Wang Chao's "Journey": towards the problem of the "Ecological" trend in the contemporary choral work of Chinese composers

Chzhou Chzhou Postgraduate student; Vitor Popov Academy of Choral Art 125565, Russia, Moscow, Festivalnaya str., 2 jojoinrussiaa@mail.ru

Since the middle of the twentieth century, the development of ecology as a science and an environmental topic in the mass consciousness of the world community has served as a powerful impulse to put forward specific values to humanity and form a special attitude towards them. In response to these trends, a special style direction was born in musical culture, called "ecological music", and following this there was a need to understand the problems of this sphere of creative activity. This circumstance justifies the relevance of the proposed research aimed at identifying in modern Chinese musical culture those trends that demonstrate a tangible turn in the consciousness and creative activity of the younger generation of creators of today's Chinese culture to the development of environmental problems of the sounding world of our civilization.

This work claims to be a scientific novelty, since environmental philosophy, aesthetic and musicological research on this topic are still practically unknown to the wider scientific community. The proposed research experience is aimed at identifying and generalizing the basic concepts of ecology and ecological philosophy, searching for ways to develop musical ecological aesthetics, and establishing relationships between musical ecological aesthetics and the development of modern Chinese choral art.

Using the achievements and research apparatus of ecological aesthetics, studying with the help of a systematic typological approach the ecological consciousness in the musical picture of the world of different peoples, the author of this work plans to establish certain patterns in the development of modern Chinese choral art in that part of it that is indirectly or directly related to the embodiment of the aspiration to solve the most important foundations of human existence in its unity with the nature of the Earth and the cosmic Universe.

For the author of the study, it is the process of awareness by modern Chinese society of the ecological aspect of the sound activity of civilization, which in many ways marks a new turn towards the understanding of the role of sound in the universe and in regulating the relationship between man and the environment through sound and music, characteristic of ancient thinkers. In this regard, it is the sound of human voices in the a cappella choir that is becoming a landmark phenomenon. In this regard, the subject of the study is new trends in the modern choral work of Chinese composers, demonstrating a gradual return to understanding musical creativity as a living and natural contact with the sound matter of the universe.

The purpose of the work, which is to identify and comprehend positive creative experiences in line with this issue, determines the tasks set by the author, namely:

- application of scientific principles developed in the international research field of environmental musicology to the sound practice of modern Chinese compositional music;

- the study of the most significant compositional experiments demonstrating the authors' understanding of environmental issues;

- identification of the role of a choral conductor, the head of a choral collective in the development of an ecological attitude to sound and music in the process of sound and musical communication;

- a study of the stylistic features of Wang Chao's choral writing;

- formulation of conclusions about the specifics of the refraction of the ecological worldview in the context of modern Chinese musical culture.

The object of the study is the composition "Journey" (途) by Chinese composer and choral conductor Wang Chao. The practical significance of the work is seen by the author in the subsequent application of observations and conclusions reached in the course of research in the live practice of performing choral compositions with an understanding of the ecological significance of the singing voice and musical creativity in general, both in personal professional experience and in promoting environmental ideas in the field of modern choral composing and performing creativity.

Music is an integral part of the human spiritual world. The very essence of music comes from Nature. With the continuous deterioration of the ecological environment and the aggravation of the crisis of human survival, Nature has now entered into the vision of man with a stronger attitude, and environmental problems have gradually become the focus of people's attention. The ecological consciousness of people is growing, and more and more people are beginning to call for the harmonious coexistence of man and nature and the pursuit of harmonious beauty of being ^[6]. Works of environmental themes are classified as "ecological art". In the special literature on this issue, a conceptual and terminological apparatus is gradually being developed, thanks to which such a stylistic trend of the twentieth century as "ecological music" can be distinguished. However, the definition of "ecological music" as a designation of a special style is not found in the works ^{[2, p.27]}.

Since the study of environmental and philosophical aesthetics is still relatively new to the Chinese musicological community, an overview of the basic concepts of ecology and environmental philosophy will be presented below to clarify the rational way to study musical environmental aesthetics, and then the importance of musical environmental aesthetics for the development of modern Chinese choral singing will be considered. Let's look at the cultural ecology of Chinese music from the point of view of ecological aesthetics, and also analyze how the Chinese choral community reflects the idea of ecological aesthetics in the creation and recreation of modern Chinese choral art through specific choral works.

