How to Play Opera Percussion Instruments

Methods of playing opera percussion instruments

Chinese opera percussion instruments can basically be divided into Chinese ethnic percussion instruments and Western percussion instruments. Ethnic percussion instruments play an irreplaceable and important role in China's national music and opera music. Below I have organized the method of playing opera percussion instruments for you, I hope it can help you!

Chinese opera percussion instruments, basically can be divided into Chinese ethnic percussion instruments and Western percussion instruments. Ethnic percussion instruments play an irreplaceable and important role in China's national music and opera music. Chinese ethnic percussion instruments are not only rhythmic instruments, but each group of percussion clusters can be played independently. It also uses a unique musical language and a variety of arranging techniques and complex playing skills, which play a very important role in setting the atmosphere, expressing the musical content, changes in dramatic plot and aggravating the expressive power of the music. Most of the percussion instruments pronounced loud, the sound of the air permeability is strong, is a colorful instrument.

First, the performance of opera instruments and playing method

Opera percussion instruments: drums, plates, gongs, cymbals, wooden fish, clappers and so on.

Drums include single-skin drums, drums, drums, drums, drums and so on.

Single-skin drum: percussion and orchestral command instruments, drums covered with pigskin, the center of the hollow, placed on a wooden frame when playing, with two thin bamboo (commonly known as drums door locks, drums sign), strike the drum hollow position and sound. The sound is clear and crisp, and when the double-healthy roll is played, it is like a bead falling from a flower and flowing from a jade disk. With the bottom of the drum command, sometimes with gestures, all kinds of instruments with its command to play. The method of command relies on the sound leader. The language is rich and varied, and the description is accurate. For example, a single drum is called "playing" when it is hit hard. Double drums with the same hit is called "eight". Double drums door locks rolling hit is called "doo" ...... will be a combination of the above designations, it will become the "reed head", also known as the "bottom drum". It is also known as the "bottom drum". It indicates the content, speed and strength. If the "bottom drum" is struck strongly or quickly, it signals strength and urgency. If the "bottom drum" is lightly or slowly struck, it symbolizes softness and lightness. If the "bottom drum" suddenly changes tempo, it suggests a change or end of the drum beat.

The drummer's commanding movements are both standardized and regular. Both hands play a role in opening, leading, turning, closing. The action can be summarized as pointing, swinging, throwing, leading, sticking, holding, pressing, splitting, releasing, etc. The drummers are called drummers. The person who plays the drums is called the drum master.

Board: also known as clapboard. By three pieces of about 6 centimeters wide, about 20 centimeters long mahogany or poplar board made of percussion instruments. Divided into two groups, the former group of two wooden boards, tied with strings, after a group of one, the two are linked by the rope, hit the pronunciation, mainly for singing and playing music when playing rhythm, and sometimes with the drums to lead the drums and command other instruments, in the drums together with the synthesis of the board drums, drummers and pipe.

Tang drum: wood for the frame, both sides covered with cowhide, similar to the waist drum, placed on a wooden frame when playing, with mallets to hit the sound, the tang drum drum surface is larger, from the heart of the drum to the drum side of the drum can be issued in different pitches, tones. The drum surface is large, from the drum center to the edge of the drum can produce different pitches and tones. When playing, the volume can be from very weak to very strong, with large changes in intensity, can hit the complex flower points, the rendering of the emotional atmosphere can play a greater role, is a modern folk instrumental ensemble and a commonly used instrument in opera music. It is commonly used in war, tent rising, hall rising, torture scene, and other scenes, as well as suona blowing and beating. In addition to the war scenes, are managed by the drums.

Hall drums (also known as drums): wooden drum frame, face large bottom small, both sides of the skin, shaped like a flowerpot, so also known as flowerpot drums. Playing skills and drums are basically the same, struck with wooden mallets, the sound is lower than the drums and majestic, used in war scenes, can aggravate the atmosphere. Commonly used in opera accompaniment, instrumental ensemble, and sometimes solo.

