 2007. OA1013D. 105 Ibid. 106 Tan, Water Concerto.

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2.2 Interpretative Analysis of Elegy: Snow in June

The title of Tan Dun’s Snow in June is borrowed from a scene in a Chinese Classic play (Yuan

drama) titled Injustice to Dou E, which was written by Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368) playwright

Guan Han-Ching (c.1241–1320).107 By using traditional Chinese musical materials and a

combination of Western and Chinese instruments, Tan melds forms of expression into a music

embedded with classical drama. Although an understanding of Chinese literature or Chinese

music is not a prerequisite to performing the work, by diving into Injustice to Dou E, one can

better understand how Chinese artists and literati have expressed their views through their

respective media. By drawing parallels between Yuan drama and Tan Dun’s composition, I will

demonstrate how the image of the drama connects to the music by an analysis of Snow in June in

order to better understand and thus interpret it.

Yuan drama was usually called Zaju, which was a form of Chinese opera that includes

acting, dialogue, singing, dancing and music, and was “heir to a complex artistic tradition

composed of many strands: fascination with storytelling, delight in poetry, concern for music,

and interest in acting and acrobatics.”108 Conventions of Yuan drama include a division into four

acts; each act has one song with ten lyrical verses, and each lyric is limited to one repeating

rhyming sound. The purpose of the dialogue between the lyrics is to move the plot forward. In

107 Guan Han-Ching is often referred to as and also called himself the “father of the Yuan Drama” and is widely considered to be one of the greatest playwrights of Chinese Classic Theatre. In Chinese history, Guan is highly praised as the “most prestigious” playwright; in contemporary views, he is known as China’s Shakespeare of the Yuan Dynasty. He wrote about 65 plays but only 15 complete works survived. The Injustice to Dou E is his most famous work. 108 Chung-Wen Shih, and Hanqing Guan. Injustice to Tou O (Tou O yu ̈an); a study and translation. Cambridge [England]: University Press.1972, 6.

37

addition, there is often a wedge placed in the beginning of a play or between two acts of a play to

add variety to the four-act structure.109

The structure of Injustice to Dou E is a typical Yuan drama with four acts and a wedge at

the beginning. The drama describes a child bride named Dou E who became widowed shortly

after her wedding. Later she is wrongly convicted of a crime committed by a rejected pursuer

named Donkey Zhang, and she is executed. After her death, there were three unusual divine

phenomena that proved her innocence, including her blood falling like rain but up into the sky, a

snowstorm in June, and a drought for three years. Her father finally becomes a government

official and brings about justice for his daughter. The story was repeatedly used and modified by

later playwrights, and adapted to Chinese opera, theatre, film and television series.110

Tan Dun’s Snow in June evokes the third act from the play, in which Dou E made three

wishes before her execution and later produced three unusual phenomena. Dou E’s second wish

was that three feet of snow would fall in midsummer. The entire act describes how Dou E was

brought to be executed and states her lament to the executioner. In order to present Dou E and

the executioner, the two main roles in this act, Tan Dun makes the cello portray Dou E to evoke

and state her innocence, and the percussion portrays the heartless executioner. Sometimes the

cello and percussion alternate their roles, with a percussive cello sound and lyrical percussion

gestures. Tan Dun also uses contrasting tempo relationships, which feature slow sections and

fast sections in alternation that reflect the dramatic structures of the play. The fast sections are

the executioner’s command and the slow sections are Dou E’s narration. Sometimes the music

sounds “reflective and peaceful”, and at other times, “much more urgent and moving

109 Ibid. 110 Sin-Wai Chan and David E. Pollard, An Encyclopaedia of Translation: Chinese-English, English-Chinese. Chinese University Press, 2001,178.

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forward.”111 The sonic landscape of the percussion quartet makes use of various “natural” sounds

such as bells, bowing the side of a cymbal, tearing paper and the clattering of stones. These

“natural” sounds also reflect the scene: an ancient government office.

Snow in June opens with a fragmented cello solo with a distinctive glissando from G to

A. The Chinese instrumental influence can be recognized in the cello’s upward and downward

glissando and the unique vibrato sounds are reflective of the erhu. Later, the glissandos start very

slowly and become fast with lunga (long pause), These elements evoke Dou E’s statement after

she receives the judgment:

For no reason, I am found guilty by Imperial law; Unexpectedly, I suffer punishment. My cry of injustice startles Heaven and Earth! In a moment, my drifting soul goes to Yama’s palace. Why shouldn’t I blame Heaven and Earth?112

After a short lyrical cello cadenza, the fragmented cello G-A glissandos return but at a

higher octave to increase the intensity of the solo line, which reflects Dou E’s continuing

statement as seen at Rehearsal Letter B. Then the percussionists have a tutti improvisation until

the next driving rhythmic section at Rehearsal Letter D. This section reflects the executioner

wanting the execution to move on faster and getting impatient with Dou E’s statement. In a very

fast tempo passage, the cello and percussion both play quick rhythms emphasizing syncopations

that are accented by the cello part’s rapid pizzicato gestures at Rehearsal Letter D. Some of the

rhythmic cells are borrowed from Chinese traditional drama. The lyrical passage at Rehearsal

Letter E reflects Dou E’s character. Therefore, fast tempo passages alternating with lyrical

111 Richard M. Narroway, Dissertation in Music Performance, DMA Diss., University of Michigan, 2018, 2. 112没来由犯王法，不提防遭刑悬。叫声屈动地惊天。顷刻间游魂先赴森罗殿。怎不将天地也生埋怨？Shih and Guan, Injustice to Tou O, 190–191. Heaven and Earth: the dualism of Heaven and Earth are important to Taoist cosmology. They are thought to maintain the two poles of the Three Realms of reality, with the middle realm occupied by Humanity. Yama’s Palace: king of the nether world in popular Buddhism.

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passages reflect the conversation between Dou E and the executioner. When the music becomes

calm at Rehearsal Letter F, the Chinese influenced textures return, including the cello part left-

hand pizzicato during bowing and ricochet strokes. This coincides with the earlier short cadenza.

The executioner asks Dou E if she still wants to make a statement before the execution. Dou E

replies that she doesn’t have any relatives other than her father, who went to the capital thirteen

years ago to take the Imperial Examination. She also asks the executioner to take her by the back

of the street because she is worried that her mother-in-law would see her execution.

At the very centre of the work in Rehearsal Letter H, there is a passage that provides a

tender moment of reflection before more agitated passages return. This central episode presents a

thematic statement where finally, the cello has a chance to play through a pure version of the

theme without interruptions from the percussionists. This soft section is marked as “loving and

affectionate” and reflects Dou E’s feelings upon seeing her mother-in-law, the only person she

loves in the world. She wants to say a few words to her to explain that she was wrongly found

guilty, and she hopes that her mother-in-law will remember her for all the years Dou E served

her. The pentatonic sonorities reflect the softest part of Dou E’s deep heart:

Think of Dou E, who served you all these years; At festivals, offer me a bowl of cold gruel, Burn some paper money for my headless corpse. Regard this as offering sacrifice to your own late son. Oh mother, do not cry or fret or complain to high Heaven. It is I, Dou E, who has no luck, And who has to suffer in confusion such great injustice.113

Later, the ensemble once again moves into more agitated music at Rehearsal Letter I and

continues the juxtaposition of fast and slow music. Rehearsal Letter K is the last slow section

113 念窦娥服侍婆婆这几年，遇时节将碗凉浆奠；你去那受刑法尸骸上列些纸钱。只当把你亡化得孩儿荐。Shih and Guan, Injustice to Tou O, 207–209.

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and presents Dou E’s character just before her execution. She finally states her three irrational

wishes: Firstly, her warm blood without a drop staining the ground, will fly up to the twelve-

foot-long white dressed silk114 which hangs on the flagpole. Secondly, heaven will send down

three feet of auspicious snow to cover her corpse. Thirdly, Chu Chou District should suffer from

drought for three years.115

You say that hot summer is not a time for snow. Have you not heard that frost formed in June because of Zou Yan?116 If I have a chest full of wronged feelings that spurt like fire, It will move snow to tumble down like cotton, And keep my corpse from exposure. What need is there of white horses and a white carriage, To escort my funeral through the ancient path and wild trail?117

Before the ensemble continues into the fast section at Rehearsal Letter L, there is an

improvisation part for first percussion; the sound world evokes Dou E imagining the three

strange phenomena that will happen after her execution. Next, fast sixteenth-note patterns appear

in both percussion and cello to represent that the execution is about to happen. The cello takes

the role of a rock guitar, making percussive sounds and distorted effects, and a series of heavy

double-stop fifths like a “power chord” are combined with Chinese pentatonic melodies. Then,

gradually, the cello increases the intensity by means of left-hand pizzicati to further imitate the

percussion. Then there is a tutti sixteenth-note run with a dramatic ritardando as a transition to

the final passage at Rehearsal Letter Q, which represents the execution. This section also

114 In ancient China, white dressed silk is the representative of injustice. It is usually twelve feet long and can be hung. Dou E asked the executioner to have the white dressed silk because she was wrongly convicted of crimes. 115 Shih and Guan, Injustice to Tou O, 211–219. 116 Frost formed in the sixth month of the year because of Zou Yan’s unjust death. Zou Yan was a loyal official of the Warring States period. When he suffered unjust imprisonment, he cried to Heaven; frost occurred—even in the warm month of June. This unnatural event is understood to be a sign of Heaven’s displeasure. 117 你道是暑气暄，不是那下雪天。岂不闻飞霜六月因邹衍？若果有一腔怨气喷如火，定要感的六处冰花滚似锦，免着我尸骸现。要什么素车白马，断送出古陌荒阡？Shih and Guan, Injustice to Tou O, 216–217.

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describes the executioner noticing that the sky is suddenly overcast and there is the sound of

wind. Indeed, it was snowing and Dou E’s blood “all flew onto the white dressed silk not a single

drop is on the ground.”118 Thus two of Dou E’s wishes have already come true. The third wish is

sure to follow.

At Rehearsal Letter R, the cello plays a sweetly dark version of the theme transposed up

an octave accompanied by simmering marimba tremolos to evoke Dou E’s soul finally going up

to heaven, while the C pentatonic harmony reflects her innocence. In Tan Dun’s program notes

he explains:

The image of “Snow in June” comes from the 13th-century Chinese drama by Guan Han-Ching. In it a young woman, Dou E, is executed for crimes she did not commit. Even nature cries out at this injustice: her blood does not fall to earth but flies upward, heavy snow falls in June, a drought descends for three years. Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June likewise sings of pity and purity, beauty and darkness, and is a lament for victims everywhere.119

2.3 Technical Challenges For the Cellist

The concerto utilizes many types of extended cello techniques such as left-hand pizzicatos

during bowing, vibrato during pizzicato, double stops with glissando and even improvised pitch

material. Expanding on Western techniques, these instrumental innovations are some of the

fundamental technical challenges one encounters when learning and interpreting the work as they

also imply possibly unfamiliar Chinese techniques. The following examples will focus on

technical challenges for cello.

