Author Identifier
Jie Hong Yang: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4829-5528
Date of Award
2026
Keywords
Chinese music, Western music, hybrid music, film scoring, auto-ethnography, rescoring, How to Train Your Dragon, Crouching Tiger Cello Concerto, Tan Dun, John Powell, Bruno Alcaldes, minzu yinyue
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
School
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts
First Supervisor
Jonathan McIntosh
Second Supervisor
Lindsay Vickery
Abstract
This thesis explores the development of a hybrid Chinese-Western compositional practice for film scoring, combining a written dissertation (Volume I) with a folio of 80 minutes of original orchestral music (Volume II). Drawing on analyses of Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger Cello Concerto (2000) and John Powell’s film score for How to Train Your Dragon (2010), the research investigates how Chinese (minzu yinyue) musical elements and Western scoring techniques can be integrated to create a culturally hybrid approach. The project unfolds in two phases: the first focuses on incorporating Chinese musical characteristics into Western frameworks, resulting in 40 minutes of new music for scenes from films such as Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), the Ip Man films (2008–2019) and the Kung-Fu Panda films (2008–2016); the second deepens the emotional expressiveness of the hybrid composition style through further analysis of Powell’s work, producing an additional 40 minutes of music for episodes from The Legend of Korra (2011–2014) series. Through autoethnographic reflection, the thesis offers insight into the compositional process and demonstrates the potential of this hybrid approach for Western films influenced by Chinese culture, contributing new perspectives to the field of film music studies. This dissertation is explicitly two-part: Phase One develops a hybrid practice through analyses of Tan Dun and applies it in a 40-minute rescoring, while Phase Two addresses the emotional limits identified in that initial approach by analysing John Powell’s score for How to Train Your Dragon (2010) to explore the incorporation of modal-mixture and harmonic strategies into the hybrid method. This analysis offers contribution to the scarce scholarly literature on Powell and directly informs the creation of the second 40-minute folio, demonstrating how the close study of Powell’s harmonic language can extend the expressive range of the hybrid scoring practice.
Recommended Citation
Yang, J. (2026). Exploring hybrid Chinese-Western compositional practices based on Chinese and Western film soundtracks. Edith Cowan University. https://doi.org/10.25958/1gqf-nq35
Comments
Author also known as Jonathon Jie Hong Yang