"In the eyes of the world, he is a famous singer with great emotions; in my heart, he is a talent who touches the bypass." Writer Feng Jicai commented on Yu Junjian in the preface to "Selected Poems of The Sword of Yu Jun's Sword".
In 2020, the outbreak of the new crown epidemic gave the famous singer Yu Junjian more opportunities to stay at home, and also provided him with a lot of time to think and create when he loved writing. Since January 2020, Yu Junjian has spent one and a half years and a half to complete the writing of five books (six volumes) totaling 1.5 million words of "Yu Junjian • National Singing Q&A 131 Cases", "Yu Junjian Vocal Notes" (upper and lower volumes), "Diary of Huaxiang", "Guilin Collection", and "Selected Poems of Yu Junjian And Poetry of Yu Junjian", all of which will be published at the end of 2021. He condensed his years of thinking about art, his observation of life, and his talent for poetry, calligraphy and painting into these books.
Writing so many books in a year and a half is not easy for even professional writers, which stems from Yu Junjian's usual accumulation and years of training. The singer, who was once active on stage, did not limit his vision to the field of singing, but extended to various aspects such as poetry, painting and calligraphy — he began publishing works in 1976 and joined the Chinese Writers Association in 1991. Over the years, he has published 21 books, including music monographs, poetry collections, prose collections, and poetry and painting works.
In a recent interview with a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily, Yu Junjian said, "I was inspired by Mr. Han Meilin, who once mentioned 'works and other bodies' when talking about artistic accomplishment, and I also pursued in this direction. ”
Write "Q&A 131 Cases" for the national singing of drums and hue
"Now there are fewer and fewer singers of 'original' Chinese folk songs." Talking about the current situation of Chinese national vocal music, Yu Junjian could not hide his worries. Around 2021, Yu Junjian gave a public welfare singing lecture at a vocational art school in Hebei. When he asked the children present, "What is the 'original singing method'", no one knew. He also asked some post-00s about the issue of folk songs, and most of the children did not know what folk songs and ethnic singing were, which greatly shocked Yu Junjian.
"No one dares to judge our national dance by the standard of ballet, no one judges our chinese painting by the standard of oil painting, no one judges our ancient architecture with Gothic and Baroque architecture, and no one even judges our cardigans with tuxedos." And only singing is judging our national singing method with bel canto singing. For such a situation, Yu Junjian was helpless. In his view, most of the vocal education received by children in the city is "bel canto" or "fake bel canto", and most of the music schools now teach bel canto singing. In view of this, Yu Junjian wrote the book "Yu Junjian • National Singing Method Q&A 131 Cases", which details the origin, development, current situation and future of Chinese ethnic singing, especially the difference between ethnic singing and bel canto singing.
"The biggest difference between ethnic singing and Western singing is actually the difference in language, but we have not summarized this aspect for a long time." Yu Junjian's words illustrate the core problem of national vocal music at present. He further explained from the professional perspective of singing that there are many pronunciations in Chinese Chinese that are not in foreign languages, such as some Western languages that do not have words such as rhyming, such as "Golden Beijing", "If you use the bel canto singing method to sing these words, there is no problem from the sound point of view, but this loses the charm and feeling of the Middle Chinese." We have sucked out the soul of the national singing method, which is a very serious problem. In the long run, our descendants will not know what the national singing method is. ”
Yu Junjian believes that the bottom line of the "national singing method" is to sing "taste", and it is necessary to pay attention to the unique bite and line cavity of Chinese characters. In Chinese folk songs, any word and word color can be sung, "'The flower fragrance of the flower basket', this 'incense', sung in a national singing method that conforms to the habits of the Chinese Chinese, the audience can feel the fragrance." In the same way, sweet and sour can also sing that kind of empathetic taste. Not only the national singing method, such as Yin Xiumei of the bel canto singing method, but also also attaches great importance to the "biting words" of the Chinese Chinese, Yu Junjian said, "Yin Xiumei has a different treatment of the word 'love' in these songs, "Dear Mother of the Party", "Snow in saibei", "I love you, China", which can be described as a model of the national singing method borrowing from the bel canto singing method, or the bel canto singing method to borrow the national singing method. ”
In Yu Junjian's view, any school must have two bottom lines, one bottom line is the training system, and the other bottom line is the judgment system. "The training system of the national singing method used to exist, but then it was subverted by the bel canto singing method, and the judging system was even less so. Therefore, we must clarify the difference between national singing and bel canto singing, so that we can find cultural self-confidence. ”
The national singing method is Westernized, and the consequences are very serious
"Speak from the Heart", "Little Poplar", "What do you do when you are a soldier"... From more than 50 years of art, Yu Junjian has performed many famous songs, which are still widely sung today. In addition to singing, he is also quite accomplished in poetry, painting and calligraphy.
