The Oranges Planted In The Northern Region Of Huai River

Along with the open-door policy of the Vietnamese culture in recent years, Vietnamese music has rapidly developed and made many remarkable achievements in the field of music education and music performance. However, the development of music theory in Vietnam, especially in terms of music history, are seriously lagging behind. It is noted that very few people are concerned about this problem.Through the support of the China Conservatory of Music and the Ho Chi Minh Conservatory of Music, the study received many useful information on typical instruments that were introduced into Vietnam from other countries, including China, during the process of cultural exchange. By describing and analysing the plucked instruments brought to Vietnam from others, the study would like to illuminate the influences on Vietnamese music, addressing the weaknesses in the studies of cultural exchange among countries, especially between China and Southeast Asian countries.Excluding the introduction, conclusion, and bibliography, the thesis includes six chapters. In the introduction, the study will explain the purpose for choosing this specific topic and its implications. This section also presents related studies on plucked instruments in Vietnam and China. Researchers have yielded fruitful results and reached a consensus on several disagreements. However, in Vietnam and East Asian countries, there has not been any detailed and systematic study on the historical changes of plucked instruments introduced into Vietnam, highlighting the changes in shape, structure, and usage. Therefore, the thesis will provide some reference and a better understanding of Vietnamese music for researchers.Professor Tran Van Khe, a master of Vietnamese traditional music, reported in his doctoral thesis (La Musique Vietnamienne Traditionnelle, Paris,1962) that the Pipa, the Zheng, the Yueqin, and the Erhu were brought to Vietnam in the10th century. This conclusion was based on an engraving found in the Phat Tich pagoda in Tien Son county, Ha Bac Province of Vietnam. The carving shows a group of performers playing the above mentioned instruments. Thus, Professor Tran Van Khe firmly stated that these instruments appeared in Vietnam in the10th century.Based on reliable evidence and through the comparison of plucked instruments in Vietnam and China, Chapter Ⅰ of the study reveals the fact that several Vietnamese plucked instruments had in reality been brought to Vietnam as early as the beginning of the4th century and continued to develop over the years. This conclusion disapproves the commonly held view given by Prof. Tran Van Khe.Chapter Ⅱ specifically explains the relationship between Chinese plucked instruments and Vietnamese plucked instruments brought from others, focusing on their names and appearances.Chapter Ⅲ illustrates the structure, the playing method, and the usage of Vietnamese plucked instruments brought from others. By introducing some of Vietnamese traditional dramas and folk music, the study makes a detailed description of these instruments in Vietnamese traditional music.Chapter Ⅳ emphasizes the fact that Vietnamese hydratisim, musical scale, and transposition has caused the differences between Vietnamese plucked instruments brought from others and traditional Chinese plucked instruments.Chapter Ⅴ describes the fieldwork, which is the most important method in doing ethnomusicology research. The study observed and analyzed musical instruments in China, Taiwan, and in the north, middle, and south of Vietnam, conducting many interviews with experts, folk artists, as well as teachers and students of traditional music.Taking into account the Vietnamese social system, cultural influences, language features, the aesthetic consciousness of the nation in different periods, chapter VI thoroughly discusses the formation and development of Vietnamese plucked instruments that were brought from others.