118 Shih and Guan, Injustice to Tou O, 217. 119 Tan Dun, “Elegy: Snow in June,” Tan Dun Official Website, http://tandun.com/composition/elegy-snow-in-june/ (accessed 23 August 2019).

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2.3.1 Pizzicato

To create timbres that contrast with the sound of bowed strings, pizzicato should produce a rather

percussive attack. Usually, cellists can play pizzicato with their right index finger. However,

there are many extended pizzicato techniques in Snow in June, such as left-hand pizzicato during

bowing and vibrating, alternating pizzicatos between left-hand and right-hand, and arpeggiando

pizzicatos with sliding tones. Since the cello plays closely intertwined with the percussion

quartet, some techniques show Tan’s attempt at imitating percussion sounds with the cello.

The beginning of section 1a (Figure 1) is an example of pizzicato during bowing.

Figure 1 Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June from 1a to 1b

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Steps for executing individual actions: Rehearsal Letter 1a

• The G sharp is played with a very long bow and with an extreme dynamic range: from

ppp to fff and back to ppp. The first finger of the left-hand creates a vibrato that

accelerates from slow to fast for seven seconds. For this long stopped note, the first finger

is the only option for performing the vibrato accurately while leaving other fingers free to

play pizzicato.

• At the same time, the cellist must play the rapid left-hand pizzicato figure with the

second, third, and fourth fingers. This is particularly challenging because of the weakness

of the fourth finger. Sometimes it depends on the size of hand. Practice plucking the

stopped string with the fourth-finger to ensure enough dynamic presence. Cellists can

experiment with different left-hand finger shapes, such as being more curved (especially

on the fourth finger), or adjusting the arm and wrist placement such as supinating rather

than using a traditional hand posture.

• The second-, third-, and fourth-finger pizzicatos should not affect the vibrato or

dynamic phrasing of the stopped G sharp. At the same time, carefully focus on the

coordination between right-hand bowing and left-hand pizzicato while controlling the

bow speed to make the decrescendo.

Another example of pizzicato during bowing is in bar 4 in 1b (Figure 1),

• The right hand is still bowing the stopped G-sharp (left-hand first finger) with a

consistent vibrato.

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• Simultaneously, there is an accelerando-ritardando left-hand pizzicato figure on the

open string G. It is recommended to try different fingers for the pizzicato to achieve the

required dynamic strength, but this depends on the size of the hand of the individual

player. In addition, the pizzicato should not affect the vibrato of the stopped G sharp.

When approaching this part, the cellist can experiment with left-hand supination and

adjusting the cello angle to left side.

Starting from Rehearsal Letter F (Figure 2), there is an open-string G and C played with a left-

hand pizzicato on B-flat.

● Note in bar 4 (Figure 2) there is a pizzicato glissando gesture up from B-flat to E. It is

recommended to try different fingers for this gesture such as using the first-finger stop

with slide the note and the second-finger or third-finger perform the pizzicatos.

● The next five bars include left-hand pizzicatos on G, F sharp, F as a pattern and also an

improvised pitch pizzicato gesture.

● The challenge here is keeping right-hand open-string stable while plucking the pitches

accurately and with enough dynamic projection. For the right hand, cellists can keep bow

weight and change the bow speed anytime to avoid bow crescendo and to make a

balanced sound, and also consider the bow’s position relative to the bridge. For left-hand

plucking, it is recommended to anticipate a new hand shape such as, supinating,

structuring the formation of the hand to fit the plucking.

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Figure 2 Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June bars 87–102

From bar 255 to 269 (Figure 3), there is a pizzicato section without bowing.

● In this section, Tan focuses on percussive sounds with cello pizzicato-slap on dampened

strings against the fingerboard, while percussion played simultaneously with Chinese

gongs.

● In bar 261, the entire bar has the notes (C G D A) which are all open strings. The down-

bow and up-bow symbol indicates the direction of the arpeggiation of the chord.

○ The down-bow symbol (C-G-D-A) should be played by the right-hand thumb.

○ The up-bow symbol (A-D-G-C) should be played by the right-hand first finger.

○ Careful coordination between plucking hands can best facilitate the intermittent

body slaps in between strummed chords at this rapid tempo.

These two kinds of right-hand pizzicato, with left-hand pizzicato slaps and dampened strings,

need great coordination between both hands at this fast tempo.

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2.3.2 Challenging Double Stops

Double stops are quite frequent in the concerto. However, double stops are composed with

sliding tones for the most part. For example, in bar 189 (Figure 4), there are double stops with

sliding tones followed by regular double stops, specifically the passage with combination of

glissando with double stops. Rapidly transitioning between these two kinds of double stops is a

challenge.


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● Attention should be directed to the bowing of the sixteenth notes in bar 195 as they

include both linked (hooked) bowing and separate bowing precisely.

Another challenging double stop passage is bar 57 (Figure 5). Tan composed heavily bowed

double stops with syncopated rhythm and difficult string crossings to create percussive bowing

sounds.

● The fingering is quite challenging between the first two double stops F-sharp/G and C/C-

sharp. It also depends on the size of hand. Therefore, it has become a semi-secret

common practice to transpose the G down an octave to facilitate the difficult reach.


From bar 336 to bar 338 (Figure 6), there is a multiple stop transition with slurred bowing and

sliding tone.

● The fingering of the multiple stop C-sharp/A-sharp/G-sharp is a difficult stretch since

these three notes are not in the same position. It depends on the size of hand. Therefore,

cellists can experiment to use the first and third fingers on the C sharp/A sharp to shift the

first finger to the A sharp quickly, without affecting the pitch, use the fourth finger for the

G sharp to keep the harmonies clear.

The following stops also need fingering consideration to make better connections between each

one.

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2.3.3 Special Pitch Materials

There are many pitch glissando passages during the work for both the cello part and the

percussion quartet. In the cello part, from bar 193 to 195 (Figure 4), there are eight double stops

with glissando. This also occurs in bars 206 to 208.

● In bar 193, three glissando double stops are ascending in register in one octave. It is

recommended that the three sketchy glissando double stops be major 6ths: B/G-sharp, D-

sharp/B-sharp and F-sharp/D-sharp with ascending gesture.

● In bar 195, five glissando double stops will be descending over an octave. It is

recommended that the five sketchy glissando double stops be major 6ths: E/C-sharp, C-

sharp/A-sharp, B/G-sharp, G-sharp/E-sharp and F-sharp/D-sharp with descending

gesture.

From bar 237 to 241 (Figure 7), there is a section of improvised pitches.

● In bar 237, the first two sixteenth-note beats are notated and center around the pitch

structure F-sharp, A and B-flat. There are eight more beats with a free choice of pitches

until the first two beats in bar 239.

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● It is recommended that the last two beats in bar 237 could be the same pitch collection as

above: F-sharp, A and B-flat, but two octaves lower to echo the first two beats.

● In bar 238 the pitches might be centered around A, C and D-flat for the first two beats

and the last two beats transposed by an octave down to echo bar 237.

● In bar 239 first two beats could be again centered around F-sharp, A and B-flat to echo

bar 237.

From the last two beats in bar 239 until bar 241 the as high as possible pitch, there are six

sets of sixteenth-notes patterns with improvised pitches.

● It is recommended to set up the first improvised note as B-flat on the third beat of bar 249

to match the first note of bar 237. The pitch pattern could be centered around B-flat/C/D,

followed by D/E/F-sharp with ascending major thirds until the highest note.


2.4 Musical Quotations from Chinese Music

In Snow in June, Tan uses traditional Chinese materials such as sliding tones, rhythmic cells and

a preponderance of harmonics as well as pentatonic melodies borrowed from traditional Chinese

drama. These materials reflect a strong Chinese sensibility and are an example of a confluence

between Western techniques and Chinese musical concepts.

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Figure 8 and 1c in Figure 9 are examples of confluence as Tan uses rapid alternation between

natural harmonics separated by an interval of a ninth to imitate the classical Chinese accelerando

percussion gesture.

Figure 8 Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June Introduction

Figure 9 Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June 1c

Another example of confluence is the sliding tone entrances that start from a very slow tempo

and become faster with a fermata over a lunga gesture in 1c (Figure 9).

● The sliding tones here also need to start slowly and gradually speed up, but it is important

to perform this without reducing the interval between the two notes. This is a sensibility

directly related to erhu playing in Peking opera.

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There are two places during the work that have clear pentatonic scales. One is in the central

passage of the work at Rehearsal Letter H (Figure 10). Here, a sad lyrical Chinese folk melody

reflects Dou E’s internal monologue. The melodic line collected by pitch F sharp/G sharp/A

sharp/C sharp/D sharp, this is a F sharp gong pentatonic scale gesture. In the passage beginning

in the fifth bar after Letter H (Figure 10), the melodic line collected by pitch C/D/E/G/A, a C-

gong pentatonic scale gesture, this also appears at the end of the work by one octave higher at

Rehearsal Letter R (Figure 11). In these passages, Tan musically communicates Dou E’s

innocence with melodic repose as a returning pentatonic leitmotif expresses her inner reflections.

He is tying her dramatic inner world to the Chinese pitch classes.


Figure 11 Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June bars 348 to end

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Pentatonic Scales120

Name of the scale Row order Interval

Gong in C C D E G A M2, M2, m3, M2

Shang in D D E G A C M2, m3, M2, m3

Jiao in E E G A C D m 3, M2, m3, M2

Zhi in G G A C D E M2, m3, M2, M2

Yu in A A C D E G m 3, M2, M2, m3

Another example of quotation confluence appears in bars 261 to 269 (Figure 3). The

rhythmic cell has strong associations with Chinese traditional drama. The rhythmic pattern is

idiomatic to the Chinese drum (tanggu) especially as the cello part has slap pizzicato on the

fingerboard similar to what would be percussive hits on the edge of the tanggu.

These examples from the cello part relating to technique and playability, while showing

Tan’s inventiveness in the use of contemporary compositional strategies, also lead us to a further

analysis and understanding of the techniques and concepts that Tan learned from Chou Wen-

Chung. Through complex translation and individually creative forms of confluence, the poetry of

120 Chiao-Hsuan Kang. “Understanding of Authentic Performance Practice in Bright Sheng’s Seven Tunes Heard in China for Solo Cello.” (D.M.A. essay, Louisiana State University, Louisiana, 2016),7.

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the relationship between the extended cello techniques and their Chinese origins create a

convincing hybrid of familiar and distant musical memories.

