Common sense of national opera

Singing and dancing are equal to zero —— Reflections on the film Song of Music

Recently, in my spare time, I paid attention to the CCTV multimedia musical "Song of the Movie" with the largest publicity scale and the highest expectation value this year through CCTV and Sina. Com and other related media, through scripts, song samples, actor selection and some audio and video materials. First of all, it must be affirmed that "Song of the Movie", like "Snow Wolf Lake", gave birth to the musical market in China, and made an indelible contribution to enhancing China people's interest in musicals. However, from a professional point of view, I really can't say that the Song Dynasty in the film has given us many commendable breakthroughs. Jonathan Lee and others' past, present and future pop songs; Basically, the protagonist from the film and television industry can only take care of singing skills when interpreting songs, and there is still a certain distance from using songs to shape roles and promote the development of the plot. For example, due to the lack of basic vocal music training, in a play with a large age span, it can not be said that the problem of good performance and poor singing can be solved well, and there is little difference between playing young people and playing old people decades later; Although Beijing Modern Dance Troupe has not yet joined the platoon, it is suspected to be a senior dancer from the space they left for the dance troupe. There is also a "new vision of world-class art", which is said to break through the budget again and again, making CCTV investors feel very painful, and so on. This is the initial impression of the relevant materials and information before the premiere of the film "Song".

I can't help but think of an argument initiated by Wu Guanzhong in the art world more than ten years ago. Wu Guanzhong's declaration that "pen and ink are equal to zero" has aroused the shock and reflection of China's art world, making a huge theoretical contention become a unique landscape of China's art world at the end of the 20th century and continue into the new millennium. Wu Guanzhong understood "pen and ink" as the skill of painting, and thought that "isolated pen and ink without concrete pictures is equal to zero, just like mud without image, its value is equal to zero". The reason why he put forward this view is because he himself felt that there was no way out for Chinese painting at that time. The field of Chinese painting was full of outdated cliches, and many painters used fixed technical standards to create. His subjective intention is to criticize what he thinks is the malpractice of the times and innovate, so he sounded the alarm with the fierce words of "pen and ink equals zero".

This also makes me feel that, in view of the chaotic situation of China musicals, it is necessary to use Wu's courage and critical thinking to shout out the voice that "singing and dancing equals zero". Starting from the strategy of putting China's original musicals on the right track, we have no reason not to return to zero the "song and dance narrative" in China's traditional operas, China's more entertaining musicals and more modern musicals with fearless courage. At the same time, we should unswervingly adhere to the theme of international method presentation and aesthetic appeal, so as to attract people's attention to this music theme.

"Singing and dancing equals zero" is not only a slogan, but also an artistic proposition, which reflects our rational response to some false prosperity phenomena in China's music boom. The appearance of this slogan is actually the natural result of the development of China's original musicals.

1, the background of the concept of "singing and dancing equals zero"

In recent years, there has been a constant debate about what a musical is, whether it is necessary to define a musical and how to develop China's original musical. Among them, the constant questioning and questioning about the musical features of many so-called original musicals lies in its deconstruction of China's traditional "song and dance centralism". The so-called "song and dance centralism" refers to the artistic concept with song, dance and drama as its core values formed in the development of song and dance entertainment in China. Traditionally, China's operas and musicals have been gradually constructed with "singing and dancing to tell stories" as the core value standard. Therefore, when musicals become the most fashionable stage performance form in China today, due to the lack of systematic research on European and American classical musicals, many professionals rashly regard China's traditional "singing and telling stories" as a creative and aesthetic standard to guide China's original China musicals.

"Song and Dance Narration" is indeed the unique personality of China opera and song and dance drama. In the process of constructing the core value standard position, it gradually has independent aesthetic artistic value, but it is not entirely a kind of music value aesthetics. The aesthetic value of song and dance can be seen from two aspects: on the one hand, it is the pure body language and vocal form of song and dance, on the other hand, it is the cultural connotation endowed and contained by song and dance. Therefore, the aesthetic value of song and dance seems to be independent, but it is still restricted by many transcendental values endowed by entertainment or art forms, not just perceived by purely formal and skillful visual or auditory feelings. These two aspects of "Song-and-Dance Narration" in China's traditional operas and musicals are always closely combined to form a "semi-autonomous" state.

