Articles, lyrics, descriptions, classic dialogues and more about the zither!

Yu Ning

The guzheng, as a musical art, is in the final analysis the art of aesthetics. The development of an art must be all-round and three-dimensional, so that it has more artistic vitality. In the whole development system of guzheng art, the construction of the "aesthetics" of this art should be gradually put on the agenda in order to perfect the whole of this art and make it more rationalized, which is very necessary. Therefore, the understanding of "aesthetics" of Guzheng art should also be emphasized together with the skills, and be mentioned to the same height to explore and perfect, so as to promote the overall perfection of this art. Guzheng teaching must be closely connected with aesthetic education from the beginning to the end. From the stage of enlightenment, aesthetic education must be closely linked with the teaching of the skills of hooking, picking, supporting, wiping, chopping, pressing, sliding, chanting and kneading, and aesthetic education must be included in the teaching of skills, so that while the students' playing skills are constantly improved, their aesthetic ability can also be strengthened accordingly, and so that they can know what is the beauty of guzheng music and how to achieve it, thus arousing their desire for and pursuit of the beauty of guzheng music. The aesthetic education of guzheng includes the following five aspects:

(I) Tone beauty

Tone is the sound quality, and the tone can be divided into instrumental tone and performance tone. The former is the tone of the instrument itself; the latter is the tone obtained by playing the instrument. Playing skill is the means to get beautiful tone, and the performance tone of Guzheng contains two kinds of basic tone and changing tone.

The basic tone is the sound "base color" of the player's playing, which is the embodiment of the player's basic skills, and is the ability to master the sound of the instrument. Players to get this good basic tone, first of all to solve the problem of pronunciation - the basic method of finger string playing. That is: "big action loose, small action live, force sinking fingertips". For example: the guzheng big handful of finger method is to wrist as the axis of movement, if the wrist after the movement can not quickly return to the original natural state and continue to tense, will inevitably make the coordinated role into a confrontation, i.e., contraction of flexor muscles and extensor muscle tension. In this way, not only the playing is very laborious and cannot last long and the pronunciation has no weight, it also causes the arm to be tense and cannot keep the elasticity sufficiently, resulting in the sound like a stick plucking the strings, stagnant, stiff and shriveled. In guzheng playing, the string playing method and the string playing angle are the two fundamental issues that determine the basic sound quality. If the method is not correct, the basic tone will not be good, let alone obtaining a change of tone.

Variable timbre refers to the various timbres used in musical expression that conform to the content, emotion, and style of the music, and can also be called applied timbre. Each piece of music has its own inherent musical image and ideological content, and the changes in mood and the contrasting changes in musical ideas are carried throughout the piece. In guzheng performance, there are several ways to get various kinds of changing tones: (1) the change of the string touching position in performance (2) the change of the string touching speed in performance (3) the change of the finger exertion parts The basic force of guzheng performance is at the tip of the fingers, but due to the different styles of music and different moods, it is necessary to change the exertion parts accordingly in the performance. (4) The use of special tones Special tones are used according to the creative intention and requirements of the author of the piece. The use of special tones is mostly seen in the composition of music, which enriches the changing tones of guzheng and broadens the expressive power of guzheng. In the performance, you should grasp the performance scale according to the needs of the mood of the music, so that you can shape the music image more vividly.

The correct playing method provides technical conditions for obtaining good playing tone. The beauty of the sound can be said to be first in the heart and then in the hands, after the heart to play through the hands of the wonderful music. Therefore, players should pay attention to their own psychological tone training, and constantly improve their own artistic cultivation. With the scale of the psychological tone can reach the height of the actual tone required.

(2) Rhythmic beauty

In guzheng performance, the left hand's proper "chanting, kneading, pressing, sliding" is the "soul" of the zheng music's expressiveness. "Rhyme with sound, rhyme with sound" is the characteristic of guzheng music. The Shandong School attaches great importance to the left hand techniques, such as easy and lively trills, dots with a sense of jumping, press trills to produce a sense of instability, press trills to express excitement or anger, or press slides with a lively and light heart, etc. Especially the slow music emphasizes on the ancient, simple and elegant style with an inner gravity, the good or bad application of the left hand press trill technique determines to a large extent the artistic level of a guzheng player. Without the use of the left hand tremolo, the zheng music will be dull and tasteless and lose its luster. As the left hand tremolo technique and expression are not so specific, they are rich in aesthetics. Therefore, in practicing the left hand tremolo technique, you must carefully think about it and never neglect it. Left-handed performance characteristics can be summarized in eight words "play live left-handed, accurate in the change.