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Chapter 3 Interviews and Discussions with Cellists and Percussionists

In order to better understand Snow in June and produce an effective performance guide for it,

this chapter is dedicated to interviews and discussions with performers who have performed and

championed this work. The interviewees are four cellists: Felix Fan, David Hetherington,

Nicholas Photinos and Bryan Holt, and five percussionists: David Skidmore, Peter Martin, Sean

Connors, Robert Dillon and Robert Schultz. These interviews document the experiences and

suggestions of these performers and how they approached interpreting the work. Their

summaries of the interpretive process and technical insights into the piece shed light on the many

levels of planning, interpretation and research that go into constructing a comprehensive Snow in

June performance guide.

Of the many considerations involved in playing Snow in June, there are five main issues

that will be discussed in these interviews: 1) annotations of the score; 2) tips on how to play

specific cello and percussion passages; 3) examples of musical quotations and explanations of

the notion of confluence; 4) strategies for amplification; and finally 5) performing with and

without a conductor. My research will be based on Tan's concepts of sound and composition, not

only as media for artistic expression, but as cultural constructs, and as physical phenomena,

based on Chinese sensibilities.

3.1 Interviews with Cellists

3.1.1 Email Correspondences with Felix Fan

Felix Fan, an American cellist who is one of Tan Dun’s regular collaborators, has performed

most of Tan Dun’s pieces for the cello. He also has recorded and performed Snow in June

extensively and his dedication in championing this work brings the possibility of renewal.

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Specifically in 2006, at La Jolla Music Society’s Summer Festival, he performed Snow in June

as a theatre work incorporating interpretive choreography with thirteen dancers; the performance

was broadcast by University of California, San Diego Television.121 Fan also founded Musik III,

“a performance series and commissioning foundation dedicated to the advancement of modern

music with an emphasis on integrating theater, dance and video.”122 His eclectic music making

and leadership reflect a 21st-century sensibility rare among musicians.123

XUE DONG. As a regular member of Tan Dun’s creative team and house band, tell us

about some unique technical challenges you faced when learning and playing this particular

work, such as sliding tone. According to Tan Dun’s notation, do you think there are some

ambiguities present that need clarification when learning this work?

FELIX FAN. Tan Dun’s music is mostly written in traditional Western notation. The key

to conveying his sound world is to make Western classical instruments sound like traditional

Eastern instruments. Specifically, your question about slides: make the violin or cello sound

more like an erhu during slides. It’s a timing issue when starting a slide and arriving at the

desired note. If the performer can imagine that they are playing a traditional Chinese instrument,

such as an erhu, that is the way to approach Tan Dun’s music. Most of Tan Dun’s notation is

done in a traditional Western way, but there are elements of a more improvisatory aspect. For

121 Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow In June-La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest 2006, https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tan+dun+snow+in+june (accessed 23 June 2020). 122 Felix Fan-Cellist-OperaMusica, https://www.operamusica.com/artist/felix-fan/ (accessed 14 February 2020). 123 Ibid.

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example, he often writes what looks like squiggly lines when he wants something improvised.

He is often asking the performer for spur of the moment inspiration.124

DONG. This concerto has large instrumentation especially in the percussion parts that

can overpower the cello. Can you tell us about your experience using amplification for

performances. During the performance, what are the specifics in addressing the issues of

balance? Furthermore, did you experiment with any other kinds of cello such as a carbon fibre

cello instead of wood when approaching the piece?

FAN. I have used amplification for this piece, depending on the venue. At times, the

percussion can overpower the cello. It’s difficult to ask percussionists to hold back with a

passionate piece such as this. It can take away some of the emotion of the performance. The ideal

situation when amplifying a piece like this is to amplify all performers and to adjust the levels

accordingly. I’ve never used a carbon fibre cello, but I’m not sure it would generate more sound

than a traditional wood cello anyways.

DONG. Regarding Tan Dun’s performance position diagram in the score, there is a

symbol for a conductor. Did you experiment with a conductor for your many performances? If

not, using specific examples, how was the ensemble set up and how did you coordinate cues?

FAN. No, I’ve never used a conductor for this piece. It’s really not necessary. I’ve always

done this with the cello sitting in the middle surrounded by the percussionists. With this set up,

everyone can see the others clearly so there’s no issues with cueing.

124 Two audio clips from Felix Fan playing Snow in June. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7ZSXLmPv04 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPC-82C64_A

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According to Felix Fan, understanding the erhu is important to approaching Tan Dun’s

music. The Erhu (Plate 9) is a two-stringed bowed instrument (D4 inside string and A4 outside

string) that is also known as the “Chinese violin”; it is especially popular in southern China.125 It

can be played as a solo instrument or in large orchestras. In Chinese string ensembles, the erhu

plays a similar role as that of the violin in Western symphony orchestras. The pitch range of the

erhu is from D4 to G6. The two strings are parallel like the cello, the interval relationship of the

two strings is a fifth, but scordatura can be used to raise or lower the strings by one tone or even

more.126

Plate 9. Erhu127

125 Chiao-Hsuan Kang. Understanding of Authentic Performance Practice in Bright Sheng’s Seven Tunes Heard in China for Solo Cello. DMA Diss., Louisiana State University, 2016, 12. 126 Ibid. 127 Erhu Picture, http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7AhC1HZEp3M/Tz7gQZqAzHI/AAAAAAAAAGU/Gocdh4b6--Q/s1600/erhu.jpg (accessed 14 February 2020).

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Regarding sound production, there are major differences between cello and erhu.

● Physical Structure

The arm gestures of playing erhu and cello are different. Cello bowing is based on the

fact that the bow rests on the string, making vibrations with different amounts of pressure

by means of differing applications of weight from the players’ arms. At the same time,

the bow can easily leave the string or even bounce on it to make accented or percussive

articulation. However, the erhu bow is made of bamboo, which is softer and more

flexible than the cello bow, which is usually made of pernambuco. On the erhu, the bow

hair passes between the two strings.

Moreover, the bowing arm posture is similar to that of holding a pencil but with an

horizontal angle of arm and hand. When playing cello, the right-hand elbow faces the

right as pronation, by contrast, when playing the erhu, the elbow is turned to ground as

supination. Significantly, the erhu lacks a fingerboard so that players’ left hand must

learn to calibrate the exact amount of pressure to apply to the strings. The left-hand

thumb is used as a fulcrum behind the neck of the instrument to help control the pressure

of the stopped note.

● Sound Characteristics

The erhu has a very small, drum-like case resonator at the bottom of the instrument. The

cello has F-holes to release the sound out of its large body. By design, the sound

characters of the erhu are more reflective of a human voice but also imitate many natural

sounds such as birds and horses, especially when conveying specific kinds of

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sentimentality in traditional Chinese music. The cello’s sound character is often described

such as warm, singing, rich, silky and dark.

3.1.2 Interview with Nicholas Photinos (conducted via Zoom on 25 February 2020)

Nicholas Photinos, “a founding member of the Grammy Award-winning, Chicago-based new

music ensemble Eighth Blackbird” and this “three-time Grammy-winning ensemble giving 50–

60 concerts annually.”128 As a soloist, Photinos has recorded for numerous labels, including New

Amsterdam and Naxos. He also has performed with numerous contemporary artists, including

some premiers of works in the new music field.129 Photinos has performed Snow in June with

Third Coast Percussion130 at Northern Illinois University and Architek Percussion131 at the

Winnipeg New Music Festival.

XUE DONG. I know you have approached a lot of new music. How would you describe

Tan Dun’s notation and did you find some unique challenge during learning this piece?

NICHOLAS PHOTINOS. I think it is important to consider how it looks and how it

sounds. It is actually very conventionally notated for the cello, at least as far as new music goes.

For me, there are not any particular techniques that I hadn't done before. However, technical

challenges for the piece are some leaps and some things to coordinate for sure.

128 Nick Photinos, cellist, https://www.nickphotinos.com/ (accessed 3 March 2020). 129 Ibid. 130 Third Coast Percussion is a Grammy Award-winning American percussion ensemble, based in Chicago. The group, composed of David Skidmore, Sean Connors, Robert Dillon and Peter Martin, specializes in new music/contemporary classical music and is known for its touring and recording activities that meld the energy of rock music with the percussion and nuance of classical chamber works. 131 Architek Percussion, a Canadian Montreal-based percussion quartet was founded in 2012 and established their dynamic force in Canada’s new music community. They has commissioned and premiered over 40 works by many composers. The members are Noam Bierstone, Ben Duinker, Ben Reimer, and Alessandro Valiante.

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DONG. As you mentioned, this piece has traditional Western notation. Regarding your

experience with playing contemporary music, how would you describe some Eastern music

elements in this piece and have you experimented with other composers who have a style similar

to that of Tan Dun?

PHOTINOS. I think Tan Dun shares a lot in common with a number of other composers

such as Chen Yi and Zhou Long. They all notate music in a conventionally acceptable Western

fashion, but it doesn’t sound that way in performance. These composers have a lot of experience

both writing music for Chinese instruments and writing for Western people as well. So I think

their compositions are all very Eastern-influenced. Particularly this piece, the sound world is

very much Eastern both from the percussion side and also the cello side. So I think it’s really

important to have the sound of the erhu such as the glissandos from note to note. This is not like

a Western romantic-style glissando. You have to pace how you get from note to note since there

is no fingerboard on the erhu. When having that kind of conception in your mind, it actually

changes physically how you do these glissando gestures.

For my experience, I found in the process of doing these glissandos, listening to more of

those Chinese instruments [was helpful], such as how they do things and how they bow as well

because the bowing system is quite different. It is more like Baroque bowing because it is

underhand, but it’s intertwined with the strength as the bow hair is intertwined with strings. So

it’s a very different way of even producing the sound, you don’t need to always exactly sound

like erhu, but definitely have more of an erhu sound world than a Western sound world [in

mind]. In addition, there are parts of rhythmic and percussive sounds which sound almost more

Eastern progressive than Western. But my experience is with very limited knowledge of Eastern

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instruments and Eastern music, I think you have to really get your head into an Eastern sound

world and dive into the piece.

DONG. Do you have specific tips for approaching the glissandos?

PHOTINOS. The glissandos in this piece are slightly different in feel than with Western

music, such as when you go from one note to another note, it’s often slower or more vocally

influenced. Of course this is the same in Eastern music, but there are a lot of quicker shifts.

There is a huge range of variation within the speed of those different glissandos. They are part of

the soul of the starting note they enhance, rather than a dimensional shift to another note as a

goal. Play them with more pressure by left hand and pretend you don’t have a fingerboard

necessarily. Moreover, in this piece, the composer definitely combines the glissandos with a lot

of double stops and arpeggiations and other things as well. I say these are Eastern techniques

because Western music doesn’t do arpeggios and double stops like these.

DONG. I believe you are giving a good comparison of these Eastern techniques; for me, I

incorporate them as extended technique challenges. I find that with amplification these

techniques are heard more clearly than acoustically. Did you have amplification for performing

this piece and how was the experience?

