What is music? Isn’t music composed of tones? Isn’t music therefore the “art of tones,” as the German word Tonkunst clearly indicates? Music is often translated as yue in Chinese. Nonetheless, in ancient Chinese yue is not only music but also dance. When dance is excluded from yue which is now regarded as music or the art of tones, something significant is lost. With close analyses of Chinese traditional music notations, I argue that music can be regarded as an art of force. It is implied in the traditional notations such as jian-zi and gong-chi. These notations do not indicate the tones which one exactly hears in music but the performing techniques, which are often described with the poetic figures such as the falling pearls, flowing waters, floating clouds, etc. I regard these performing techniques as the specific ways to use force to bring forth the specific dynamics. As they are things that dance, I argue that to perform music is also to dance. It is in these performing techniques that dance is implied. More importantly, they disclose the significance of force not only in Chinese ancient thinking but also in yue. I therefore propose a reinterpretation of music –– which is also a return to the ancient Chinese meaning of yue –– as an art of force. 
 

Bio

HSIEH Chieh-ting currently teaches at National Chengchi University, Taiwan. He has a background in dance studies and musicology. His recent research interests include dynamics of music and dance, notation, culture-techniques and media theories. He was the director of the research-based artistic project “Transnotators” at Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab. He also works as an artist and musician. He appeared in the concert of Chung Yu-feng, one of the most prominent pipa musicians, at Taiwan International Festival of Arts 2022.