In the 1950s, the "environmental movement" emerged in the West, focusing on environmental, health and human rights issues. This movement has contributed to a sharp increase in both scientific and everyday interest in environmental issues among the general public.

At the beginning of its existence, the discipline studied only some issues related to human survival from the point of view of the environment, and did not touch on the field of culture. With the continuous development of the environmental movement, environmental research has gradually spread to the humanities, including, of course, the musical arts. There is no doubt that all natural and human phenomena are reflected in musical culture. The basic basis of musicological research from an ecological point of view is to place music in the context of the ecological environment on which it depends, and then from this position to identify its state in the current situation and the laws of its evolution. Obviously, the scope of this perspective will be very wide, and different disciplines in musicology may use different theoretical approaches.

Ecomusicology should be one of the main directions of new musicological research. But there is still not a single opinion on the subject, not a single definition of this concept about what "ecomusicology" is. Musicologist Aaron S. Allen, author of numerous published works on ecomusicology, defines ecomusicology as "the study of music, culture and nature in all the complexity of these terms. Ecomusicology considers musical and sound problems, both textual and performative, related to ecology and the environment" ^{[12, p.2]}. It is a study that covers various academic disciplines, including musicology, biology, ecology and anthropology. Ecomusicology combines these disciplines to establish how sound is created by the natural environment and, more broadly, how cultural values and concern for nature are expressed through sound activity and human creativity ^{[12, p.2]}. Ecomusicology studies music, culture and nature and examines musical and sound issues, both textual and and performance related to ecology and the environment. In fact, it is a mixture of ecocriticism and musicology (and not "ecology" and "musicology") in the holistic definition of Charles Seeger ^[12]. Ecomusicology is considered as a field of research, and not as a specific academic discipline.

The content of the concept of "ecology of music" is enriched by research on social and environmental philosophy, environmental pedagogy and psychology, environmental ethics ("ethics of the Earth", "ethics of environmental responsibility") ^[19], as well as music therapy – one of the modern directions of psychotherapy and practical psychology. In it, music is viewed in many ways: as a phenomenon of creative activity, as a kind of linguistic phenomenon, as a symbolic expression of the spiritual and socio-psychological trends of its time ^[22]. Music therapy involves the use of music and its means (sound, rhythm, melody and harmony) for the purpose of prevention, rehabilitation or treatment, and is also aimed at the development of human creative abilities.

Nevertheless, in modern musicology, the ecology of music is poorly understood. E. Nazaikinsky first addresses the understanding of its problems in the article "Music and Ecology" ^{[7, p.13]} and defines three spheres of their interaction:

1) music is like noise, like environmental pollution;

2) the sphere of artistic and aesthetic norms and ideals, where the requirement of cleanliness is directly related to ecology and morality;

3) the inner spiritual world of a person as a field of environmental impact – artistic, psychological, social, biological ^{[4; 8]}.

In the 1970s, with the growth of the concept of ecology in North America, the study of sound ecology entered the field of view of people ^{[10; 11]}. Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer came up with the idea of a "Soundscape". Schafer used the term to encompass the vast acoustic environment, which is all the diverse sounds heard by the human ear. A soundscape can include, for example, all audible sounds heard in a certain area of the earth, such as a mountain range, forest or field ^{[13, p.65]}. The concept of a soundscape stands for a cultural analysis of the composition, form and history of sound and forces to reorient and reflect on the auditory experience in ecological culture.

In Chinese musical aesthetics, there is a concept of the "law of harmony", within which forms of expression and musical content are organically combined, which is formulated as "the relationship of sound and spirit". This approach is described in the ancient Chinese treatise on music "Yue-Tzu" ("Yue-Tzu" is a famous ancient Chinese treatise on aesthetics. It is included in the 49th section of the treatise "Li Ji". There are two main versions regarding the authorship of "Yue-Tzu": researcher Guo Mojo attributes it to Guangxi Niqi, and Cai Zhongde to Liu De. Currently, the scientific community has still not made a final decision, but most are inclined to Cai Zhongde's version. According to Yue Tzu, music is the expression of feelings through sounds, feelings are born as a reflection of real life, changes in the external world lead to transformations of feelings, music is a manifestation of these emotional transformations.) ^{[17, p.253]}. This is the idea of beauty that people have acquired in the course of aesthetic perception of a musical work, as well as the idea that the sound itself should reflect.

