What are the three general overlapping categories WOM uses to classify selected Chinese musical genres? What are the divisions (or sub-categories) within the categories? List the specific examples of genres for each division. Under the “Intended audiences” category list and exemplify with a genre the four primary social functions of performances (examples may vary, see Figure 8.1). How can

Question

the intended audience for a genre change (e.g., from a mass to elitist audience or from an elitist to mass audience)?
(Note how specific genres fit into more than one category on the grid due to the overlapping nature of the grid categories.)

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• By instrumentation: solo vocal (e.g., Folk song 1 and 2), group vocal (e.g., ritual song); mixed vocal & instrumental (solo and) group (e.g., Beijing opera, pop song); solo instrumental (e.g., qin solo, piano solo) and group instrumental (e.g., sizhu music, beiguan music and new folk music)
• Intended audiences category: mass entertainment for people at large—folk/mass (e.g., folk song 1 and 2, ritual song, Beijing opera, pop song, sizhu music, beiguan music, new folk music); performances by specialist minorities for elite audiences (e.g., qin solo, piano solo). WOM also labels the primary social function of a performance of each genre by color-coded underlines: (A) "for self-entertainment or use in small-scale, non-commercial settings (e.g., sizhu and beiguan music, qin solo); (B) for religious use - not interpreted as entertainment – (e.g., ritual song); (C) for entertainment of the gods - religious entertainment – (e.g., beiguan music); and (D) for paying audiences (e.g., Beijing opera, new folk music, pop song, and piano solo).
• Intended audience categories are not fixed, static categories: an elitist genre such as solo piano music may start to be listened to and enjoyed by mass audiences, or mass entertainment such as Beijing opera may start to be performed by minority specialists for elite audiences.
Cultural influence category: Indigenous (e.g., folk song 1 and 2, ritual song, Beijing opera, sizhu music, beiguan music, qin solo); foreign [Western]-inspired (e.g., New folk music, Pop song, and piano solo)