The guzheng played "The Big Windmill", "Fireworks Are Easy to Cold" flowed out between the pipa strings, and the erhu was used to "shake" the "Mohe Dance Hall...... Recently, these novel performance combinations have become popular on the Internet, and the combination of folk music and pop music has created a very special listening experience. Many netizens sighed for this, "Jumping Di" also has to jump "national style" Di, this is the most suitable "opening way" of pop music for the Chinese physique. However, there are also many friends who are curious, how can traditional folk music and trendy pop songs that sound like they can't play together can be "played" in one place, is it because of the strength of the "strict selection of the ancestors", or is there another mystery behind this?
"debut" early, good foundation
Traditional Chinese folk music is the predecessor of modern pop music.
"Female Music Picture" axis, Ming, Qiu Zhu painting, this picture is a painting of a lady with a fine brush, showing the scene of aristocratic women holding musical instruments and playing music on the carpet in front of the temple.
The prevailing view is that around the beginning of the last century, the huge commercial market and consumption boom in the United States gave birth to the first modern pop music. In contrast, as early as ancient times, China's "traditional folk music" had already sprouted.
"Lü's Spring and Autumn" depicts an imaginative "origin" for ancient traditional music——
In the past, Zhu Xiang's rule of the world was also, the wind and yang energy accumulated, all things were dissolved, and the fruit was not formed. ——"Lü's Spring and Autumn, Midsummer, Ancient Music"
According to this theory, primitive folk music "shoulders heavy responsibilities" and was imagined by the ancestors as "sacred objects" with supernatural powers, which could be used to dispel bad weather and return crops to a good harvest through the flow of music. It is worth mentioning that these seemingly "supernatural" sounds have not faded away from childishness, and some scholars have studied the original song "Waiting for the Rider" recorded in the legend, and found that these music tunes are clumsy, the lyrics are simple, and even just the same exclamation and the same words are constantly repeated.
Bells. Source/Sichuan Museum
However, with the continuous improvement of social production capacity, traditional folk music has grown up quickly, not only "seizing" the opportunity to "debut", but also laying a good foundation and foundation. The most striking expression is the birth of primitive music theory. Around the pre-Qin period, the wise "ancestors" grasped the core key of music - melody, and in long-term practice, developed the original single tone into two, forming a two-step scale, and gradually developed down, and finally formed the systematic idea of "five tones, eight tones, and twelve rhythms", and incubated a simple but complete music theory.
Among them, the "five tones" are the pentatonic scale, which is what we usually call the palace, business, horn, sign, and feather. Although these five scales are similar to 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 in the simple notation, they have their own characteristics.
"Whoever listens to the signs is like a pig's consciousness and is frightened, whoever listens to the feathers, like a horse singing in the wilderness, who listens to the palace, is like a cow singing, who listens to businessmen, is like a sheep that leaves a flock, and whoever listens to the horns, like a pheasant climbing a tree to sing. ”
More importantly, the emergence of the "five tones" made the original "loose" music of the past "reasonable", and people were able to use it to complete the pre-arrangement, so that the music was coherent and harmonious.
Shang Dynasty elephant pattern bronze cymbal. Source/Hunan Provincial Museum
In addition to the progress of music theory, "musical instruments" are also "not far behind", the so-called "eight sounds", in fact, refers to the types of musical instruments of the pre-Qin period, according to the different production materials, can be divided into gold, stone, earth, leather, silk, wood, bamboo, eight categories, such as "gold" class, represented by the bell, percussion instrument "chime" is a member of the "stone" class, the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games amazed the world's "thread" is the "soil" class leader.
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Memories of the Beijing Olympic Games, Bird's Nest Performance Ritual Music Scroll. Source/Tencent Video
At the same time, a relatively mature method of timing, the "Twelve Laws", was gradually developed, that is, the division of an octave into twelve non-identical semitones by the method of thirds of profit and loss. It is said that these rhythms were accidentally "invented" by Ling Lun at the order of the Yellow Emperor, and he heard the chirping of the phoenix in different heights on the Kunlun Mountain, so he cut down the bamboo, adjusted the different lengths, imitated the phoenix's call, and finally found the most beautiful and harmonious twelve tones.