The "Law of Harmony" is the main category of Chinese musical aesthetics. The idea of the "Law of Harmony" touches on the main musical and theoretical issues, such as the origin and nature of music, its role and significance. The formation of this idea of musical aesthetics is connected with the traditional Chinese cultural consciousness and spirit, and this is people's thinking about how to deal with various kinds of relationships between man and nature, society and man himself. From a philosophical point of view, the Law of Harmony demonstrates to us the Chinese way of thinking: the search for balance in confrontation and the transformation of both opposing sides of the conflict into an internal harmonious coexistence.

The same and monotonous mean decline and extinction. Only by overcoming each other can we exist together, and diversity can persist for a long time. As for music, musical elements with various features, such as tone, volume and timbre, combine into a melody in the flow of time, forming a "harmony" ^[1].

The requirements of the ancient Chinese for music consisted not only in the desire for unity in the form of confrontation, but also in the inclusion of ethical norms and morality in its content ^{[15; 16]}. This would help people improve their moral development and maintain peace of mind. Regarding the method of composition, the "Law of Harmony" means that elements of different art forms are combined with each other and achieve a calm state in opposition. Formal elements of music that can be expressed in words - clear and cloudy, big and small, short and long, slow and fast, sad and happy, hard and soft, high and low, cautious and rare - have created harmonious beauty in mutual opposition ^{[18; 20]}. Let us recall here the well-known philosophical doctrine of Yin and Yang (kit. Trad. 陰陽, upr. 阴阳), which formulates the initial process of cosmogenesis in the division of the great "beginning of being" into two interacting and flowing into each other opposing forces (male and female, past and future, etc.).

In ancient China, there were three main ethical and religious teachings: Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism ^[9]. At different historical stages, the musical aesthetics of these teachings played a different role ^[3]. In modern choral music, which does not formally relate to spiritual genres, but addresses eternal questions of Existence, the aesthetic positions of these religious teachings are refracted. Similar examples can be found in the works of Jin Chengzhi, Xie Enkhbayar, Wang Chao and many other young composers ^[5].

A striking example of a work that includes elements of "ecological" music is Wang Chao's "Journey" for the a cappella choir. Wang Chao, (b. 1987), Chinese conductor, composer, Permanent Secretary General of the Choral Committee of Chinese Universities, director of the Chinese Children's Choral Festival and Choral Summit of Chinese Universities, professor at Zibo Pedagogical College, artistic director of the Shanghai Pedagogical University Choir and conductor of the Shanghai Rainbow Chamber Choir. His compositions include several choral cycles and separate choirs based on his own words. At the Moscow Conservatory, he studied in a conducting class with an outstanding choral figure, People's Artist of the Russian Federation, Professor B.G. Tevlin. After the Maestro's death, Wang Chao studied in the class of Professor A.V. Solovyov and graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 2012.

Wang Chao and his choirs have received many positive reviews at numerous concerts. The listeners emphasized that they shared the emotional impressions of the concerts, and it was a love for the art of the choir — the art of performing with a human voice as the most natural "instrument".

Research has also shown that some collaborative musical experiences, including co-authorship, can also elicit similar empathy. Research in the field of neurology suggests that certain physiological and psychological changes will occur in the process of human participation in the choir and listening to the choir ^[14]. Overall, the choir improves physical and mental health and overall quality of life. The performance of the choir improves the singer's mood and increases trust, cooperation and social intimacy, while reducing anxiety and other negative emotions. This directly testifies to the "environmental friendliness" of choral singing ^[21].

"Journey" (途) is a choral composition for unaccompanied mixed choir, written by Wang Chao in 2015. In November of the same year, this composition was performed by the Poyue Choir of Shanghai Pedagogical University at the World Choral Exhibition in Macau.

