VARIATION TECHNIQUE IN THE FORMAL STRUCTURE OF THE MUSIC OF TAOIST JIAO-SHI IN HONG KONG
PEN-YEH Tsao
CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
Taoism is one of the major indigenous religio-philosophical traditions that have played an important role in the life of Chinese people for more than two thousand years. Organized Taoist religious communities have had at least eighteen hundred years of history since the second century A.D. Among its various sects, the more representative and wide-spread are the Zheng-yi 正一 and Quan-Zheng. The most important Taoist ceremony is the Jiao-shi, a ritual that expresses gratitude to the gods for their blessing and solicits continued peace and prosperity or early termination of and recovery from natural calamities. The holding of Jiao-shi involves a team of dao-shi Taoist priests, who recite, chant, and dance during the various stages of the ritual, accompanied by melodic and percussion instruments. Among the twelve or so types of Jiao-shi, the following four are more often practiced:
1. P'ing-an-jiao Jiao-shi to pray for continued peace and prosperity, the most frequently held among the four. 2. Wen-jiao Jiao-shi to pray for the extinction of a plague. 3. Q'ing-ch'eng-jiao Jiao-shi to celebrate the completion of a construction, such as a temple. 4. Huo-jiao Jiao-shi to appease the God of Fire after a big fire.A Jiao-shi can be completed in one day, two days, three days, or more; the more common being that of one day (yi-zhao-jiao) and three days (san-zhao-jiao). Generally,
VARIATION TECHNIQUE IN THE FORMAL STRUCTURE OF THE MUSIC OF TAOIST JIAO-SHI IN HONG KONG
PEN-YEH Tsao
CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
Taoism is one of the major indigenous religio-philosophical traditions that have played an important role in the life of Chinese people for more than two thousand years. Organized Taoist religious communities have had at least eighteen hundred years of history since the second century A.D. Among its various sects, the more representative and wide-spread are the Zheng-yi 正一
— and Quan-Zheng. The most important Taoist
ceremony is the Jiao-shi, a ritual that expresses gratitude to the gods for their blessing and solicits continued peace and prosperity or early termination of and recovery from natural calamities. The holding of Jiao-shi involves a team of dao-shi Taoist priests, who recite, chant, and dance during the various stages of the ritual, accompanied by melodic and percussion instruments. Among the twelve or so types of Jiao-shi, the following four are more often practiced:
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P'ing-an-jiao Z. Jiao-shi to pray for continued peace and prosperity, the most frequently held among the four.
Wen-jiao A, Jiao-shi to pray for the extinction of a plague.
Q'ing-ch'eng-jiao, Jiao-shi to celebrate the completion of a construction, such as a temple.
Huo-jiao X, Jiao-shi to appease the God of Fire after a big fire.
A Jiao-shi can be completed in one day, two days, three days, or more; the more common being that of one day (yi-zhao-jiao -) and three days (san-zhao-jiao 2). Generally,
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