Singing on the grassland

My thesis composition, Singing on the Grassland, is written for flute and string quartet. My main innovation is flexibly applying two different Mongolian vocal styles—Long-song and Hoomii in each section. Through deeply studying Mongolian vocal styles, I discovered the similarities and the differences among them. First of all, the modal scheme mostly remains the same—most Mongolian vocal music is composed in a pentatonic scale. However, the dissimilarities also stand out in two vocal styles, such as the intervallic relationships, ornaments, dynamic changes and phrase length. I discovered possibilities in combining the characteristics of Mongolian vocal music with twelve-tone technique. In order to keep and mix two different musical styles, I created a matrix and applied it throughout the whole piece. This innovative project shows my continuing explorations to harmonize Mongolian music with western atonal music. I will continue working on this idea: combining Mongolian musical culture with western traditions.