Song Discreption: “Yangguan San Die” (Three Variations on Yang Pass)

The song that I am analyzing is “Yangguan San Die” (“Three Variations on Yang Pass”) another Eastern Asia Song. This is a solo instrumental tradition song that is played through the qin instrument. We can hear in the first 5 seconds of the song that it starts with a small melody introduction. Being heard around this time is very small intervals in-between the notes being played within this time frame. Coming into play as well is a sweeter harmony being played in the beginning that contributes to a soft melody being played, the harmony within the first five seconds is played through a consonant harmony. We can hear between 00:05-00:11 the timbre of the qin changing to where we hear the sound of the instrument change to where we hear the melodic ranges changing in this time frame. It sounds as if the notes in the melody at this time are going up and down, playing a consonant and dissonant harmony at the same time. Around the time frame of 00:11-00:13 seconds the melody changes once again but this time we hear the dissonant harmony really come out, then return to consonant harmony from 13-17. Around the 13-17 time second frame it sounds as if the qin is playing on a scale with the notes as they continue to rise. Also the intervals has increased in-between the notes so you can really hear the distinct sounds of each one being played. Between 00:17-00:32 we can hear a series of different rhythms being played, we can hear a variation of notes being played with  no specific pulse. The speed of the rhythm is a steady pace. This allows you to hear the melodies being played or the sing note being struck by the musician. There is also a good variation of melodic ranges in this time frame. Within this time frame we can also hear the melodic contour where at times the notes will rise on a sliding scale and then instantly fall down to a lower note. Within the time frame of 00:32-00:47 seconds we can hear the rhythm speed up and start to form more rhythmic motives inside the song. We hear these beats being played in different pitches this time. Inside the song during this time frame we hear the intervals get smaller in-between the notes allowing the melody to occur faster. We also hear harmony inside the time frame it is more dissonant then consonant, but they both are heard. The time frame of 00:47-00:53 we can see that the melody is rising on a scale and the intervals have become larger in-between the notes again. The time frame of 00:53-1:03 within that ten second time frame we hear melodic motives are being heard more clear and in sequence. I finally hear the same beat being repeated in this time frame then changing without any consistency. Towards the end of the time frame we hear the intervals stat to space apart a lot more and hear single notes being played separately. In the time frame of 1:03-1:30, in the beginning we hear the rhythm speeding up and playing the notes close together. Through this we hear a melodic motives come in to play and the melodic ranges start to stay within the same range until the end of the rhythm when it changes. We also hear harmony come together and work through the sound being heard at the end of the notes going into the beginning of the next note as well. As the time continues on in the song we start to see the intervals in-between the notes increase a lot more and the rhythm speed slow down as well. We can see throughout the entire time there are multiple pitches being played in the melodies. Around 120-1:30 we also hear the a larger amount of dissonant harmony being played through this time frame it is very clear that there is a lot of tension being put into this part of the song. We also see that timbre in these 10 seconds, the tone quality is very identifiable at this point in time. 1:31-1:57 we see that there are very  big intervals in-between the few melodies left in the song. We hear a hallow harmony being played and brought through the notes. We can also hear at the beginning of this time frame it starts off with one note being struck on the instrument, then it goes into a short melody. It often repeats this melodic pattern of one note and a melody about two more times before finally ending the song. In the end we hear more of a consonant harmony being played towards the end of the song.

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