Pentatonic Xuangong 旋宮 Transformations in Chinese Music

Abstract

The anhemitonic pentatonic scale is fundamental to Chinese music theory, and so is the concept of xuangong: transformations from one pentatonic scale to another. The vocabulary related to these transformations is as diverse as the musical contexts in which it appears; similar moves can be described using a multitude of perspectives, resulting in overlapping and, at times, confusing terminology. To describe xuangong transformations, I adopt the precise language of signature transformations to enrich, complement, and shed light on Chinese music theory. The four basic xuangong transformations are chromatic transposition (C, D, E, G, A → G, A, B, D, E), pentatonic transposition (C, D, E, G, A → G, A, C, D, E), bian-directed transformation (C, D, E, G, A → B, D, E, G, A), and qing-directed transformation (C, D, E, G, A → C, D, F, G, A). The last two are adapted from classical Chinese music theory, and they are analogous to key signature transformations in Western music. This paper discusses the structure of xuangong transformations, their application in Chinese music theory, and their analytical use in examples spanning Confucian court music, traditional instrumental music, Cantopop, and Chinese new music, both tonal and atonal.