Chuanqi is a dramatic genre comprising dialogue and arias that was prevalent in late Ming and early Qing China. Sheng's work investigates the interface between page and performance to explore the relations among literary texts, musical sound, and staging practices embedded in the genre, thereby decentering the hegemony of text in the study of chuanqi.

For this talk, Sheng will focus on Kunshan qiang, a specific singing style, and analyze how it became the refined, orthodox voice of chuanqi in early modern China. The discussion will center on a series of material practices paramount to the reform of Kunshan qiang, including the introduction of melodic instruments, the construction of a new stylized language for singing through typographical inventions, and the promotion of bodily techniques of rhythm. Such analyses of material practices cast light on a late Ming ecology of music in which the human body was deployed together with instruments and writing/printing technology as an essential tool for the practice, reproduction, and circulation of music.

Zoom link: https://umich.zoom.us/j/96135507409