PHOTINOS. I have done it both ways. When I performed with Architek Percussion, we

were on a stage where everything was amplified because it was a very dead space and big,

almost like a stadium. So the engineer could adjust levels. I think the composer, Tan Dun, wants

you to hear the cello so that he clears it out either by writing for specific instruments or getting

rid of the percussion entirely. But when I performed with Third Coast Percussion, we were

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without amplification because the musical hall was not that big and I made a pretty big sound. So

I definitely think it is possible to do without being amplified.

DONG. I know you and Third Coast Percussion have a very close relationship and

frequently perform together. When approaching this piece with them, did you have a conductor?

If not, how would you manage the cueing sections?

PHOTINOS. I did it both times without a conductor. There’s a lot of ensemble inner

conducting without a conductor. This refers to the set up as well, so the cello is in the centre and

the percussionists were in a big U behind the cello. I think this was great because there were a lot

of things that were very easy for me to conduct or show some entrances. And then also, the

percussionists, because they are standing, can all see each other very well and conduct

themselves at the same time as well. From my experience, if the percussionists are all together, it

is easy for the cellists to fit into that. I think it would look weird with a conductor because there

are only five people and you had suddenly someone else on the stage. By the way, we used

exactly the same setup as seen in the online video of the performance featuring Joshua Roman

with Third Coast Percussion. But I am not sure of the percussion instrument setup.

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Plate 10. Tan Dun: Elegy - Snow in June (Third Coast Percussion and Joshua Roman)132

According to both Felix Fan and Nicholas Photinos, it is important to imitate the erhu’s

sliding tones when approaching Tan Dun’s Snow in June. In most Western music, sliding from

one note to another is seen rarely outside of portamento and some Romantic era affectations. If

there is a request for the gesture, it is usually directional to the arrival note. In Eastern music, and

in Tan Dun’s Snow in June, the glissando indicates movement in both upward and downward

directions. The erhu note is more of an extension and elaboration of the note of origin. It

accelerates from slow to fast as it slides toward the arrival note. This character is in imitation of

the erhu (Figure 9).133

Adapting the different styles of an Eastern instrument and Western music, and in order to

make the cello sound like an erhu, cellists should imagine that there is no fingerboard. The finger

132 Tan Dun: Elegy - Snow in June (Third Coast Percussion and Joshua Roman)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j-NiGnGGOk. (accessed 2 March 2020). 133 Experiment of playing sliding tone on erhu by author. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlsE_RzQP3s

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has no resistance with a smooth and freely agile slide on a cello; press down with more pressure

and slide faster for the glissando rather than slower as in playing a traditional Western glissando.

As well, the glissando can move back and forth between the arrival pitch and its origin creating a

more complex line with a unique expressive quality of its own, rather than a grace note figure or

accent to an arrival note as in Western common usage.

Less pressure with the bow during glissandos makes them clearer, whereas on the cello,

you must apply more pressure for clarity.

When conceptualizing the slide, consider the glissando as part of the note of origin, as in

pronouncing a word with emphasis. This shifting of tone is highly articulated in Mandarin’s

unique vocal tones (Plate 14). There are five tones in Mandarin: the first tone is level (a constant

pitch), the second tone rises (an upward glissando), the third tone falls down and then rises again

(a downward glissando followed by an upward glissando), the fourth tone starts high and then

drops (a downward glissando) and the fifth tone is neutral and does not have pitch (staccato).

In Snow in June, the opening cello glissando from G-A (Figure 8) should be played like

the second tone in Mandarin because both this glissando and the second vocal tone have the

same direction.134 For example, the player could imagine the arrows of Mandarin tones are like

the symbol of glissando (Plate 11).

134 Recordings of Mandarin Speaking tone and cello plays Mandarin Speaking tone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUtjUXUXJjk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LRThKH5n58

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Plate 11. Mandarin Spoken Tones135

3.1.3 Interview with David Hetherington (City of Toronto, 20 January 2020)

David Hetherington is a Canadian cellist who was the assistant principal cellist with the Toronto

Symphony Orchestra for 45 years, from 1970 to 2015. Hetherington has been active in

performing and recording contemporary music, including both solo cello pieces and chamber

music, with many composers such as Brian Cherney, Alexina Louie and Helmut Lachenmann.

These performances and recordings have frequently been broadcast by Canadian Broadcasting

Corporation.136 As a founding member of the string quartet Accordes, Hetherington has

performed regularly for New Music Concerts, Soundstreams Canada and other contemporary

music organizations for the last 30 years. He performed Snow in June in Hagey Hall at the

University of Waterloo in 2015.

135 Chinese Pronunciation-Tones, https://chinesepod.com/tools/pronunciation/section/17 (accessed 3 March, 2020). 136 David Hetherington<Amici Chamber Ensemble, https://amiciensemble.com/about/david-hetherington-cello/ (accessed 31 January 31 2020).

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XUE DONG. I know some performers perform this work without a conductor since they

might have regular members and enough time for rehearsals. Tell us about your experience with

and the work; do you think it is necessary to have a conductor?

DAVID HETHERINGTON. We had a conductor who is a percussionist. Before we tried

without the conductor, but we only had four rehearsals, so finally we decided to have a

conductor. The percussionists are in a semi-circle, the conductor is on one side, I was in the

middle. It is slightly different from Tan Dun’s diagram (Plate 12).

Plate 12. Performance Positions of Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June137

DONG. Regarding your experience with a conductor, is it easy to balance percussion and

cello, since Tan Dun suggested having the cello amplified for this piece? Obviously, the

percussion quartet can overpower the cello in acoustic settings. How was your experience with

137 Tan Dun, Elegy: Snow in June, Concerto for Violoncello and Four Percussion. New York: G. Schirmer, 2005.

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using amplification? If you performed without the amplification, would you think you might

prefer to try a carbon fibre cello to help project the sound?

HETHERINGTON. I did use amplification for this piece. It is one of the DPA

microphones with special clasps that can adapt to different instruments like cello, so you just clip

it on the strings down on the bridge or underneath one side of the fingerboard. I also have a

Yamaha electric cello I used for this piece, but wood is a good sound. Usually I don’t like the

carbon fibre cello sound as much. I mean they are loud but it can not be such a pleasant sound

sometimes and tends to be wolfey. It is just that they are not easy to damage. But in this

particular piece, Tan Dun does not do anything that could damage the instrument. Some

contemporary composers ask for a lot of potentially damaging actions to your instrument. The

only thing Tan Dun likes to do—these moments in which you hit the strings and slap the body of

the cello, sometimes if you are not careful when you get excited in the middle section, you can

hit it too hard. As far as special performance techniques, Tan does many things, he asks for slow

to fast vibrato which is fairly normal, and plucking with the left hand. He knows a lot about the

instrument, so he does not write any skills that are impossible to perform.

DONG. As you mentioned, you did have amplification for your performances, have you

ever tried to use an audio monitor for sound checking?

HETHERINGTON. Yes, I think I did, the monitor can be helpful for percussionists. Even

when the cello has amplification, sometimes it is still hard to hear through the percussion part

and also, it depends on different music halls. And I still remember the stage set up because the

percussion part did take a very long time to set up, so you might need someone to help with that

and a string player around to help with adjusting the sound. Also, you might need a very good

engineer for the sound check.

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DONG. As a Chinese-American composer, Tan Dun incorporated many traditional

Chinese musical elements employing Western notation in this particular piece. Regarding your

experience with contemporary music culture, were you familiar with those Chinese musical

elements and how did you approach them?

HETHERINGTON. Yes, these sliding tones, Peking opera sensibilities, imitation of the

erhu, these are all Chinese effects, especially prominent to me is the Peking opera I’ve heard.

Actually, we went to China in 1978 for a performance in Beijing.138 At that time I heard Chinese

sopranos singing very, very high pitches in arias. For the glissandos it would be good to listen to

some Chinese music, especially from the erhu. I played erhu for a year! Just getting more used to

all the glissandos, microtones, they just move very slowly, and beautifully. This is not something

similar to how Western string players used to play slides in the early 20th century. So I mean just

follow his instructions, and that pretty much involves playing the glissandos slowly enough.

Make sure you have a lot of time to do the slide, sometimes it helps to tighten up your muscles

and be straight on the fingerboard. And also, these glissandos will be heard more when

amplified.

DONG: I believe it is great to have the experience of playing erhu before approaching

this piece. Considering this, how would you describe his compositional inspiration in relation to

your interpretation?

HETHERINGTON. For his Snow in June, he does a lot of percussion effects, but it is

very melodic and descriptive. He also wrote a lot of film music with some very colorful effects.

138 The Toronto Symphony Orchestra toured China in 1978; it was one of the first Canadian groups to visit the country after the end of the Cultural Revolution.

69

He’s got an imaginative mind and there is always some story guiding his music. And this one has

a very sad story, so sometimes the music is getting angry with the narrative. There is a lot of

juxtaposition between violent and very, very soft music. In this sense, it is not like traditional

Chinese music. Tan also wrote a large cello ensemble piece which we performed in Toronto-- it

also has an improvisation cadenza for the cellist, and we worked with the symphony cello

section.139 He was there for the occasion, I worked with him directly, he is very nice and he

conducted for us. He was trying to explain the effects, and we’d just play the sounds that he

wanted.

According to David Hetherington, regarding performance with a conductor: Firstly, if

performers do not have enough time to rehearse, i.e. less than four rehearsals (approximately

four hours), a conductor would be helpful with the tempo since there are a lot of shifts between

slow and fast sections. Secondly, having a conductor might be helpful with the dynamics since

different performers have different interpretations. Thirdly, having a conductor might be helpful

for balancing the ensemble since the percussion quartet frequently overpowers the unamplified

cello.

3.1.4 Interview with Bryan Holt (City of Toronto, 13 January 2020)

Bryan Holt has performed for numerous concerts especially with many leading ensembles at

many venues throughout North America. He completed his DMA in Cello Performance at the

University of Toronto in 2018 with a thesis on distance-learning strategies in modern cello

pedagogy. He also performs in the VC2 cello duo with Amahl Arulanandam.140 He has

139 Hetherington is referring here to Secret Land for 12 cellos, which the Toronto Symphony cello section performed as part of the orchestra’s New Creations Festival on 7 March 2009. 140 Bryan Holt, Cellist, Toronto, Canada, http://www.bryanholt.ca/ (accessed 31 January 2020).

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performed Snow in June twice, both times at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music with

the Montreal-based percussion quartet Architek Percussion.

XUE DONG. Regarding the score diagram, Tan Dun suggested the cellist sit beside the

first percussionist. How was your experience regarding stage setup for your two performances?

Did you use the same stage set up and was there a conductor involved?

