Playing with grasshoppers is a popular way of leisure, and the "screaming" grasshopper is even more talked about as a legend. However, due to the rarity of the "screaming" grasshopper, many players have misunderstandings about it and even doubt whether such a grasshopper actually exists. In line with the principle of making playing bugs simpler, we try to explain this problem for everyone, and the level is limited, welcome to shoot bricks.
First, the origin of "screaming"
The so-called "screaming" is actually a clean and low, long echo, sound into the ear of the grasshopper call. Even if hundreds of grasshoppers chirp at the same time, this sound can reach your ears in the first place, in stark contrast to the sounds of other grasshoppers. Considering that the sound of ordinary grasshoppers is relatively "sharp", the sound of this grasshopper is more "rough", so this kind of call is called "the sound of the grasshopper".
"顸" is a northern dialect that originally means coarse. Because the word "顸" is relatively strange, it is gradually replaced by other words in word of mouth, common ones are "shouting", "screaming", snoring, etc. At present, the more unified title in the circle of playing insects is "screaming", which means the sound of the grasshopper.
Second, the imitation of "screaming"
If you have to use an onomatopoeic word to imitate "screaming", the closest thing is the word "giggle". Try to suppress the voice, with the throat eye to make a "cluck, cluck, cluck..." sound, the sound at this time is closer to "screaming", but the most authentic "screaming" can only mean unspeakable, once heard will be unforgettable, about this we explain in detail.
The concept of the primary player is that the grasshopper's call is unchanged, but it is actually unpredictable in the eyes of the advanced player. In addition to the grasshopper's own physique, the angle at which the grasshopper stands, the quality of the feeding method, the changes in the external environment, the structure of different insects, etc., all of which will affect the sound effect.
If the ordinary grasshopper call is likened to listening to a radio broadcast, then the "screaming" grasshopper is like listening to a demo disc with a professional sound, and the mystery of it is to read on.
Third, the principle of "screaming"
To understand its principle, we must explore the origin of sound and understand the three elements of sound - loudness, timbre and tone.
1. About loudness
The good grasshopper's cry must be loud. Loudness is determined by the physique of the grasshopper, which is why the master picks the grasshopper mainly to look at the bottom board, rather than blindly paying attention to the shape of the bladder. The bottom plate of the grasshopper is actually very related to the call, the cold grasshopper bottom plate is more sufficient, often the call is crisp, but it is easy to appear small, poor bladder shape and other problems, for this part of the room will often use to increase the temperature, adjust the feed and other control means, and strive to find a balance between the high-quality bottom plate and the perfect body shape.
When selecting summer grasshoppers, some grasshoppers sound obviously louder than others, and some friends think that this is "yu'er", but in fact, it is wrong, such a sound can be called "bright calling" if it is clean and thorough.
2. About the timbre
The sound of good grasshoppers must be pure and free of noise. The timbre is determined by the grasshopper wings, and is determined by the invisible part (the sound file, scraper) and the visible part (pronunciation mirror, bladder shape).
The sound file and scraper are hidden on the inside of the wings, which is the source of the sound. This part is more squeamish, especially a few days after the grasshopper has just been sheathed, the wings have not yet completely hardened, if the pull will affect the structure here, the sound will be noisy in the later stage. Summer grasshoppers are commonly murmured in their voices because they start early, and we call this sound "tearing paper". The cold upsetting of the winter grasshopper is actually to let it pass through the fragile period smoothly, and then start to chirp after the wings are completely hardened, and the sound obtained at this time is often the "original call" of "cluck, cluck, cluck...".
Here is one more sentence, "this call" as the name suggests is the original call of the grasshopper, but under the incorrect feeding method, the sound file and scraper of the grasshopper will be more or less worn, so the sound of the vast majority of grasshoppers has a murmur, and it is not easy to get the "original name" in reality. If the sound file and scraper hardness are better, the sound that comes out is urgent and loud, and we call this sound "bright call", which has been mentioned above.
The pronunciation mirror and bladder shape can be seen (the pronunciation mirror is located on the lower bladder surface, which can be faintly seen through the upper bladder), which is the part that many netizens are most concerned about when choosing the grasshopper. This part is equivalent to the resonance cavity in the instrument, which is crucial to improving the timbre, if the sound can be successfully wrapped up, and the formation of murmurs can be suppressed, then it can add a sense of heaviness to the sound, forming a slightly childic sound of "giggling, clucking, clucking...", the sound at this time is very close to "screaming", but it is not, because this sound is similar to frog chirping, so it is often called "frog calling".
Grasshopper has a way of playing is to order medicine, the purpose of ordering medicine is mainly to improve the tone, but also has some functions to improve the frequency of pulling, improve the tone, only to achieve the "original call" or "bright call" level of the grasshopper can be ordered, the grasshopper after the successful order of medicine is generally "frog call".
There are many self-created methods of online netizens, some of which are good attempts, but some of them are somewhat imaginary. In fact, the core of the medicine is to change the structure of the wings through artificial techniques. The sound file and scraper are located in the upper part of the wing, and the pronunciation mirror and the bladder shape are located in the lower part of the wing, so the amount of medicine and the change of position will have different effects on each part, and then affect the final effect. Therefore, ordering medicine is a seemingly simple but complex craft, and many old artists have only some experience in ordering medicine for decades, and the mysteries in each are only self-aware.
3. About tone
Tone is the frequency of sound. The sound of a good grasshopper must be low and thick, circling the beam for three days, which is the result of the extreme coordination of various elements such as grasshopper physique, pulling habits, wing structure, standing angle, insect structure and so on.
Low and thick easy to understand, this is actually a "frog sound". And what is it like to go around the beam for three days? I don't know if you have heard the audio audition disc, and whether you will feel the sound reverberating in your ears for a long time when listening to this music. In fact, this is because the frequency of the sound coincides with the resonance frequency in your ear, which in turn causes resonance in the ear, which gives people the feeling of going around the beam for three days. If the call frequency of a grasshopper coincides with the resonance frequency in the ear, the resulting sound at this time is "screaming".
Thus we conclude: frog barking + resonance = "screaming".
The essence of "screaming" is resonance. The sound of "screaming" grasshoppers is not necessarily very loud, but because the resonance effect can spread far, the older generation said that "good grasshopper sounds can play far" is also derived from this. Friends who play musical instruments should know that any instrument has a bright area, and the sound at this frequency can reach the ears of the audience in the back row even if it is softly sounded, which is the same principle as "screaming".
Bass is easy to get, resonance is hard to find. The call frequency of grasshoppers is slightly higher than the internal resonance frequency of the human ear, but it is this little difference that determines that only a very small number of abnormally developed grasshoppers can have the effect of "screaming". The older generation said that "lying on the shoulders out of the big drink" and "big wings out of the big drink" are actually some examples of "screaming". Many friends have been playing grasshoppers for decades, and at most they have encountered a few "big drinks".
4. Summary
Natural "screaming" is not easy to get, but we can get as close as possible to the effect of "screaming" by means of drugs, insects and other means. Although these auxiliary means are difficult to change the frequency of the sound source, they can appropriately change the effect of sound propagation, and then achieve the purpose of optimizing sound. Many masters teach themselves medicine, and provide multiple insect tools for a worm, and even multiple lids for a gourd, all for the purpose of improving the sound.
The three elements of sound actually reflect the three realms of playing grasshoppers, ordinary players play loudness, advanced players play timbre, and super players play tone. Feel the magic of nature in the process of playing, and explore the realm of the unity of heaven and man, which is Chinese culture. (The article is excerpted from the Northern Grasshopper Network, author @ Wolf Four.) ）