How to enjoy symphony and classical music
For a long time, many people think that symphony is an elegant, spiritual and even mysterious music form. As everyone knows, like an article, it is also divided into shades. As long as you understand and appreciate it, it is not difficult to get started, because it reflects and describes people's lives and their thoughts and feelings. All you have to do is start and stick to it, that is, listen, listen again and feel with your heart. This paper introduces some basic symphonic appreciation knowledge that China audience encountered in the process of accepting symphonies, and helps some music lovers who are unfamiliar with symphonies to briefly introduce the composition, appreciation methods and etiquette of symphonies. Keywords: Before the symphony orchestra composed music and appreciated etiquette, I knew nothing about the elegant art of symphony because of the lack of music knowledge and narrow knowledge. From the beginning of pop songs, to gradually like pop songs, folk songs, bel canto songs, my music appreciation ability can be said to have reached a qualitative leap. Since I fell in love with bel canto songs, pop songs have gone away from me unconsciously. On the contrary, this mainstream music occupies my whole musical thought. Now my love for elegant art can enter a state of obsession. I know almost all the famous singers who sing bel canto in China, such as Dai Yuqiang, Fan, Zhou Xiaoyan, Yao Hong,,, and Yongzheng. Not only many memorial halls in China. And many foreign countries also know a thing or two, such as the three tenors-Pavarotti, carreras and Domingo. And Bocelli, sarah brightman, etc. After listening to their songs and others singing, I feel that one is in the sky and the other is on the ground. They are the most dazzling singers active on the world stage today. Speaking of them, we naturally see some familiar songs: No One Sleeps Tonight, Song of Drinking, Saint Lucia, Make Way for the Blind, My Sun, Trust in Returning to the Soviet Union, Song of the Matador, Moonlight Goddess, Farewell Time, Mountaineering Cable Car and so on. Take us into the wonderful music world and feel the charm of elegant art. Unconsciously, we have a swim in the ocean of opera. When it comes to opera, you have to mention symphony. In the eyes of China people, symphony is an exotic product, and we spread it from the west. Symphony is also called symphony. People often compare it to "the sacred palace of the music kingdom". It is the most representative of symphonic music, and it can also be said that it is a symphony (symphony suite) played by a large orchestra. Symphony Orchestra is a big family of instrumental music in the music kingdom. Generally, it is divided into five groups: string group, woodwind group, brass group, percussion group and color instrument group. The following groups introduce various musical instruments (all from high to low): String group: violin, viola, cello and cello for two. Woodwind group: piccolo, flute, oboe, English pipe, clarinet and bassoon. Copper tube set: trumpet, horn, trombone and bass horn. Percussion instrument group: timpani, gong, cymbal, tambourine, triangle iron, etc. Color musical instrument group: piano, harp, xylophone, aluminum Zhong Qin, etc. For some special tracks, other musical instruments will be added, such as suona, trumpet, erhu and other national musical instruments. Because the symphony orchestra uses so many instruments, its expressive force is very rich. The symphony orchestra is divided into different arrangements according to the style of its works. Such as single tube, double tube, three tube, four tube, etc. Symphony has been developing continuously since its birth, and more and more new elements have been added to it. The magnificent, delicate and expressive symphony still has a large number of firm fans. The structure of the classic symphony is as follows: the first movement is sonata form, the second movement of Allegro is complex trilogy or variation, the third movement of Adagio is minuet or scherzo, and the fourth movement of Allegro is sonata form or Rondo form. The orchestra playing Allegro symphony is a symphony orchestra, and every country and even every city is proud of having a superb symphony orchestra. Music is seen with eyes, not heard with ears. This is especially true of symphonies. Hundreds of years of music make people feel surging, and it can still shine in today's music world because the symphony has extremely profound connotation and the spiritual thoughts injected into it by the author. It can even be said that symphony is the epitome of an era. When we listen to the symphony, we can not only feel the author's heart, but even walk into the author's era and feel the culture there. Symphony is such amazing music. Speaking of symphonies, many listeners have such requirements: symphonies are difficult to understand, and it is best to explain them clearly to our