BRYAN HOLT. This is the picture (Plate 13) I used for set up. Since this has no

conductor, the cello is in the middle—very important. I used the same stage twice. In my

experience, we made a lot of marks in the score, like very specific cues. Of course the beginning

is all completely un-conducted because it is a cello solo part. We played this way through to

Figure D. What we would do is assign one of the percussionists to actually conduct it. They

would lead the quartet in and whenever someone had rests in their part, they would take over

conducting it. I never did any conducting but I cued in the big sections such as that at Rehearsal

Letter D (Figure 12) for sure. Again, it could go either way with conductor or not. It really

depends on how much time you have for the rehearsals. We had a great deal of time to work on

this for a few months. I remember I performed it twice and certainly these things were better off

the second time around.

But if you don’t have a lot of time, you can put it together rather quickly with a

conductor. Also, for the balance, a conductor will be more helpful as five people play in the

ensemble. We are trying to do our best with the dynamics, but we all have different

interpretations. So the conductor can be managing the left and right side and making sure one is

not playing more than the other.

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Plate 13. Stage Setup from Bryan Holt

Figure 12. Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June bars 18–40

DONG. I know most of your performances are focused on contemporary music.

Compared with traditional Western music, what kind of technical challenges did you face when

approaching this piece?

HOLT. I am a contemporary music person. The thing that I found most challenging is the

pacing of the cello solo section, not so much the notes since the notation is very simple, until

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Figure D, where things start getting crazy. I remembered that we rehearsed a lot for this section.

In my experience, you have to make sure there is enough space, and do not over-express too

early—and you can see that Tan Dun is very specific, and you know how far you’re supposed to

go with certain things.

I also found that bow management is challenging because there are two main characters:

very calm melodies and interrupted rhythmic sections. So you have to manage your bow in very

different ways. In addition, there are imitations of the erhu. There are many tensions that need

bow management, erhu bowing draws differently so you have to manage more bow changes.

Unfortunately, I have very limited knowledge and background with Chinese traditional music.

DONG. In the score, Tan Dun suggested amplifying the cello for this piece since the

percussion parts have very large and forceful instrumentation. How was your experience with

using amplification? If performed without amplification, would you consider trying a carbon

fibre cello in case the cello is overpowered?

HOLT. Yes absolutely, I think you have to [use amplification]. I also had a wedge

monitor and my microphone is made by a company called DPA, and the model is 4099C and

there is a clip on the microphone—just clip it close to the cello bridge. The wedge monitor was

between the 1st and 2nd percussionists. They just listened to what was coming out from my wedge

because I have the volume very loud. Like there is a very large section in which the

percussionists are making a lot of noise so I could not hear myself. So I had a very live monitor. I

don’t know if I will do this again, I might try to find other ways to balance.

Also I don’t know if I would try a carbon fibre cello. I found that carbon fibre is a good

instrument but there is no resonance. It is possible with a monitor. I played one once with an

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orchestra, but sometimes you can’t hear yourself because it is not resonating in your chest the

same as you are used to with wood, all the sound is just going away from you. So I don’t know if

someone will like the sound quality for this particular piece, but I think wooden works very well,

especially given the mystery of the story.

According to Bryan Holt, for performances without a conductor: Firstly, playing together

accurately can be quite a challenge, even for experienced performers. Secondly, set up the

leading cues and mark them in the score, individual players can act as temporary conductors for

each section if necessary. Thirdly, performers might have to decide which position works best to

meet their own situation and needs. The cellist sitting in the middle is helpful for communication

between each performer.

3.1.5 Summary Table of Cellists

Items/Players Fan Photinos Hetherington Holt

Experience of

playing erhu

No No Yes No

Listen to erhu

music

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Knowing the

story behind

music

No No Yes Yes

Amplification Yes Yes Yes Yes

Conductor No No Yes No

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Label cueing

sections

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Semi-circle

performance

position

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Wooden cello Yes Yes Yes Yes

3.2 Interviews with Percussionists

Plate 14. Instrumentation of Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June141

141 Tan Dun, Elegy: Snow in June, Concerto for Violoncello and Four Percussion. New York: G. Schirmer, 2005.

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3.2.1 Interview with David Skidmore (conducted via Skype on 8 January 2020)

David Skidmore is a Grammy-winning percussionist and co-founder of Third Coast Percussion,

As a soloist, Skidmore has commissioned and premiered numerous new works by many great

composers of the 20th and 21st century.142 As a member of Third Coast Percussion, David

performed Snow in June extensively with American cellist Joshua Roman, who was the Seattle

Symphony principal cellist, and with cellist Nicholas Photinos, a founding member of Grammy

Award-winning, Chicago-based new music ensemble Eighth Blackbird. He also recorded Snow

in June at Town Hall in Seattle, Washington in January 2015. Both video sessions of Third Coast

Percussion with Joshua Roman and the Score-Video can be found on YouTube.

XUE DONG. Can you talk about what drew you to perform and record this piece?

Compared with other concertos, did you find something unique or interesting in this piece?

DAVID SKIDMORE. I actually love the way that the composer Tan Dun writes for the

extended range vibraphone such as the lower notes that are so rare on an extended range four

octaves vibraphone, which is a really problematic register for the vibraphone. It's hard to hear the

fundamental pitch of those lower notes. But he wrote it at a moment that's quieter so that you can

use soft mallets and it is magical.

Since this is an early piece, he does such creative percussion writing and introduces ideas

that he develops in his later concertos. In particular, there's the tearing of the paper, and the

clattering stones, these sounds that are simple, but effective, interesting and create a powerful

atmosphere.

142 David Skidmore, http://skidmorepercussion.com/bio, (accessed 7 April 2020).

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DONG. I saw in your video online that you were playing first percussion, and especially

in the middle section you had improvised materials. Have you played other parts or were there

some unique challenges in your part?

SKIDMORE. Right, I only played the first percussion part, the improvisation is an

interesting challenge for sure because for our ensemble, we don't do it that much. The other

specific challenges are the large instrumentation and some coordination [issues]. I particularly

remember the marimba part. Tan Dun writes for a collection of instruments and there's times

where not one set of mallets is the perfect thing that can work on all of the instruments that he's

asking for. For instance, I seem to recall that in the marimba part the player also plays cymbals

and I believe timpani as well. So there's no mallet that really sounds ideal for all of those. You

have to find a compromise that works the best evenly across all those instruments. And with that

particular set of three instruments, they're larger. So you have to figure out how to position them

in your own setup so that you can get to everything. In particular, the timpani don't fit well into a

mixed percussion setup. These challenges are different for each player.

In the first player’s part, the challenges are in the vibraphone part, roto-toms and

positioning. I ended up positioning those opposite the player on the vibraphone, which tends to

work well. For roto-toms, they aren't in good shape, so once you play them they go out of tune

immediately. I think it's a good challenge for the player to work towards being able to realize

those pitches. But it's never perfect unless you are at a recording studio to record shorter sections

and then focus a lot on the tuning.

DONG. As you mentioned the diverse instrumentation in this particular piece, do you

have any special considerations when selecting percussion instruments? For instance, organic

objects such as paper and stones, do you think different materials affect the timbre?

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SKIDMORE. Absolutely. We used a lot of different kinds of paper. The major

consideration was being able to hear it because it's such a delicate sound. And when we have

performed the piece, we've always performed it without amplification on the percussion; the

cello we amplify. However, the paper tearing in particular is so quiet. I remember finding thicker

paper with more texture, almost like a poster board kind of paper. And I feel like we could hear it

more and also larger sheets so that you could tear more. There's many moments in the piece

where it felt best to tear quickly and then slowly so that you could hear the rhythm of the

beginning of the notated rhythm.

And the stones, it was the same way, we tried a few different options. Because we live in

Chicago, we just went around to different beaches and got rocks. We actually tried a number of

different kinds and we didn't find any that seemed significantly different. The biggest thing

seemed to be the size, making sure that they were large enough that they were comfortable to

strike together without being worried about hitting your hand. And for us, because we tour so

much, we didn't want them to be giant.

DONG. Regarding your performances with amplified cello, how did you balance the

percussion sound with cello and did you use an audio monitor?

SKIDMORE. No. I don't think we ever had an audio monitor. What we've done a couple

of times is—there's a really wonderful speaker system. We requested it when we played this

piece. It's designed to amplify an acoustic instrument playing with other acoustic instruments,

and it's a larger box that sits on the ground with two thin towers of speakers. The great thing

about it is you can set up the two tiers because behind the full ensemble, the cello is in front of

the speakers playing and you don't have to worry about feedback. So it is not necessary to have a

monitor system.

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DONG. It was great that you had a wonderful speaker system to balance cello and

percussion quartet. Have you performed with a conductor?

SKIDMORE. Not on this piece. I think it would be interesting with a conductor, because

it could definitely make things easier to bring together. The advantage of not having a conductor

is that you have to understand everything that's going on the whole time and that can allow you

to have real freedom with how you are interpreting the music. So it essentially gives the five

musicians more power to shape the performance. We write in a ton of cues into our parts,

especially the solo cello part for sure so that we can follow it. It is not easy, but with good

cellists, it comes together naturally when the four percussionists know each other's parts and also

the cello’s part really well. It's not so rare historically to have a concerto with a soloist sort of

acting as the conductor.

3.2.2 Email Correspondences with Robert Dillon

As an ensemble member and development director of Third Coast Percussion, Robert Dillon

performed with many symphony orchestras across the United Sates as both substitute and

principal percussionist. Robert has also attended in numerous contemporary music series and

music festivals.143 Robert has performed Snow in June extensively with many American cellists

including Nicholas Photinos and Tobias Werner.

XUE DONG. I know you have performed this piece with many cellists at music festivals,

tell us more about your experience. Furthermore, which part did you play and did you find some

unique challenges in your part?

143 Robert Dillion-Third Coast Percussion, https://thirdcoastpercussion.com/about-us/members/robert-dillon/ (accessed 7 April 2020).

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ROBERT DILLON. I played second part. Xylophone is a difficult instrument for

chamber music settings. It is naturally very loud and very bright, and can stick out too much. I

tried to use hard vibraphone mallets (the Vic Firth red Gibbs mallets) most of the time on the

xylophone; they aren't ideal in the highest register, but the priority was to try to sound like an

extension of the marimba rather than an orchestral xylophone sound. There are a lot of rolled

sections, which demand the most lyrical sound one can make on a xylophone, and sometimes

they go directly into very rapid articulated sections.

There are many instruments, including the three large timpani, and the player must be

able to get between all of them very quickly, especially in the solo at measures 79–85 (Figure

13). So figuring out a set up that worked was a substantial task, and making that solo feel

intentional, expressive and energized—rather than an awkward freak out—was a challenge as

well. I remember the other guys laughed at me the first few times I played that part! Coming

with a few specific stickings, taking a little liberty with the time, adding some of my own

dynamics, and possibly compromising on a couple instrument choices for one note here or there

helped. I think I also did better once I embraced the approach that the solo should SOUND more

improvised, even while playing what is written.