After retiring in 2016, Yu Junjian rarely appeared on stage, but focused on teaching. He served as the dean of the China-ASEAN Art Academy, and also opened the "Yu Junjian Public Welfare Classroom" and "Yu Junjian National Vocal Music Advanced Seminar", and gave lectures on various occasions. In just five years, it has cultivated eight gold medal winners of the "Golden Bell Award", the highest award of Chinese music, such as Haiyang and Zhang Mingxu.
In his view, singing is not an independent art, and it is necessary to constantly learn a variety of different knowledge and expand their knowledge. He also incorporated this philosophy into his teaching. In the classroom, Yu Junjian often told the students, "Half of the singing should belong to literature, and a singer cannot only think about the sound, but explore the background of the song, as well as the deep artistic conception conveyed behind the lyrics and music." ”
"A tree locust on a high mountain, a hand-held railing to hope that Lang will come, and the mother asks her daughter what do you want?" I look at when the locust flowers bloom. "In Yu Junjian's view, the Sichuan folk song "When the Locust Flower Blooms" is a good embodiment of the beginning and end of literature." Now too many of us singers get the song and sing it. In fact, our singing is first of all literary, only before singing the background of the song is thoroughly understood, the antecedents and consequences, the mentality of the succession and the mood, etc., can we sing the feelings required for this song. These are all derived from Chinese literature, and it is not enough to consider it from the sound alone. ”
Yu Junjian further took the song "That's Me" composed by Chen Xiaoguang and composed by Gu Jianfen as an example, "The first sentence of this song is 'I miss the small river of my hometown', this sentence seems simple, but it is full of the lyricist's deep attachment to his hometown, Gu Jianfen teacher believes that using only one tone is not enough to express such a deep emotion, so he used more than a dozen notes on the word 'river', which is actually the state of a language, expressing a sigh." If you sing it in the way of cavity and round characters, you can't sing the taste of it. ”
Yu Junjian believes that there are too many treasures in Chinese folk songs, which are all the embodiment of Chinese culture, but now they are sung less. "'Coming in February' was written by Xian Xinghai, who is Xian Xinghai? He is the author of "The Yellow River Chorus"; "The Fragrance of Flowers in the Flower Basket" was written by Marco, and Marco wrote "The White-Haired Girl"; "Playing My Beloved Earth Pipa" was written by Lü Qiming, and Lü Qiming wrote "Ode to the Red Flag". They are all great composers. In the 1970s, Mr. Wu Yanze still sang "Come in February" on the stage, but now when he wants to sing this song on the stage, the audience will laugh and "How can I sing such a 'small' song?". I want to sing the magnificent "Goodbye, Dabie Mountain". And often this kind of 'small song' can better show the taste of dialects and regional customs, which is also the charm of the nation. National singing has been Westernized, and folk songs with national charm have not been written without being sung. If this continues, the demise of national singing can be seen by our generation. ”
"Writing is my pursuit"
This time, 1.5 million words were written in one breath, except for "Yu Junjian Vocal Notes", which was arranged according to the shorthand of the class content, the others were handwritten by Yu Junjian word by word. "I don't use a computer, it's all handwritten." In Yu Junjian's view, handwritten words are alive, warm and emotional, while the words typed by the computer are cold. "Especially filling in ancient poems, often considering the quality of a word. When I want to change a word, I change it on the computer, there is no more, I can never find it again, and after the handwritten word is changed, I can still get it back. ”
Yu Junjian began publishing in 1976 and joined the Chinese Writers Association in 1991. Over the years, he has published 21 books, including music monographs, poetry collections, prose collections, and poetry and painting works.
Today, he still maintains the habit of writing every day. During the epidemic, it is not possible to take classes offline. The students formed a "song group", and everyone communicated in the group every day. Yu Junjian got up at 6 o'clock every morning, and the first thing he did was to write a short article and send it to the group to communicate with everyone, so there was a thick "Flower Town Diary". This time several books were created simultaneously, yu Junjian gave most of his time to writing, getting up at 4 o'clock every day and insisting on writing for 7 or 8 hours. These books are not written one after another, but several at the same time, "When I write, the manuscripts of the five books are placed on the table, written to the place where the shell is stuck, and then another book is written, which is equivalent to changing the brain." ”
When it comes to the cultivation of artists, Yu Junjian admits that he is greatly inspired by Han Meilin, "Once he talked about the cultivation of artists, he used the word 'works and other bodies', and I also pursued in this direction. ”
Yu Junjian not only has strict requirements for himself, but also treats students rigorously and responsibly, often telling students repeatedly that as an artist, he must not only pursue the spirit of art, but also have humanistic qualities, but also have compassion. "The artist must have a state of poetry, and at all times there must be a state of poetry, which is the spirit of art. At the same time, we must have compassion for others, which is artistic perception. Without such feelings, it is not good to be artistic. ”
Photography / Yu Shiqi
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Tian Wanting