Four artistic means of traditional Chinese opera performance: singing and beating

Four artistic means of traditional Chinese opera performance: singing and beating

There are certain rules in singing opera, which can be said to be certain. There are certain rules in absorption, articulation, intonation and rhyme, and they are not sung at will. The following is the relevant content I have compiled, welcome to read, for reference only.

One of the basic skills: the first step in learning to sing is to shout and hang your voice, expand the range and volume, exercise the endurance and timbre of your voice, and practice the skills of articulation, rhyme, spouting and moistening your cavity respectively. When an actor has mastered all this, it is more important to be good at using vocal skills to express the character, emotion and mental state of the character. For hundreds of years, there has always been a difference between conveying sound and expressing emotion in China traditional opera aesthetics. Some actors pay attention to the beauty of timbre and melody and the charm of singing. Some actors pay attention to vitality and distinctiveness and advocate singing feelings first. Most excellent actors combine the transmission of voice with the transmission of emotion, and express the voices of the people in the play through the artistic appeal of vocal music.

Opera singing is never an independent vocal performance interspersed in the play, but one of the important means to shape characters. For some excellent plays, the arrangement of aria is based on the needs of the plot and the development of characters' personality, thoughts and emotions. Enrich and strengthen the literary image through beautiful musical images and attract the audience's auditory senses, just like doing and playing with beautiful dance images to attract the audience's visual senses. Therefore, the singing of traditional Chinese opera, the skills and accomplishment of actors are all important factors that determine the success or failure of artistic creation. For the same character in the same play, due to the different experiences and understandings of actors and different singing methods, various artistic styles with different singing interests have gradually formed.

Different operas use different duets. Some sing a lot, often thirty or fifty sentences, or even more than a hundred. Some people sing less, and only when the people in the play are emotional do they set up long aria. Opera that sings a lot is often sung instead of read, or falls between singing and reading, with less embellishment. Most of the operas that are sung less are deliberately working hard on vocal art and highly refining lines and tunes.

From the development of China traditional opera, the accompaniment of singing is from simple to complex. Yiyang Opera is an ancient drama, which adopts the form of chorus and simple percussion music. Kunshan cavity was formally formed in Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty, and developed into accompaniment with stringed instruments such as sheng, Xiao, flute and pipa, and its musical effect was greatly enhanced. Modern operas in China pay more attention to accompaniment, and the types of musical instruments are gradually increasing, and vocal music and instrumental music are closely coordinated. There are also some operas that stop instrumental accompaniment in the lead vocal section, and the actors solo "clear the board" to highlight the expressive force of vocal music. At present, in some high-pitched operas, the form of supporting the cavity is still retained as a means to set off the atmosphere and reveal the inner world of the characters.

Because the lyrics are poetic, the syntax is compact and concise, and the literature is strong, which makes it easier to concentrate on expressing emotions. In addition, singing is often used to enhance the artistic effect and give people aesthetic enjoyment in narrative, scenery writing, argument and reprimand. In order to convey feelings and arouse * * *, the literariness of Qu Ci is not elegant, but appealing to both refined and popular tastes, concise and lively, and interesting in writing.

In China traditional opera, singing, as one of the main artistic means, is not used alone, but organically combined with artistic means such as reading, doing and acting to serve the characterization.

The second basic skill: recitation and singing complement each other and are important artistic means to express characters' thoughts and feelings. Chinese opera actors practice basic skills from childhood, and reading white is also one of the compulsory courses. After mastering the essentials, strength and lightness of speech, we should properly handle the rhythm changes of severity, urgency, cadence and cadence according to the characteristics of characters and the development of plots, so as to achieve an artistic realm that is both pleasing to the ear and vivid.

Generally speaking, there are two kinds of vocals in traditional Chinese opera: one is rhythmic "rhyme", and the other is prosaic "white" based on their respective dialects and close to life language, such as Anqing dialect in Huangmei Opera, Wu dialect in Su Opera and Bai Jing in Peking Opera. No matter whether it is prosaic or prosaic, it is not an ordinary life language, but a language refined by art, which is almost recitative, rhythmic and musical. Only chanting is also a musical language. In traditional drama, singing and reading are integrated and there is no sense of ambiguity.

