Playing skills of suona

There are eight holes in the body of a traditional suona, which are pressed by the index, middle, ring and little fingers of the right hand, and the thumb, index, middle and ring fingers of the left hand (the left and right fingers can be switched for those who have different habitual use of their hands), in order to control the pitch. The way to pronounce the sound is to hold the reed whistle (i.e. reed) in the mouth and blow hard to make it vibrate, and the vibration and amplification of the wooden tube and metal bowl make the sound from the suona.

The common range of the traditional suona is seventeen degrees, with a range from low A to high A (high B is used occasionally, but is difficult to play).

Modern improved suona with keys and chromatic holes are added to increase the range and stabilize the pitch. The common keyed alto suona has a common range of eighteen degrees of pitch.

The D-key soprano suona is notated by the actual pitch using the soprano clef. Its total range is a(1)-b(3), and the common range in the orchestra is a(1)-d(3).

The greatest characteristic of suona lies in its ability to control the whistle with its mouth to make changes in volume, pitch and timbre, as well as the use of various techniques. Mastering breathing is one of the basic skills of wind music. It is often said that "the breath is sufficient for the sound to be full", which means that sufficient breath is the basis for the "sound to be full".

The better breathing method is the "Dantian breathing method", in inhalation, the abdomen shrinks inward, the chest ribs expand outward; in inhalation, the movement of the abdomen to control the exhalation of the sharpness and slowness. Playing suona is generally inhaling to be fast and much; while protruding to be slow and little, it is important to pay attention to the use of abdominal movements to control the breath, so that it conforms to the needs of playing the piece of music.

Three points should be noted when practicing breathing:

1. When breathing, all parts of the body not related to breathing should be relaxed. Breath should be controlled, according to the need to use the amount of air, generally speaking, inhalation should be more fast; exhalation should be less slow.

2. To maintain the consistency of exhaling and inhaling, do not wait for the first breath to be completely exhaled before you start to inhale the second breath, but start to inhale the second breath before the first breath is completely exhaled, so as to be able to carry on in a consistent manner.

3. In general, you should inhale through the nose, and only when you need to grab a breath or when inhaling through the nose is not enough, you should inhale through the mouth and nose at the same time. Its method is: use the power of the abdomen to control breathing, inhale with the nose, exhale with the mouth. When the nose inhales, the two ribs bulge and the belly contracts inward, so that the breath runs upward, that is, the pressure of the belly sends the breath to the mouth; then according to the amount of breath needed in the two cheeks is gradually discharged outward, and with the exhalation of breath, the belly muscles also gradually relax. Repeat the same process for the second inhalation. It should be noted that at the end of the first process, it is necessary to inhale the second breath through the nose without waiting for the control of the air in the mouth to be finished, so that the two processes are very coherent, without any traces of change of breath, and to maintain the continuity of the long tone well. When practicing this breathing method for the first time, you can prepare a reed and a bowl of water, then insert the reed pipe into the bowl and blow into the reed according to the above method of cyclic breathing, until the water bubbles continuously, and the method is basically correct. After practicing in this way, you can then practice on the suona, blowing the eighth hole sound first, and then practicing the other sounds.

2. Air trill

The air trill is a kind of chanting sound, which is indicated by adding "~" to the note. It is played by inhaling a full breath, supporting the breath with a strong and elastic contraction of the abdomen, which produces a slight fluctuation in the sound, the effect of which is like the vibrato on strings. This kind of vibrato can be fast, slow, strong or weak according to the requirements of the piece. It is usually used for long tones, and sometimes its fluctuations can express different national or local styles.

3, tooth trill

The tooth trill is also a kind of chant, in the note number "~" on the word "tooth" to indicate. It is played with the lower teeth gently fluttering the root of the whistle, so that it sends out a fluttering sound. This kind of tooth tremolo is mostly used in playing opera, music and folk style music. It can be divided into two kinds: hard vibrato is to use the teeth to directly contact the root of the whistle, and soft vibrato is to put the lips between the teeth and the root of the whistle. The vibrato is often used on a single note, and attention should be paid to the evenness of the vibrato.

4, finger vibrato

Finger vibrato is also known as "finger flower" in folk music, is a very versatile technique. This technique is often used to express joyful and enthusiastic mood, and in some lyrical tunes used to decorate some of the feelings expressed by the tone, but also a variety of different. In performance, it is characterized by the audible and rapid alternation of two neighboring tones. Although the alternation is rapid, the edges must be very clear, otherwise the effect will become that of a chant and the character of the vibrato will be lost.

5, small arm trill

The effect of small arm trill sounds different from finger trill. It is not played with finger movements to hit the sound hole, but with the rapid shaking of the small arm to drive the finger. The direction of shaking is perpendicular to the wooden pole, and the fingers repeatedly press the sound hole closed and open to make the articulation vibrate. This kind of vibrato has the characteristics of evenness and density, and is also more lasting in time. It is often used in passionate passages, especially in the upper register.

When practicing, pay attention to the following three points:

①Don't move your fingers, rely entirely on the movement of the small arm to drive the fingers.

②The fingers should not be lifted too high from the sound hole, just a little bit away.

③The fingers, wrist and small arm should be kept in a straight line. The suona is based on the instrument used in the traditional method of setting the tone. Regardless of the size of the length or thickness of the wooden tube, the full press (all the holes are pressed, that is, the cylinder tone) is called "the key". This is the basic key name that all oboe players are familiar with. Because it is the key that must be used by beginners, it is called "Benxue" in the terminology of folk artists.

The naming of the tune is a common name that is customary in all parts of the world. Taking the "seven-inch" suona as an example, its "home key" pitch is equivalent to the central "C" of keyboard instruments, i.e., "1". The pitch of its "home key" is equivalent to the center "C" or "1" of keyboard instruments. Its scale is arranged as "1 2 5 4 5 6 7 1 2", and then, with the 1234567 seven tones of this scale as the "CDEFGAB" seven keys of the key name, it comes to "1=e, 1=D, i=E, 1:F, 1:E, 1:F, 1:F, 1:F, 1:F, 1:F, 1:F, 1:F, 1:F, 1:E". The seven tones of the suona scale are called "CDEFGAB", which gives us the pitch fingerings of "1=e, 1=D, i=E, 1:F, 1:G, 1:A, 1=B". Playing the suona also requires some skill to press the tone holes completely with the fingers. If the holes are not tightly pressed, the sound will not be accurate.

The oboe playing skills are very rich, can be roughly divided into the mouth skills and finger skills, in the performance of the two are often used in combination, which have a continuous, single spit, double spit, triple spit, flick sound, flower tongue, Xiao sound, sliding sound, vibrato, superimposed and pad sound, etc., but also can be imitated flying birds and insects chirping.