Such a legend is somewhat imaginative, but it is undeniable that the steady and steady development of "basic skills" has ushered in a great stride in the development of traditional Chinese music. The Book of Songs is the shining fruit of this. The most noteworthy is the local music tune in the Book of Songs - "wind" (also known as "fifteen national winds"). Judging from the current perspective, as the original "album", the "style of the fifteen countries" can be said to be quite "playful", not only covering the folk songs of the fifteen vassal states and regions, but also each with its own characteristics. For example, "Zheng Feng" focuses on "tenderness" and has a delicate and tactful melody, while "Qi Feng" is known for its "scattering" and emphasizes the beating of the melody. The love poem "Guan Ju" is the "golden song" in "National Style", this affectionate love ballad has both sound and meaning, wide circulation and influence, it can be said to be the first of the "love song hot list" at that time, even Confucius was touched by it, praised it: "Happy but not lewd, sad but not sad." ”
Bronze drum with animal face pattern. Source/Hubei Provincial Museum
"Early debut" and "good foundation", the key is also to have a national degree, such Chinese folk music naturally contains strong development strength, has the ability and confidence to "take" modern pop music, and under the nourishment and lean of thousands of years later, the music has been "played" out of "flowers".
There are many styles and strong strength
Rich qualifications and strong theories are only part of the ability of Chinese folk music, and the sought-after "market appeal" is the embodiment of its real strength. It can be said that in all dynasties, Chinese folk music has made some new progress and "led" the fashion trend.
This is first of all due to the large-scale and standardized development of Chinese folk music. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, the "Yuefu", a full-time music manager, was basically mature, and this institution was not only responsible for the movements used by the Son of Heaven and the imperial court, but also organized literati to systematically carry out music creation, and from time to time "expanded the music library" to collect folk songs and music. Because of this, during the Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, Yuefu has become a gathering place of Chinese folk music, not to mention a variety of music, but also traditional music such as witch music, Xianghe songs, drumming, and Baixi.
Relief ten-stringed lyre. Source/Hubei Provincial Museum
This is where the "Xiangwa Song" belongs. Xianghe Song is a court music collected from the folk in the Han Dynasty, not only original folk songs, but also art songs adapted from folk songs. According to records, the early Xianghe songs were mainly sung, and later developed into "disciple songs" with a cappella and a gang, and then incorporated string music and wind instrument accompaniment, becoming a real "Xianghe song". Under such development, the performance forms and types of "Xianghe Song" have been greatly expanded, and Guo Maoqian of the Northern Song Dynasty divided the "Xianghe Song" into ten subcategories in the "Yuefu Poetry Collection". The most expressive is the "Xianghe Daqu", which is a large-scale performance that integrates songs, dances, and musical instruments, and the accompaniment alone requires a variety of musical instruments such as qin, se, drum, pipa, zheng, etc., and the form of the song is even more exquisite, including the lyrical and tactful "Yan Song" before the song, the interlude "solution" between the singing "song" in the main body and the lyrics, and the "trend" with tense emotional content and light melody at the end. It can be said that the rhythm of "Xianghe Daqu" fluctuates, the content is substantial, the melody flows, and there is tension and relaxation, which has been able to bring a very rich and impactful audio-visual experience to the audience.
