Music in China

One interesting idea that we brought up in class this week was the fact that people say “all music from China sounds the same”. This idea was particularly interesting for me because I’ve heard this idea be discussed about different types of music in America as well. Many people have said that Country music all sounds the same, or at least has the same topic. I feel like this idea could also translate to many other types of music here. In some cases, I feel like musicians and artists mimic each other because a certain type of music is what people want to listen to. As one musician finds something that works, it can be easy to put your own spin on the other persons take. Indeed, different Chinese music could seemingly be very similar to an American who has never been exposed to Chinese music and culture. The couple songs that were played in class definitely sounded very similar to each other when we listened the first time.

I decided to listen to some Chinese music to see if I could find some key characteristics from each song that I listened to. I found a playlist of popular music in China on Youtube and listened to it while I was studying one day at the Library. I decided that an initial exposure to the music would be best before I took a deeper dive into each song later in the day. Initially, not surprisingly, I wasn’t able to find any true differences, but I found it somewhat refreshing to listen to a different type of music while I was studying. Chinese music is so much more different than the music that I normally listen to so I found it to be a nice change of pace. As a journalism major, my ears are not trained to find distinct characteristics in music. I found this idea to be true even when I listened to the songs more closely. Other than the melody, I wasn’t truly able to find distinct characteristics, but I still feel like this was a rewarding experience.