1. "Bitter sound" of the expression

The four "off-key" in the five-tone modulation is often obtained by the left hand string to rhyme with the sound, so it is unique flavor. The formation of the "bitter notes" (4 and 7) in the "Bitter Tone Zither Songs" of the northern and southern schools is due to the different melodic backgrounds and the different methods of expression, and thus their flavors are different, such as in the Teochew Zither Song, "The Crow Plays in the Water". For example, in the Chaozhou zheng song "Cold Crows Playing in the Water", the expression of "bitter sound" focuses on euphemism, lingering, clear and simple; in "Shandandandan Blossoms Red", the "bitter sound" is not bitter, but requires roughness, boldness, long distance, and magnificent.

2. Vibrato expression

When playing a beautiful melody, the vibrato of the left hand should be a glorified vibrato with a small and even amplitude. When playing a sad melody, the left hand vibrato should be dense and tight. If the content is sad and angry, the left hand vibrato should be large in amplitude and fast in frequency, and the vibrato effect should be angular, etc. The left hand vibrato of modern zheng compositions depends on the content of the piece. Modern zheng music is based on the content and emotional needs of the work with different vibrato techniques, light and slow vibrato, lively and fast vibrato, fierce and violent vibrato, spicy and heavy vibrato, poignant and dense vibrato, so that the infinite flavor, infinite emotions expressed to the fullest.

3. Master the special string-pressing technique

The special string-pressing technique is characterized by the left hand's big, forefinger and middle finger's split and close, and the intricate changes of the string-pressing line and strength, so that the string sound can be slid and changed on the basis of maintaining the original pitch, in order to emphasize the zheng's rhyme, flavor and personality. In the left hand, there are upward and downward presses, pointing strings, vibrating strings, vibrating strings, and sliding back. These fingerings are sometimes interspersed with plucking, as well as two-handed playing, which greatly enriches the expressive power of the zheng. With the development of the society and the times, the playing fingering is also constantly improved. From the generation and development of the left-handed press to the present, it has evolved a variety of echo playing method and vibrato playing method left-handed press sliding and vibrato chanting produced by the rhythm, unique, is not comparable to other instruments and substitutes. Students must be told that these different rhythms of rhythm is a process of pressing the slide vibrato, directly affecting the formation of rhythm, to let the students in the process of playing, the pursuit of rhythm, in the auditory enjoyment of the search for beauty.

(C), the beauty of the mood

The guzheng repertoire, whether it is the traditional repertoire, or modern creative repertoire, most of them have a very good mood. Chinese people have a very high level of abstraction ability in image thinking, which is not only reflected in the deep philosophical thinking of traditional Chinese culture, but also in artistic creation. Therefore, for thousands of years, the process of "imagery" has become the main way of thinking in traditional Chinese art, and "realm" has become the highest concept for Chinese philosophers to explain their thought system. In the creation of performance art, the focus on "imagery" and "realm" can help us to improve the level of artistic expression. Students should be able to understand and analyze the various moods depicted through music in their practice.

The art of guzheng has a long history and rich cultural heritage, and in guzheng teaching, as long as the teacher has the heart and the scholar has the intention, he or she can certainly get more from the rich cultural connotation. For the description of the same kind of things, due to the different connotations of the music, the beauty of the mood expressed is also very different. For example, the same depiction of the beauty of the water, the "fishing boat singing in the evening" in the presentation of the kind of "sunset and the lonely and unruly fly together, the autumn water *** long sky a color" is a kind of peaceful beauty; "Dongting New Song" in the portrayal of the kind of "a long smoke, the lake glistening" belongs to the scenic beauty; as for the "battle platform" in the "lake glistening" belongs to the beauty; the "battle platform" in the "lake glistening" belongs to the beauty. As for the scene of "fierce winds and rainstorms, waves in the sky" in "The Battle of the Typhoon", it is a kind of magnificent beauty. These moods in the zheng music are depicted through the techniques of hooking, picking, supporting, chopping, scratching, shaking, etc. Therefore, the depiction of the beauty of the mood, and the performance of the beauty of the timbre and the beauty of the rhythm are closely related to each other, and it is necessary to depict them in the performance, and to show them in the depiction. Let the mood of the beauty of the full expression of the unique characteristics of guzheng music.

