Applying Bel Canto Techniques in the Performance of Zhao Jiping's Art Songs: A Practice-Based Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48165/sajssh.2026.7503Keywords:
bel canto, Zhao Jiping’s art songs, cross-cultural vocal performance, runqiang, practice-based researchAbstract
The cross-cultural application of Bel Canto in Chinese art song performance remains a key topic in vocal studies. Existing research largely depends on score analysis and theoretical discussion, with insufficient practice-based empirical research, and few studies specifically explore Bel Canto adaptation for Zhao Jiping’s art songs, which combine northern folk melodies, opera inflexions and tonal poetic lyrics. This paper adopts Practice-Based Research and uses 13 representative works performed in two recitals as research materials. Drawing on annotated scores, rehearsal journals, tutor feedback and performance recordings, this study establishes a dual-dimensional framework of technical practice and artistic interpretation and identifies layers of conflicts between Bel Canto norms and Chinese linguistic aesthetics. Through repeated performance experimentation, the study identified four principal areas of adaptation: breath management and continuity, resonance adjustment and vocal unity, runqiang adaptation and linguistic expression, and tone-colour design for emotional communication. The findings suggest that Bel Canto may function as a flexible technical framework whose principles can be adapted to the linguistic, stylistic, and expressive requirements of Chinese art song performance.
References
1. Barrett, E., & Bolt, B. (Eds.). (2014). Practice as research: Approaches to creative arts enquiry. Bloomsbury Publishing.
2. Borgdorff, H. (2012). The conflict of the faculties: Perspectives on artistic research and academia. Leiden University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26530/OAPEN_595042
3. Butt, D. (2020). The promise of artistic research in the Asia Pacific. Mamusya: Journal of Humanities, 23(3), 328–334. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/26659077-02303002
4. Candy, L. (2006). Practice-based research: A guide. CCS Report, 1(2), 1–19.
5. Candy, L., & Edmonds, E. (2018). Practice-based research in the creative arts: Foundations and futures from the front line. Leonardo, 51(1), 63–69. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/LEON_a_01471
6. Chen, M. (2019). A conjecture of singing Chinese repertoire with the Italian bel canto technique [Doctoral dissertation, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa].
7. Chen, Y. (2022). A performance guide of sixteen Chinese art songs: A selective study of seven distinguished Chinese art song composers [Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University].
8. Davidson, J. W. (2001). The role of the body in the production and perception of solo vocal performance: A case study of Annie Lennox. Musicae Scientiae, 5(2), 235–256. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/102986490100500206
9. Han, S., & Yu, T. (2016, May). A discussion on the functional effect of Chinese traditional vocal music aesthetic view on ordinary college vocal music teaching—Reflections on the present situation of college vocal music teaching. In 2016 International Conference on Education, Management and Computer Science (pp. 609–614). Atlantis Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2991/icemc-16.2016.123
10. Liu, L., Yap, J. H., Zang, H., Song, C., & Li, Y. (2022). Rules for performing Chinese art songs with Bel Canto singing techniques. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 11(3), 1820–1844. DOI: https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARPED/v11-i3/15360
11. Miller, R. (1996). The structure of singing: System and art in vocal technique. Schirmer Books. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780195098259.003.0006
12. Pan, J. (2023). A comparison of the traditional Chinese vocal style and Western Bel Canto singing [Doctoral dissertation, University of Nevada, Las Vegas].
13. Rink, J. (Ed.). (1995). The practice of performance: Studies in musical interpretation. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511552366
14. Rink, J. (Ed.). (2002). Musical performance: A guide to understanding. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511811739
15. Ross, V. (2022). Practice-based methodological design for performance-composition and interdisciplinary music research. Malaysian Journal of Music, 11(1), 109–125. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37134/mjm.vol11.1.7.2022
16. Stark, J. (2003). Bel canto: A history of vocal pedagogy. University of Toronto Press.
17. Suoranta, J., Vadén, T., & Hannula, M. (2014). Artistic research methodology: Narrative, power and the public.
18. Thompson, B. C. (2015). Zhao Jiping and the sound of resistance in Red Sorghum. Studia Musicologica, 56(4), 355–366. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1556/6.2015.56.4.5
19. Tyan, J. A. (2003). A performer's guide to selected Chinese art songs by twentieth-century Chinese composers. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
20. Uthup, C. (2016). The acoustical foundations of Bel Canto [Doctor of Music final project, Indiana University].
21. Wang, B. (2024). Selected Chinese art songs of Tzu Huang: A performance guide [Doctoral dissertation, Shenandoah University].
22. Wang, C. (2018). A new training technique for using the Bel Canto method to sing Chinese songs [Doctoral dissertation, Texas Tech University].
23. Wang, D. (2019). “The Eight Songs” by Zhao Jiping as the embodiment of the vocal and instrumental poem. Problems of Interaction Between Arts, Pedagogy and the Theory and Practice of Education, 52, 53–70. DOI: https://doi.org/10.34064/khnum1-52.04
24. Wang, Y. (2023). New thoughts and methods for teaching Chinese art song in Western universities [Doctoral dissertation, University of British Columbia].
25. Xia, W. (2022). Peculiarities of singing in Chinese popular and traditional music: Influence of musical genres on vocals. Música Hodie, 22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5216/mh.v22.73226
26. Xiaoyu, W., Ying, X., Shilin, L., Xiubo, R., Dan, Y., Xinran, Y., … & Qiujian, X. (2023). Phonetics as a means of nationalising art songs: A comparative music-phonetics study based on Zhao Yuanren’s New Poetry Collection. Journal of New Music Research, 52(2–3), 202–226. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09298215.2024.2311649
27. Yao, J. (2022). Selected Chinese art song of Shande Ding: A performance and pedagogical guide [Doctor of Musical Arts lecture recital essay, University of Miami].
28. Ye, X. (2026). Negotiating tonal language and Western melody: Mandarin diction and performance practice in the art songs of Huang Zi and Gao Ping [Doctoral dissertation, The University of Memphis].
29. Yu, P., & Yap, J. H. (2025). Integrating runqiang techniques in Chinese folk singing with Bel Canto techniques in the performance of selected Chinese coloratura vocal works. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 9(11), 6940–6951. https://doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.91100540 DOI: https://doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.91100540
30. Zhang, Z. (2018). Integrating the two singing methods of folk style singing and Bel Canto in teaching.
31. Zhao, X. (2023). A study on the inheritance status and enhancement path of Chinese ancient poetry art songs integrated into vocal music teaching in contemporary colleges and universities. Pacific International Journal, 6(3), 166–171. DOI: https://doi.org/10.55014/pij.v6i3.445
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 South Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
