Kunshan Ancient Opera Stage
The musical singing voice of the Qin Cavity is obviously backward compared with the requirements of the times and the brother drama genre. However, as long as the reform is in place, revitalization is still promising. In the long river of opera, there are many examples of changing from backwardness to prosperity, the most prominent of which is probably the Kunqu opera of the Ming Dynasty, which flourished mainly because of the reform and creation of the "water mill cavity".
In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the southern and northern curves prevailed, and later the southern curve lagged behind the northern curve. Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, has a kind of local drama of Nanqu - Kunshan Cavity, its tone is "straight and rigid, lack of depression and frustration", and there is a sluggish situation. During the Jiaqing period, the opera musician Wei Liangfu "deeply felt the ugliness of southern opera", he was determined to reform, and other old composers learned from each other, repeatedly consulted, "footprints did not go downstairs for ten years", and finally "washed the sound of obedience, do not open the church, call the water mill, clap the cold board, the sound is flat into the wan association, the word is the head and abdomen and tail tone of the bi even." The work is deep and the qi is smokeless. The opening is light and round, and the sound is pure and fine. The cavity is known as the Kun Cavity, and the name of the song is Shiqu". At the same time, the musical instruments have also been reformed and innovated, changing the situation of "straight and unintentional" in Kunshan. Because the cavity tone is round, the characters are clear, the sound is beautiful, and it is as delicate and gentle as the water mill, people call it "water mill cavity". Later, the opera writer Liang Chenyu also joined this reform camp, on the one hand, learning the new cavity, on the other hand, studying the vocal principle of singing, and learning the yuanren's playwriting method, and created the legendary "Huan Sha Ji" sung in the "water mill cavity", which is a new version of the new cavity, which complements each other and is greatly appreciated by the audience. Since then, Kunlu has become popular in the world, competing to emulate it, and without a hitch, a scene of prosperity has emerged.
Qin cavity needs "water mill chamber"
Today, when we revitalize the Qin Cavity and reform the music singing voice, we should first learn from Wei Liangfu's perseverance of living alone in a small building when creating the "Water Mill Cavity", painstakingly working hard for ten years, wearing liver and guts, working hard, and persevering, and learning from his spirit of uniting old composers and playwrights, cooperating and working together to learn from each other and study. Their reform experience is worth learning from.
First, they first studied the problems in the Kunshan cavity, found out the causes, and prescribed the right medicine. The same should be true for the revitalization of the Qin Cavity. The Qin music singing voice is also similar to the Kunshan cavity in that year, "straight and rigid, lack of depression and frustration", specifically, the melody is not beautiful, the plate is monotonous, the rhythm is protracted, the enthusiasm is more than enough, the euphemism is delicate, and so on. We must boldly reform and innovate to develop a "water mill cavity" of the Qin cavity.
Second, while reforming the singing voice, they studied the principle of singing and vocalization. They know that the singing voice has been improved, and the singer's skills are not corresponding, and the reform is difficult to reflect. This experience is more important for the reform of the Qin cavity singing voice, and no matter how good the singing voice is, the singers who "walk the board and the absurd cavity do not match the tune, and the singing quarrels cannot be separated" sing, which will not make people pleasing to the ear in any case. Therefore, the voice conditions, vocal skills and musical quality of actors must be reformed and improved.
Third, they also reformed musical instruments. In addition to the use of the original Kunshan cavity string accompaniment, but also added wind music, such as sheng, flute, pipe flute and the like, and the original three strings changed to narrow column drum, in order to better cooperate with the wind music. The musical instruments of the Qin Cavity have been reformed very early, such as changing the two-stranded strings led by the wenchang to banhu, and adding erhu, yangqin, violin, etc., and achieving good results. But compared with the pace of the times, it is slightly insufficient. Like the current problem of male and female homophony, it has not been able to be well solved, that is, it involves the reform of musical instruments such as banhu. Other instruments, such as percussion instruments, are in urgent need of reform.
Fourth, they absorbed playwrights into this reform. While studying the "water mill cavity", Liang Chenyu created "Huan Sha Ji" according to the cavity, so that the musicality and drama were integrated, the new cavity was spread through the new play, and the new play was brilliant with the new cavity, which achieved great success, laid the foundation of the Kun Cavity, and created the booming era of the Kun Cavity. Most musicians have always emphasized musicality, while plays and directors have mostly emphasized drama, and the reform of the Qin music singing voice requires cooperation in all aspects, close cooperation, and solve the relationship between the cavity and the play, such as the structure of the script, the rhythmic atmosphere of the whole play, the arrangement of the singing section, where the narrative, where the lyricism, as well as the length of the sentence, the rhyme of the sound, etc., in order to have a reasonable layout, rigorous structure, harmonious cavity and drama, and become a good play that combines pearls.
About the Author
Wang Zhihua (1939-2018), a native of Xi'an, Shaanxi. Opera educator, famous Qin performance artist. In 1949, he entered the fourteenth period of the Yi Folk Society to learn art, the main worker Xiaosheng, under the guidance of Mr. Li Keyi, Yang Lingguo and other gentlemen, and later worshiped Mr. Su Yumin as a teacher. He has starred in "Filial Piety", "Rouge", "Han Mo Yuan", "Three Drops of Blood", "Sable Cicada", "Zhenfei Tears", "Peach Blossom Fan", "Family Fun" and other plays. In 1970, he was transferred to Xi'an Art School to teach, and in 1987, he went to the Shanghai Theater Academy to study in the director's training class, and after retirement, he still insisted on teaching apprenticeship and passing on the art.
Qin Cavity "Sable Cicada" small feast
Sable Cicada: Zhang Xuanhua (played)
Lü Bu: Wang Zhihua (played)
Wang Yun: Hui Kunhua (played)
Editor/Liu Jun Review/Yan Wei Final Review/He Jun