There are many varieties of folk songs all over Shanxi, and the forms of the songs are even more diverse. If the province's diverse folk songs from the genre to distinguish, can be roughly summarized into five categories: one, mountain songs; two, the horn; three, ditty; four, rice-planting songs; five, sets of songs. These five genres include different types of songs and their distribution is as follows: (a) Mountain Songs Mountain Songs refer to those suitable for the working people in the mountains and fields or cliffs, the yard can be sung at any time a short song. The general characteristics of Shanxi's mountain songs are: (1) the form is short and simple, generally the structure of the upper and lower two phrases; (2) the words and rhythms are relatively free, so it is easy for the singers to express their own feelings; (3) the lyrics of the mountain songs are generally improvised by the singers according to their own labor or their own thoughts and feelings, "doing what is sung and thinking what is sung," thus the feelings are sincere and sincere, and they are sung in the same way. "Therefore, the feelings are sincere and simple; (4) there is no need for accompaniment, there is no certain pitch, and you can sing it anytime, anywhere with your mouth open. Shanxi's mountain songs have different names, such as "mountain song", "blossom tune", "rolled mat piece" (also called "rotten mat piece"), etc., which vary from place to place. There are different names for these songs depending on the place. The "Shanqu" is mainly distributed in the highlands of northwestern Jin, or the West Mountain (Lvliang Mountain) area, including Hequ, Baode, Yiguan, Wuzhai, Shenchi, Ningwu, Jingle, Xingxian, Linxian, and Liulin counties. Among them, the "Hequ Mountain Song" is the most outstanding. In the past in these areas, you can often see or hear those who are engaged in labor on the hillside farmers, those holding sheep shovels are grazing sheep herds of sheep farmers, those who are walking in the winding mountain paths to drive the livestock of the footman or groups of three to five backpacking to "go west" people, facing the wilderness to lead the high song. "Learn to sing to relieve your heart". Most of what they sing is this kind of mountain song that can "solve the heart wide". These "mountain song" children, high, loud, long, stretch, rich in mountain flavor. "Blossom tune" is a form of mountain song popular in the Taihang Mountain area (or called the East Mountain area). It is mainly distributed in Zuoquan, Heshun, Wuxiang and Xiangyuan counties. Among them, "Zuoquan Blossom Song" is the most outstanding. Because of the "blossom tune" lyrics of the first line often "xx blossom" for the beginning, the next line point, so the local people of this form of mountain song collectively called "blossom tune".
Here, not only plants can bloom, other things can bloom, scissors can bloom, broom can bloom, Mentata (Mentata buckle) can bloom, small chair bed (small stool) can bloom, stone can bloom. In short, everything used as a metaphor can bloom. And its metaphor is generally with the title of the next sentence has some kind of connection, such as "yam egg blossom knot圪oher, eat eggs pro is my heart and liver petals. The style and characteristics of "Blossom Tune" are very different from that of "Mountain Tune" of Hequ. If the Hequ "mountain song" is characterized by its high pitch, loud and clear, and free rhythm, the "Blossom Tune" is characterized by its euphemism, clear and beautiful, and the rhythm is more regular to win. The style and characteristics of the "Rolling Mat Piece" are basically similar to those of the "Mountain Songs" of the Hequ area, except that there are not as many parallel structures in the tunes as in the "Hequ Mountain Songs", and the rhythms are more compact, and the lyrics are closer to colloquialisms. The lyrics are also more colloquial. (ii) The bugle is a labor bugle, which is a song sung by people engaged in heavy labor in order to unify their orders, coordinate their actions and lift their spirits. Although there are also tunes in this kind of labor horn, but mainly emphasize the rhythm so that people in the same regular rhythm in the labor. Because most of the horn is shouted and sung, so generally also called "shouting horn". Above all kinds of horn is to take the form of a leader and the crowd. Most of them do not have fixed lyrics, the lyrics are in the labor of the leader of the scene, improvised at any time. Although there are not many labor bugles in Shanxi, they are characterized by distinctive and powerful rhythms, simple and smooth tones, and optimistic and bold emotions. (C) Minor ditty refers to those ditties that can be hummed at any time when engaging in less heavy labor indoors or outdoors. In Shanxi, the number of ditties is the largest and most widely distributed among Shanxi folk songs, spreading all over the province,