However, what really "grasped" the "big scene" and set off a "pop" music tide was the court Yanle that flourished in the Tang Dynasty. This is a new kind of folk music that absorbs the elements of ethnic minority areas and even foreign pop music, reassembles and arranges them, and quickly leads the trend of "music world" under the formation and development of Tang Xuanzong, a "musical genius". On the stone wall of the coffin bed built by the former Shu Emperor Wang, there are carved "Twenty-four Tricks", which restores the magnificent momentum and grand scene of Yanle of the Tang Dynasty -
According to Wang Jian's "eye" lineup, this kind of court swallow music required 24 maiko and musicians, and played as many as 20 kinds of musical instruments and 23 pieces, including string music such as pipa and zheng, wind music such as flute, chi, and sheng, as well as ten kinds of percussion such as clapper, zhenggu, harmony drum, qi drum, maoyuan drum, and tala drum. In addition, there are also "blowing leaves" that cannot be included in the eight tones. This time the piano and the song and dance, the song and dance, and the incarnation of the Oriental symphony orchestra, it is no wonder that the poet Du Fu was amazed by the "hustle and bustle" of the music in the southwest of Shu in the late Tang Dynasty, and sighed:
"Jincheng silk pipe day after day, half into the river wind and half into the clouds. ”
Pottery painted female figurines, Tang. Source: The Palace Museum
If the Tang Dynasty led the "elegance", the Song and Yuan dynasties let the murmuring music flow to the fireworks in the world. The tile goulan in the market has become a new stage for the "appearance" and "advancement" of traditional folk music. It is said that during this period, the artists of the Goolan and the court often performed with each other, exchanged performances, so that there were many programs in the Wazi Goolan and were wonderful, not only the songs such as shouting, singing, singing and earning, but also puppets, miscellaneous dwellings, operas such as Southern Opera and many instrumental music, which can be regarded as a "music carnival" shared by everyone.
China's most primitive "rap" and "Zhugong tune" also appeared on the music scene during this period with a strong novelty and "tide" flavor. Zhugong tune for the Northern Song Dynasty Bianjing Goolan artist Kong Sanchuan created, is a kind of singing-based large-scale rap performance, the song part mostly adopts the northern folk popular music, with drums, clappers, flutes, gongs and other musical instruments accompaniment, the content is mostly based on historical facts, spirits, legends. According to records, the performance of Zhugong tunes is difficult, usually composed of multiple sets of tunes, which need to gather several tunes, with ups and downs, sharp contrasts, and great artistic tension. Therefore, it has been deeply loved by the public since its birth, and in the fifty-first episode of "Water Margin", "The Winged Tiger Flails Beat Bai Xiuying", it vividly recorded the "fan appeal" of "Zhugong Tune" - "Earn that crowd and sea price...... The heavy responsibility of the trellis is applauded".
"Yamato Jiazhongqing" bell, this bell was originally one of the "Dasheng" bells cast by the Song Huizong Dynasty.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, in addition to the great prosperity of music forms such as opera, the musical instruments of Chinese folk music also struggled to forge ahead and stood firm on the "popular" highland. Especially with the integration and exchange of multiple ethnic groups, many ethnic minority musical instruments and foreign musical instruments have broken through the barriers of the past, and have entered the big family of Chinese folk music in a generous way. The so-called "everyone gathers firewood and the flame is high", with the great abundance of musical instruments, novel instrumental combinations and ensembles have become a new "growth" outlet for folk music in this period. For example, the "Shiban Gong and Drum", which was popular in southern Jiangsu during the Ming Dynasty, was known for its flexible combination of musical instruments and complex rhythmic changes. In the process of performance, suona, qudi, sheng, xiao, erhu, banhu and other "silk bamboo" with drums, gongs, cymbals, cloud gongs and other percussion, combination changes, alternate repetition, repeated, repeated, the music is full of emotional surges. This trend once "affected" the ancient temples of Buddhism, such as the "Beijing Music" of the Zhihua Temple in Beijing and the "Eight Sets" popular in Wutai, Shanxi, both of which are ancient instrumental ensembles preserved by the temple. Among them, the "Eight Sets" contain eight large sets of instrumental ensembles, each set of multiple pieces of music cards in a fixed order to play, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was absorbed and preserved by the music of the Qingmiao Temple of Wutai Mountain, and was used in the performance of the Zen Gate Buddhist Praise Ceremony.
Dehua kiln white glazed porcelain flute, Ming. Source: The Palace Museum
It can be seen that with its rich style and excellent strength, Chinese folk music itself is the creator of the trend, nourishing the people's audio-visual every year. It is precisely for this reason that in the near future, Chinese folk music, which is in the tide of the times, will be able to put aside the mixture of the old and the new in modern times, and generously face up to Western modern music, and explore the direction of transformation, stride, and even innovation.