Gong: made of copper, round, about 30 centimeters in diameter, about 10 centimeters in the center of the gong, when playing, the left hand holds the gong strong, so that the gong surface is vertical, the right hand holds the mallet, the head of the mallet (wrapped in cloth) hit the heart of the gong and the sound of the gong, gong sound high-pitched. Mostly used for military generals and robes with characters up and down the field or war battle surface, but also commonly used in joyful instrumental ensemble, playing methods are heavy, light, muffled sound, cover the sound, hit the edge, and so on.

Small gongs: percussion instruments. Shaped like a large gong (diameter of about 20 centimeters) when playing the left hand index finger and thumb to pick the edge of the gong, the right hand holding the gong plate (about 17 centimeters long bamboo piece) hit the heart of the gong, pronounced clear, mostly used in opera performances in Chinese, women and clown characters up and down, and with a variety of performances on the small movements. Due to the different characterization and psychological activities. Percussion methods are heavy, light, muffled, hit the edge and so on. No. percussion

cymbals (also known as cymbals): copper round, the middle of the bulge such as hemispherical, bulge part of the middle of the hole, wearing a tie silk or cloth belt strip, to two pieces for a pair, hit each other to pronounce the sound, there are different sizes and a variety of shapes in the middle of the big gongs and gongs to strengthen the rhythm of the sound of the sound of the shrill and noisy, with the characteristics of the unstable and the power of the performance of the strong, and to play the role of the link, and sometimes used alone to shape the character image. Sometimes it is also used alone to shape the character image.

Wooden fish: wooden fish is initially a Buddhist instrument, used to accompany the temple scriptures (i.e., religious songs), and then gradually used for folk instrumental ensemble. Made of wood, struck with a mallet, the size of the wooden fish, different pitch, in the ensemble commonly used two or a group, can play a variety of cheerful rhythmic patterns such as imitation of horse hooves.

Clappers: around the 17th century AD, with the rise of the clapper chamber and popular. Wooden, for two different lengths of hardwood rods, the long one is round, slightly thick, short one slightly thin, playing, the left hand holding a round stick, the right hand holding a short stick, knocking pronunciation, tone high, solid, is one of the main accompaniment of the clapper operas.

Second, the combination of opera percussion instruments

According to the performance and characteristics of the various percussion instruments, different forms of combination and matching, so that its pronunciation is more standardized, the rhythm is richer, the tone is more distinctive, the image is more accurate, and the mood is more far-reaching. The combination of different forms of percussion instruments makes them more standardized in articulation, richer in rhythm, sharper in tone, more accurate in image, and more far-reaching in meaning. They are also used to express the status of the characters, the size of their movements, the weight of their words, and the changes in their feelings, as well as to match the dances, the openings, and the appearances of their performances, and to accentuate and render the ambience of the environment. The combination of different forms is called "gongs and drums". There are more than 300 kinds of opera in China, with different singing styles. In the same kind of opera, there are different styles and genres of singing. But only the "gongs and drums" can be mixed. Although there are not many musical instruments used, there are more than 70 gongs and drums. For example, [Long Hammer], [Four Strikes], [Emergency Wind], [Phoenix Nodding], [Looking at Home] and so on. Combination of forms can be summarized in the following categories:

(1) Combination by timbre. Which can also be subdivided into a variety of different color type. Such as: a, a single color type, that is, with a tone of the instrument to play. b, mixed color type, that is, more than two different colors of the instrument to play. c, contrasting color type, that is, more than two timbres of the instrument to play. The three instruments in the above list, namely the big gong, the hand cymbal and the small gong, all form a sharp color contrast between them.

(2) Combination by timing. That is, the various rhythms of percussion are divided according to the number of strokes. In other words, the combination of the rhythmic time value of rugged percussion is the basis of a number of "counting formula", namely: one, three, five, seven. This method of categorization is consistent with the aesthetic characteristics of our nation. It is the equivalence in the length of the time value, i.e. the time value of the last note of each counting formula is the sum of the time values of the first two notes. That is to say, the time value of the one-number formula is equal to one beat, and the time value of the three-number formula is equal to two beats. The diversity of rhythmic combinations of opera percussion is based on this change and development. For example, through the "plus flower" to develop with this counterpart of two, four, six, eight of the four rhythmic patterns. At the same time, a variety of different rhythmic forms can also be developed on this basis.

