Study on the Development History of Human Vocal Music Art

Abstract. China is a country with an ancient culture， and there have been many music legends in China since the ancient times. The origin of Chinese national vocal music art development can be traced back to the ancient times. The development of Chinese economy and culture directly influence the whole development of human society and economy， and also plays a constructive role in promoting the burgeoning of culture and art. In this paper， the development of human vocal music art and especially the development history of Chinese nation are mainly expounded.

Key words： Foreign Countries； Nations； Vocal Music Art； the Development of History

1. The development history of Chinese national

vocal music art

China is a country with an ancient culture， and there have been many music legends in China since the ancient times. The origin of Chinese national vocal music art development can be traced back to the ancient times. The early vocal music art was often related to religion and witchcraft， but its contents gave a reflection to the real life. In the ancient times， there had been not a complete vocal music art form， but the buds of music had emerged. With the development of the society， the change of social system， and the improvement of people's living standards， music forms had attained a considerable development. To the period of Shang and Zhou dynasties， larger dances accompanied with music had been produced； the buds of music were shaped gradually from primitive society to slave society and feudal society， and a batch of professional singers specializing in singing emerged.

After China was unified by the Qin dynasty， the music centers integrating the music of all nationalities majored at the Han nationality were produced in central China. The Han dynasty， in order to consolidate its political ideas， had set up a special music institution—Yuefu， which was dedicated to processing and classifying the folk songs for entertainment through recording and understanding of all people’s dynamics. Therefore， the folk singing art developed towards specialization， and a large number of folk songs could be passed down generation by generation.

In the period of Sui and Tang dynasties， China's politics， economy， and culture attained a great prosperity. The rapid development of the national vocal music art was more greatly promoted because the rulers life the art very much. The large-scale song and dance form appearing in the Tang dynasty was known as "great music of the Tang dynasty"， and the expressive forms of music were greatly enriched.

Women didn't know to hate the subjugation of the state and still song happily at the backyard of flower. The development law of music was not weakened by the dynasty changes. In the music culture of the Song Dynasty， abundant traditional art such as the folk songs in Han Yuefu and the great music of the Tang dynasty was inherited， and also attained a new development in poetry， folk art forms， songs in the 11th century， and poetic drama of the Song Dynasty， etc [1]， and the development of words and music of a song had attained an achievement with the poetries of the Tang Dynasty. The development of cities also made the speaking-based music more expressive in theatres， restaurants， and common houses. The development of the culture and art in the Yuan Dynasty was a new peak in the culture and art of China. The development of commercial economy， the prosperity of commodity economy， and the improvement of people’s living standard had promoted people to propose new requirements on cultural life. The hobbies of the residents of a city greatly promote the development of the drama art in the Yuan Dynasty. During this period， there had been many theories about singing.

The opera music during the period of the Ming and Qing dynasties flourished on the basis of previous music heritage and had become the mainstream of the national vocal music art at that time. Because the area of China was very broad， there were different Chinese operas of different tunes in different areas. Thus， a variety of opera forms were developed and formed， and attained a new development from the opera music styles to the drama form structures. In the representative dramas such as Kunqu Opera and Peking Opera， the requirements on the articulation of song words were very strict， so as to produce a feeling of delicate beauty combining phonological tones with sounds closely. Thus， a large number of outstanding talents in singing were provided by strict vocal music training for China’s vocal music art.

2. The development history of other national

vocal music arts

The other national vocal music arts in the world were mostly originated from the music life and music forms of primitive nations， and the historical forms of the singing styles of all different nations until the historical development are not the same so far.

The singing style of the western vocal music art was originated in Europe， and its emergence was not only closely related to the development process of European music and also was a product of the social and era developments as a part of human culture and ideology. The European music before the 13th century was the monophonic music basically， among which the vocal music in the ancient Greek gave top priority to the monophonic tone， was dominated by the strict metrical poetry， and mainly included the singing styles such as solo， singing in unison， leading a chorus， rap， and chanting. During this period， the wonderful works such as the Homer， the Iliad， and the Odyssey emerged， which were created by blind poet Homer and also song in the way of rap. They were the vocal music performance forms of the early period. With the expansion the Roman Empire to the outside world， Europe entered into a long period of the church's rule， which was called as "middle ages" in history. At that time， the church almost monopolized all the ideological fields， so singing became an accessory of all religions. The expansion of the ancient Roman Empire brought about not only the expansion of territory and also many excellent artists and music culture from Asia， Africa， and Europe. These artists gathered in Rome and also made Rome the largest music center in Europe at that time. The sung hymns and the read bible by the church at that time became the earliest forms of chorus. The contents related to religions and sung by the church in Latin were called as the singing music form. In 590， the sung chant corresponding to ordinances was chosen and revised by Pope Gregory I， namely the famous Gregorian chant， which was actually equal to provisioning the singing tunes of the ordinances in the church. Chant was the bud of the European vocal music， in which the solemn singing with the style of the church was required. There were two tunes （recitative and melody） for chant， but it was just a type of single melody music and listened very dull. Along with the development， the singers made some gorgeous and fluent "re-creations"， and also formed new and better ways of singing.

