Zheqin Li is a Master's student in Music-Ethnomusicology. Zheqin indulges her passion for all things music by studying popular music, focusing on the intersection of music and media, specifically looking into the Chinese music scene. One area of inquiry focuses on how mobile phone applications are important sites for musicking. Zheqin has a WeSing site that includes a karaoke app.
Recordings: My profile page on WeSing (全民K歌), which is an online karaoke application on mobile phones where people can enjoy music through functions such as recording singing to the instrumental tracks, joining online karaoke rooms with other users, listening to and commenting on the karaoke singing posts of other users, etc.
Tell us a bit about your background and the disciplines or fields of practice you work in.
I am doing my MA in music-ethnomusicology. As someone eager to explore the world of music, I feel lucky to be exposed to music of diverse cultures and styles. My passion for music ignited at an early age, encompassing piano and vocal training during my childhood and teenage years. I also had opportunities to play in world music ensembles, sing in a cappella groups, and perform as a drummer in a band setting. In addition to singing and playing musical instruments, I also enjoy collaborating with other musicians and producers in creating music. With different perspectives I took from my previous experiences, I feel motivated to delve into the musical cultures through doing ethnomusicological research. My research interest is in popular music studies which often involves the intersection of music and media, specifically looking into the Chinese music scene.
What question(s) are you trying to address with your work?
Some of my research questions include:
How are mobile phone applications important sites for musicking? How do they shape contemporary music experiences?
What are the relationships between digital technologies, music cultures and entertainment experience?
How do mobile phone applications affect the role of music and music discovery, promotion, and/or consumption?
How does music play important roles in online entertainment and socialization?
How are Chinese applications special? The internet is not global and can also contain “local” internet cultures, specifically for Chinese context.
Why that question/those questions? What prompted you to follow the path you've taken?
I’m from a generation deeply impacted by technological advancement. The journey of my musical exploration spanned CDs, mp3 players, radio, websites, streaming platforms, and more. My fascination with the confluence of media and music stemmed from this process as I witnessed and experienced the development of media technologies.
When working on my thesis, I found myself “addicted” to my phone for a period of time, checking on messages or scrolling through social media incessantly. Despite its distractions, my phone also contributed to my research and became an inspiration for my current topic that investigates the influences of mobile phone applications on music and the way people experience music.
Tell us about the research and/or creative works that laid the foundation for your work; whose work are you building upon?
I was influenced by “musicking,” a term first coined by Christopher Small, which considers music as a verb rather than only a noun and treats music as not just an object but also a process that people experience. The evolution of technology has greatly influenced the musicking experience of people. People now have easier access to participate in musicking activities of more diverse forms and interact with other people across time and distance through the medium of music.
My previous experiences participating in the creative process also offered me insightful perspectives and cultivated my ideas for the current research. I had the chance to sing demo and songs written by my singer-songwriter colleagues for Honor of Kings (王者荣耀), a popular Chinese mobile game. I also worked at a media studio that provided creative content for Chinese KTV (karaoke venues) where we made a number of mash-ups based on trendy songs of douyin (Chinese TikTok).
What questions will remain for the next generation of researchers?
In an era with rapid technological advancements, we find ourselves amid a dynamic landscape of change. The appearance of new mobile phone applications such as Tik Tok offer more opportunities to independent artists while highlighting only 15 seconds of sounds. New forms of technology such as AI and VR get incorporated in different music applications. It’s exciting to keep up with how the new designs and functions might affect how people engage with music and create their own cultures. Some intriguing questions arise: How do the roles of creators and audiences interplay with each other when participatory behaviors are encouraged in the applications? How will upcoming technology impact music dissemination and appreciation? Does the technological wave usher in a realm of expanded opportunities, or does it introduce heightened risks to the process of music creation?
What is your favorite library resource?
I love my carrel in Olin! It is not only my personal mini library to store books but also a magical box that offers me inspiration when thinking and writing. I am also amazed by the amount of books related to music offered by Wesleyan and connected libraries, in either physical or electronic forms. I was influenced by The Oxford Handbook of Mobile Music Studies for my research specifically. In addition, the interlibrary loan services also provided tremendous help in my process of looking for items by digitizing works such as Karaoke Around the World: Global Technology, Local Singing, among the many others.
How can someone learn more about your work?
The finished version of my MA Thesis will be on the Wesleyan Digital Collections website. Please contact the Wesleyan music department for more information.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
My summer work at the music library/World Music Archive offered me special insights when getting in touch with multiple media formats and learning more about how music was documented or recorded in history corresponding to technological development. For example, I saw some sheet music from the 1900s when doing inventory work of Bruce J. Taub. I also got to see different recording formats including reels, U-Matics, Beta, VHS, audiocassettes, CD, etc. It is impressive to see how musical sounds as something intangible could be engraved on different materials in different shapes. Reflecting on what we use today such as streaming platforms, I feel even more amazed by the plentiful online musicking experiences we have access to, enabled by digital technologies.
Last but not least, I also want to say thank you to Aaron Bittel and Jennifer Hadley who offered me all the support and help working at the music library. And thank you to Jill Livingston for this precious opportunity to share my research!
