Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Martial Arts Aesthetics under the Integration of Eastern and Western Music

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, as a classic martial arts film, emphasizes that the main theme is not the traditional chivalrous heroism, but the reflection and precipitation of humanistic connotation in the Jianghu background. In order to fit this theme, Tan Dun gave priority to profound oriental music in the film soundtrack, and interpreted the film with rich China national musical instruments. The elements of oriental music not only provide oriental sentiment for the creation of film music, but also enhance the audio-visual effect of the film and improve the appeal and influence of the story. Take the theme song Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as an example. The national musical instruments used in China are pipa, bangu, bamboo flute, erhu, cucurbit silk, China drum and tambourine. Melody takes folk songs and operas as the main theme, emphasizing the unity of sound and painting, showing the color of oriental culture.

The music melody selected in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon makes the personality development of the film protagonist closely related to the whole story, which not only deepens the theme and renders the film atmosphere, but also improves the artistic appeal of the film to some extent. In addition to the complete performance of national musical instruments, the pure sound of national musical instruments also adds a lot of color to the presentation of oriental music. What is refreshing in the film is the use of national percussion instruments. In a large number of sword-to-sword and fist-to-leg moves, percussion instruments such as China drum have played a role in mobilizing the atmosphere and crossing time and space. These national musical instruments became the crowning touch in the flowing fighting, which just conveyed the rhythm and artistic conception of the film and effectively rendered the dramatic effect on the scene. It can be said that the film music of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon directly hits people's hearts, showing the dual characteristics of nationality and integration, which perfectly shows the unique aesthetic feeling of martial arts films with various oriental music elements.

The musical style of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is very ethnic, whether it is the main theme of the film or the soundtrack of the series. Although the symphony is inserted at the beginning, middle and end of the film, its essence is still dominated by oriental music, and the music expression contains a strong China complex. The nationality of oriental music is often dependent on the use of regional musical instruments. In the film, when Yu Jiaolong and Luo Xiaohu compete for combs on the Gobi Desert in Xinjiang, they play the Uighur national musical instrument Rewap. This plucked instrument is bright in sound, crisp in timbre and full of enthusiasm, which reflects the liveliness of Yu Jiaolong and the boldness of Luo Xiaohu, and aptly depicts the scene of their chasing and fighting (Figure 1). The brisk rhythm of this episode is in sharp contrast with the endless desert in the picture, which plays a role in setting off the scenery and adjusting the mood with sound. The performances of national musical instruments Rewap and Xinjiang tambourine not only add a lot of vitality to the film, but also let the audience feel the unique features of the northwest region. The unique regional musical instruments of Uighurs are matched with pure regional music, showing strong national characteristics.

Another musical instrument with national characteristics is the Hulusi, which is a Yunnan minority musical instrument. It first appeared in The Night War and was the soundtrack of the night when Yu Jiaolong stole the Qingming Sword. With Yu Jiaolong putting down the bed curtain and pretending to sleep, the cucurbit silk sounded melodiously, with bright and soft timbre, vividly depicting the tranquility of the moonlit night. However, the string group, which has always been a foil, gradually strengthened, and suddenly played a strong tone with the Changle of Hulusi, adding to anxiety, suggesting that there was anxiety brewing behind the seemingly calm night. With the flashing picture of Jade Jiaolong on the roof and Liu Taibao's alert eyes, banjo finally appeared as the main instrument. The whole music of "The Night Fight" is full of China drum music, the rhythm is selected from China operas, and the drums are relaxed to some extent: Yu Jiaolong and Yu Xiulian climb over the eaves and chase each other with light drums; When Yu Jiaolong and Yu Xiulian were going to fight fiercely, the drums became more and more urgent and powerful. They beat each other with drums and mallets to change the playing techniques and create a tense atmosphere. After Yu Jiaolong narrowly escaped, the drums came to an abrupt end, which was memorable. The complete works give full play to the clear timbre of China drum, and the promotion of rhythm depends on the beating of a single drum to drive the whole drum team, achieving the effect of sound and picture integration, greatly enhancing the sense of rhythm and appeal of the film, which is full of national color.

Another classic fighting scene-The soundtrack of Li Mubai and Yu Jiaolong fighting in the bamboo forest "Crossing the Bamboo Forest" was composed by Xiao Lai. Xiao is one of the pure national musical instruments, with desolate and deep timbre, which is suitable for solo and ensemble. Li Mubai and Yu Jiaolong flew into the bamboo forest one after another with the distant Xiao Sheng, and the pictures were matched with national musical instruments such as Xiao Sheng, pipa and bamboo flute, which not only reflected the lightness of China martial arts, but also created a unique artistic conception of oriental films. The above-mentioned national musical instruments not only match the content of the film, but also play a role in conveying China culture and national heritage to the audience, so the artistic theme of the film has been sublimated.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon not only uses a variety of national representative instruments, but also skillfully integrates western instruments, combining the form of western music with the connotation of oriental music, creating a harmonious atmosphere and giving the film a deeper cultural atmosphere of oriental music. As the saying goes, "if you don't see him, you should hear his voice first." At the beginning of the film, the theme music Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is played by the cello. The rich sound of cello rings slowly before the movie screen appears, creating a deep atmosphere by imitating the vibrato and glide of national instruments. With the appearance of the title of the film, national percussion instruments and stringed instruments played together, and the oriental charm suddenly came to my face, and the corresponding traditional architectural pictures appeared, which complemented the story to be told in the film. With the retro style of modern instrument cello, the low melody and euphemistic tone of cello are highlighted, and the syllables with several twists and turns suggest the tortuous fate of the characters in the film. The blending of Chinese and western musical elements enriches the musical level and provides an aesthetic auditory feast for the audience.

