My opinion on the development of national (bel canto) singing.

China's Bel Canto Singing Art in the Past 2500 Years

When I saw the first draft of One Voice, my first reaction was "There must be something amazing in this book". The author, Wang Weimin, is my old friend and the artistic director of China Art Promotion Center. In more than 50 years of contacts, he always brought me such surprises and accidents.

First of all, the author clearly put forward an unprecedented concept of vocal music art, "China traditional bel canto art". Following the development track of traditional Bel Canto, the author has read and studied a large number of ancient books and ancient poems, learned about the brilliant achievements of vocal music singing in China since ancient times, and listed dozens of representative singers and outstanding singers from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. Although due to the limitation of scientific development stage, no audio materials were left to prove their singing, the praise and description of great poets and literati in past dynasties recorded the love, appreciation and intoxication from the court to the folk, which can confirm the infinite charm of traditional vocal music singing and its value and position in casting civilization.

What's more, based on modern physics, acoustics, physiology and singing mechanism, and referring to the western Bel Canto school represented by the Italian Bel Canto school, the author explains, describes and confirms the long and glorious history and exquisite inheritance of China's traditional Bel Canto art, and points out its unique nationality and scientificity. At the same time, we do not shy away from its historical limitations, backward gang thinking, and various shortcomings and deficiencies.

In Yi, according to the historical development, the author timely and appropriately shifted the research focus of "traditional bel canto" to the traditional opera art that appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty. After nearly a thousand years' development, it is very correct to choose Beijing Opera and Kunqu Opera as the representatives of "traditional Bel Canto singing art" in China, where 56 ethnic groups have nearly 360 kinds of dramas. However, the practice on today's drama stage proves that it is Beijing-Kunqu Opera that can inherit and represent the "local tune" of our Chinese nation! I remember that in the early 1940s, the famous Peking Opera "Jin Shaoshan" was performed in Tianjin China Grand Theatre (there was no electroacoustic amplification equipment at that time). At that time, Xia Yaping, a world-famous bass singer and Russian opera master, said after listening to Jin Shaoshan's singing: "This actor won the best singing." He evaluated it from the perspective of western bel canto school, and he paid attention to singing, not voice. After that, Qiu founded the Qiupai singing method, especially shine on you. The singing method of Qiupai can fully mobilize the * * * shock of nasal cavity by gaining the high position of * * * * (the key point of * * *), and make a generous, full, sonorous and bright high-pitched shock, such as the famous copper hammers Meng Guanglu and Kang Wansheng, singing high-pitched and sonorous voices, which can be called entering the kingdom of freedom. A performance can sing dozens of high d freely and conveniently, and get applause from the audience. Singing C in the tenor of western opera, the audience shouted "Bravo!" It is the same.

In the world music circle, since the Renaissance in Europe, the vocal music schools represented by Italy, Germany, France, Russia and other countries have been formed in the development of vocal music, and they are world-renowned for their singing methods and works with their own language and style characteristics for hundreds of years. Since the beginning of the 20th century, our ancestors went to Europe to study music and singing, and brought back Bel Canto and songs, which promoted the progress of China's vocal music. "Bel Canto comes from the West" became a conclusion because of common sense. This paper puts forward the historical origin and achievements of China's traditional Bel Canto, which makes us know that Bel Canto appeared in China as early as 2,500 years ago and made brilliant achievements, which will help the vocal music circle in China to be firm and confident in establishing the China vocal music school and establish a development path based on national style and characteristics.

Speaking of national vocal music art, we can't miss the folk art in the north, that is to say, singing art. As the name implies, it is mainly talk, but from the point of view that the broad masses love it, it is because of its singing skills and appreciation of its vocal beauty. If you tell a story, it is enough to listen to it once, but "never tire of listening" can only rely on the attraction of singing. Take Liu Baoquan, the king of drums, as an example. He used to study drama. When he found that Tan Pai's momentum and influence were too great, he switched to singing Jing Yun drums, and he also took the lead. Today, we listened to his 78-turn old record and couldn't help applauding his singing skills. The language is clear and elegant, and the voice is soft, transparent and round. It doesn't sound high-pitched, but he can easily sing the high e of a certain note. Moreover, his voice is true, his pronunciation is clear, and his voice is vertical from beginning to end, without the feeling of being flat, flat, crowded and pressed. In addition, Jin Wanchang and Gao and Zhao He with plum blossom drums are very fashionable in Tianjin. They have occupied the stage for decades with their beautiful voices, clear language and emotional performances. Especially worth mentioning is Wang Yubao. Every time I listen to her singing in the 1950s, I think of that Ukrainian baritone. He is a famous western European classical opera singer in Moscow Grand Theatre. He sang his father George armand in La Traviata, and sang 16 in one breath in an aria to persuade his son, which shocked the international opera world, and so did Wang Yubao in China. However, we will never see her great breath and sense of exertion. From the analysis of scientific vocalization, their singing state must be that the vocal cords are very elastic and ring at the touch. Taking a deep breath and holding a small column, supporting the voice intensively in a high position and exerting the maximum energy of breathing and singing are one of the exquisite examples of traditional Bel Canto singing in China.