whether in the countryside or in the towns are quite popular. The lyrics of Shanxi ditties are also neat and standardized, with the seven-character sentence as the basic format, followed by the cross sentence, followed by the five-character sentence, and many of the above three forms of mixed structure, as well as a small number of short and long sentences. (D) Yangge Shanxi Yangge varieties, distribution is also very wide, but belongs to the opera type of Yangge, such as Xiangyuan, Wuxiang Yangge, Shuo County Yangge, Dai County Yangge, etc.,
This article does not relate to the later editing of the "Opera Music Integration," and then go to the organization of them. This volume is a compilation of rice-planting songs that belong to the folk song genre. Some of them are gradually developing into opera, or have formed a local opera with a simple storyline, but its singing still maintains the characteristics of folk songs and the appearance of folk songs continue to be sung among the masses. These rice-planting songs are: Qitai rice-planting songs, Qinyuan rice-planting songs, Qixian street rice-planting songs, Yuanping Feng rice-planting songs, Linxian umbrella rice-planting songs, Liulin umbrella rice-planting songs, which is the most prominent and influential Qitai Shimei song (because of the circulation in the Pingchuan counties in Jinzhong, also known as Jinzhong rice-planting songs) and so on. In addition to the above, there are also many "ground Yangge" in Shanxi. For example, "Fenyang Rice-planting Song" and "Quwo Rice-planting Song", as well as other folk songs and dances, such as "Flower Basket Lanterns" and "Nine Lotus Lanterns" in Southeast Jin, "Jiu Lien Lanterns" in South Jin, "Jiu Lien Lanterns" in South Jin and "Jiu Lien Lanterns" in South Jin. and other folk songs and dances, such as "Flower Basket Light" and "Nine Lotus Light" in southeast Jin, "Flower Drum" and "Flower Stick Playing" in south Jin, and so on. These folk songs and dances are dance-based and sung in the form of interplay, and most of what is sung is the "Four Seasons", "December" and other songs about flowers, scenery, or the expression of ancient people and ancient events or to express good wishes for the entertainment of the song. Since most of these folk songs and dances are performed during the Lantern Festival, we collectively call them "Lantern Songs". In addition, there are a number of singing and dancing forms, also organized into the category of rice-planting songs, mainly "two people carry" in Hequ, "small flower opera" in Zuoqu and "Fengtai small opera" in Heshun, as well as "small opera" in Xiyang area. Xiyang's "Lahua" and other forms are still widely sung in folklore in the form of folk songs. Although they are not called "Yangge", they are often regarded as the content of the activities of the "Haunted Rice-planting Songs" or "Haunted Red Fire" in festivals, so they are not called "Yangge", so they are not regarded as the content of the activities of the "Haunted Red Fire". They are not called rice-planting songs, but in festivals, they are also often regarded as the content of the activities of "haunted rice-planting songs" or "haunted red fire". (E) suite in Shanxi folk songs, there are some narrative strong, larger form of
folk vocal suites. The tunes of these suites, most of which are also based on Ming and Qing dynasty folk tunes or local ditties, are processed according to the needs of the content, and then developed into a combination of changes, with a relatively tight structure. Its content is mostly about singing historical figures or historical legends, and there are several kinds of them: Zuoquan "big cavity", popular in the area of Zuoquan. Its tune is beautiful, rigorous structure, complete form. There is a prelude (garlic ohh), the song ("split broken jade"), epilogue ("interruptions"). Xingxian "Kunqu", is the local name, not in the form of opera "Kunqu", is circulating in the Xingxian area of a form of folk singing, the content of the heroes of the Liangshan Po are singing the story. Liu Lin "play
Singing", circulating in the Liu Lin, Lishi, Zhongyang, Fangshan area of large-scale folk singing, most of the tunes sung in the Ming and Qing dynasty Xiaoqu or local ditties. The "Trial Record" is its representative repertoire, consisting of nearly twenty tunes, the content of which is to sing the love story of Su San and Wang Jinlong. According to the different musical colors of folk songs in different places, Shanxi can be roughly divided into four different color zones: Jinzhong, Jinnan, Southeast Jin and North Jin. The characteristics of Shanxi folk songs in tone are formed by a variety of factors, among which the influence of the Shanxi language is an extremely important factor. Folk songs from all parts of Shanxi are closely related to the pronunciation, tone (iambic pentameter), intonation (stress), and especially vocal tone (tetrameter) of the languages of all parts of Shanxi.