ABSTRACT
The pieces preserved in gongchepu notation and performed by shengguan ensembles at Wutaishan cover a wide span of music history in China, with some thought to date back as far as the Tang Dynasty and others composed in the twentieth century. Chinese scholars commonly divide ritual music into two categories: "sitting music" and "processionals". "Sitting music" consists of large-scale, complex pieces and suites, usually performed by an ensemble seated around a large table. Since the "Sitting music" and "Processional music" distinction does not precisely match structures and functions of music in Wutaishan's monasteries, it might be more informative to categorize pieces as monks themselves do. In Tibeto-Mongolian monasteries, categorizations are based both on specific ritual function and on musical structure of each piece, and as such pieces remain in a single category. In order to reestablish shengguan practice in Buddhist ritual at Wutaishan monasteries adopted a streamlined repertoire that allows for relatively easy transmission to a new generation of monks.
