Chinese Rag

SKU: HL.14016769

8.75x11.75x0.786 inches.

Opera in 3 Acts with libretto by the composer, based on the 13th Century Chinese drama The Chao Family Orphan.

SKU: PR.312416820

UPC: 680160050376. 8.5 x 11 inches.

Chen Yi’s most performed and most beloved choral music is a series of 10 Chinese folk songs adapted for S.A.T.B. Chorus (published in 3 volumes: 312-41731, 312-41732, 312-41733). This special version is a setting of the familiar collection, adapted for children’s chorus and strings.
Remembering when I studied composition in the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, I learned to sing hundreds of Chinese folk songs collected from more than twenty provinces and fifty ethnic groups, and went to countryside to collect original folk music every year.  I got to know that the folk songs are a mirror of people’s daily lives, their thoughts and sentiments, local customs and manners.  They are sung in regional dialects and use the idioms of everyday speech with their particular intonations, accents and cadences.  This correlation between speech and music distinguishes folk songs of one region from another.  I learned all songs by heart and sang them back in the exams every week.  They melted in my blood and became my natural music language.  The more I walk into the music life,the more I treasure the rich culture I have learned from my homeland. When I became the Composer-in-Residence of Chanticleer and was invited to write the first work for its concert program, as well as another version for its Singing-In-The-Schools program, I decided to introduce A Set of Chinese Folk Songs to my American audiences, and add a new flavor to Chanticleer’srich repertoire.  The work includes ten folk songs, taken from eight provinces (Anhui, Shaanxi, Yunnan, Shanxi, Taiwan, Sinkiang, Jiangsu and Guizhou) and five ethnic groups (Han, Hasake, Uighur, Miao and Yi).  I arranged them for choirs (men’s or children’s chorus) with various combinations in voices, to be sung mostly in Chinese, some in English.   From the mysterious mountain songs originally sung in the open air with high and long notes that can carry over great distances, the sweet and delicate melodies of young love compared with nature, the humorous antiphony by little children, and the lively dancing tune by villagers, you may get an idea of various music styles in Chinese folk songs according to geographic, ethnic and linguistic differences, and appreciate the beauty of the Chinese folk music.  The pure choir sound and the sophisticated singing by Chanticleer, in terms of pitches, language and musical expressions, really attract and inspire me to create some more new works in the years to come.  In thisedition of A Set of Chinese Folk Songs for standard SATB mixed choir (with piano rehearsal score), I divided these ten songs into three volumes.  They are Fengyang Song, The Flowing Stream, Guessing, Thinking of My Darling, Mayila, Jasmine Flower, Riding on a Mule, Awariguli, Diu Diu Deng, andMountain Song and Dancing Tune.—Chen Yi.

SKU: PR.114419280

ISBN 9781491132357. UPC: 680160676125.

Inspired by Chinese tradition, this concerto-like dance suite includes: 1. Lion Dance, 2. YangKo, and 3. Muqam. Each movement draws from melodies and rhythms characteristic of various regions of China many centuries ago. CHINESE FOLK DANCE SUITE is available for violin with full orchestra, or as a recital work with piano.
Supported by a major commissioning award from the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress, Chinese Folk Dance Suite is written for solo violin and orchestra; it was premiered by The Women’s Philharmonic with violin soloist Terrie Baune, conducted by Apo Hsu, on March 10, 2001, at Yerba Buena Center For the Arts Theater in San Francisco.Inspired by various Chinese traditional folk dances, the suite has three movements:I. Lion Dance. Traditionally, people dance with richly decorated hand-made lions, accompanied by percussion ensemble, to celebrate happy occasions and major festivals throughout the country. In this composition, I use Chinese drum and other percussion instruments in the background, to form a dynamic and rhythmic texture responding to the solo part, which imitates the tunes played on the suona (traditional Chinese trumpet). The pitch materials came from the traditional Guangdong tune “Dragon Boat Racing,” and the Chaozhou tune “Lion Playing Ball.”II. YangKo. Originating in northern China, this is a major folk dance form in mass performance popularized in the country. In YangKo performance, people play rhythmic patterns on the drums hung around their waists while singing and dancing. In the second movement, I imagined a warm scene of YangKo dancing in distance. The solo violin plays a sweet and gracious melodic line while all members of the orchestra sing non-pitched syllables in different layers as the soft background, to imitate the percussion sound which produces the ever-going pulse.III. Muqam. This large-scale music and dance form, from the Uygur nationality in Xinjiang province, originated in the 15th century. My third movement use a 7/8 meter and the melodic style of Muqam music. The fiery dancing gesture culminates in the sustained climax section at the end of the work, after a colorful violin cadenza in both improvisational singing style and polyphonic writing with woven lines.

