What is the meter of the selection and how is it established? What significant changes do you hear in the time characteristics and how do these changes relate to the overall form of the selection?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• The meter is duple and established in the percussion part (from the "tick" of a woodblock and the "tock" from a clapper).
• The tempo (speed of the pulse) increases as each excerpt is played from "slowly," to "moderately" to "quickly." This creates a "suite" or cyclic form from slow expanded tunes to fast compressed versions of the same tune (This is a common technique in Chinese ensemble music.)
28. What performance practices encourage improvisation and flexibility in this music?
• There is "variation during performance—the surface details of the music are not entirely fixed, with room still for spontaneous ornamentation and interplay with other musicians . . ."
• Music notation is used when learning the music, but not in performance; thus increasing flexibility
• "Performance is very much part of a wider social event, not a rendition to a paying audience."
Contemporary Instrumental Ensemble Music: beiguan music from Northern Taiwan