Not "old-fashioned", "and" Western
Despite its long tradition, Chinese folk music has never rested on its laurels. As early as the late Qing Dynasty, in the face of Western modern music that accompanied the missionaries to "move eastward", traditional Chinese folk music had already carried out self-exploration and innovation by converging the East and the West.
The quintessence of today's traditional Chinese music, the quintessential Peking Opera, is a typical "pathfinder".
京剧。 来源/pixabay
During the May Fourth period, the spirit of new culture spread like sunshine, illuminating the enterprising new path of traditional art. Peking Opera masters such as Mei Lanfang, Cheng Yanqiu and Zhou Xinfang faced the trend and drastically reshaped the traditional repertoire, not only choreographing a large number of patriotic operas, but also innovating and reforming the accompaniment of Peking Opera, introducing new instruments such as the erhu and the yueqin and new soundtrack techniques. What is even more "bold" is the reform of Yue Opera, especially the women's class, which was prevalent after 1936, took the initiative to broaden their horizons, learn from others' strengths, integrate Western instruments into traditional accompaniment, and explore the formation of a new type of opera band with quite characteristics.
Large-scale self-breakthrough and reform, but what Chinese folk music has in mind is by no means "pursuing the West". On the contrary, in the face of the strong challenge of Western pop music culture, Chinese musicians have a more long-term vision, based on the world, seeking a way to integrate Eastern and Western cultures, so that music can cross national boundaries and compose "the sound of the world". In 1920, Chinese musician Zheng Jingwen and others established the instrumental music society "Datong Music Association" in Shanghai, they not only united musicians to study, organize and carry forward national music, and strive to revitalize Chinese music, but also did not forget to "open their eyes to the world", absorbing Western music to create a new type of band, in the constitution of the Datong Music Association, they proudly announced to the world:
"The Association specializes in the study of Chinese and Western music, prepares for the performance of Datong music, and promotes the world cultural movement. ”
Music box, modern and contemporary. Source: National Museum of China
Due to the turbulence of the times, Zheng Jinwen's ambition and vision had no choice but to fail. However, the efforts of a group of Chinese musicians such as his colleagues have planted an open and extensive bloodline gene for traditional Chinese folk music, making it dare to break into the world music forest, compete with pop music, and finally work hand in hand.
This kind of open-mindedness has also been successfully inherited, and under the development of modern Chinese folk musicians, it has given birth to the wonderful embrace of national music and new trend marches. The "Five Voices Tide Music Troupe", which has appeared on the CCTV stage, has become such a "ferryman". They defend traditional Chinese folk music, and at the same time accept and learn modern pop music, setting off a wonderful collision of the two music styles, in exchange for the "novel" appearance of Han Yuefu's "Long Song Xing" after a thousand years, and also let the Chinese people's childhood memories "The Great Windmill" have a simple and traditional interpretation method.
Some musicians believe that the secret to achieving such "integration" lies in "inclusiveness", that is, using music as a medium to unite tradition and modernity, and activate new imaginations and possibilities. Under their "improvement", the traditional guzheng "learned" from the guitar and became thirteen strings, with a new style of playing. The sound of the zither flows, but the ancient instrumental music overflows with novel and cheerful melodies, allowing the audience to be in the confluence of Eastern and Western notes, forgetting the boundaries and divisions of music for a while, and enjoying the beauty and magic of music.
Axis of "Qing People Painting Drama Map", late Qing Dynasty. Source: The Palace Museum
Perhaps, this is also the real reason why Chinese folk music is rejuvenating "pop music". These melodies that were born, grew up and thrived in the fertile soil of the East have never "bid farewell" to the pop music scene, they "dominate" the past, penetrate the years, and will eventually continue to be popular because of their open-mindedness and never-ending pace, under the interaction and union of the world's music genres.
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Zhang Chao, Editor-in-Chief, Introduction to Chinese Music Culture, Beijing University of Technology Press, 2012
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