Reading Music and Eroticism in Late Ming Texts - Assignment Example

Précis Music held a central role in the Ming culture and society, owing to the fact that words only were not sufficient for social expression, thus paving way for the manipulation of music as the basis of expressing individual identities, desires and eroticism (Lam, 2010). Despite the existence of a wide range of late Ming texts which take the form of either short phrases or detailed reports, and regardless of such texts being factual or fictional, one thing compares them all; they provide very minimal and specific Ming cultural and musical-erotic information (Lam, 2010). Nevertheless, the late Ming texts have played an important role in preserving the erotic-music notations of the Ming cultural society, owing to the fact the Ming music has long vanished and the only way through which it is preserved is through the textual notations. The factors that account for the vanishing of the Ming music is the secrecy with which the late Ming society would treat erotic emotions, impulses and practices. In this respect, the erotic impulses, emotions and impulses in the late Ming society were treated as private matters, only reserved for specific reasons and targeted for specific audiences, thus making their understanding highly complex (Lam, 2010). The carnal longings and desires of the Ming society were expressed through music, where music and sex were intertwined through dynamic and creative negotiations, allowing music to express and characterize the erotic desire of the time (Lam, 2010). The sexual desires were expressed through Ming music in a series of manipulated musical aspects such as processes, objects and sites, where the musical components such as instruments, sounds and sonic components strategically aired the erotic agenda of the music performers (Lam, 2010). The specific times and places where such manipulated music would be played then created the musical sites, while the projection of the sonic and the non-sonic sounds at the specific times and places constituted the music negotiations and processes, which would in turn work together towards the formation of erotic musical expressions (Lam, 2010). The discursive negotiations, processes and musical objects applications allowed the music performers to assert their erotic and sexual desires, thus serving not only as a means of expression, but also as a catalyst for interactive bargaining the desires with the audience (Lam, 2010). Critique The concept of reading and interpreting music in the Ming musical culture has been explored extensively by Joseph S.C. Lam, under the article; ‘Reading Music and Eroticism in Late Ming Texts’, with the intention of showing that despite the challenges of interpreting the Ming musical culture, the application of musiking can help in creating meaningful insights (Lam, 2010). The author has been able to accurately capture and persuade the reader of this article to believe that the Ming musical culture is highly complex, and thus can only be understood through the application of a rigorous process that will not only focus on the music and its performance, but also on the musical texts developed in relation to the Ming culture of music (Wang, 2011). The high level of persuasiveness of this article stems from the fact that the author has managed to show that words, music, social values and erotic impulses and emotional expressions are intertwined, such that the study of music alone or a single form of text cannot effectively create an insightful understanding of the late Ming musical culture (Lam, 2010). The central argument in this article is that; since the Ming cultural society was a highly closed and conservative society, the expression of eroticism comprising of sexual desires, impulses and emotions was done through manipulating music so that it could project the desires (Lam, 2010). Therefore, the expression of eroticism in the Ming culture could only be achieved through the process of musiking. Musiking is the concept by which the music instruments, sonic and non-sonic sounds, physical performance, place and time of the music performance are used to manipulate music such that it can strategically advance the erotic desires, impulses and emotions of the music performers (Lam, 2010). For example, Mao Xiang’s account of how he ended up marrying Dong Xiaowan is an example of how music performers could manipulate music so that it could project their sexual desires, while at the same time causing the audience to develop similar sexual desires towards the music performers, which finally ended in a sexual encounter between the music performers and the targeted audience. Dong Xiaowan was a beautiful courtesan who “performed music to build up her fame as a courtesan… manipulated music to express her desires and identities and…gave up music to serve her husband” (Lam, 2010). This example clearly demonstrates that Dong Xiaowan intention was to marry Mao Xiang, and therefore she used music as the tool through which she could achieve her end, by performing the music in a way that eventually aroused the sexual desires of Mao Xiang, who ended up marrying her. However, the weakness associated with the central argument as advanced by the author of this article is that; the late Ming music is no longer available, and the only source that can be applied towards assessing the erotic musical performance and practices is the use of texts that have been developed on the topic of music eroticism in the Ming cultural society (Lam, 2010). This being the case, the primary source of evidence, which in this case is supposed to be the Ming cultural music is not available for analysis, and the author has to depend on written texts to inform the musical practices and performance, which may not be entirely accurate. Additionally, the author’s argument is shaped by the assumptions and biases to the effect that there does not exist either Ming cultural music or sufficient historical/factual late Ming texts that can be analyzed to give an accurate account of the music manipulation for achieving erotic objectives and desire by the Ming cultural society (Lam, 2010). To advance the central argument, the author relies on fictional and informal late Ming texts as the major source of information that reinforces the argument. The reliance on the fictional and informal late Ming texts, according to the authors of this article, has been informed by three major factors. First, the factual and historical Ming texts, “allude to musical and erotic practices of the time with brief and opaque references” only (Lam, 2010). In this respect, the author lacks sufficient factual evidence on which he can rely on to advance his argument, thus being forced to turn into using the fictional/informal late Ming texts for evidence. Second, the author relies on the use of fictional/informal late Ming texts, owing to the fact that these fictional/informal late Ming texts provides great and many revealing details of the erotic Ming musical culture, which then serves as admissible musical-erotic evidence (Lam, 2010). Third, the author has relied on the use of the fictional/informal late Ming texts as the source of evidence for the central argument, due to the fact that; the majority fictional/informal late Ming texts provides detailed description of the Ming musical culture in a way that is highly comparable and collaborative, such that it is easy for these sources of evidence to be applied towards referencing one another (Lam, 2010). In this respect, the author finds these sources of evidence highly reliable for reinforcing the central argument. Nevertheless, there is one major weakness that is associated with choice of the fictional/informal late Ming texts as the sources of evidence to reinforce the central argument. The fact that the fictional/informal texts could be exaggerated or imaginary erodes their credibility as the source of evidence for the central argument (Wang, 2011). Thus after reading the article, the major question that remains is whether the Ming cultural music does collaborate with the central argument advanced by the author. Could the music show that the Ming cultural society manipulated music to express their erotic desires and impulses, if the Ming cultural music still be existed and was available for analysis today? References Lam, J.C. (2010). Reading Music and Eroticism in Late Ming Texts. Nan Nü 12, 215-254. Wang, R. G. (2011). Ming erotic novellas: Genre, consumption and religiosity in cultural practice. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. Read More