Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Jul 2, 2003 22:21
20 yrs ago
Chinese term
五声性
Chinese to English
Art/Literary
Music
Music
五声性调式和声
五声性：quintet？
五声性：quintet？
Proposed translations
(English)
| 5 +4 | pentatonic |
Terry Thatcher Waltz, Ph.D.
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| 4 -1 | vocal quintet / voice quintet |
Roddy Stegemann
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Proposed translations
+4
1 hr
Terry Thatcher Waltz, Ph.D.
Native in English
Fulltime TECHNICAL/MEDICAL pro since '87
Native in: English 
Works in: Chinese to English, Spanish to English
Related KudoZ points
:
12
Selected
pentatonic
Here, "wu sheng" refers to the number of notes in the scale, not the number of voices (which, btw, could be instrumental or human in music terms) in the ensemble.
The whole phrase given is: "pentatonic harmony."
(I've studied and worked in music for more than 30 years.)
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Note added at 3 hrs 2 mins (2003-07-03 01:23:34 GMT) Post-grading
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Note to \"Hamo\": You can certainly find many Google hits for \"quintet\", the problem is that this is not what the Chinese phrase means here. There\'s a difference between \"quintet\" and \"pentatonic\" in music. And \"five-voice harmony\" does not mean \"pentatonic\" either -- pentatonic scales are the traditional Chinese scales. In the US, we teach them to students by telling them it\'s the opening notes to the musical theme to the old TV show \"All in the Family\" -- I know that might not make much sense if you don\'t know the show, but it\'s very evocative for students there. Another easy way to think of pentatonic scales is to play just the black keys on the piano -- that is a pentatonic scale.
The whole phrase given is: "pentatonic harmony."
(I've studied and worked in music for more than 30 years.)
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Note added at 3 hrs 2 mins (2003-07-03 01:23:34 GMT) Post-grading
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Note to \"Hamo\": You can certainly find many Google hits for \"quintet\", the problem is that this is not what the Chinese phrase means here. There\'s a difference between \"quintet\" and \"pentatonic\" in music. And \"five-voice harmony\" does not mean \"pentatonic\" either -- pentatonic scales are the traditional Chinese scales. In the US, we teach them to students by telling them it\'s the opening notes to the musical theme to the old TV show \"All in the Family\" -- I know that might not make much sense if you don\'t know the show, but it\'s very evocative for students there. Another easy way to think of pentatonic scales is to play just the black keys on the piano -- that is a pentatonic scale.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Many Thanks. I'v learned a lot from you."
-1
1 hr
Roddy Stegemann
United States
United States
Native in English
United States
Search HKLNA!
Native in: English 
Works in: German to English, Japanese to English, French to English, and 3 more.
vocal quintet / voice quintet
In this way it is not confused with an instrumental quintet.
Because I was interested I checked quite a few websites for you. Do a Google search with quotation marks for either of the above two expressions, and you will find what you are looking for!
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Note added at 2003-07-03 00:32:39 (GMT)
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Note to our Texas contributor:
A Google search for \"vocal quintet\" yields 1620 hits, and a search for \"voice quintet\" yields 71 hits. Did you type in the keywords with quotation marks, as I suggested?
Yes, voice can also refer to the number of different parts, whether vocal or instrumental, but as everyone will clearly note \"voice quintet\" was given as my second alternative -- not my first.
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Note added at 2003-07-03 00:51:42 (GMT) Post-grading
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Further note to our Texas contributor:
Our disagreement obviously centers on whether we are referring to five tone harmony or the means by which that harmony is produced -- namely, vocal, instrumental, or some combination of both. Of course, in order to know this we would both require more context.
Because I was interested I checked quite a few websites for you. Do a Google search with quotation marks for either of the above two expressions, and you will find what you are looking for!
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Note added at 2003-07-03 00:32:39 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Note to our Texas contributor:
A Google search for \"vocal quintet\" yields 1620 hits, and a search for \"voice quintet\" yields 71 hits. Did you type in the keywords with quotation marks, as I suggested?
Yes, voice can also refer to the number of different parts, whether vocal or instrumental, but as everyone will clearly note \"voice quintet\" was given as my second alternative -- not my first.
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Note added at 2003-07-03 00:51:42 (GMT) Post-grading
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Further note to our Texas contributor:
Our disagreement obviously centers on whether we are referring to five tone harmony or the means by which that harmony is produced -- namely, vocal, instrumental, or some combination of both. Of course, in order to know this we would both require more context.
Peer comment(s):
| disagree |
Terry Thatcher Waltz, Ph.D.
: BTW, "voice" in musical English could still mean either human or instrumental...it's strange! (But not as you phrase it, with "quintet" after it -- then it's just human voices.) I found no Google hits for the phrase as given...weird!!!
43 mins
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Please see note above. Nothing wierd, if you do it right!
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