A Study of Dazu Vocal Music in Dazu District, Chongqing, China

Abstract

Dazu vocal music songs are traditional Chinese folk songs that capture the daily life and cultural expressions of local communities through simple melodies and lyrics. The study employed the research methodology of ethnomusicology. The objectives are: 1) To classify the different types of Dazu vocal music. 2) To analyze the music characteristics of Dazu vocal music. 3) To describe the contribution of two important musicians in the development of Dazu vocal music. The data were mainly collected from fieldwork with the key informants and presented in the descriptive analysis format.

The results are as follows: 1) Dazu vocal music songs are mainly divided into Labor song, Working song, Rice seedling song, and several major categories, with a wide variety of categories. 2) Dazu vocal music songs are all written in pentatonic tones and have local characteristics in the composition of their melodies. The music structure of the song is regular, and the lyrics are mostly in dialect. 3) Two important musicians have made significant contributions to the development of Dazu vocal music. These data were mainly collected from field investigations with key information providers and presented in the form of descriptive analysis.

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