Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T08:13:19.734Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Music as social bonding: A cross-cultural perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2021

Ivan Yifan Zou
Affiliation:
Department of Music, The University of Hong Kong, 11.03 11/F Run Run Shaw Tower, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong. [email protected]
William S.-Y. Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, GH144, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. [email protected]; https://www.polyu.edu.hk/cbs/web/en/people/staff_detail/4

Abstract

We extend Savage et al.'s music and social bonding hypothesis by examining it in the context of Chinese music. First, top-down functions such as music as political instrument should receive more attention. Second, solo performance can serve as important cues for social identity. Third, a right match between the tones in lyrics and music contributes also to social bonding.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brindley, E. (2012). Music, cosmology, and the politics of harmony in early China. State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Carr, D. (2006). The significance of music for the moral and spiritual cultivation of virtue. Philosophy of Music Education Review, 14(2), 103117.Google Scholar
Chao, Y. R. (1956). Tone, intonation, singsong, chanting, recitative, tonal composition, and atonal composition in Chinese. In Halle, M., Lunt, H. G., McLean, H. & Van Schooneveld, C. H. (Eds.), For Roman Jakobson: Essays on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday (pp. 5259). Morton.Google Scholar
Lai, T. C., & Mok, R. (1981). Jade flute: The story of Chinese music. Swindon Book.Google Scholar
Lindqvist, C. (2006). Qin. Albert Bonniers.Google Scholar
Liu, J. (2014). Art and aesthetics of music in classical Confucianism. In Shen, V. (Ed.), Dao companion to classical Confucian philosophy (pp. 227244). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2936-2_10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pian, R. C. (2000). Tone and tone: Applying musical elements to Chinese words. Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 28(2), 181200.Google Scholar
Ross, D., Choi, J., & Purves, D. (2007). Musical intervals in speech. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(23), 98529857. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0703140104.Google Scholar
Schellenberg, M. (2012). Does language determine music in tone languages? Ethnomusicology, 56(2), 266278.10.5406/ethnomusicology.56.2.0266CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tien, A. (2015). The semantics of Chinese music: Analysing selected Chinese musical concepts. John Benjamins.10.1075/clscc.5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Gulik, R. H. (2011). Lore of the Chinese lute (3rd ed.). Orchid Press.Google Scholar
Wang, W. S.-Y. (1973). The Chinese language. Scientific American, 228(2), 5063.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wee, L.-H. (2007). Unraveling the relation between Mandarin tones and musical melody. Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 35(1), 128144.Google Scholar