Performance Content of Hengshan Storytelling

The traditional form of the Hengshan Shakespeare is that the artists use the northern Shaanxi dialectal sounds and hold the sanxian or pipa to play and sing their own songs, narrating the stories in a mixture of rap and song. Depending on the accompaniment, it is either called "Sanxin Shu" or "Pipa Shu". In the 1930s and 1940s, Shaanbei storytelling was transformed by famous artists such as Han Qixiang, and developed into a form of opera storytelling in which one person simultaneously sang and accompanied by five musical instruments: the three strings (or pipa), the wake-up timber, the juggling board, the beating wood piece called "ma chirp", and the small gong (or cymbal).

Hengshan storyteller's lyrics are popular and fluent, with strong local characteristics, in addition to the artists' unique introductory remarks or specific lyrics, almost no restrictions, can be played at will by the artists. Good folk artists, in the lyrics of a large number of references to northern Shaanxi folk songs, northern Shaanxi Daoxiang, northern Shaanxi rice-planting opera, northern Shaanxi Bowls, and even Qinqiang, Meidu, Pu Opera, Jin Opera, Peking Opera tunes, said it is a set of various singing in a furnace, to be smelted, and then formed a distinctive style of lyrics.

The tunes of Hengshan storytelling are rich in style, and they are known as "Nine Cavities and Eighteen Tunes", of which the common ones are Monotone, Dual Tone, Xiliang Tone, Shandong Cavity, Ping Tone, Weeping Tone, Pair Tone, Wu Tone, etc. The tunes of Hengshan storytelling are also known as "The Tone of the Nine Cavities and Eighteen Tunes", which are commonly used.

The structure of Hengshan storytelling consists of four parts, namely, the starting board, the passing scene, the main book and the falling board. The starting board is the beginning, usually the artists according to the occasion or the master of the improvisation of the greetings sung by the auspicious words, and then "play the three strings to set the right tone, all the Minggong please sit still, today I do not talk about other things, talk about the ancient people of the past dynasty" the official start of the storytelling. After the starting board, a small humorous joke is sung to attract the audience. In a relaxed and happy atmosphere began to say the book, the book is generally some of the biographies of the ancient books and new educational significance of the new people and new things. The last said that the fall board, when the fall board is a matter of taste, generally the storyline of the critical juncture of the crunch to stop the fall board to close the string, in order to have more listeners for the next game "to know how the aftermath, please listen to the next decomposition".

The basic sentence patterns of Hengshan storytelling include four-word sentences, seven-word sentences, nine-word sentences, and cross sentences. There are male tone, female tone, true voice, false voice; bitter tone, music tone, singing tone, killing tone, sharp wind tone and so on. The technique is to speak and sing in a single voice, following the twelve-word guideline of "joy, anger, sadness and happiness, tight, flat, slow, fast, male, female, light".

It was originally performed in the form of a single rap, the artist sat on a stool, the right calf tied to three layers of playing boards, the back of the right hand wearing a string of hemp chatter, both hands holding the three strings even with the playing and singing, but also in the left knee tied to a small brass cymbal. When rapping, they follow the tradition of "correct, round, clear words", using a combination of true and false voices and staccato suppression of the field of the singing method, in the voice, spitting, voice; with the order of all have to pay attention to. It is a beautiful, melodious, and beautiful song.

The repertoire of Hengshan storytelling used to be adapted from historical novels, such as The Eight Righteousnesses, The Eight Little Righteousnesses, The Five Ladies of the New Tang Dynasty, The Two Rings, The Chain of Rings, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Water Margin, and so on. Contemporary to reflect the characteristics of the times, celebrating the spirit of revolution, spurring and inspiring the people's life as much. Such as "Yichuan Great Victory", "Anti-Witchcraft", "The Situation is Good", "Turnaround", etc., there are also depictions of sadness and hatred, men and women love such as "Liu Qiao Reunion", "Wang Gui and Li Xiangxiang", "Li Shuangshuang", etc., about some popular Han folklore stories of the repertoire, such as "Liang Shanbo and Zhuyingtai", "Zhang Sheng play Yingying", etc., In addition, some of the repertoire comes from the local folk songs such as "Walking on the Western Mountain", "Five Songs of Goats", "Little Widow Going to the Grave" and "The Widow Going to the Grave". In addition, there are some songs derived from local folk songs such as "Walking to the West Mountain", "Five Songs to Release the Sheep", "The Little Widow Goes to the Grave", etc. There are also some humorous sections such as "Three Son-in-laws Worshiping Their Father-in-Law" and "The Little Two Mouths Carrying the Water" to regulate the atmosphere and attract the audience.

The traditional Shanbei storytelling playing instruments are mainly three strings, playing board, hemp chatter, wake up wood, cymbals, etc. After the 80's, the storytelling by the past single rap into a multi-people joint rap, musical instruments have increased the plate hu, erhu, flute, suona, four pieces of tile, etc., but also to join the accompaniment of the electronic piano.