Title: Song of happiness

Arranger:Tong Leung-tak

Year: January 1983

Genre:

• Small ensemble
• Traditional piece
• Jiangnan "silk and bamboo" ensemble

Call No.: SC52

Description: Huangle ge is one of the eight classic pieces in Jiangnan "silk and bamboo" music. Traditionally, players would improvise based on a skeleton melody by adding embellishments of their own choices. This way of making music exemplifies the heterophonic texture of Chinese music. Tong Leung-tak arranged two versions of Huangle ge (i.e., "Song of Happiness") in 1957 and 1983 respectively. Unlike the traditional Jiangnan "silk and bamboo" ensemble version, Tong's 1983 version consists of two sections and involves thirteen instruments, including qudi as the leading instrument as well as three nonstandard instruments (i.e., zhonghu, gehu and diyin gehu). Performers are also required to play Tong's arrangement from the score.

Note:

• First arrangement in 1957. Second arrangement in January 1983.

Instrumentation: qu di (1), sheng (1), yangqin (1), liuqin (1), pipa (1), zhong ruan (1), da ruan (1), sanxian (1), zheng (1), erhu (1), zhonghu (1), gehu (1), diyin gehu (1)