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Often I also had to find one mallet that could work on every instrument, since they are all

played at once without an opportunity to switch. I think throughout the piece the performer has

to strike a balance between finding that one universal mallet, and seeking out ideal sounds on

each instrument when time allows.

DONG. As you mentioned there are many instruments; getting things between all the

instruments is a challenge. According to your experience, how did you find a proper position for

both yourself and instruments?

DILLON. It is definitely important to position the instruments so you can reach all of

them at once, except perhaps not all the timpani will be accessible from the same position. I draw

out a sketch of my set up the best I can remember, and hopefully my photos are helpful as well,

even though they are from a rehearsal and we didn't have all the instruments at our disposal at

that time. Basically, I made the xylophone the centre of my set-up, and tried to position the other

instruments around it, to either side, or in a position to reach over the xylophone to hit them. A

couple of the hand-held instruments (Chinese cymbals, bells, and gong, paper and stones) could

be on a table slightly further away. Also note that "bamboo chimes" are missing from the

instrument list in the part. But they are very important!

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Plate 15. Sketch setup from Robert Dillon

Plate 16. Rehearsal setup from Robert Dillon No.1 (Facing xylophone)

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Plate 17. Rehearsal setup from Robert Dillon No.2 (Facing timpani)

Plate 18. Rehearsal setup from Robert Dillon No.3 (Left side of xylophone)

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DONG. Given the large instrument collection that Tan Dun asked for, did you have some

special considerations when selecting instruments or did you experiment with any substitutions

when you were on the tours for performances?

DILLON. Here are some substitutions for my part:

o Sleigh Bells: They must be possible to play single articulated notes (like at

measure 46). I also find the typical "sleigh ride" sleigh bells to be a little too

familiar and uninteresting. I used a strand of small clam bells as a substitute. A

similar sound with more personality. You can see these hanging to the left of my

xylophone in the photos (Plate 21).

Figure 14. Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June bar 46

o Suspended cymbals: for the ones that are bowed on the timpani, find ones that

create a strong, resonant sound when bowed. Often one cymbal can give you

many different overtones, so I wasn't sure that it was always necessary to have

both a large cymbal and small cymbal to bow. On tour if there were limited good

cymbal options, I wouldn't necessarily have two; rather I would try to get two

distinct sounds from the same cymbal. Likewise, I would try to use the same

hanging cymbal as one of my bowed timpani-cymbals (or the only cymbal) if

possible.

o Cencerros: the composer says in the instrument list that they may be replaced by

any kid of loud, dry metallophone. We have a set of Zildjian earth plates that

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sound really cool, and much different than the cowbells used by player 3, so I

used those. They're brash and aggressive but have a different resonance than the

cowbells.

o Chinese bells, Chinese cymbals, Chinese gong: these are all pretty non-specific,

as there are many varieties of instrument that fit these descriptions! We tried to

match the quality of sound of the bells and cymbals used by each player, but very

clear differences in high/low. Player 3's cymbals we liked higher than player 2's,

so that at measure 225, the off-beats are the higher cymbals. The Chinese gong

needs to have a lot of personality as well, with a good bend or twang in the sound.

It's good if player 1's gong has a different personality than player 2.


o Whistle: I believe I chose to use a samba whistle, since it has a similar character

to a metal police whistle, but is a little less familiar.

o Bamboo chimes: Must be robust and dramatic, not too wimpy! They have to able

to withstand being struck or grabbed with a lot of intensity, as they're the final

release of the solo at measure 87 (Figure 13).

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DONG. I know usually your ensemble experiments with doing the performances without

a conductor. Can you tell us how did you approach this piece without a conductor and do you

have any tips for setting up the inner cueing?

DILLON. We are used to playing chamber music together without a conductor, so we

were able to approach it with the same method we would most pieces, writing in other musicians'

rhythms into our parts and deciding on who will cue in different places. In every case we had

much more time to rehearse with the four percussionists and no cellist, so we often decided that

we would have one of the four of us to follow, even if that person had to follow the cellist, so we

could practice the cuing in rehearsal more. Also, we would determine specific spots where we

wanted the cellist to cue us, in rehearsals before we had the cellist present, and email them to ask

them to cue in those spots, or ask them to do so during our rehearsals. It saved some time in our

limited rehearsals with the cellist, since we didn't have to have a conversation to decide where

the cue would be, and we could request every cellist to cue in those same places. Among the

percussionists, Player 1 probably gave more cues, but we all had certain spots we were cuing

based on musical content. Each part leads at different times.

DONG. According to your performance experiences with different cellists when

approaching this piece, have you experimented with amplified cello for sound balance or an

audio monitor for checking sound?

DILLON. It was important to amplify the cello, especially in larger performance spaces,

and having a speaker system for percussionist to hear the cellist. We also had a sound engineer

helping us for the balance. There are many places where the percussionists have to follow the

cellist, and it's quite difficult if they can't be heard clearly.

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3.2.3 Email Correspondences with Sean Connors

As an ensemble member and technical director of Third Coast Percussion, Sean Connors has

performed with many leading new music ensembles and summer festivals including Amphion

Percussion, Metropolis Ensemble and Prestigious Aspen Music Festival Contemporary

Ensemble.144 He performed Snow in June extensively with cellist Meta Weiss at Walla Walla

Chamber Music Festival and with Tobias Werner at Garth Newell Music Festival.

XUE DONG. Given your extensive performance experiences for this piece, could you tell

me which percussion part did you play and what are some of the unique challenges in your part?

SEAN CONNORS. I played Percussion three. One of the challenges in that part is simply

planning ahead to place small things (like paper to tear or mallets) in the correct place in order to

be able to grab them during quick instrument changes. I also remember the passage between

Rehearsal Letter I and J being a little challenging because of having to switch quickly between

conga and then play fast syncopated isolated marimba notes (like the figure in m. 153). Also, just

in general, I wrote in A LOT of the cellist's rhythms and combined ensemble rhythms so that I

could place single notes that seem isolated in the correct composite rhythm (for example, the

bottle note in m. 93)


144 Sean Connors-Third Coast Percussion, https://thirdcoastpercussion.com/about-us/members/sean-connors/ (accessed 8 April 8 2020).

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DONG. As Tan Dun specified that a couple of the instruments may be replaced with

other instruments, did you find some specific substitutions for your part? If you did not have

enough instruments on the tours how did you solve that situation?

CONNORS. The hard part about this is that we played the piece while we were on tour

and had to deal with rental instruments, which in many cases were less than ideal … In some

cases the provider didn't have enough of a certain instrument (like only 3 cowbells instead of 5)

and in some cases the provided instruments were just close approximations (tom-toms instead of

congas).

We didn't have enough timpani, so I used one low timpano and 3 tom-toms as a substitute

for the very drummy section between the "two timpani and two congas" at m. 325 and similar

spots. We felt ok about this substitution because the pitch content of the timpani part didn't seem

vital, it was just used as a loud high and low drum sound. We felt good about this decision

especially because of the indication "suggested pitches" in the other drum parts.

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I did substitute a Tibetan finger cymbal for the "Small Chinese Bell" because we felt that

it provided the correct sound / timbre in that moment in the opening. Also, I only used 1

suspended cymbal on the timpano, but I marked two spots on the cymbal that got very

different tones/overtones, so they sounded like two different instruments.

DONG. Since Tan Dun wrote a large instrument setup for this piece, you also mentioned

getting to all the instruments during quick changes is quite a challenge, did you remember your

set up?

CONNORS. Here is my setup diagram.

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Plate 19. Diagram from Sean Connors

When setting up, I found the hardest passages [were those] where I needed to play

between multiple instruments and set up the large instruments based on that (like putting the

congas and cowbells next to each other near the range of the marimba that you need to play in

conjunction with B4 and C5). I also wanted to make sure that I could always have great sight

lines with the cello soloist no matter where I was standing.

DONG. I know your ensemble never uses a conductor, tell us your experience when

approaching this piece without a conductor. With many different cellists, how were your

rehearsal times?

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CONNORS. Different players all took turns cueing depending on the musical needs and

who had a part that others could lock into. The solo cellist did a lot of the cueing and we wrote

their part into our music a bunch.

The first time I performed it with Joshua Roman, I think we rehearsed a few times as a

percussion quartet first at home in Chicago, and then we rehearsed twice with the soloist, plus a

dress rehearsal and video shoot at Seattle Town Hall before the concert.

3.2.4 Interview with Peter Martin (conducted via Zoom on 19 February 2020)

As a member of Third Coast Percussion, Peter Martin performed Snow in June extensively in

Chicago, Seattle and several performance venues. As a member of the award-winning

contemporary music group Ensemble Dal Niente, Martin’s recordings can be heard on many

famous record labels. As a chamber musician, Martin has performed with many leading new

music ensembles including International Contemporary Ensemble, Eighth Blackbird and

Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, among others.145

XUE DONG. I know you have been championing this piece extensively. Did you have a

different setup for each performance? How would you describe the difference between working

with different cellists and was a conductor involved?

PETER MARTIN. I think we more or less tried to set up in the same way with orientation

that Tan Dun prescribed, some of the different choices we had [involved] instrumentation

because the composer calls for a couple of specific things that we did not have because we were

on tour. We've played it with many cellists over the years:

145 Peter Martin-Third Coast Percussion, https://thirdcoastpercussion.com/about-us/members/peter-martin/ (accessed 14 February 2020).

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Tobias Werner (Garth Newell Music Festival)

Nicholas Photinos (Chicago, Northern Illinois University)

Chris Wild (Rush Hour Concerts Chicago, Chinese Fine Arts Society Chicago)

Joshua Roman (Seattle Town Hall)

Meta Weiss (Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival)

With different cellists, there are definitely obvious differences, like tempo, especially the

faster sections. I remember Nicholas Photinos, he played everything very, very fast. For us, in

terms of our relationship to some faster sections, just deciding on the tempo, that was the one of

the big differences with cellists. And also, within the piece, there are always open sections where

we have lyrical solo cello parts, that’s a little bit more free, and they all have very different

interpretations especially the very beginning of the piece, the opening is a couple of minutes,

some of them were more and more literal with the score, some of them took a lot breath with the

time and the notated figures. But we never used a conductor, which I think obviously makes

learning certain things more challenging. As our ensemble, Third Coast Percussion, we do

everything un-conducted.

DONG. For each performance, which percussion part did you play? Have you ever tried

any other part and what are some unique challenges of your part?

MARTIN. I played the percussion four. I would say some of the more challenging things

were the faster sections. Especially in Rehearsal Letter I, the third bar, I have the pattern going

between tom toms and wood blocks. Some stuff like that, it’s very regular but it was idiomatic

doing that. I remember that it was quite challenging to play how it looked on the page. Like you

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just look at the regular sixteen notes with no pattern on the page, there is nothing crazy, but there

it was very challenging.