Over the past 30 years, there have been many talented people in the vocal music field in China, with remarkable achievements. Many young and middle-aged singers who won prizes in international competitions and occupied the world opera stage have realized our ideals decades ago. Our cause is developing greatly, but there are also bad tendencies to pay attention to in the process of progress. For example, the phenomenon of valuing sound over emotion can be seen everywhere in China. Therefore, in the past foreign exchanges, we often heard some internationally renowned vocalists, directors and singers' comments on the current situation of China's vocal music, and almost agreed that young people in China have good voices everywhere, but their emotional expression is insufficient. In the past, we went through the stage of learning from the Soviet Union and the Russian school. Whether it is the Stani performance system or other schools in Europe, actors are required from the aspects of character and overall performance. Just like the old people in the field of Chinese opera, they combine words, spirit, strength and taste with characters from the aspects of hands, eyes, body, method and stepping into hands, put forward requirements and main points, and ask actors from the aspects of expression, image and action. Since they are all called moving art, the principles and techniques of Chinese and foreign performing artists must be the same. Because Wang Weimin has knowledge of both traditional singing and western vocal music, he can put forward the basic skills of "Trinity" in traditional opera singing-"Wandering Bay", "Shouting Voice" and "Hanging Voice" to compare with western Bel Canto singing.

China's traditional Bel Canto has been greatly developed and improved because of the appearance of traditional operas. In the 20th century, new operas appeared. In the 1950s and 1960s, because many excellent plays were loved by the audience, the theater art theater was very prosperous, and it was praised by the international opera community as the only country in the world that popularized opera performances. After the 1980s, there have been some sayings that "foreign languages are paramount" and "the international standard is to perform original operas". I appreciate the classical operas performed by our young actors in recent years. They (including the choir) have made great efforts and created conditions for joining the international community and performing abroad. However, I still have doubts about advocating singing the original play. At a symposium with German opera circles, I asked them what languages foreign operas (Italy, France, Russia and other countries) sang. They said: "Singing mostly in German is to let most audiences understand the plot and the delicate performance of the characters." . Imagine a country with a high level of music and culture like Germany, in order to better serve the people, let alone us!

In the past 30 years, pop music has flourished, and it is really overwhelming because of the love of young people. The biggest advantage of pop songs is that they are easy to be popular among the masses, sung and affect people's lives. They are relaxing, and anyone who wants to sing can sing. Unlike western singing, it is also called "making musical instruments". Popular singing only needs to master tone color, personality, rhyme and style with vocal instinct.

Although the article "Different" does not involve comments on pop songs, in my singing practice, the most contacted co-stars are pop singers. Almost every time we meet, there are young people we have never met. They sing very well. Pop songs occupy a huge space and time, with a large number of talents, and it is difficult to distinguish between majors and enthusiasts, and it is also difficult to count and summarize the singing styles and characteristics. But there is one indicator that can be distinguished, and that is language, which can be understood or not. Pop songs should have been introduced and influenced by American film music at the earliest. 1945 After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, jazz was everywhere. After more than 30 years of reform and opening up, disco and rock music have been introduced one after another. I have noticed that no matter how the times change and how music develops, one thing remains unchanged, that is, the singing language of foreign singers is very clear and elegant, often with personal characteristics, which makes fans flock to it. Only at this point is it very different. Generally speaking, artistic expression has two elements: one is beauty, and the other is understanding. Beauty is worth appreciating, arousing people's yearning and purifying the soul.

Not long ago, in a forum on the development of pop music, a famous musician put forward the topic of "live music" return, which means to solve the problems that appear after the actors lip-synch, because TV production requires perfection as much as possible. Originally, TV production and live performance were two different things, but now it has formed a performance mode, which is popular everywhere. Doing so is irresponsible and disrespectful to the audience. The second is that in the long run, actors can give up their basic skills and ruin their future. At present, singing is rarely practiced in the background of the theater. Occasionally, an actor goes on stage to really sing, but it becomes the object of everyone's questioning-"Really sing?" ! The future of "live music-theater art" is worrying.

China is a big country in vocal music. It is a good opportunity to build a harmonious society, seek international cooperation and common development, and promote the progress of human civilization. We should give full play to our own advantages, overcome prejudice and make due contributions to the cause of vocal music. From the postscript of Yi's manuscript, I can fully understand and agree with the author's mood-it is an extremely arduous, complicated and long-term systematic project to explore, sort out and establish China's bel canto school scientifically, systematically and normatively, and the first thing to face is the argument of different understandings and concepts, so the author appeals to people with aspirations in the same field to "continue to talk" ... I firmly believe that Han E "walks around the beam".