An Aesthetic Study Of "Rhyme" In The Appreciation Of The Chinese Zither

In traditional Chinese categories of literary and artistic aesthetics,rhyme has been regarded as one of the core categories due to its connotation of combining the real and the imaginary and its multi-directional outreach.Fan Wen of the Song dynasty said,“Rhyme,the extremity of beauty”.Lu Shiyong,a famous literary theorist of the Ming dynasty,took "rhyme" as the highest standard of aesthetics: “With rhyme,poetry is vivid,without rhyme,it is dull;with rhyme,poetry is elegant,without rhyme,it is vulgar;with rhyme,poetry is meaningful,without rhyme,it is meaningless;with rhyme,poetry is wonderful,without rhyme,it is imperfect.” This shows the importance of "rhyme" in traditional Chinese aesthetics.As one of the oldest traditional plucked instruments in China,the Chinese zither has profound historical and cultural heritage.And traditional Chinese zither music,containing rich traditional artistic charms,is also a cultural symbol of Chinese long and profound history.It pursues artistically aesthetic prospect of “rhyme”.The aesthetic form of Chinese zither music,its rhythmic techniques and representative repertoire constitute the specific content of “rhyme” in the aesthetics of Chinese zither.For this reason,this study consists of six parts:Chapter one as the introduction of this study gives a detailed overview of the research thread,the relevant literature,the purpose anddifficulties of this research,the structure and main contents of the thesis.Making rhyme as mediator,it combines the art of Chinese zither and classical Chinese aesthetics,providing a comprehensive discussion of the existing literature on the category of rhyme in Chinese zither aesthetics,aesthetic characteristics and forms of expressions.In other words,it explores the aesthetic implications and technical expression of the classical Chinese aesthetics’ “rhythm” embodied in the Chinese zither art as a whole,contributing to avoid the limitations of the current Chinese zither performance,which only focuses on the technical function,so that the two can be mutually dependent and thus develop in an all-round way.Chapter two takes the aesthetic form of the beauty of Chinese zither’s rhyme as the starting point and examines it from three perspectives: the beauty of sound rhyme,the beauty of meaning rhyme and the beauty of spirit rhyme.It argues that the Chinese zither has a unique artistic effect of “three-days’ continuous sound”.The aesthetic form of Chinese Zither’s rhyme is mainly reflected in three aspects: leaning on the rhyme of sound,transmitting the rhyme of meaning and harmonizing the rhyme of spirit.Chapter three focuses on the “beauty of rhyme” in the performance of Chinese zither music,and explains the beauty of rhyme by dint of three techniques: “singing and kneading”,“pressing and sliding” and “pointing and trembling”.The traditional Chinese zither music is usually performedwith the combination of “tone” and “rhyme”,thus forming a mode of performance in which “the right hand dominates the tone and the left hand dominates the rhyme”.Besides,the rhyming techniques such as “singing,kneading,pressing,trembling and sliding” are used to embellish and polish the tones played,so as to achieve the melodic effects of “complementing the sound with rhyme”.It is the unique charm of the Chinese zither art that the combination of excellent rhythmic techniques and pursuit of the aesthetic meaning of “the beauty of rhyme”,resulting in the transmission of rhyme through techniques.Chapter four examines the representative Chinese zither music opus as examples,analysing the process of creating the “beauty of rhyme” in outstanding opus from the perspective of composition and performance.The determining elements for a successful Chinese zither opus lies in how composers incorporate “rhyme” in their compositions and how performers convey “rhyme” in their performances.Chapter five explores the modern significance of the beauty of “rhyme” in the Chinese zither,and the means of Chinese zither music’s future development.Under the influence of Western music theory,the modern Chinese zither music has the tendency to emphasize performance techniques,neglecting the aesthetic value of “rhyme” and the pursuit of meaning.It desveres attention to return to the origin of the art of Chinese zither music,to revive the inner essence and connotation of Chinese zither music,and to make it develop in inheriting its tradition.The conclusion section considers the future development of the Chinese zither and its rhythmic beauty.In recent years,under the overall background of the integration and diversified development of art in the world,the art of Chinese zither music has continued to be integrated and innovated.We must also keep up with the pace,carrying forward our cause and forge ahead into the future,firmly combining “technique” and“art”,“sound” and “rhythm” in the art of Chinese zither music.This will further enhance the theoretical orientation of Chinese zither aesthetics and expand its theoretical vision,with the aim of contributing to the study of Chinese zither aesthetics and Chinese zither art.