What are the differences between Classical Music and Pop Music? And how do those differences support each other in a concert setting?
This was the main question that I-Lin Tsai started with when designing her concert program for her 2022 West Coast Concert tour in the United States.
What she discovered during the planning process and stage was that by fusing Chinese Pop (or C-pop) along with classical music, she’d be able to juxtapose unique harmonies in each genre. Where Chinese pop music differs from American pop music in its melodic patterns, instrumentation, and language. Where C-Pop music aligns with all other pop music is in its harmonic structure, song form, and song topics (love, social settings, etc.). “Shifting this music to the piano and more specifically – classical music – produces an interesting effect rich harmonies, expressive melodies and interlocking rhythmic patterns.” These are the reasons that I-Lin Tsai states for why she’s bringing Asian pop music to the classical music scene. “It just makes sense to blend this music with greats like Debussy who were so passionate about harmony.” The result is a unique concert program that I-Lin Tsai was able to take on her 2022 West Coast Concert tour.
Dr. I-Lin Tsai, originally from Tainan, Taiwan, completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Pennsylvania State University in 2021. Since then, she’s carved out a name for herself as an established artist in classical music. Audiences come to see her Debussy, Bartok, and Rachmaninov but also leave being introduced to more contemporary composers like Kapustin.
For most concert musicians, their loyalty and focus on classical composers are exclusive. So audiences coming to see I-Lin Tsai often are surprised by her programming, which includes a Suite for Piano Duet on Themes by JJ Lin. The duet that she performed in her 2022 West Coast Concert Tour is an original arrangement written for her and fellow concert musician Julian Toha.
Here is a video from one of their performances where they are playing this new arrangement.
I-Lin Tsai has always been a “huge fan” of JJ Lin, and when she started planning for her 2022 West Coast Concert Tour she knew she wanted to feature the Singaporean Singer’s music. Arranging three of her favorite tunes into a rhapsodic composition about 10 minutes long became the obvious choice.
The music by the World Famous Singaporean Singer, Songwriter, and Record Producer is distilled to its main themes and then wrapped into a ternary form with elements of fantasy. The result is a suite for piano duet that is both pop and classical – or as I-Lin calls it, “Popsical.” Audiences get the easy listening experience of predictable progressions from pop music, and they get the complexity of layering, counterpoint, and phrasing of classical music. Even though her audiences may not be overly familiar with JJ Lin, she’s making them more aware of the singer through her classical treatment and arrangement.
Other notable concert artists who are doing or have done this type of theme-based music date back to Bach himself, who used to borrow themes from popular music. This continued throughout the classical period with composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with his Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Variations that he composed from a famous french folk song. Franz Liszt would do this during his concert touring years with everything from famous opera tunes to popular music motifs. In contemporary music, Pianist Christopher O’Riley is famous for his piano arrangement work in bringing Radiohead to the classical music scene. This tradition of these great artists re-engineering pop music into classical forms is now being carried forward by I-Lin Tsai and her work on themes by JJ Lin in her latest tour.
Whether she’s back home in Tainan or traveling along the west coast of the states, one thing I-Lin Tsai now knows for sure is that her music is engaging audiences and this fusion from her first home to her second home in California is making noise.
For more information on I-Lin Tsai and her tour dates and videos or to hear her on Apple Music and Spotify, visit her website at ilintsai.com and follow her on Instagram @iamannietsai.