(4), the image of beauty

The many characters and natural scenery portrayed in the zheng music can be described as a variety of colors and weather. The image here is the same as all musical images, it is the emotional image, the imagery. It is not easy for children of a few years old and teenagers to understand the many personalized musical images. Their artistic thinking ability is generally low. The art of guzheng is an auditory art, an art of time, which is abstract. However, each work is expressing the inner feelings of the author, there are expressions of cheerfulness, and there are expressions of sadness....... Therefore, in the teaching process of cultivating their musical sense, teachers should focus on the musical language, try their best to concretize the image of intangible things, and seize the characteristic tones to induce the students' image thinking. For example, in "Qin Sang Song", we should tell the students about the situation of "Swallow grass is like blue silk, Qin Sang is low and green; when the gentleman returns, it is the time when the concubine breaks her heart" in "Thinking of Spring" by Li Bai, a great poet in Tang Dynasty. At the same time, students will pay special attention to the poignant melody of the "bitter sound" and use it to associate the young woman who misses her relatives. In "Battle of the Typhoon", the resounding fishermen's horns in the bass section can be associated with the image of a group of fishermen in high spirits fighting against the wind and waves. And the small quick plate in "Shandandandan Blossoms Red" allows students to relate to the joyous scene of the people of northern Shaanxi, "Thousands of households open their doors to welcome the Central Red Army to northern Shaanxi".

(E), the beauty of the gesture

The gesture of the guzheng player is often not emphasized, in fact, the beauty of the gesture is directly related to the effect of the performance. When playing, the body is stiff, dull as a chicken is certainly not decent, and inexplicably swaying back and forth, nodding and shaking the head is also not desirable. From the beginning of learning zheng, the correct sitting posture and gestures are required, and students are asked to pay attention to the manners of playing, and the movements of playing should be smooth and natural, so as to realize that the heart follows the feelings, and the body moves with the heart. To be able to move others, the guzheng should first be able to move itself. In order to move oneself, one should first use one's "heart" to experience the ideological content of the music, and then use one's "heart" to express the ideological content of the music, which can be said to be the natural flow of the player's emotion. This expression can be said to be the natural flow of the player's emotions. At this time, the movements made are not exaggerated even if they are big, and the movements are not formal even if they are small. In order to achieve the great poet Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty said in his poem "Night Zither", "the string condenses and the finger pharynx stops, but there is a deep feeling of ten thousand weights". Such as "fishing boat singing in the evening" leisurely and beautiful, the body natural and dignified, a few shaking; and "war typhoon" waves and magnificent, body movement amplitude naturally increased accordingly. All of these, emphasize the natural, that is, according to the mood of the music design body movements, and seek to play the natural beauty of grooming.

The aesthetic education in guzheng teaching is multifaceted, and the above is only a few aspects. In the actual teaching, they are interrelated and permeate each other as a whole. That is to say: after mastering the basic knowledge, playing posture, fingering, playing manners and other elementary contents, we should pay careful attention to practicing the correct fingertip touching the strings, the purity of tone, dealing with the relationship between relaxation and tension, improving the speed of plucking, and mastering the different effects of the techniques of ging, kneading, pressing, sliding, etc. They must be organically combined and integrated in a specific way. They must be organically combined and highlighted at specific times. Our purpose is: to give full play to the characteristics of guzheng art itself, to stimulate students' interest and enthusiasm in learning guzheng, to cultivate students' creativity and aesthetic ability, so that students can enhance their feelings and understanding of beauty in the training of playing skills, and at the same time improve their playing skills in the exploration and pursuit of beauty, so as to truly master the true meaning of guzheng art.