The piece uses musical elements of the Inner Mongolia ethnic group in China. The whole song is written in four tones f, g, a and es. The range of each part is more than three octaves. The work describes the relationship between Heaven, Earth and People. This choral composition is a philosophical reflection on the search for Faith.

Wang Chao loves ancient Chinese literature and creates literary works himself. The text of this choir was also written by the composer himself.

Text:

There is a lot of noise and fuss in the world, and people want to find a place of peace of mind in their confusion and indecision...

Taking their luggage step by step away from their hometown, people changed their appearance ...

A fate full of vicissitudes.

But don't be sad, don't be embarrassed, but raise your chest,

Live magnanimously!

[my translation is Ch.Ch.]

The composer added such sonorous elements to the choir as onomatopoeia to the "voices" of nature and national percussion instruments: rhythmically organized and free recitation, exclamations, etc. To achieve a vivid visual effect, Wang Chao thinks over the elements of scenography. So, at the climax of the composition (located at the end of the middle part), the choristers should raise their hands, turning to the Sky, and then slowly lower them palms down, at the same time moving their fingers. Before the reprise, the arrangement of the choral parts changes: it is necessary to line up, creating the effect of sea waves.

The desire to show the multitude of people who came together caused the need for a developed polyphony in the choral texture: four choral parts of a mixed choir, a quartet of soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), four solo voices reciting the text (soprano, alto, tenor, bass). In addition, at the climax, each choral part is divided into two (divisi 2).

The melodic line of all the voices is an ostinato based on long seconds, which creates the feeling of steps. The melody is played in seconds and thirds intervals, and the harmony is in pure quarts, characteristic of the Chinese style, dignified and elegant. Each image is conveyed by a different combination of tones. In general, the range of sound is gradually expanding in accordance with the distance separating the departing people from the city, and at the same time between the Earthly and the Divine. Emphasizing the final words of the text "lift up your chest, live magnanimously!", the composition is crowned by a choral unison (tutti).

Variation and repetition is a way of preserving the original thematic material with some subtle local embellishments and adjustments. Such a branching of melodic lines resembles heterophony.

Summing up the results of the study, we emphasize that in the 1950s the "environmental protection movement" arose in the West, this movement contributed to a sharp increase in the general public's scientific and everyday interest in environmental issues. With the continuous development of the environmental movement, environmental research has gradually spread to the humanities, including, of course, musical cultural studies. In North America, the study of sound ecology entered the field of view of people in the 1970s.

The basic concepts of the ecological trend in music are formulated in several concepts, such as ecology, ecocriticism, ecological aesthetics and ecological music. It should be clarified that the ecological aesthetics of music is the study of musical and aesthetic phenomena and cultural practices from the point of view of ecology or ecological philosophy, and this is a kind of methodology in the study of musical aesthetics.

In the process of developing environmental music, sound as a distinct phenomenon becomes the central focus of attention for both composers and performers, as well as music listeners. The sages of ancient civilizations have long noticed the irreplaceable role of sound in the existence of the entire universe and in human relations with nature and the universe. Thus, the sacred and symbolic basis of sound has become the most important feature of Indian musical culture from ancient times to the present. Moreover, the very idea of communicating with the universe through sound becomes fundamental to Indian classical music making.

In Chinese musical aesthetics, there is a concept of the "law of harmony", within which forms of expression and musical content are organically combined, which is formulated as "the relationship of sound and spirit". This approach is described in three main Chinese ethical and religious teachings: Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. This idea of beauty, acquired by people in the course of aesthetic perception of a musical work, is an idea that the sound itself should express.

Paying tribute to the ideas of their ancestors, modern musical figures, as it were, "on a new spiral", come to understand their responsibility to the world in dealing with sound and music. Some creators consciously seek ways to "heal" humanity with the help of healing sounds, others intuitively gravitate towards a natural and life-affirming sound that brings joy and pleasure to people.

Similar trends have been found in the choral works selected for this study, created by the talented Chinese conductor and composer Wang Chao, and implemented in performance practice by choral conductors in recent decades. The author expresses the hope that the awareness of today's musicians of their lofty mission to bring harmony and light of life into the world will be much more important for them than the desire to capture the attention and recognition of the public.