Chinese Music
The traditional Chinese music can be classified under five major groups: Songs and Folksongs, Song and Dance, Sing and Tell, Chinese Opera and lastly, Chinese Orchestral Music.
The first group Song and Folksongs consists mainly of vocal singing. Chinese loved singing since ancient times. Songs were written for special court functions as well as sung by the peasants in the fields. In fact, the earliest Chinese literature pieces found were mostly song lyrics. Unfortunately, their accompanying score were lost.
The most ancient form of Chinese music were composed for Song and Dance. That is, the music as accompaniment for Dance. In fact, the appreciation of pure music developed very late in China's history. In earlier times, 'Music' actually referred to 'Dance Music'. Movement of the dancers and the music are considered to be an inseparable whole.
Sing and Tell referred to storytellers who uses simple instruments to accompany their storytelling. Storytellers in Southern China used mainly plucked-string instruments, and Northern China's story-tellers used drums to accompany them.
Chinese Opera was one of China's favourite form of entertainment. It was considered as an of the most complete and complex art form. Strictly speaking, the theatrics are considered more important than the music. Different lyrics can be sung to the same melodies.
Chinese developed the taste for Orchestral Music very late in history. In fact, the first orchestrated music piece did not appear until 1925. The more ancient musical forms tend to treat music as part of a larger whole. Solo street performers, and small ensembles of four to five people paved the way for appreciating pure music as an art form and the ultimate development of Orchestral Music.