The function of percussion instruments in opera

The function of percussion is to express the thoughts and feelings of the characters through the rhythm, strength, speed, timbre, acoustic nuances and sharp contrasts, embellish the form of the actors' performances, intensify the conflict of the drama, rendering the environmental atmosphere of the stage, and mimic the specific acoustic effects. It is known as the link of many artistic factors, the core of the whole situation, and the pillar of the actors' artistic activities, because it completes the unity of the whole structure of the opera and the whole rhythm of the stage. Specifically, not only performances, recitation, singing, opening and dancing rely on it, but also even the expression of the actor's inner monologue also rely on it. For example, in the Yu Opera "Picking up the Jade Bangle", Sun Yujiao picks up the jade bracelet: Sun Yujiao picks up the jade bracelet dropped by her lover, but she is afraid of being discovered, so she rushes out to peep at it. At this time, the percussion accompanies her light and agile small steps, playing "○大大大大大大乙大乙台", with the effect of the rhythm going from fast to slow and the intensity going from strong to weak. The gong's "tai" sound was right on Sun Yujiao's prying eyes. When Sun Yujiao realized that no one was there, she couldn't hide her inner joy, so she danced with her hands, pointing to the jade bracelet with her left hand, which was accompanied by the percussion "乙大乙台"; and pointing to the jade bracelet with her right hand, which was accompanied by "乙大乙台": as Sun Yujiao ran towards the bracelet impatiently, the gong continuously struck "乙大乙台", which was accompanied by "B Da Yi Ta" (B Da Yi Ta). When Sun Yujiao ran towards the bracelet impatiently, the small gong continuously struck "tai tai tai tai tai tai ......"; when Sun Yujiao was about to pick up the bracelet, she suddenly realized the movement, and the percussion hurriedly accompanied by the short and powerful drumbeat "Da Da", which expresses Sun Yujiao's current situation in the best possible way.

The drums and gongs alone, with their different strengths, speeds, and colors, vividly portrayed, accurately expressed, effectively simulated, and moderately exaggerated Sun Yujiao's simple image of picking up the jade bracelet. At the same time, it also makes Sun Yujiao's beautiful performance more musical.

Sun Yujiao's performance so that people can be satisfied, lies in our full use of the characteristics of percussion, portraying the character's inner activities, through the auditory rhythm and the inner rhythm of the harmonic unity, to obtain the artistic effect of transmitting. It can be said that the rhythm of percussion is to "beat" the actors, but also to "beat" the audience, and to "beat" the theater and the theater together, in order to complete the complete artistic creation.

The use of percussion in many folk music has played a very good role. For example, Nie Er's "Dance of the Golden Snake", the main melody has a distinctive rhythmic character, and this elastic rhythm runs through the whole piece. The music is warmed up with the addition of percussion. It symbolizes the light, symbolizes the new life in the future, gives people a strong encouragement, so that the festive atmosphere of the folk festivities are fully embodied, so that the cheerful mood of the original song can be further played.

The piece utilizes a large number of gongs, drums, cymbals, wooden fish and other percussion instruments, which not only strengthens the rhythm of the piece, but also plays an important role in accentuating the warm atmosphere. Percussion is an integral part of the piece, and it makes the national character of the piece more distinctive.

Chinese folk percussion instruments have gradually formed a unique artistic style and a complete performance system, relying on the deep background of Chinese classical philosophy and traditional culture during their long history of evolution. It not only strengthens the position of opera in the world's theater and enriches the expressive ability of opera music, but also exerts an extremely important influence on the development of Chinese folk music in many ways. Therefore, to study and summarize the special functions of Chinese folk percussion is not only a need for the development of opera music itself, but also a need for the development of China's folk music industry.

Types of percussion instruments

One of the percussion - jazz drums

We know that rhythm is the basic skeleton of the music, to understand the music, listen to the music, you must start from the rhythm, and the rhythm is easier than the pitch to be accepted by young children.