In fact, looking at the whole movie, its music mostly shows the purpose of conveying the international and national characteristics of music in various ways, and the theme song "Love Before Time" is a perfect example. Love Before Time is a beautiful classical love song, which uses electro-acoustic instruments and modern rhythm to cooperate with China singer CoCo Lee's euphemistic and distant singing. The composition of songs is mainly composed of oriental music elements, supplemented by western music elements. Its melody adopts the pentatonic style in China traditional music, which is also a common melody style in China folk songs. "In this theme song melody composed of 4 1 bars (excluding prelude, accompaniment and epilogue melody), there are as many as 10 in which Tan Dun enters * * * three times in the form of five notes." From the very beginning, the theme of the song used a three-tone angular mode (angle, sign, feather, palace, business and angle), and the rhythm used a typical weak start segment, which has the characteristics of China folk songs and is rich in oriental colors.

Although the timbre of the song "Love Before Time" is dominated by the traditional three-tone group, the western cello is used to imitate the timbre of Ma Touqin and Huqin, and the traditional sliding technique of China is used to create the effect of combining western musical instruments with oriental elements. Similar creative techniques are also reflected in other parts of the song. Orchestral music, accompanied by traditional oriental musical instruments such as cucurbit flute and pipa, creates a complex and lingering artistic conception of movie characters. The application of this kind of film music not only uses Chinese and western music elements, but also fully shows the charm of Chinese and western music and conforms to the international orientation of the film. On the one hand, the strong oriental color of the tune makes the audience feel the national feelings beyond the limitation of time and space; On the other hand, imitating the timbre and performance style of oriental instruments with western instruments can make the emotional transmission of the film more in place.

The application of pure national music in film music may be closed and limited, but if the essence of national music is combined with other musical elements, national music will be presented in a brand-new style, which is also the inevitable trend of the development of contemporary film music. The film music creation of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon harmoniously blends the musical elements of the East and the West, taking into account the artistic beauty of the East and the West, and just shows the world the diverse features of a China martial arts film, which can be described as a classic combining Chinese and Western.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is mainly composed of oriental classical musical instruments, accompanied by western orchestral music, which vividly shows the aesthetics of oriental music through classical expression. "The creative process of an excellent musical work must be complete, and it must go through three links: creation, performance and appreciation." On the creative level, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has a distinct national color in the selection of traditional oriental musical instruments, which highlights the national and temporal characteristics of oriental music, makes music with oriental implications directly hit people's hearts, expands the cultural value of oriental music, and enhances the artistry, ideological and drama of the film. In the performance stage, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" inserted oriental music as a natural element into the film, which strengthened the climax and eased the plot conflict, and was not blunt at all. This kind of creation and application is not a simple repetition, but a combination with movie pictures, which plays a role in promoting the development of the plot, undertaking the dialogue between characters and arousing the audience. On the appreciation level, if we only rely on the audience's own aesthetic accumulation, we can't achieve the aesthetic effect in the music field. Therefore, movie music needs to arouse the audience's sense of singing and appreciation through sound and painting. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has the characteristics of nationality and integration in the application of oriental music. The former made the audience have a deeper understanding and even love of China culture, and widely popularized the national connotation of oriental music culture. The latter broadens the appreciation field through the organic integration of oriental national musical instruments and western musical instruments, and strengthens the social function of film music by providing aesthetic experience to the audience, which is consistent with the aesthetic function of film music.

"Today, with the frequent exchange and integration of international heterogeneous cultures, the simple national music culture can no longer meet the market requirements of China film and television music." Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon introduces oriental culture into western vision, and its film music also provides a comprehensive reference for promoting China's national music culture. The success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon tells China filmmakers that only by better exploring the cultural value of oriental music in the film can the national spirit be presented on the world stage and the purpose of international dissemination of China traditional culture be achieved.

As an Oscar-winning work, the importance of music creation to the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is self-evident. The film music in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has both nationality and fusion, which complement each other and has aesthetic value of bearing national image and oriental heritage. The oriental music used in the film not only constitutes an indispensable part of the national elements in the film art, but also incorporates the western elements * * * to add diversified colors to the film music. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has successfully created many classic characters, deepened the theme, and laid the foundation for the vigorous development and far-reaching spread of oriental music art in martial arts movies. The characteristics of nationality and fusion play a role in the film music of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which not only promotes the traditional culture of China to the greatest extent, but also shows the national creativity and cohesion of China to the world, representing the great achievements of China's film industry.