In the development of "Song-and-Dance Narration", the traditional culture supporting the aesthetic value of "Song-and-Dance Narration" is constantly impacted by new culture and entertainment methods, so there is a traditional China opera culture and a more entertaining China song-and-dance drama performance mode. Once these song and dance elements are connected, hand in hand, and integrated with the special aesthetic feeling shown by the imaginary and freehand features of opera, they form the song and dance features symmetrical to opera; Once it is linked and combined with the traditional music performance rules, it constitutes a song and dance feature symmetrical with musicals. For example, "singing and dancing to tell stories" is the basic feature of traditional operas in China, and music is the soul of traditional operas in China. From the form of expression of traditional Chinese opera art, no matter the script structure, stage performance or drama style, music has been integrated. Therefore, music has become an important symbol to distinguish different operas in China traditional operas. For traditional musicals, the same is true, and music also determines its artistic style and level. Whether music can be perfectly combined with traditional Chinese opera and musical to achieve harmony and unity will directly affect the artistic presentation of a play and even a drama.

When the country was opened, European and American musicals flooded into China, and showed increasingly strong market effects. People in China who were unprepared were at a loss for a while, and in this grim situation, they lacked particularly effective countermeasures. As a result, the traditional rhythm and aesthetic taste of "song and dance narration" have naturally become the fastest and most handy weapon for some people. Recently, a number of musicals that look like musicals but are not musicals have begun to flood in China.

The deconstruction of "song and dance equals zero" to "song and dance centralism" is driven by this "crisis" situation of "song and dance narration".

2. Singing and dancing is just a skill, not a soul.

If a musical leaves the artistic charm of singing and dancing, it will lose its artistic characteristics, so it is correct to keep this bottom line. However, only relying on this so-called "bottom line" can not solve the fundamental problem of music development. China has always had a tradition of singing, dancing and telling stories. The development of China's original musicals is not the fundamental problem. In other words, singing and dancing is just a skill, not a soul, which is also an important reason why we advocate "singing and dancing equals zero".

So, what is the most important thing to maintain in developing China's original musicals, or what is the most scarce bottom line in China at present? If this problem is not clarified, the future of China musicals will definitely be bleak.

We have always believed that what China lacks most now is the method presentation and aesthetic appeal to make musicals international. Artistic creation is not the same as scientific creation. Whether it is musical, opera, ballet or drama, it has its inherent creative laws, which reflect and accumulate people's aesthetic interests for hundreds of years. The attention and convergence to the presentation of musical internal methods and aesthetic demands will inevitably challenge the creative laws and aesthetic methods of traditional musicals. Therefore, the method presentation and aesthetic appeal of contemporary musicals under the background of globalization is not a simple aesthetic interest problem, but a professional trend of musicals as an independent discipline. If you want to be unique, this bottom line must be adhered to. Ten thousand people have ten thousand kinds of drama virtues, which is difficult and should not be forced to be uniform. All forms of singing and dancing can be explored, but as long as it is a musical, we must pay attention to the inherent method presentation and aesthetic appeal of the musical, which is the most fundamental foothold for understanding the musical, the most important identification system for the musical, and the foundation for the survival of human musicals. Their status as the most important evaluation criteria of musicals is unshakable. Otherwise, the century-old wisdom and aura of China entertainment varieties may disappear in the dust of history. Unless you are up to no good, no one in China, including foreigners, would like to see such a result.

Some people may say that there are good and bad musicals in the west, but in China, musicals are not good. Just like the disabled, they are disabled, but he is still human. You can't say he's not human. Producers are willing to call their musicals musicals, but what do you have? This is a thoughtful question! This leads us to emphasize that both operas and traditional musicals must be created according to their own creative laws and aesthetic requirements. Even if music elements are added, only some beautiful and fashionable condiments will be added. If there are many condiments and suitable condiments, the taste of the dishes will not be bad, but this will never change the essence of traditional operas and musicals. At best, it can only be said that it is an improvement of traditional operas and musicals. It is a revolution of traditional operas and musicals, a new wave movement, because in the final analysis, they are just new wine in an old bottle created according to the essence of the creative laws of traditional operas and musicals, which is always in a quantitative change and has not reached a qualitative leap. If you want to create a musical, you must follow and apply the creative procedures and aesthetic requirements of the musical, otherwise this dish can't be called a musical even if it has strong song and dance elements. The core meaning of the musical's inherent creative program and aesthetic spirit is to inspire and guide the audience on the deep level of professional focus. For example, Sanjie Liu claimed that she was a musical from the beginning. Although Liu Sanjie danced Latin dance and tap dance in the play, she didn't lie that she was a musical that catered to the market. This is a commendable artistic attitude. Unfortunately, some dramas (especially some influential ones) are not so gentle and polite.