Nowadays, there are a lot of children and parents who like jazz drums. Every child likes to bang and play, and has an innate sensitivity to sound, so percussion is very suitable for young children's innate instincts. Almost every child will grab whatever they can and hit it, it's a natural instinct. The main reason why teenagers like jazz drums is still the passionate and free nature of jazz drums, especially the ability to vent their inner emotions.

The popularity of popular music drive a large number of young people to participate in one of the reasons, at present, the country does not lack of piano players do not lack of guitarists, but very short of drummers, because drummers want to reach a certain height or more difficult, it is a kind of easy to learn and difficult to master the instrument.

Jazz drum learning requires hands and feet are used, the body's coordination, balance, harmonious development has a significant role and impact, this promotion and development, but also in the balance of coordination, but also in the sensitive response, open mind, keen observation, rich imagination and creativity.

Learning jazz drums is still difficult, and beginners have to coordinate their limbs to play it, and practicing is quite a boring thing.

Learning jazz drums at a relatively older age would be better, before it would be required to start at the age of 9 years old, and now at the age of 5 years old to start learning a lot.

Children who learn jazz drums need to have a good sense of rhythm and be passionate,

Children who are too introverted are not easily engaged in learning jazz drums, and may even feel that it is too noisy and noisy. If parents want their children to become more cheerful, the process of learning jazz drums can change him better.

There is also the issue of the venue requirements for jazz drumming, the soundproofing should be good, or your next door neighbor is going to fight with you, which is one of the main factors of the relatively small number of people learning jazz drums.

There are many ways to solve this problem, such as renting a space and practicing at a training center, but of course, this will cause another problem, the problem of pick-up time.

The best way

One, or at home to do a good soundproof room to provide children to practice,

Second, there are still many kinds of jazz drums on the way to reduce the sound of the drums, to ensure that the sound is transmitted out of the relatively small, do not affect the neighbors (such as in the drums on the drums on the installation of the device mute drum pads, or in the drum drums to reduce the sound of the placement of sponges, and so on, are proved to be very effective method). This is a very effective way to reduce the sound of the drums.)

Third, the current domestic and foreign are in order to better solve the problem of the practice of influencing the neighbors and the development of electronic drums, electronic drums, electronic drums, all the functions are exactly the same as the real drums, however, in the case of not turning on the speakers it will not send out the sound, open the sound after the volume is also according to your own requirements can be adjusted.

The advantage of electronic drums is that they have a very realistic sound, the same sound as in a recorded CD, which gives the child a greater sense of satisfaction. There is also a huge sound library, which includes a variety of internationally recognized drum tones (such as conga drums, African drums, bongo drums ......). But the shortcomings of the electronic drums is also very obvious, it just simulates the tone, the feel of striking the electronic drums and striking the real drums feel also very different. The real drums it is spiritual, will respond to your emotions, your emotional response to your expression to make the most correct display.

Many people think that learning the drums will affect your child's ears. In fact, this is not something you need to worry about, there are many ways to protect your child's ears, such as bringing sound-proof headphones and placing sound-weakening devices in the drums.

The capital investment of jazz drums is also quite expensive, ordinary some of them have to be about 2000, good drums generally need about 5000-20000, and drumsticks, drum skins are consumables.

Percussion - the marimba

The marimba is the only one of these percussion instruments that has a world-class competition

Learning to play the marimba at the age of 8 years old or so, the marimba is a musical instrument that is played standing up, and the child is too small to reach the height is not a very good grasp.

The marimba is a difficult instrument to learn, but it is also the best melodic percussion instrument.

Learning the marimba requires the child to have a good sense of rhythm, a strong sense of melody, and a certain amount of patience.

The marimba is known as the piano of percussion, it is a melodic percussion instrument with a very wide range of tones that can be played solo, or by several people in a repertoire group, or in a marimba ensemble. In addition, the effect of cooperation with other percussion instruments is comparable to that of a big band. There are countless marimba ensembles and percussion groups around the world, and the marimba is a leader in the field of percussion.

