Music Unlimited IV: “Tongue-Twisting Poem” (咬舌詩)

Included in “Chinese Choral Music Anthology: Music Unlimited IV.”

About the Work

“Tongue-Twisting Poem” was written in 1996 by the poet 向陽 and is included in the poetry collection “Chaos” (亂), published by INK. The most striking feature of the poem is its interweaving of Mandarin and Taiwanese, drawing heavily on colloquial sayings and proverbs to create a witty, playful tone. Beneath the humorous surface, however, lie satire of, and resignation toward, everyday life and the state of the world!

This song is written for four-part mixed choir and piano. The melodic contours follow the tones of the language, with deliberately extreme contrasts between phrases and between sections. The biggest difference from the solo version is that the contrasting timbres of the voice parts create a playful, dialogue-like effect. To heighten the humor, the song directly quotes famous works by composers mentioned in the poem: the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata K. 331, “Golliwogg’s Cakewalk” from Debussy’s piano suite “Children’s Corner,” and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. This lively, colorful, jumbled and comic surface seeks to bring out the poet’s ironic critique of the present world.

Text courtesy of the Taipei Chamber Singers