Yu X. Chinese national vocal traditions in dialogue with the European experience of academic singing

Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the specialty 025 – Musical Art – Odesa National Music Academy named after A. V. Nezhdanova, Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Odesa, 2024. The dissertation examines the specifics of mastering the European vocal manner of vocalization by Chinese singers. The purpose of the study is to define and justify the principles of mastering by Chinese singers of the European manner of academic vocalization within the dialogue of vocal technologies and cultures of the West and the East. The task of the research is formulated: to explain the peculiarities of the Chinese national singing tradition; to reveal semantic and methodical parallels between the specifics of the Chinese national singing tradition and academic European vocalization; to explain the factors affecting the process of acquisition of academic European vocal skills by the Chinese; to justify the technology of the tools used by the Chinese to master academic European vocal skills; prove auditory sensitivity as a basic ability of a vocalist in the process of mastering vocal skills; to argue the most effective practical methods of mastering the European academic manner of vocalization by the Chinese; highlight the practical mechanisms of vocal-speech articulation. The subject of the study is vocal-speech articulation as a technological tool for mastering the European academic manner of vocalization by Chinese singers. The first chapter of the study presents an analysis of specific features of European academic vocal schools: Italian, French, German, Eastern Slavic, and Ukrainian. The kinship of vocal schools with each other and their national characteristics have been revealed. The opinion that academic European vocal education is based on national, religious and folk singing traditions is confirmed, taking into account the harmonic and melodic features of national composer schools. The indisputable factor in the formation of various national vocal traditions is determined by the language of the people - the melody of speech and the specificity of pronunciation. The peculiarities of the Chinese national singing tradition are presented and the dependence of its technological and semantic components on the national mentality and traditional institutions of the Chinese performing singing tradition, as well as the peculiarities of Chinese speech, in particular the principles of aesthetic pronunciation of characters, are highlighted. The dependence of the special manner of singing, characteristic of Chinese vocalists, on the specifics of pronunciation, brought up in the Chinese language, is substantiated. The speech factor is indicated as important in the process of the Chinese mastering the European academic vocal manner.