Currently, the marimba has not been fully recognized in China, and after a period of promotion, it should be accepted and sought after by everyone. The Shanghai Conservatory of Music, a famous music school in China, once put the four World Marimba Competition and 2005 Shanghai International Percussion Week held at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the Chopin International Piano Competition and the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition of the same level of the World Marimba Competition, which is known as the percussion world's "F1" or the "Masters Cup". "Masters Cup". (This is the first time that the world's highest standard performance event has settled in Shanghai. Shanghai Conservatory of Music percussion professional discipline leader Yang Ruwen said, the Shanghai Music Institute is ready to use this tournament strive in five to ten years, Shanghai will become a new center of Asia and even the world percussion.)

The making of a marimba is considered to be one of the most difficult in the manufacture of musical instruments, which not only requires the maker to have good skills and extensive experience, but also a very good knowledge of the selection of materials. The production of marimba requires high-quality mahogany, very demanding in the selection of wood, at present, the world can make marimba trees are very few, the distribution range is also very narrow.

The marimba was first used in orchestral music in 1874 for the performance of "Dance of the Dead". At that time it was also used as a solo instrument in circuses and concert halls. As the marimba's status has risen and its repertoire has been improved, it has been used in a wide range of applications and repertoire. Nowadays, the marimba is mainly used in concert performances, in orchestras, marching bands and various bands there are marimbas, there are many composers for the marimba, including orchestra concertos. More importantly, the marimba can be played solo, or by several people to form a repertoire group, can also form a marimba ensemble. In addition, the effect of cooperation with other percussion instruments is comparable to that of a big band. There are countless marimba ensembles and percussion ensembles around the world, and the marimba is a leader in the field of percussion.

Marimba and xylophone (xylophone) belongs to the same family, the xylophone's range is narrow, the sound area is high, the tone is crisp and bright, while the marimba's range is very wide, the tone is rounded and thick, the continuation of the sound is long. The largest marimba has nearly 6 groups of registers, more than 3 meters long, a marimba can be up to 4 people playing at the same time. To make the marimba sound good tone, mallet is very important, there is no good mallet is no marimba charming tone. Nowadays, there are dozens of mallets used for marimba playing. The round head of the mallet is made of resin and rubber, and silk thread and wool yarn are used to twist the round head into a ball shape, and its softness and hardness are very different. Therefore, the performer should be strictly selected according to the content of the work and the distribution of the voice.

The marimba is very expensive, an ordinary one also needs about 30,000 yuan, and a good one usually needs about 10 - 200,000 yuan.

The total number of ethnic musical instruments is not a few words can finish, anyway, as long as it is in our national development of musical instruments are collectively referred to as ethnic musical instruments ~! Ethnic musical instruments are mainly so categorized, mainly divided into playing instruments (pipa, guzheng, liuqin, ruan, etc.), playing instruments (erhu, jinghu, gaohu, horse-head qin, etc.) blowing instruments (suona, sheng, flute, hulusi, etc.) and percussion instruments (yangqin, row drums, drums, etc.).

Percussion - African drums

Jazz drums are still difficult to learn, compared to the African drums is much easier to learn, you can let the child feel a lot of joy.

The age requirement is not too restrictive, 3 years old or so began to learn, just relatively small children their ability to accept is very weak, focus on the time is also very short, the beginning of the study can only say that they have a role in guiding the role of the game subconsciously learn the rhythm and melody. The main function is still to cultivate the children's ability to collaborate and coordinate the left and right hands and body.

The requirements for learning is to have a certain sense of rhythm will be better, more enthusiastic children are better, the African drums on the development of children's collaborative spirit has a very big advantage, if the child is more introverted in the process of making friends more constrained, if the child to learn the African drums will be of great help.

The African drum is a solo instrument is also an ensemble instrument, it can be a person alone performance, but also with another African drums to play against, but also with the conga drums, jazz drums, bongo drums and so on to form a percussion ensemble, but also with the guitar with the formation of a small band to perform.

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