Jiangnan Sizhu, Nanyin and Cantonese music are all important music genres in southern my country. They are closely related to local opera. But the relationship is quite different. Nanyin (referring to the instrumental performance form) was originally attached to Nanyin singing. Cantonese music, an instrumental performance form, was originally attached to Cantonese opera, and what it played was the cutscenes of Cantonese opera. This understanding is probably not too far-fetched. Therefore, it can be said that the history of Nanyin and Guangdong music is shorter than that of opera, and their origins can be traced from the local history of opera. Jiangnan Sizhu also has a certain relationship with Shanghai's local opera Hu Opera; but this relationship is quite different compared with Nanyin and Cantonese music.
Jiangnan silk and bamboo music is a form of silk and bamboo performance popular in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. The local opera in Shanghai is Shanghai Opera, which was originally called Huagu Opera and originated around the end of the 18th century. At the end of the 19th century, Huagu Opera moved from rural areas to cities and was renamed local Tanhuang (Bentan). Judging from the audio (records) preserved at the beginning of this century, Bentan did not have the accompaniment form after the 1940s. It can be seen from this that there is no dependence relationship between Jiangnan Sizhu and Shanghai Opera. At the beginning of this century, the performance form of Jiangnan silk and bamboo music spread from rural areas to urban Shanghai and became an important form of entertainment for Shanghai citizens. After that, in order to raise his own value, Shentan changed its name to "Shenqu", following the names of Kun Opera and Peking Opera (Peking Opera). The accompaniment form at this time, especially Shen Hu's (main Hu)'s bow and finger movements, as well as the melody and flowers, have a strong Jiangnan silk and bamboo playing style. For this reason, today's Shanghai Opera master Hu (performer) can play Jiangnan silk and bamboo without losing its true charm. In addition, Huai opera, which flowed from northern Jiangsu to Shanghai and developed in Shanghai, its bowing, fingering, and glissando techniques were also influenced to varying degrees by the Jiangnan silk and bamboo playing methods.
2. The formation of new silk and bamboo
In February 1924, Mr. Liu Yaozhang met Zheng Jinwen, the music director of the Datong Music Club. After Mr. Zheng’s introduction, Mr. Liu formally presented to Wang Yuting Sir, learn pipa. In June 1924, the Datong Music Club held an ancient music and dance conference at the then Shanghai City Hall. Mr. Zheng Jinwen donated tickets and invited Mr. Liu Yaozhang to watch it. After the meeting, Mr. Zheng asked Mr. Liu to share his views. Mr. Liu said that although ancient music is good, the music is high-pitched and difficult to discover. It is not as easy to be accepted by people as other music adapted into the well-known silk and bamboo form. Entrusted by Zheng Jinwen, Mr. Liu Yaozhang successfully adapted "Moonlight on the Xunyang Night" taught by Mr. Wang Yuting in 1925 into the silk and bamboo ensemble "Spring River with Flowers and Moonlight Night". In 1927, he excavated "Yueer Gao" from Hua Qiuping's pipa score, which no one knew how to play at the time, and named it "Nishang Yuyi Song". On July 2, 1927, music lovers in Shanghai braved the pouring rain to attend the summer concert of the Datong Concert in order to hear the first public performance of "Nice Dress and Feather Clothes". The concert was still full.
The success of the performances of "Spring River with Flowers and Moonlight Night" and "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes" caused music groups in Shanghai to request scores from the Datong Concert. However, Zheng Jinwen regarded these two pieces of music as unique to the club and refused to share them with others. Both pieces of music are played with the pipa as the main instrument, and the fingering techniques used to perform them were only mastered by Mr. Liu Yaozhang at that time. In the autumn of 1929, Mr. Wei Zhongle joined the Datong Ensemble and was greatly appreciated by Mr. Zheng Jinwen for his unique talent. The performance methods of these two pieces of music were taught to Mr. Wei Zhongle by Mr. Liu Yaozhang. At that time, Mr. Cai Jintai, director of the Lelin Chinese Music Society, decided to join the Datong Ensemble after he failed to obtain the pipa score for "Spring River Flowers on a Moonlit Night".
Precisely because "Spring River Flower Moonlight Night" failed to spread in time and became widely influential, the Shanghai Chinese Music Research Society and Xiaoyun Orchestra at that time made the pipa solo "Xun Yang Night Moon" and "Han Palace" "Autumn Moon", "Qinglian Yuefu", "Sai Shang Song", etc. were replaced with silk and bamboo music. At that time, Shanghai residents called these pieces of music "new silk and bamboo music" to distinguish them from the original Jiangnan silk and bamboo music. Today, these pieces of music are still frequently performed by some Jiangnan silk and bamboo groups in Shanghai.
3. Prosperity of repertoire and music types
For a music type to prosper, it must not only have a well-educated performing team, but also have a broad audience and distinctive music. repertoire.
Although the performance of Jiangnan Sizhu is mostly for self-entertainment, it also has the function of entertaining others; not to mention that some listeners often join the performance team. As far as the band, the audience and the repertoire are concerned, I think the repertoire plays a leading role. Because of the large number of distinctive tracks, it not only has a strong cohesion for the band members and can improve the quality of the band members, but also has a strong appeal to the listeners.
