臺灣客家三大調「老山歌」、「山歌仔」及「平板」源於田間勞動時人與人之間的呼喊。三大調有其特定的曲調旋律架構，允許演唱者變換虛字聲韻轉折，進而形成源遠流長獨特的歌體。過去在客家採茶戲及民間人情交往中，山歌曾因其寓意褒貶的俚俗表現手法讓媒體諷為不雅。自1962年始臺灣客家社會陸續成立「客家歌謠研究會」等改良曲調歌詞外，還在1964年後於新竹縣竹東鎮舉辦目前臺灣最具歷史傳統、規模最大的「客家山歌比賽」。隨後在大眾媒體及山歌教唱班的推波助瀾下，過去五十年來客家山歌的新創與傳唱儼然已成為客庄日常經驗，而且流行歌曲的創作也與三大調的韻味緊密結合：例如老山歌散板的愁苦感嘆、山歌仔穩定的鏗鏘敘事、以及平板委婉轉折的傳承祖宗言，成為客家山村到都會生活中的共同美感體驗。
本研究從曲調、聲韻與詞義來爬梳客家山歌美學的生成脈絡。三大調從模仿語言旋律的吟唱特質出發，在半世紀的地方展演競賽中，累積豐沛的音樂性，形塑自我詠歎與地方公議，逐步地唱出「情意、心腸、乃至萬理揚」（老山歌），並搭配固定曲調形式與情感用字，達到「山歌◎緊唱心緊開◎（虛字）」的情緒抒發。以2014-2015年間竹東山歌比賽的117首為例，參賽者在山歌歌詞與三大調之選搭方式，進一步呈現「開聲愛韻、聲清字明、解憂愁、選將才、保存客家音」的積極企圖（山歌子）。
「山歌唔唱唔記得，老路唔行草生塞」（平板）這類例子更彰顯了客家三大調的美感經驗中介了當代客家地方社會的時空變遷感受。客家美感核心概念從模仿聲景動情，轉向表現與想像脈絡，架構出新創歌曲的美學手法，成為近十年來流行客曲中顯著之文化實踐。山歌藉由聲腔實虛襯托、詞曲整體搭配的講究安排，如斯地映射出美感生成脈絡的一致性，誠如「流到厓介心肝肚◎」一般，客家三大調的詞曲一脈綿延著口傳經驗，彌合了時間和空間的變遷，反覆練習了社會生活中的各種人情義理狀態。

Three major Hakka song types – Laoshange, Shangezi and
Pingban – are rooted in emotional expression and field work accompaniment. These song types typically include particular melodic frames and pseudo-word ornamentation, and assume particular musical forms. During the Japanese colonial era, Hakka tunes were criticized heavily for their folk style, however, in recent decades, local communities have gradually promoted greater freedom and gracefulness in lyrical choice and content, leading to the creation of unique songs with aesthetics that differ from traditional Hakka mountain tunes. Since the 1960s, singing competitions featuring Hakka mountain songs have been held in northern Taiwan: the largest and most lasting of these occurs in Zhu-Dong. Drawing the attention of Hakka public media and musical students, the lyrical content of Hakka mountain songs have been reinvented in diverse ways, yet continue to exemplify Laoshange, Shangezi and Pingban musical aesthetics.
During a 2014-2015 field study, I examined the melodies, rhythms, and texts of 117 mountain songs during the Zhu-Dong song competitions. The Laoshange tunes have been transformed from free-styling songs of struggle, while the Shangezi take up a story-telling format with a stable tempo and clear articulation. Pingban songs speak to the common experience of ancestral reminiscence, employing such slang as “revisiting old roads,” in an attempt to articulate traditional tunes in forms more commonly associated with modern Hakka ethnomusicology.
In contemporary Hakka popular music, traditional tunes have been revitalized, and the creativity of a new generation, more familiar with urban life suddenly became a public concern. In an example of aesthetic continuum, participants old and young continue to shape their self-representational lyrics by publicly sharing theirs stories and memories. In the last decade, the three Hakka song types have offered compelling interactive frameworks for sharing experiences. To summarize, traditional Hakka songs, and more recent popular songs, have thoroughly appropriated and adapted the major song types so as to give voice to the modern movement of New Hakka peoples.