An Analysis Of The Musical Features And Performance Techniques Of "Four Piano Etudes" Composed By Ni Hongjin

Ni Hongjin is a contemporary well-konwn pianist,educator and composer in China.Grasping the uniqueness of Chinese and Western music in pinion works for application,she combined her thoughts and feelings with her works,leaving back many pinion works which win universal praise and make great contribution to the development of Chinese pinion."Four Piano Etudes" is a set of piano Etudes created by Ni Hongjin,who used the Peking Opera and Kunqu Opera tunes in the course of the Cultural Revolution.The purpose of the creation is to make learners and performers master the piano performance techniques so as to better understand and express the emotional charm of Chinese piano music.In musical features of "Four Piano Etudes",the thesis will mainly make a music analysis from several aspects: the features of melody,rhythm and musical forms,and it will also analyze features of tone,tune and harmony.In melody feature,based on Peking Opera,Kunqu Opera tunes and her feelings,Ni Hongjin took tunes from "Small Opening Door","Lady Liu Qing","Liu Yaojin" and,"Pomegranate Flower" respectively in "Four Piano Etudes" by absorbing distinctive and richly-characterized themes of the tunes in order to diversify melodies.Such melodies as features of modes,"duple meters" of Xipi,color of jinhu and "linear" melody.In rhythm feature,Ni Hongjin borrowed some of Chinese traditional classical rhythm and classical rhythm of Peking Opera in "Four Piano Etudes".In musical form feature,the Etudes are mainly based on western musical forms,such as single trilogy for m,binary form,and variation form.However,modes are based on traditional way while feature s of modes and forms still absorb some Chinese traditional melodies in the process of develop ment.In performance techniques of "Piano Etudes Four",it is evident that each of the "Four Piano Etudes" has targeted performance techniques training.The first one is mainly for practicing left-hand performance techniques;the second for right-hand two tone techniques;the third for Tokata technique;the fourth for two-hand stretching technique.The purpose of training is not only to master techniques but also to better perceive the unique atmosphere of Chinese music.What deserves us thinking is that we also practice the ability of two-hand independence,flexibility of fingers and the control of fingers when we play the "Four Piano Etudes" except practicing the targeted techniques for each etude.