When it comes to Jiangnan Sizhu, people will naturally think of the eight famous songs of Jiangnan Sizhu. Performers of Jiangnan Sizhu often state that there are more than just eight famous pieces of Jiangnan Sizhu. The fact is that people all know that there are eight famous pieces of Jiangnan Sizhu, and no one will mistakenly think that there are only eight famous pieces of Jiangnan Sizhu. However, can our Shanghai silk and bamboo troupe play all eight famous pieces smoothly? I'm afraid it's a little difficult. Because among the eight famous songs, "Slow Liuban", "Slow Sanliu" and "Sihe Ruyi", many silk and bamboo groups do not play them often. The Jiangnan Sizhu Band is very good at expanding its repertoire. In addition to the batch of "new silk and bamboo" mentioned above, folk music from other provinces and cities are often absorbed and transformed into Jiangnan silk and bamboo music. For example, the Hunan folk music "Partridges Flying", the Zhejiang folk music "Xiao Nishang", the Fujian folk music "Nostalgia", etc.
However, the creation of new songs by Jiangnan Sizhu is far inferior to that of Guangdong music, and successful new works are as few as morning stars. What's the reason? I thought this had something to do with the composer's creative thinking. The performance of Jiangnan Sizhu has always been based on each player improvising on the melody according to the characteristics of the instrument he plays and his own preferences. Nowadays, even new works are performed in the program of Adagio, Medium Tempo and Allegro. Although the Adagio is still a slow down and fill-in of the Medium Tempo, and the Allegro is also a simplification of the Medium Tempo, the performance is often played in unison, lacking the Jiangnan Sizhu music. This kind of unique branch polyphony has lost the essence of the music. For this reason, if our composers (whether professional or amateur) can give general hints about branch polyphony when creating, the effect will definitely be much better.
4. Flute and Flute in Jiangnan Silk and Bamboo Music
Jiangnan Silk and Bamboo Performance has two major characteristics. First, the performance lineup can be large or small, so small that only two people can partner; Second, there is no fixed lead instrument, such as dizi, erhu, pipa, and dulcimer. Whoever has more seniority can temporarily act as the lead player. Despite this, the flute often plays the leading role because of its crisp and penetrating tone and its ease of adding flowers to the melody.
In recent years, when I listen to Jiangnan Sizhu performances (including some published audio tapes), I always feel that the volume of the flute is too loud and the melody is too colorful, and other instruments seem to be the foil of the flute. The flute's refusal to give way not only hinders the performance of various musical instruments, but also often causes the performance to lose the overall harmony. For example, in "Three Six", it is often heard that someone plays the melody into eight sixteenth notes from beginning to end. This method of playing has at least three disadvantages: first, the player does not have enough time to breathe in each phrase (can only steal air), making it difficult to play; second, although the rhythm is stable, the melody loses the contrast between density and density, which makes it seem It's bland; the third is a well-balanced sixteenth note, making the phrase unclear. When I was young, my teacher Gan Tao often warned the author: "If you are fast, you will not be fast; if you are slow, you will not be slow; if you are strong, you will not be strong; if you are weak, you will not be weak; if you spend money, you will not spend it; if you make a promise, you will not make a promise." Professor Gan Tao's words are the dialectics of art. The simplest explanation. Today's flutes are only complex but not simple, and cannot reflect the beauty of Jiangnan silk and bamboo music.
Dongxiao is rarely used in Jiangnan silk and bamboo bands today, and it should receive sufficient attention. The noisy sound of the flute contrasts with the soft volume of the dongxiao. For this reason, the dongxiao is seen as dispensable in Jiangnan silk and bamboo bands. In fact, the dongxiao belongs to the tenor part of the wind instrument. Its high pitch is similar to that of the flute, but it is much softer than the flute, which plays a complementary role with the timbre of the flute. In addition, the functions of the flute and the flute are different, that is, the Jiangnan silk and bamboo music played on the flute, such as "Happy Song", "Sanliu", "Yunqing", "Xingjie", etc., should definitely be added with the flute. After using the flute, the performance effect is enhanced.
However, there are still some pieces of Jiangnan silk and bamboo music that only use the flute without using the flute at all, such as "Xiao Nishang" and "The Palace of Mortal Death" (also known as "Inverted Eight Banners" and "Wugong Diao", which were mistakenly called "Brahma Palace" ), as well as the so-called new silk and bamboo music "Spring River Flower Moonlight Night", "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes Music", "Xunyang Night Moon", "Qinglian Yuefu", "Sai Shang Song", etc. In this type of music, in addition to the leading role of the pipa, the dongxiao plays a supporting role. Without the flute, it is difficult to achieve good results in the performance. However, there is also a situation where most of the flute players are flute students. Players often only pay attention to the "sameness" of the flute and the flute, but ignore the "differences" between the two. They play the dongxiao too much like a flute. Losing the gentle and elegant charm of Dongxiao will inevitably affect the performance. As for the timbre of Dongxiao, it requires careful study to master it.