Alveranter Posted June 13, 2004 at 10:40 AM Report Posted June 13, 2004 at 10:40 AM What is singing in mandarin like?? I mean you already have a tonal system.. adding the musical rythm to that should should absurd.. I've heard some songs in mandarin (I conjucture) but they sound quite normal.. Are the tones skipped when singing?? /Anton Quote
Alleluia Posted June 13, 2004 at 12:48 PM Report Posted June 13, 2004 at 12:48 PM Wild guess, though I'm not sure: the tones are "fitted" to the melody, so that when the melody is rising, only words with rising tone can be used etc. Those who know better, please correct me if I'm wrong. Quote
pazu Posted June 13, 2004 at 01:38 PM Report Posted June 13, 2004 at 01:38 PM Exactly. The tones can be "distorted" or "twisted" a little bit to fit into the melody, but not too far, so a very low pitch can't be used to represent the first or 4th tone, etc. In Mandarin there's only 4 tones, but there're 9 (or 6 if you skip the "rusheng") in Cantonese, so it's more difficult to write a Cantonese song, unless you don't mind twisting the tones to an extent that nobody could understand the song by listening only, this is indeed very much a big problem in many Cantonese pops these days. Quote
geoffkhan Posted June 16, 2004 at 02:20 AM Report Posted June 16, 2004 at 02:20 AM 真的？ I had no idea -- I thought that you simply ignored the tones, and tried using phrases instead of words, for example: 思想 rather than just 想. That's all to make the meaning more clear. If what you say is indeed true, then I'm going to have to go back and remake the melodies for my songs. Thanks, guys. Quote
ala Posted June 17, 2004 at 09:28 PM Report Posted June 17, 2004 at 09:28 PM I thought that you simply ignored the tones, and tried using phrases instead of words, for example: 思想 rather than just 想. That's all to make the meaning more clear. 思想 is a word: thought (noun). It's not a phrase. Quote
geoffkhan Posted June 17, 2004 at 10:07 PM Report Posted June 17, 2004 at 10:07 PM Okay, can we settle for "compound word"? Still, my teacher refers to those "compound words" as "phrases", which I thought was weird until I started using that nominclature also. Quote
PollyWaffle Posted June 18, 2004 at 12:02 PM Report Posted June 18, 2004 at 12:02 PM i asked my teacher this last month, he reckons the tones are twisted to fit the tune & not accurate... Quote
geoffkhan Posted June 20, 2004 at 06:11 AM Report Posted June 20, 2004 at 06:11 AM From what I've heard, it seems like you don't pay attention to tones in Chinese music. Think about it, what are you going to do with the third tone, make the melody go down and up really fast on that syllable? Too melosmatic for me -- hey, that kind of thing was fine for music 200 years ago but these days, we usually fit one syllable per note, except at the ends of phrases sometimes. Sorry about that guys. Anyways, if you don't have tones in songs, you just need to make sure that the meaning is portrayed clearly via use of "compound words". Quote
geek_frappa Posted June 20, 2004 at 12:46 PM Report Posted June 20, 2004 at 12:46 PM you can listen for yourself http://mp3.baidu.com/m?tn=baidump3&ct=134217728&rn=&word=%90%DB&lm=-1 Quote
geoffkhan Posted June 20, 2004 at 07:36 PM Report Posted June 20, 2004 at 07:36 PM Ah, so like in your profile text, Geekfrappa -- something like "我爱你。。。" Is that what you're saying? Lyric writers are sure to just make simple, very understandable lyrics? Quote
geek_frappa Posted June 20, 2004 at 08:10 PM Report Posted June 20, 2004 at 08:10 PM this is one of my favorite songs... 你愛我 冥冥之中 你就在我左右 跟著我呼吸 看我一舉和一動 夏日午后 你隨著陽光出現在我窗口 轉身要看你 你卻溜走 匆忙之中 你又越過了我 熟悉的香味 飛舞漫延半空中 鏡子里頭 看到你悄悄化成另一個我 閉上了眼睛 你在心中 是不是愛上了你 從來沒停過 愛愈久情愈濃 是不是離開了你 根本是個錯 錯已成又如何 冥冥之中 你就是屬于我 我擁有了你 在我人生睡夢中 夏日午后 你隨著陽光出現在我窗口 靜靜看著我 說你愛我 你愛我 你愛我 Quote
geek_frappa Posted June 20, 2004 at 08:19 PM Report Posted June 20, 2004 at 08:19 PM 伍佰‘s album can be heard/bought here... http://www.boxup.com/big5/music/album/2004/3/album4116.htm singing in mandarin is pretty nice practice for me... i wish they taught us to sing when i was studying chinese in university... it's fun to sing in chinese. like in every language, some lyrics are easy, some are hard. maybe i'll create a pinyinized song page, if you want... Quote
Xiao Yu Posted June 25, 2004 at 09:05 PM Report Posted June 25, 2004 at 09:05 PM Singing, huh? I love singing, in Chinese or in English! If the song has a melody (i.e. isn't rap) you pretty much are forced to follow that rather than the tonal sound of the individual words. For instance, "I" is normally the 3rd tone, but when sung it often ends up sounding like the 1st tone. Which is why sometimes it's hard to know what exactly the lyrics are/mean. (Especially when your Chinese isn't that good...) Quote
benotnobody Posted July 6, 2004 at 07:44 AM Report Posted July 6, 2004 at 07:44 AM Don't quote me on this, but in mandopop (at least what i've been listening to: mainly 王力宏, 张惠妹 and 王非) they drop (or minimize the accent of) the tones, instead focusing on the melody. Quote
benotnobody Posted July 6, 2004 at 07:48 AM Report Posted July 6, 2004 at 07:48 AM Oh, in reply to geek_frappa: there are already some pinyin lyrics sites. you should check out http://www.nuchin.com/ . they have pinyin lyrics for loads of stuff. most of it pop, but anyhow. Quote
Altair Posted July 18, 2004 at 12:53 AM Report Posted July 18, 2004 at 12:53 AM The following link has some interesting information about the correspondence between tones and melody in Cantonese: http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/chan9/articles/bls13.htm The link begins as follows: "In the study of tonal phenomena, a curious linguist might wonder what happens to the tones in a language when the words are put to music and sung. For Chinese, modern songs in Mandarin and Cantonese exhibit very different behaviour with respect to the extent to which the melodies affect the lexical tones. In modern Mandarin songs, the melodies dominate, so that the original tones on the lyrics seem to be completely ignored. In Cantonese songs, however, the melodies typically take the lexical tones into consideration and attempt to preserve their pitch contours and relative pitch heights." Quote
Quest Posted August 8, 2004 at 01:52 PM Report Posted August 8, 2004 at 01:52 PM yes since Cantonese has 9 tones, speaking is almost like singing. Try this cute song below: ftp://www.vvv.com:ffc.123.com@wma.xk99.com/Zajin/Boluoyouwangzi/17z.wma she sings almost as if she's speaking normally. Quote
Claw Posted August 8, 2004 at 08:44 PM Report Posted August 8, 2004 at 08:44 PM Quest: your link doesn't work... the site does not allow direct linking of the songs. What's the name of the song? Quote
Quest Posted August 9, 2004 at 07:58 AM Report Posted August 9, 2004 at 07:58 AM ok try this: ftp://www.vvv.com:ffc.123.com@wma.xk99.com/Zajin/Boluoyouwangzi/17z.wma right click save as * and wait a few seconds, it's slow btu i think it works. the song's only 500KB. Quote
Adam Posted August 10, 2004 at 02:11 AM Report Posted August 10, 2004 at 02:11 AM access not allowed? Quote
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