With its syllabic nature, tones, and rolling sounds, it's hard for a learner to know where to start, and harder for a native speaker to explain. So what if you're a singer trained in the Western tradition, and now you have to sing in Chinese before a global audience?
That's exactly the scenario over 100 vocalists faced this past weekend at the International Chinese Vocal Competition. The annual competition is open to people of Chinese descent. Contestants must sing a required number of songs in Chinese, and all pieces must be performed in the bel canto style native to 18th century Italy.
Judges are serious about keeping to this requirement. “You must have a good handle on pronouncing the words,” said music educator and vocalist Han Suqiu, who serves on the panel of judges, “because the Chinese language has a very deep meaning. If you cannot enunciate, then you cannot convey the inner meaning of the lyrics.”
Italian singers can get away with slurring their words because the language is not syllabic, whereas in Chinese, each word is also a syllable.
Judges are keeping an eye on the authenticity of the singing style, too—points are taken off if an ethnic style is used instead of bel canto. “There are 56 ethnicities in China, and each has its own systematic and characteristic singing style that cannot be combined,” said Han. In previous years, the competition accepted ethnic singing styles, but it became too messy to judge. This year, they required that all pieces be sung in the bel canto style.
The third year of competitions
International television station New Tang Dynasty TV hosts the vocal competition, which is part of a series of nine competitions: culinary arts, martial arts, violin, piano, Han couture, oil painting, photography, classical Chinese dance, and vocal. Their mission is to revive traditional culture through their programming and events.
For professionally trained vocalists, having a Western training means a solid musical foundation, but the trade-off is that singing in Chinese does not come naturally.
Soprano Min Kai Yi from Taiwan is now studying choir conducting and vocal studies at Maastricht University in Holland. “It’s very different to sing bel canto in Western languages than in Chinese. Actually, my Chinese articulation improved dramatically while preparing for this competition,” she said, adding that she appreciates the emphasis on delivering the lyrics clearly.
Soprano Geng Haolan admitted that enunciation was the hardest part. “It's very difficult to use Chinese while singing in a Western style,” Geng said. But she must have handled it well, because her efforts earned her a US$10,000 gold award in the female division.
Geng said that though the Chinese language poses a challenge to the bel canto singer, the language and the style are not incompatible. “I often sing lyrics adapted from Tang and Song dynasty poems. Those songs carry the flavor of guzheng, pipa, and erhu (classical Chinese instruments),” she said. “If you must sing bel canto in Chinese, choose a classical song.”