Figure 19. Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June Rehearsal Letter I third bar (148)

Another challenge is the same type of theme being passed around through the ensemble

like in bar 166. It started with percussion four’s two-bar solo, and then percussion one does a two

bars solo, and then percussion three does a two bars solo, and the solos are different from player

to player but they are all based on the same sixteen notes to create, something that is pretty

syncopated. Actually they all look the same on the page, but again, they are idiomatic, you

know— getting around your instruments.


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Tan Dun did write idiomatically challenging stuff on the percussion instruments. He also

wrote really challenging keyboard instrument writing on the percussion, such as bar 194 to 198,

the vibraphone and the marimba writing has perfect fourths going up and down, these are

idiomatic and really, really hard on the percussion instruments.


DONG. As you mentioned you have different choices of instruments, for Tan’s large

instrumentation in this piece, what are your considerations for the instrument collection?

MARTIN. We learnt this piece in order to do it on tour many times, so we could not

bring all the percussion instruments, then some of the instruments we had to make exceptions

for. For my part, percussion IV, personally, I never played the part as printed using specifically

Chinese tom toms. I used regular tom toms or western style tom toms. I feel the Chinese tom

toms are the original tom toms, so all the Western tom toms are just Western interpretations of

them. Occasionally, I might have used a combination of Western tom toms as well as bongos and

congas. And the reason I did that is that oftentimes I find that some of those instruments, the type

of head that are on them, they use natural skin heads and they're very tight and the heads are very

thick. So the heads are very similar to the heads that are used on Chinese tom toms.

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This is a rough sketch of my setup (Percussion IV) of Elegy: Snow in June. This is a

stage diagram perspective (from above looking down). A few notes about it.

Plate 20. Sketch setup from Peter Martin

I stand with the tom-toms directly in front of me. There is a small table just behind the

toms that a lot of the small percussion instruments are placed on (ratchet, cans, stones, maracas,

etc.). The woodblocks I used were actually a set of five temple blocks, directly to the left of the

toms. The cymbal is set up right next to those as well. There are musical passages (beginning in

m. 63) that the percussion IV has to play that involves toms, woodblocks, and cymbals all

together, so they all need to be setup as close to each other as possible.

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Tan Dun doesn't indicate this in the Performance Notes: Instrumentation page of the

score, but the Percussion IV part also plays a Bass Drum. It first comes in at m. 225 of the

piece. It's noted as "B.D." which is shorthand for "Bass Drum". I set up the bass drum just to the

left of the toms. In general, when I'm setting up any collection of percussion instruments, I try to

set them up left-to-right / low-to-high.


There are only a few notes played on the chimes, but it is a very big instrument and takes

up a lot of space. It's also very tall, so if you put it in front of you or between you and another

person you can't see the other players at all. So I put the chimes directly behind me in the

setup. The tam-tam is another large instrument that's set up behind me, but it's also off to the

right between my setup and the setup of Percussion III. Percussion III and IV both play tam-tam

and share the same instruments. Tan Dun shows this on the setup diagram of the Instrumentation

page.

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"String Drum" is another term for "Lion's Roar"; Lion's Roar is the more common word

used for that instrument, just in case you were wondering exactly what it was. Google

Lion's Roar and you'll find more examples.

3.2.5 Interview with Robert Schultz (conducted via Zoom on 13 February 2020)

Robert Schultz is an American percussionist who is the principal percussionist for Boston

Modern Orchestra Project, Boston Landmarks Orchestra and Boston Musica Viva. As the

principal timpanist, Schultz performed with Boston Baroque, Cantata Singers and Odyssey

Opera. As a soloist, Schultz performed with the Boston Chamber Music Society and New

England Conservatory including works by Tan Dun, Lukas Foss, Eric Moe etc.146 For Tan Dun’s

Snow in June, Schultz performed with American cellists Laurence Lesser and Bion Tsang.

XUE DONG. I know some performers have different conducting experiences for each

performance. Tell us your suggestion; to have a conductor or not?

ROBERT SCHULTZ. I did it twice with conductor (Scott Yu) and once un-conducted. I

think ultimately the piece can be at its best without a conductor. If everyone is playing from the

score, you risk more without a conductor. But I think if the piece can be at its best both musically

and even theatrically, its impact on the audience [is greater] without the conductor. That said, the

conductor is safer and more efficient. This piece works great either way and if you had to do it

very quickly probably a conductor is very helpful especially for the challenge that the cellist

might not know the percussion parts as well as they should.

146 Robert Schultz, percussion-Boston Musica Viva, https://www.bmv.org/schulz (Accessed 14 April 2020)

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DONG. Regarding your performances with and without conductor, do you remember

your stage setup and which percussion part did you play?

SCHULTZ. Yes, I played percussion IV. The percussionists were in a semi-circle for sure

and we amplified the cello but played without a monitor. I think the monitor was not necessary

but it depends on the space. Last time, we played in New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall,

this is a beautiful concert hall for recording. It makes it challenging for percussionists because

we have to be sure our sounds aren’t overly resonant, so there is a lot of muting on the tom-toms

because they have too much ring. And we didn’t have amplification for the percussion, there

were two microphones on the cello and an engineer who helped make sure it balanced out in the

hall. But we had rehearsals acoustically.

DONG. I know you have approached a lot of new music, did you find some specific

Eastern musical elements in this particular piece?

SCHULTZ. I don’t have a huge amount of cultural background but I think you can play

this piece without cultural background in Chinese music. The composer Tan Dun embraced

Western notation so it is a familiar language to anyone who is trained in Western notation,

especially in contemporary music. However, you might need an open and creative mind with the

sounds because Tan Dun loves to use natural products like paper, water and rocks. I suppose

that’s an Asian aspect but it’s not uniquely Asian.

DONG. These organic things like paper and rocks, what is your consideration for

collecting those things? Beyond that, did you have difficulty in collecting Chinese instruments?

SCHULTZ. I remember last time we didn’t really have Chinese tom toms, so we used the

red barrel drums with two thick heads to get the traditional sound of those Chinese tom toms.

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The other times I had to play regular American-style tom-toms, but I muffled them and I tuned

them similarly to Chinese tom-toms. For the papers, I tried different kinds of them. I know

people use either copy paper or newspaper, but I discovered a manila envelope. It’s thicker and

long. If you take an envelope and tear both sides to make it as single flat, it will be much longer

because I wanted something loud enough and also long enough. It also appears toward the end of

the piece. And the rocks, I did a big heavy rock, because a smaller one has a solid sound and

higher pitch.

DONG. Did you face any other technical challenge when approaching this piece?

SCHULTZ. I think I have to go back to the previous question. If it is conducted, I can

play from the part. But if it is un-conducted, I highlight a lot of parts for issues such as cuing

sections and page turns, because I want to understand everything through hearing. For my part,

percussion IV, I found in bar 63, there is an ostinato on the wood blocks that repeats every

measure, everyone had to listen to me for where that pulse was. But it is between wood blocks,

tom-toms and cymbals, to get the right sound is a technical challenge because a tom-tom is

louder than a wood block and a cymbal can often be quite loud. When you are combining these

three instruments make sure how to dynamically get them to coordinate properly. Also

percussion III, there is a big-time challenge when the player is combining marimba and drums. I

remember percussion III was struggling with getting the tom-toms to be at least equal to the

marimba so that it blended. I think those are some of the hidden challenges of percussion once

you have to play multiple instruments together. Extended to the positioning of the instrument, I

am tall so it is easy for me to set my drums up and I can reach them. I’d say you can’t really

legislate how someone’s going to set up their instruments because there’s too many personality

traits. But again, it is important to get every instrument.

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3.2.6 Summary Table of Percussionists

Items/Players Skidmore Dillon Connors Martin Schultz

Limited

availability of

instruments

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Instrumental

substitution

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Challenging

for getting

around

instruments

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Semi-circle

stage setup

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Conductor No No No No Sometimes

Label cueing

sections

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Amplified

cello

Yes Yes Yes Yes Sometimes

Eastern music

background

No No No No No

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3.3 Analysis of All Interviews

According to the interviews with cellists and percussionists, there are a couple of central issues

that were mentioned and discussed.

● Conductor

In the diagram in the score, Tan marked a spot for a conductor. However, all the

interviewees explained that there is no need for a conductor if there is enough rehearsal time (at

least four hours for professional performers). In addition, if the four percussionists are regular

members of a specific ensemble and used to playing with each other, percussion sectional

rehearsals may not be necessary. If playing without a conductor, it is important to mark all of the

cues for changing tempo sections in the score. The ensemble cueing is usually between the cellist

and first percussion. The percussion quartet’s inner cuing depends on which percussion part has

a leading passage. The rehearsal process without a conductor enables all performers to establish

proper interpretations of their part on their own, and also enables them to concentrate on their

own sound and expressive interpretation of the work rather than having it dictated by the

conductor. Therefore, unsurprisingly, it is better for a performer to rehearse enough to learn the

other performer's parts.

All the percussionists mentioned that they have performed Snow in June with different

cellists. They commented that the most challenging part of preparing the piece is establishing the

flow and pacing of the drama and intensity of the piece. Each cellist had a different sense of

pacing and individual interpretations of the drama, so the percussion group has to discuss this

with the cellist and adjust their actions to support the dramatic interpretation by the cellist.

Interestingly, there was one cellist and one percussionist from the interviews that had experience

playing it with a conductor; all of them remarked that they did not have enough time to establish

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cues for themselves in a limited rehearsal schedule. More attention was paid to coordinating the

parts rather than interpreting the score with the proper sounds. Moreover, most interviewees

believed that this piece has the scale of a solo part for both cello and percussionists. Even though

the piece could be thought of as a cello concerto with percussion accompaniment, based on their

experiences, they remarked that it is more like an ensemble piece rather than a cello concerto.

● Stage setup

The diagram in the score shows a performance setup which includes a conductor in front

of the ensemble, and the cello is beside percussion I. All the interviewees prefer that the cellist

sit in the middle surrounded by the four percussionists in a semi-circle. From this position it is

easier to communicate cues between all performers. Also, it helped with cueing in general and

the proximity to more performers also affects the sensitivity to the sound balance. Specifically,

one cellist switched the position with the conductor as the diagram in the score has the conductor

in the middle.

● Amplification and audio monitors

All the performers mentioned amplification, most of the cellists were using a DPA

microphone citing the ease with which it clips onto the cello, the model 4099C was also

mentioned. Since percussion instruments are by nature louder than the cello, two cellists

recommended amplifying all the performers and getting an engineer to adjust and balance

according to sectional material. However, having an engineer presents a different set of

challenges because the engineer can often do more harm than good. In contrast, four

percussionists experimented only amplifying the cello with a sound engineer. In addition, the

need for an audio monitor to check the sound balance also depends on the venue. Regular

concert halls might not need an audio monitor.

