Hearing Wang Jianmin 王建民 again

It was great hearing Wang talk again, after more than 2 years. His shared richly on his compositional mindset, illustrating in some detail how he draws on the various Chinese folk traditions to create his own--one that he consciously aims to be different from the West.

His whole presentation brought home a number of key points:

i. importance of knowing the traditions -- both the Chinese and Western in terms of their systems and mode of musical thinking (体系，思维方式); this for him is one pre-requisite (大前提) for composers. His ensuing presentation amply illustrates his own deep understanding.

ii. the integrity of his compositional approach -- deep understanding of and faithfulness to his folk sources without being rigidly bound. He analyzed folksongs extensively to identify characteristic features upon which he then creates his musical materials (原材料). His manipulation (加工) of these materials (e.g. generating into artificial scales for his first two Erhu Rhapsodies; intervallic expansion of the characteristic min 2nd into either dim or aug 8ve in the 2nd Rhapsody) would retain these identified folk characteristics (e.g. modal characteristics 特性调性). At the same time, he also draws on Chinese structuring principles (特性进行), e.g. 合头 from 戏曲音乐, as opposed to using Western ones (e.g. ABA, fast-slow-fast). He distinguishes Chinese variation techniques (e.g. 长短伸缩，改头换面) from Western ones (essentially, ornamenting within a given structure).

iii. importance of idiomatic writing, which (for me) also implies his respect for performers and ultimately his art. Not surprisingly, for him 雅俗共赏does not just mean balancing between sophistication and popular appeal, but he added that he also was mindful of writing in a way that appeals to or is rewarding for professional performers. He also revealed without embarrassment that, as a non erhu playing, he spent 3 months studying erhu scores before writing his first erhu rhapsody.

iv. drawing from past models 模式化 does not mean being formulaic 公式化. He encouraged composers to re-discover from traditions to create what is modern. A key term he used quite a few times was 分析 ('analyze').