"At the moment you are the character in the play, and you have to inject emotions into the performance." On April 20, Ma Youxian, a 78-year-old Qin-style performance artist, received a phone call from a student. On the phone, the students asked Ma Youxian about the essence of the action of the Qin Cavity play "Broken Bridge", and she patiently told the students about the performance skills summarized over the years, helping the students understand the emotions of the characters and bringing the students into the story situation.
Because of the epidemic, the plan to go to the Xiqin Cavity Research Institute in Tianshui City, Gansu Province, to guide the rehearsal was delayed, so Ma Youxian gave a lecture to the students by phone. Ma Youxian, known as the "Danjiao Empress" of the Qin Cavity, her representative plays "Broken Bridge", "Xie Yao huan", "Honghu Red Guards", "Dou E'er" left a deep impression on the audience, and the gentle singing voice is an immortal classic in the hearts of countless opera fans, and her singing segments are popular in the five northwestern provinces and Jin, Ji, Lu, Yu and other places, and are widely sung. Since retiring from the Qin Cavity Troupe of the Shaanxi Academy of Opera in 2004, she has focused on Qin Cavity teaching. At present, Ma Youxian has a total of 30 students, these students are from the five northwestern provinces, most of whom are Qin actors from various theaters. In order to train these students, she often travels to the rehearsal halls of theaters around the Northwest to teach students the performance experience. To be accepted as a disciple of the "Ma Sect", in addition to having a profound foundation in Qin Cavity performance, the most important thing is to always maintain a love for Qin Cavity art.
Ma Youxian flipped through books related to Qin Cavity at home to prepare for teaching students Qin Cavity singing skills.
Cai Li, a Danjiao actress at the Baoji City Opera Theatre, is a student of Ma Youxian, and in her, Ma Youxian sees his deep love for Qin. In 2016, Cai Li, who was determined to embark on the road of Qin Cavity performance, in order to improve her Qin Cavity skills, found Ma Youxian through a friend and asked her to accept herself as an apprentice. Due to the large number of actors who came to visit the teacher, and the lack of familiarity between the two sides, Ma Youxian did not take Cai Li's "request to learn art" to heart at first. But Cai Li did not give up seeking art, in order to let Ma Youxian see her hot pillow for Qin Cavity, no matter whether it was windy or rainy, she insisted on rushing from Baoji to Xi'an to ask Ma Youxian for singing methods, and always called Ma Youxian to ask for performance suggestions. After insisting on this for 3 years, Ma Youxian finally accepted Cai Li in his heart, and gradually recognized her professional ability, and after careful consideration, he thought that she met the criteria for accepting apprentices, so he decided to accept her as an apprentice and cultivate her carefully.
Ma Youxian attaches great importance to this student, and in recent years, he has often traveled back and forth between Xi'an and Baoji to guide Cai Li in rehearsals, teach her how to portray the inner activities of the characters from the details of the eyes, tone, and body, explain the background of the story and the mood of the characters, and strive to be more full and vivid in the performance of the characters. From the explanation to the demonstration, after a day of rehearsal, although Ma Youxian's cheeks were dripping with sweat, her mood was extremely happy: "I feel very happy that the performance skills have been passed on by the right people." ”
"I want to do singing Qin Lu as a lifelong thing, only such a person, I can safely teach him the qin lu skills." Ma Youxian was also worried about the inheritance of the Qin Cavity, and after learning the good news of the official implementation of the "Shaanxi Provincial Regulations on the Protection and Inheritance of the Qin Cavity Art" on January 1 this year, she took the Qin cavity inheritance as the focus of her life, "The Qin cavity is sung for the people. Ma Youxian often told the students that the reason why the Qin cavity has been passed down through the ages and the singing has not faded is because it has a solid mass foundation, and the Qin cavity is a rural sound, which is a simple singing from the field. Qin lu artists should go into the masses and sing out the heroic disposition and delicate emotions of the people of the northwest. In the past two years, she has written teaching outlines, sorted out teaching notes and books related to Qin Cavity, and returned home early and late every day, just to help students polish the performance more finely and present a perfect Qin Cavity performance for the audience.
Under her influence, the students actively participated in the performance of Benefiting the People, and went deep into the local county towns and rural areas to spontaneously build a stage to sing Qin Lu for the grass-roots masses.
Ma Youxian and the students told such a story about "nostalgia": In 2002, the Qin Cavity Troupe of the Provincial Academy of Opera went to Taiwan to perform, and a fan born in rural Shaanxi watched Ma Youxian's performance on the spot, and excitedly thanked her after the performance. This opera fan grew up listening to Qin Cavity, and sitting with his family under the village stage to listen to Qin Cavity is his precious memory, but since coming to Taiwan to work, he rarely has the opportunity to hear Qin Cavity again, and he misses Qin Cavity very much in his homesickness. In Ma Youxian's performance, he seems to have returned to the happy time of his childhood, and the Qin Cavity in his memory is as powerful as Ma Youxian's interpretation, and he once again hears the voice from his hometown, which makes him very moved.
For twenty years, the heartfelt feelings of that fan are still in the ears. It is also because of this story that Ma Youxian has strengthened her belief in dedicating the rest of her life to the cause of Qin Cavity's inheritance, and she hopes to comfort more wandering wanderers by sowing the seeds of traditional art. Therefore, before retiring, Ma Youxian's performance footprints spread all over the world, and many fans who worked outside the home once again felt the temperature of their hometown because of her performance. In order to let more fans who miss their hometown listen to Qin Cavity, she also made the starring drama catalog into records and published and distributed them, which are still collected by the older generation of Qin lovers.
Today, Ma Youxian has become a loyal fan of the students, as long as there is a student performance, she must sit in the audience and concentrate on enjoying, and applaud excitedly at the end of the performance. "The road of Qin Cavity performance has been continued, and it is my greatest wish to let Qin Cavity sing among the masses." Ma Youxian said.
Source: Herald Old Friends Weekly Lohas Edition
Intern reporter Liu Fanluan Reporter Zhao Jing Text/Photo