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● Technical challenges for cellist

All cellists mentioned there is no extra technique beyond the ability of Western trained

musicians and contemporary musicians. Some left-hand extended techniques such as microtones

and pizzicato will be heard more when amplified. One cellist also mentioned that the pacing is

difficult since there are a lot of juxtapositions between slow and fast sections; this point is also

relative to having a conductor. However, the nature of the approach to the sliding tones is a

challenge. The sliding tone is meant to imitate the erhu, so it could be figured out by the timing

of slide, different physical postures between playing erhu and cello, and how to adapt cello

sound to erhu. All the cellists mentioned imitation of erhu as a crucial point to interpret sliding

tones; one cellist even had a year’s experience with playing the erhu. Therefore, listening to erhu

music and understanding the technique of it or even trying to play it will be helpful when

approaching the sliding tones for Snow in June.

● Technical challenges for percussionists

For percussionists, the challenge would be the instrument collection and organization.

The large instrument collection potentially involves making decisions about substitutions. For

instance, percussionists mentioned that during rushed rehearsals or on tours, they were missing

certain instruments, so they had to find substitutions for instruments such as Chinese tom-toms

(Western tom-toms were used) and also Chinese bells (for which a triangle was substituted).

The instrument organization indicates the positioning between percussion player and

instrument. In dealing with the large instrumentation for percussion parts, firstly, percussionists

have to play different instruments with fast shifts within a small space without making noise, at

the same time they need to take time to make sure they can get to every instrument easily. One

percussionist mentioned trying to get a universal mallet for every instrument. Secondly, care

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must be taken to control the dynamic when mixing different instruments. Thirdly, they have to

make sure taller instruments do not block their view of each other. Therefore, a performer should

make a list for all the substitutions and draw a sketch for the instrument setup, paying special

attention to the music stand.

● Collection for organic objects

Tan Dun wrote many sounds from objects such as paper, stones, bottles and even

whispers to evoke his “organic” music idea. For collecting paper, two percussionists tried many

different papers such as newspaper and printed sheet etc. until a suitable match for their

collections of sound was found. They all found that thicker paper produces a richer texture and

responds better to playing the notated paper-tearing rhythms. And the sound is long and loud

enough with sheets of poster board and unfolded manila envelopes. For collecting stones, they

tried many different materials including ceramic tiles, but found that the sound is not suitable for

expressing the organic feel of Tan’s unique stone clattering passages. Finally they found that big

size stones sound properly with suitable pitch and size so as to not hit their fingers.

● Chinese musical knowledge background

The work features Chinese musical elements rendered in Western notation. Mostly the

performers view and execute their performance as a Western contemporary music piece. With

regards to the Chinese musical elements, they had no knowledge of Chinese music. Only one

interviewee had experience with playing Chinese instruments and mentioned the story behind the

work—Injustice to Dou E. Most cellists recommended researching Chinese music before

approaching Tan Dun’s music in order to better interpret it. While the work can be played

convincingly by a non-Chinese trained musician, the deeper connections of the work to its

Chinese roots are potentially expressed in the small details related to sliding pitches and bowing

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techniques, but the issue of pacing relates to deeper levels of connection to the temporal nature

of Chinese staged musical dramas.

It is important to note that the improvisatory openness provides both cellists and

percussionists with more opportunities to develop their unique interpretations based on the

connection between music and the Chinese traditional play Injustice to Dou E. The percussionist

interviewees mentioned that they did not have experience with improvising in an ensemble. As a

comprehensive work of modern music, Snow in June provides opportunities for the incorporation

of inventive musical collaboration by means of improvisation, thereby ensuring unique and

individualized realizations of the work in each performance.

● Cello option

Although this is a contemporary piece, all the cellists recommended using a wooden cello

because the sound has more resonance than other cellos such as the electric or the carbon fibre

cello.

Therefore, there are five main subjects essential to constructing a performance guide for

Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June,

1) Interpretations of Tan’s extensive annotations in the score

2) Helpful tips on how to play specific cello/percussion techniques

3) Acknowledging the examples of Tan’s confluence (musical quotation) and background

knowledge of Chinese music.

4) Specific technical advice on current amplification equipment.

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5) Organizing strategies for performing amid a percussion ensemble with and without a

conductor.

Firstly, it is essential to follow Tan’s annotations in the score as a source of essential

interpretive details related to performance techniques and percussion instrument substitution.

However, the diagram of player positions was questioned. The cellist sitting in the middle of the

ensemble and percussionists being in a semicircle behind the cellist is a primary

recommendation.

Secondly, the score presents challenges for the cellist in the area of pacing, bow

management and specific technical challenges like left hand pizzicato and pizzicato during

bowing. The technical challenges which I have covered in the previous chapter address; these

cellists did not discuss these topics. However, regarding the most common technical challenge—

the sliding tone—in order to better understand the implicit Chinese elements in the work, I

recommend that one listen to music written for the erhu, how it expands its expressive

vocabulary of pentatonic pitches with different sliding tones and special bowing techniques.

Moreover, make the cello sound like an erhu by feeling the physical gesture differently and by

finding connections between Mandarin speaking tone gestures and the sliding tone. The more

complex issue of pacing relates to Chinese traditional drama forms that, while illuminating, are

also fairly abstract and depend on historical sensibilities related to ambiguities embedded in the

formulation of the language itself.

The improvised passages in both cello and percussion sections are designed to allow

performers to explore improvisatory techniques. Performers have to decide upon the improvised

pitches that are appropriate to the musical gesture. In making such decisions, performers could

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either explore the story behind the music or attempt to understand the Chinese instrumental

reference.

The large instrumentation is the biggest challenge for percussionists. Tan Dun asks for

specific instruments that might not be easy to find under special circumstances, in which case

substitutions must be considered. For playing many different instruments, setting up the

appropriately accessible position for each instrument will help with the frequent shifting between

instruments without making noise, especially when deciding where the music stand should be

placed and how it affects the player's positioning. Addressing these issues before group

rehearsals begin is essential; draw a sketch for the instrument set up, and make a list for all the

substitutions.

Thirdly, some performers recognized Tan Dun’s Chinese musical quotations but admitted

limited knowledge because they did not have experience with playing Chinese music and lacked

knowledge of Chinese music’s historical background. Some performers considered Snow in June

as Western contemporary music and have no issue with not having an Eastern music

background. Only one cellist has experience of playing erhu. However, in order to better

interpret Tan Dun’s musical confluence, knowledge of the Chinese traditional drama Injustice to

Dou E, Mandarin tonal qualities and erhu playing relate directly to the sliding tone issue

especially for cellists. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the story behind Snow in June, listen

to erhu or even try to play it to find the physical and acoustic difference between cello and erhu

before approaching the piece. In addition, Mandarin speaking conventions will help with

understanding the direction of sliding tone.

Fourthly, amplification for cellists depends always on the specific acoustic of the

performance hall, although Tan Dun has suggested amplified cello in the score. Within a

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standard music hall, if a cellist can play loud enough to balance with four percussionists,

amplification is not necessary. However, I recommend that the cellist be amplified and have one

audio monitor on stage. In addition, amplification could also help make specific cello techniques

more audible, particularly the challenging left-hand pizzicato passages. However, amplification's

primary role is to balance the cello and percussion quartet. If the performance venue is big, such

as a stadium, all performers including the four percussionists, should be amplified so that the

engineer can have the opportunity to adjust balance according to sectional levels. However, it

presents a different set of challenges—unless you work with the same person and the person

knows the piece, because the engineer can possibly do more harm than good to the dynamic

expression of the ensemble.

Finally, although Tan requests a conductor in the annotation in the score, for all

professional performers this is not necessary. Therefore, performance requires internal cueing

between the cellist and the first percussionist and a rehearsal schedule beyond five hours for the

ensemble to learn how each of the parts are intertwined. The percussionist can also have a

sectional rehearsal before having rehearsal with the cellist. This also depends on whether the

percussionists play together regularly as a group or are not used to playing with the other

percussionists.

3.4 Conclusion

Snow in June is a representative example of the confluence of Eastern and Western

elements in of Tan Dun’s compositions. While including Western contemporary musical

features, Tan also holds traditional Chinese values and ideas. By using traditional Chinese

musical materials as a basis for composition, Tan Dun’s success is based on his understanding of

the values and influences of both cultures. With my knowledge of Chinese traditional

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instruments and being a native Mandarin speaker, playing Elegy: Snow in June feels like a

combination of my own cultural background that is amplified by the Western instruments and the

techniques of my formal education.

I had the chance to work on Snow in June for a performance with the University of

Toronto Percussion Ensemble in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the University of Toronto

Faculty of Music. Firstly, I carefully read Tan Dun’s annotations in the score, and found that

everything looks idiomatic and he explained almost all of the performance techniques. However,

during my practice I found many potential cello technique issues such as left-hand pizzicato

during bowing and double stops with glissandos. Secondly, I made a list of the technique issues

and discussed them with my teacher Shauna Rolston Shaw. Her suggestions were helpful and

involved experimenting with different solutions to these problems, such as using particular

fingerings and bowings. Once these technical issues were figured out, I explored the relevant

historical background and literary references of Snow in June. Thirdly, I rediscovered the story

Dou E Yuan from the Yuan Dynasty of the 13th century, analyzed the connection between the

content of the drama and the music, combined all the glissandos with Mandarin speaking tones,

and played erhu many times. Fourthly, I had the chance to rehearse with the percussionists and

without a conductor. We had six rehearsals before the performance, each time for one hour.

There were also four hour-long rehearsals for the percussion quartet. During the rehearsals, we

setup the cueing sections. Mostly the cues are between cellist and first percussion. I also

explored the challenges for percussionists, such as the large instrumentation; they had to set up

for almost one hour for each rehearsal. Fortunately the university has sufficient choice of

percussion instruments. The stage setup was a semi-circle for percussionists with the cello in the

middle. Fifthly, we experimented with amplified cello for the rehearsals, but sometimes I could

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not hear the sound back. Later we decided to have an audio monitor even though the

performance venue, Walter Hall in University of Toronto, is a small concert hall (490 seats) with

good acoustics. Furthermore, I experimented with a carbon fibre cello and I found that the sound

is loud enough and could be an option for performing Snow in June.

My research was based on Tan Dun’s aesthetic concepts and his deployment of

compositional devices not just as a medium for artistic expression, but also as an artistic

expression in sound that reflects cultural constructs. To fully understand his work, the performer

must reach beyond the music, and explore a cultural consciousness and a larger body of

historical awareness based on specifically Chinese sensibilities. By analyzing and unpacking the

historical references and technical instrumental innovations of Elegy: Snow in June, this thesis

has provided a performance guide and offers a clearer understanding of how integrates musical

and cultural characteristics from the East and the West.

The interviews and discussions with performers who have championed this composition

also assisted with constructing an appropriate performance practice for Elegy: Snow in June. I

hope that the information and advice offered here will encourage more musicians to perform this

concerto.

110

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A Performance Guide to Tan Dun's Elegy: Snow in June

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