For hundreds of years, in the study of China traditional opera, some people pay more attention to singing, while others pay more attention to singing. Xu Wei, a drama theorist in the Ming Dynasty, advocated that "singing is the main thing, and white is the guest", calling it "guest white". Li Yu, a drama theorist in Qing Dynasty, attached great importance to Nianbai, saying that "those who want to watch it know its ups and downs, understand its exquisiteness and rely on Bai Bin alone". Modern and contemporary opera actors also have their own emphases. The proverb and formula of "singing four or two thousand pounds" are popular in the field of opera, which shows that singing plays an important role that cannot be underestimated. In fact, most opera actors are good at fully mobilizing and exerting the' unique role' of various artistic means in shaping characters, and are not limited to achieving a goal. Singing and reading should not only pay equal attention, but also be properly arranged, interrelated and harmonious. In the long-term performance practice, some transitional forms have gradually appeared, such as shouting, crying and singing.

The third basic skill: Doing work generally refers to performing skills, generally refers to dancing body movements, which is one of the main signs that China traditional opera is different from other performing arts.

After practicing the basic skills of waist, legs, hands, arms, head and neck since childhood, opera actors must carefully consider the theory of opera and the personality characteristics of characters in order to perform their tricks well. When an actor portrays a role, there are many ways of hand, eye, body and step, and there are also many techniques of mouth, feather, hair and sleeve. These stylized dance words are used flexibly, highlighting the characters' personality, age, identity and other characteristics, making their artistic image more brilliant. For example, in all kinds of footwork, if a girl takes a kneeling step when she is struggling and a girl takes a broken step when she is happy, it is not only a pure technical performance, but also plays a role in rendering the atmosphere and depicting the modality. It is also a Zi Ling gong, which is used in different languages. Some are brave, some are frivolous, some are impatient, and some are angry. In Dunkou, beating beard, rationalizing beard and throwing Dunkou all have their specific connotations and representations. Excellent actors should not only have inner experience when performing, but also be able to express it through appearance, blending inside and outside, being handy and not becoming a mere formality.

The fourth basic skill: beating, is another important part of body movements in traditional Chinese opera. It is a dance of traditional martial arts and a highly artistic refinement of fighting scenes in life. Generally, it can be divided into "processing work" and "blanket work". Anyone who fights or dances alone with ancient weapons such as knives, guns, halberds and halberds (commonly known as "knives and guns") is called Bazigong. The art of tumbling and falling on a blanket is called blanket art. Actors should practice martial arts hard from an early age. Taking the top, one practice is the time for a column of incense; Small flips, tongue twisters, and dozens of them when you walk; Playing with knives and guns won't stop you from being exhausted. Only by practicing hard can we lay a solid foundation. However, technical skills are only creative materials, and actors must be good at using these extremely difficult skills to accurately show the mental outlook and temperament of the characters and distinguish the pros and cons of the opposing sides.

The production and performance of Chinese opera has never been an independent dance performance interspersed in the drama. Some incidents of blanket work, taken separately, are almost acrobatics; Some acrobatics, viewed separately, are similar to martial arts. But together, combined in the drama, it becomes an expressive dance language, which can express people, feelings and drama. At the end of the first quarter, the two sides appeared, not only to judge the outcome, but also to distinguish the advantages and disadvantages. The winner is approaching the finish line, showing high spirits. Wu Erhua even threw a shovel and showed his face. When you escape, you enter the water, and stamping mud reflects calmness. Stable boy's somersault set off the coach's momentum. In some plays, the madness and confusion of the mentally disordered are highlighted, and so on. When these technical skills are combined with the plot, it will help to portray the characters, explain the plot and make the audience enjoy the art.

Singing, reciting, doing and playing are special artistic means of traditional opera performance in China. The organic combination of these four forms constitutes the characteristics of opera performance and is an important symbol that distinguishes opera from other stage arts.

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