The mnemonic for the Northeastern Yangge drums:
"Strong ? Strong its Strong its Strong ? Strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong. Qiangqiqiangqi, Qiangqiqiangqi, Qiangqiqiangqi. Qiangqi Qiangqi, Qiangqi Qiangqi, Qiangqi Qiangqi. Strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong. Strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong," and so on.
"Da da dun dun dun dun, da da dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun" and so on.
The Northeast Rice-planting Song
The Northeast Rice-planting Song is an ancient traditional recreational activity, originating from productive labor. The dances of the Northeast region include Yangge, dragon lanterns, dry boats, butterfly fluttering, two-man wrestling, flower stick playing, stilts, and other forms of dance, which are mostly performed together and collectively known as "Yangge".
I. Artistic Characteristics
The Northeast Rice-planting Song has a witty form and a unique style, which expresses the warm and simple character traits of the Northeast people. The most important feature of the Northeast Yangge is that it is "steady in the wave, wave in the stem, stem in the warping, stepping on the board, twisting on the waist". At the same time, the many different kinds of "flowers in the hands", the fast-paced and elastic drum beats, and the funny, playful, quiet, steady and beautiful rhythms are all the characteristics of the Northeast Yangge.
The costumes of the Yangge team are rich in color and are mostly drama costumes. The characters can be judged from their attire, including the Tang Monk, the Monkey King, the Pig and the Sand Monk in Journey to the West, the White Snake, the White Lady, Xu Xian, and Bao Zheng, Chen Shimei, Qin Xianglian, and so on, which are performed to the tunes of gongs, drums, cymbals, and suona. Among the various dances, the stilt walker, dragon dance, lion dance and dry boat run are the most famous.
Second, the performance form
1. Ground Yangge
Also known as the ground bungee, including "to dragon", "dry boat", "old man wheelbarrow", "fight lion" and so on. Sometimes some comedic characters are added to render the atmosphere, such as "silly pillar" and "everyone's wife".
2. Pedaling Stilts
The stilts are also divided into two kinds: the high one is called "High Trickster", and the low one is called "Pedaling Inch".
The characters played by the stilt walkers are: the head stilt walker: dressed as a martial arts clown, holding a horse whip, is the commander of the whole team. The second stilt: Wu Dan dress, also holding a whip.
Lao Kuai, colorful women, wearing rural life in clothing, holding a long tobacco pot or mallet. Upper dress: comb big braid tie colorful ball, colorful lapel blouse, long skirt, holding a fan or hand towel, generally two or three. Bottom dress: wearing a large-breasted top with short sleeves, long pants, and a colorful sash around the waist. Generally two or three persons. Fisherman and fisherwoman, opera dress. Others are silly pillars, white snakes, Xu Xian, green snakes and other opera characters.
Twisting and teasing each other and dancing in pairs. By the upper and lower costumes as a group, called "a frame". The best one frame at the end of the queue, called the "bottom drum" or "pressure drum", collective performance, the drummer of the accompanying band, according to their instructions to change the drums, the whole team marching by the head of the stilts led and commanded.
The Northeast Rice-planting Song has various skills such as twisting, pretending, singing, teasing, juggling and miscellaneous etc., and it has the images of different characters, which are mostly derived from the Journey to the West, The Legend of the White Snake, Liang Zhu? Most of the material is taken from "Journey to the West", "Legend of the White Snake", "Liang Zhu?