Wu Laozhi's "pen and ink equals zero" broke the dogma of technique and conservative thinking. It aims to restore the foundation of oriental modeling and enhance the soul of Chinese painting images. Between breakups, the point of view is self-evident. What Song and Dance Is Zero wants to dispel is the superficial view of music creation and aesthetics that blindly distorts the traditional strong clues and melodramatic song and dance shows into the core value standards of musicals. What we want to construct is the musical method with professional navigation significance and the current system of aesthetic taste, and then explore the three-dimensional drama spirit of singing, dancing and listening beauty.

There are two main ways of deconstruction: one is to look back at Europe and America and absorb the methods and aesthetic systems of foreign musicals. The three-dimensional dramatic aesthetic characteristics of musicals come from the west, so in the process of construction, we must at least take western musicals (especially book musicals and concept musicals) as the reference point, in terms of beat, method and aesthetic thought. Scripted musicals are usually accompanied by the word integrated musicals, while concept musicals are accompanied by fragmented musicals. It needs a broader vision, a clearer mind and bolder courage. The second is to look at the past and present, and strive to tap the beneficial elements of song and dance from their own traditions. China is a country rich in artistic resources, rich in folk music, especially opera and song and dance. We must have a full understanding of tradition, and we can no longer deny or discard the most precious things in tradition unconsciously. The former is to cure their own fundamental defects with western medicine, while the latter is to constantly discover the hidden value of tradition and present it. This does not mean abandoning the tradition, nor does it mean that the tradition has lost its value, but re-deconstructs the traditional aesthetic system of song and dance. This is only because the unique method presentation and aesthetic appeal characteristics of musicals are the consistent trend and inevitable requirement of the development of musicals as an independent discipline.

3. Without integration, there would be no musical.

No matter how brilliant and proud musicals are in the bumpy course of 100 years; No matter how many theoretical constructions there are in musicals, musicians are also radiant. However, the mainstream of musicals is still the expression of "realism aesthetics" and "experientialism aesthetics", which still does not surpass the mainstream drama thoughts and aesthetic pursuits of Shakespeare, Moliere and Ibsen. Because their artistic essence and aesthetic taste are the same, their internal laws and deductive spirit are the same, and their concern for human nature and compassion for the world are the same, although they are different in expression form and interpretation concept.

Zhang Xu, director of the musical department of Beijing Dance Academy, has always advocated that musicals should take the lead in guiding western art to realize the aesthetic expression of "total drama". Appreciating musicals from this standpoint will make the artistic aesthetic taste different from other forms of stage performances. For example, traditional drama is basically based on thinking and resolving the emotional entanglements and conflicts between people and things, realizing the drama task and achieving the drama purpose, while musical is based on the stage performance techniques and aesthetic concepts of the above-mentioned drama principles, almost completely giving up the core expression technique "line recitation" in traditional drama, and taking music as the mother of drama performance to express the requirements of drama theme; Traditional drama is to make a simple story as complicated and conflicting as possible, and to mutate the theme as much as possible, so as to realize the speculative drama task. Musical drama is to simplify and conceptualize complex stories as much as possible, and to free up more space and time to give complex stories, characters' emotions and dramatic conflicts to music as the main body, supplemented by dance and other artistic expressions, in pursuit of formal expression. Coupled with the development of science and technology, musical has become a completely open, free and democratic simple story and an alternative drama with various forms of expression. It can show the fullness and tension of drama in three dimensions and bear the purpose and significance of drama in multiple dimensions.

The three-dimensional and holistic characteristics of musical determine that drama is only its foundation, music is only its foundation, and dance is also its foundation. It pays attention to the multi-dimensional drama pulse: drama poetry, drama music, drama dance, drama rhythm and drama sound, and the unique drama aesthetic taste derived from this integration. So, whether it is R.