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The music of Taiwanese Opera
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Taiwanese Opera is called "Gua-A-He" in Taiwanese. "Gua-A" in Taiwanese means songs and "He" means drama.
We can say that "Gua-A-He" is characterized by her music and singing style. Here, we will introduce several
representative tunes and melodies that are used in Taiwanese Opera. Also, you can listen to some examples
of these tunes.
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| First of all, we'll show you four traditional tunes. All of them do not have legth limitations.
You can sing the tune as long as you like. These traditional tunes are very flexible. Singing a main tune with variant
melodies corresponding to the situations and the librettos is the distinctive feature of the traditional tunes.
In other words, there are infinite ways to sing these tunes. On one hand, the keys of the words are decided by their
articulation, so that the final melodies are decided by the overall words in the song.
An identical libretto, however, can be sung in different melodies by different singers or at different times.
On the other hand, emotions like sadness and happiness can be expressed by the speed with which their tunes are sung.
These tunes are touching and full of colors as determined by the singer/actors.
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All example songs are in Read Audio format,
you must have RealPlayer installed in you computer to listen them.
Part I
| Chi-Zi Diao (Seven Syllables Melodies) |
| The most important and essential tune of Taiwanese Opera is "Chi-Zi Diao" or "Chi-Zi-A".
"Diao" is the word for melody or tune in Taiwanese. "Chi-Zi-A" is also called Seven Syllables Melodies or
Seven-Word Tune. It is so named because the simplest form of "Chi-Zi Diao" has four lines and each
line has seven syllables. This tune is very flexible and there are many variations of this tune.
We can also change the key, the tempo, or the register to express different emotions. For example,
we can use a slow tempo to express grief. When we are angry, we can sing "Chi-Zi-Diao" in a fast tempo.
Another main variation is that the performer sings the first and last (fourth) lines only and just says the second
and third lines. This variation is called "head-tail seven word tune".
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from angry to sad
head-tail seven word tune (sad)
head-tail seven word tune (shocked)
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| Dou-Ma Diao |
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"Dou-Ma" is named after the troup, which introduce this melody to Taiwanese Opera. "Dou-Ma" is frequently used in love
scenes or to express longing. "Dou-Ma Diao" is like "Chi-Zi Diao." They are both very flexible and both can be used in
many different situactions.
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from sad to angry
grief and angry
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| Tza-Liam-A (Statement Tune) |
| Sometimes a character may need to explain a long and important part to the audience.
In this situation, "Tza-Liam-A" is usually used. "Tza-Liam-A" is also called Statement Tune because it is often
used for long narration. The feature of "Tza-Liam-A" is that it combines singing and talking. In fact, the delivery
of the words is somewhere between singing and speaking.
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example 2
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| Street Melodies |
| In addition to "Chi-Zi Diao", "Dou-Ma Diao", and "Tza-Liam-A", there is another traditional
tune called Street Melody. It is traveling performers who use Street Melody first when they try to sale something
in the market place. It can be used to tell a story as well.
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example 2
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Part II, to be continued
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Elfin
5/20/2002
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