European music in the middle of the 13th century had gradually broken the monophonic tune and started into a period of polyphonic music， and simultaneously vocal music was sung in the form of polyphonic chorus. It was provisioned in the bible that women should be silent in the church， so female voices in singing were substituted by male children's voices. These boys were castrated male child singers and were referred to as "eunuch singers" in the history of vocal music. Their emergence used to make made great contributions to the development of European vocal music， laid a foundation for the singing styles of bel canto， and also promoted the generation and development of opera to a certain extent. Their golden age also brought about the golden age of bel canto. As early as the 4th century， a singing school was specially established in Italy for training male children to sing chants， and these boys followed the ancient maxims， and also women are strictly prohibited to sing in choir. The tones of male boys would change along with the growth of the age and the required beautiful， natural sounds could be not sung in chants， so the inhuman phenomenon of "eunuch singers" emerged. Their vocal chords and larynx wound not change along with the maturity of age and physical body， while eunuch singers possessed female vocal cord and also a man's body， so that sweet female voices could be sung without falsetto. Their voice was not soft and sweet like the real female voices， but their gorgeous， light， and bright timbres as well as broad voice registers made the audiences excited. In the period of eunuch singers’ rise and prevalence， female voices were not only pushed aside， and also the position of male singers in the singing world was almost conquered to a certain extent. Eunuch singers prevailed in Europe for nearly two centuries， and there were schools and education institutions for specially training eunuch singers.

From the requirements of the most influential European opera schools （Florence music school， Venice music school， Rome music school， and Napoli music school） on singing styles in the 17th century， it is easy to see that they are significant to the development of the western vocal music. In the second half of the 17th century， the Italian opera was replaced with the Napoli music school， and also provided a wider world for the singing of Bel canl0. Among them， A · Scarlatti was included. A · Scarlatti was a talented composer and singer， and the operas created by him attained breakthroughs， so that the western vocal music developed toward a new stage of development， and also the bel canto style of Napoli music school was gradually formed： great importance was attached to the bright and clean sounds and the quality and magnificent sound effect. At the same time， many excellent bel canto teachers were trained by him for the society.

The singing styles of the western vocal music in the 17th century and the 18th century were embodied specifically as follows： singers were required to get a deep understanding of the lyrics for aiming at a simple， natural style， and pursuing high degree of artistic expression. The purpose of developing the aesthetic concept of sound and improving appreciating force was to make singing in performance comply with the requirement of bel cantos better. Special emphasis was laid on the control of breath in singing， and the continuity and beautiful timbre； tones were required to be full of changes in the singing， and also the feeling expressions were sincere. In impromptu singing the difficult cadenzas passages， strict intonation and rhythms， fluent and flexible music periods， and relaxed， bright， and full sound image were demanded.

Conclusion

As Hegel mentioned in book Aesthetics， all arts are characterized with nationality more or less， and all of them have a close tie with a nation's natural resources. The mentioned national and natural endowment actually refers to a spiritual quality displayed from the long-term cultural accumulation of a nation. For thousands of years， Chinese ancestors had created not only abundant and different styles of vocal music art and also a variety of folk vocal music styles. The countries in the world are constantly developing their own national culture， so that a distinctive and exotic style is formed in different country and also occupies a position in the world culture.

References

[1] Xingxing Jian. The Development of the Vocal Music Art [J]. Shenyue， 2010 （9）.

[2] Jing Xu. The Relationship between Vocal Music Art and Culture [J]. 2009 （7）.

[3] Ziming Fang. The Vocal Music Art， the People's Daily， 2006 （5）.