Music Links

            These two songs, Mambo, from West Side Story, and Goa Shan Liu Shui, are very different when looked at on the surface. Mambo was created about 2,000 years later than Goa Shan Liu Shui and they both were created for different purposes. However there are some similarities between the two. The first is that both of the songs include stringed instruments. Even though they are not used in a similar fashion, they both have strings and are classified as stringed instruments. Another similarity between the two is that the two songs share similar dynamics. One of the dynamics used by both pieces is crescendo and accelerando. Crescendo is used in alternating parts between different voices in the Mambo and is used by the single Guqin player in the song Goa Shan Liu Shui. Accelerando in the Mambo is much more apparent than in Goa Shan Liu Shui, but they both do include it. One of the most obvious similarities the pieces share is that both songs begin in crescendo. When the song begins, both of the pieces begin with a slow and low opening and increase speed as well as volume as the piece progresses. In the end, however, both composers of the Mambo and Goa Shan Liu Shui end the songs in a ritardando and decrescendo contrasting with the musical technique used to introduce the song.

            Another similarity between the two songs is that they were created to portray a story. Both of the stories seem to revolve around finding oneself as well as expressing internal thoughts. For example, Bo Ya's piece is about the High Mountains and Flowing Waters he sees. As he is playing the piece he is analyzing his feeling for the mountains and the flowing river. In the piece he also struggles to search for someone who finally understands his music and eventually finds Zhong.  Likewise Bernstein uses his Romeo and Juliet inspired, Mambo, to convey the understanding of personal emotions toward a specific group of people. In the play the song is used to express the on going feud between two individuals who were told by there parents that they can not be together because of their parents' past experiences with each other.

             An additional link between the two pieces is the use of improvisation. Upon listening to various music videos of Goa Shan Shui Liu, I have noted that they are not exactly the same, but the notes played are generally similar. Each piece plays the song with different speeds, volumes, and uses different dynamics at different measures. Due to this observation, a conclusion that I have drawn is that the composition acts as a template allowing the players to decide which dynamics and musical techniques would be appropriate for each measure. In Bernstein's song ,Mambo, improvisation occurs in the song with the solo brass player playing the piece to whatever tune or tempo the musician deemed appropriate.

          The songs are also both very secular. They both seem to emphasis worldly circumstances and the surrounding environment. This is quite interesting considering that both composers lived in a time were religion was highly valued and widely practiced. In addition to the fact that they were wrote music that was more secular than sacred, they managed to gain large support and admiration for their music after the pieces were composed. When combining the song and it's story, it seems that the song that Bo Ya wrote was not intended for a specific audience, but rather someone who heard and interpreted music the way he did. For the song Mambo, a West Side Story, it seems that the target audience was the younger generation because it has Jazz elements and lyrics that are closely associated with teenagers and rebellious young adults.