SKU: HL.121398

ISBN 9781480352391. UPC: 884088922894. 9x12 inches.

The Hal Leonard Chinese Pipa Method is designed for anyone just learning to play the pipa. This comprehensive and easy-to-use beginner's guide serves as an introduction to the Chinese pipa and its techniques. The accompanying online video lessons feature demonstrations of examples and exercises throughout the book. Lessons include: About the Pipa; Tuning; Western & Chinese notation basics; Left and right hand techniques; Positions; Tremolo; Bending; Vibrato and overtones; Classical Pipa repertoire; Popular Chinese folk tunes; much more!

SKU: PR.41641511L

UPC: 680160621293.

Commissioned by Kennesaw State University Symphony Orchestra in 2012, Chinese Rap for violin and orchestra is premiered by Prof. Helen Kim as the soloist and the KSUSO led by Prof. Michael Alexander at Bailey Center in KSU, GA on Feb. 17, 2014. The work is inspired by Chinese folk musical story telling, Quyi, in a form of mixed reciting and singing style, with interludes played by percussion and plucking instruments in accompaniment. The folk musical story telling is sung in dialects from different geographic regions. I mixed all these elements in a complex three-part form, with an introduction, a cadenza in the middle, and a coda as the frame in the structure. The melodies are delicate and leisurely, and the rhythmic parts are energetic, vivid and lively. There are big contrasts between sections, which are juxtaposed and connected smoothly and congenially.
Commissioned by Kennesaw State University Symphony Orchestra in 2012,Chinese Rap for violin and orchestra is premiered by Prof. Helen Kim as thesoloist and the KSUSO led by Prof. Michael Alexander at Bailey Center inKSU, GA on Feb. 17, 2014. The work is inspired by Chinese folk musical storytelling, Quyi, in a form of mixed reciting and singing style, with interludesplayed by percussion and plucking instruments in accompaniment. The folkmusical story telling is sung in dialects from different geographic regions. Imixed all these elements in a complex three-part form, with an introduction, a cadenza in the middle, and a coda as the frame in the structure. The melodies are delicate and leisurely, and the rhythmic parts are energetic, vivid and lively. There are big contrasts between sections, which are juxtaposed and connected smoothly and congenially.

SKU: CF.YAS226

ISBN 9781491162743. UPC: 680160921492. Key: D major.

Chen Yi’s original A Set of Chinese Folk Songs included ten songs, first arranged for the vocal ensemble Chanticleer to perform with students in the “Singing-in-the-Schools” programs in the 1990's. Taken from a wide range of geographic regions in China, with rich characteristics and expressive contrast, the set has been sung by many choirs around the world in the past thirty years. Three songs from that collection have been thoughtfully arranged into a three-movement suite for intermediate string orchestras, bringing this beautiful Chinese folk music to even more young musicians. The celebratory Fengyang Song is from Anhui province which is popular in the whole country. The lyrical love song Flowing Stream is from Yunnan province in the southwest, and the passionate and vivid Mayila is from the ethnic group known as Kazakhs in the northwest.