Characteristics of Chinese Folk Songs

Artistic Characteristics of Chinese Folk Songs

I. A High Combination of Poetry and Music

From a poetic point of view, folk songs are characterized by their close adherence to the life of the people, clear themes, distinctive images, and sincere feelings. The lyrics of folk songs are short, easy to understand, and are in the form of ballads; they are generally neat, rhyming, and uneven; they are mostly in the form of seven-word sentences, with other sentences as well, and are structured in the form of two sentences and four sentences. The authors of folk songs use metaphors, similes, comparisons, contrasts, exaggerations, narratives and other techniques in just a few lines of lyrics, so that the theme idea can be clearly and prominently embodied. For example, "bitter linen" is used as a metaphor for the bitter life of a young girl who has married far away from her mother, "yellow cabbage" is used as a metaphor for a child without a mother, and the contrast between the rich and the poor is utilized in songs such as "Farmer's Complaints" and "Long Worker's Tune".... ...When Will the Sophora Blossom Blossom? In just four lines, the song achieves the theme of love with a mixture of scenes, distinct characters and delicate feelings.

Second, it is good at expressing people's inner world

Folk songs use short structure, condensed musical language, and extremely economical musical materials to express profound thoughts and feelings. The Suiyuan folk song "Running Horses on the City Wall" profoundly expresses the homesickness of the wanderer; "Going West" expresses the poignant and attachment feelings among the loved ones who are separated from their home towns and families; and "Pastoral Song" sketches out a fresh, vast, and wide prairie scene in just two lines.

Three, with oral, collective, improvisation and variability

Folk songs are the crystallization of the collective wisdom of the masses. Passed down from generation to generation, different periods (or time), different areas of different singers, often according to personal needs, a ready-made folk songs as a blueprint for improvisation of the lyrics, see what sing what, think what sing what, which is the improvisation in the creation and singing of folk songs. In the improvisation of words at the same time, the tune of the folk song is bound to occur in different degrees of variation, so there is a folk song has many variations of the phenomenon, such as "Meng Jiangnu", "Flower Tune", "Shear Indigo Flower" and other variations all over the north and south of the Yangtze River, but also appeared in a certain region has a few typical tunes and the phenomenon of characteristic tones.

Artistic features of Chinese folk songs:

These are: the origin and development of folk songs, the rich and colorful genres, the songs and dances; the strong randomness and dissemination; and the strong epochal and functionality.

The stylistic characteristics of Chinese folk songs;

The musical language of folk songs is concise and concise, the musical images are distinctive and vivid, and the methods of expression are colorful and varied, which is an important part of the treasure trove of China's national folk music.