qupai

{{Short description|Melody generic term used in traditional Chinese music}}

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A qupai ({{zh|c=曲牌|p=qǔpái}}; also called {{zh|c=牌子|p=paizi}}) is the generic term for a fixed melody used in traditional Chinese music. The literal meaning is "named tune," "labeled melody," "titled tune," or "titled song". Qupai are relatively brief, most comprising between 20 and 70 measures in 2/4 meter.[http://www.evideo.edu.sg/downloads%255CMusic%2520and%2520Performance%255CMusic%255CUpper%2520Secondary%255CChinese%2520Ensemble%25206.pdf]{{Dead link|date=May 2011}} Many qupai are centuries old, but only a few of these have been handed down to the present.Bell Yung, Evelyn Sakakida Rawski, Rubie Sharon Watson (1996). [https://books.google.com/books?id=gXGcQQFxpMEC&dq=qupai&pg=PA30 Harmony and counterpoint: ritual music in Chinese context], p.30. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-2658-0}}.

Qupai are commonly used in Chinese opera, such as kunqu and Beijing opera, as well as by folk and ritual ensembles, including Jiangnan sizhu and Taoist ritual music. Qupai have also been used as the basis for 20th century compositions for Chinese instruments, both solo and ensemble. In these contexts, these stock melodies very often serve as a basis for melodic elaboration and variation. This variation is particularly well codified in the taoqu structure of Chaozhou xianshi music."[http://www.umbc.edu/eol/8/dujunco/dujunco2.html EOL 8: Birth of a New Mode? (Dujunco): Chaozhou Modal Practice]", Ethnomusicology OnLine.

The Baisha xiyue tradition of the Naxi of Lijiang, Yunnan utilizes 24 qupai.