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The presence of Classical European Music in higher education curricula in Tokyo or Beijing, Hong Kong or Singapore is a fact that barely registers to the eye (and ear) of a visiting teacher, especially a Western one. Daily engagement with university instruction over an extended period of time, however, soon reveals the complexity and significance of the adoption of European notation-based repertories, and the practices associated with them. As an “outsider-insider”, in this paper I sketch a picture of the opportunities and challenges of teaching the repertories of the so-called European “Common Practice” in contemporary East Asia. Drawing on a few case studies based on my experience in Hong Kong, Beijing, South Korea and Japan, I then consider the implications of the adoption of a recently imported musical language as the norm in music theory education as well as the pinnacle of artistic accomplishment in the fields of both composition and performance. Observing patterns of absorption of foreign cultural artifacts and sensibilities need not lead to sobering conclusions about cultural imperialism or thoughtless Westernisation., Musica Docta, Vol 3 (2013)

Since the reform and open policy was carried out in late 1970s, transnational cultural forms and products have constituted the most diverse and dynamic area of Chinese popular culture. This article offers an overview of contemporary Chinese reception of Japanese, Korean, and American popular cultures in an attempt to give readers a glimpse of the constantly evolving popular cultural trends, sensibilities, and products in China, as well as the underlying interplay between state regulation, corporate push, and grassroots agency. In addition to sketching a general pattern of reception and diffusion of cultural imports in China, the paper also reveals the potential conflict in values between East Asian pop culture and Western pop culture, and highlights the significance of Chinese popular culture as the site of an emerging global cultural commons. ---------- URN: urn:nbn:de:hbz:6:3-20140314174

Musical quotation, as a technique of using the pre-existing materials in the music composition, has an important significance in both quantitative and qualitative aspects since the late 20th century, as can be seen from works of Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Luciano Berio, Mauricio Kagel, Alfred Schnittke, George Rochberg, George Crumb. In terms of aesthetics, the musical quotation is closely related with postmodernism as the technique deviates from the aesthetics of originality and reveals musical diversity. In this respect, it can be said that ›musical quotation‹ is an important keyword which describes the late 20th century. In this paper, by extending this perspective into the East Asia with a particular focus on South Korea, the musical quotation was investigated. Since the Western music was first introduced into South Korea in the late 19th century, various types of it have been combined in the country to produce works with a wide variety of musical forms and styles. Among these, works of Na, Un Young (1922–1993), Kang, Unsu (*1960), and Chung, Tae Bong (*1952) who employed the technique of musical quotation in their compositions were examined in detail here. Through this study, quotations in Korean music were found to play a semantic role in revealing the cultural context, similar to the West. However, several differences were found as well. First of all, there are only a few works with the quotation technique employed by Korean composers, probably due to the prevailing influence of the modernist aesthetics yet in Korea. Moreover, it is noteworthy that in Korean works, quoted targets were often selected from musical elements which were very familiar to Korean cultural ones. In this respect, the quotation technique which has been shown to embody not only culture and human, but also history and society, plays a significant role in reflecting the identity as a Korean composer.