family. What's the show here? Where is the performance? Music depends more on our imagination than on clarity and concreteness, which depends on each of us' musical literacy ability. For example, the last paragraph of Rossini's opera William Toure is about defeating the enemy, and his construction is similar to the rhythm of horseshoe "dadada, dadada". We will definitely have associations: Oh, this may be the army, but the cavalry is running. Music itself can't see horses at all, nor can it see running. It just produces association from the rhythm, and this association has a specific condition, that is, it must run. If the horse doesn't run and stand there, music can't be realized. How do you know if it's a horse or a cow? Or something else? It can be seen that the descriptive and narrative nature of music is limited, and it is limited to those objective things that are acoustic, rhythmic and dynamic, that is, moving. Because music is the art of sound and hearing, it exists in the movement of sound. If sound and action are not involved, it is more difficult for music to "describe" these two characteristics. So the specialty of music is not description, nor narration, but lyricism. For example, when we are excited and nervous, our heart beats faster. When music expresses this emotion, it can adopt a tense and relatively fast rhythm; If you are calm, you will naturally relax and slow down, so the rhythm and speed of music will also slow down. Music has another feature. For example, when expressing sadness, anxiety, pain, anger and anger, it can be expressed in a subtle way and at multiple levels. In the third movement of the first symphony, I wrote a passage to describe the pain with the wailing of traditional opera. If you are familiar with the wailing of China traditional opera, it will sound associative. Music is written through the composer's subjective feelings, so it is very subjective. Listening comrades should also give full play to their subjective initiative. Music creation is different from other arts. Literature has written a novel, and its creation has been completed. It is not enough to write a script for a play. It needs to be executed. This is the second creation. What about the music? In addition to this second creation, there is a third creation, that is, how the audience appreciates and understands this work, that is to say, the audience should also participate in this creation, so that the creative process of such a musical work can be considered complete. Some listeners also asked the question: How does music describe the outside world? How to write about the sea? Here are two typical examples to see how composers describe the sea. One is Rimsky-Korsakov's Arabian Nights, the first chapter describes the sea. The introduction of this campaign has two themes. A representative of the Sultanate King Shahriyal, this is a very rude image. The other is the image of Princess Chahla. Curiously, these two themes later became the image of the sea. How can people become the sea? If we listen to this piece of music, we will find that it is the ups and downs of the music melody that reminds us of the ups and downs of the waves. This shows that one of the characteristics of symphonic music creation is that the same music material can be used to change the music image through the changes of rhythm, harmony and orchestration. The Arabian Nights Suite is about Xie Lachard telling stories to Sudan, so the theme of these two characters is used to write about the sea. This is not the real sea, but the sea in their minds and the sea in the story. Here, the theme of the characters becomes the sea. Is there any internal connection between the two? Yes For example, Sudan is cruel, which can be related to the rough and terrible sea. As for the theme of "Shehrachard", it is a beautiful theme. I think when the composer wrote it, he probably thought of changing it to the theme of the waves slightly. From this we can see the skill of a composer, who can create different musical images with one or two concentrated theme materials. Another example is "The Sea" written by Debussy, the representative of French Impressionism. His writing is different again. This work is called symphonic sketch and has three movements. The title of the first movement is "The Sea from Dawn to Noon", which is about the calm sea and the sea slowly emerging from the mist. The second movement is The Play of the Waves, which is about the naughty sea. The waves chase and play. The third chapter "Dialogue between the Sea and the Wind" is a roaring sea. This sea is very different from the one just introduced: first of all, the content is different, and the composer's personality is different. Debussy is an impressionist composer, and his creative characteristics focus on capturing the ever-changing changes of light and color and scenes. So his melody is intermittent, a few sounds, and varied. It is describing the ever-changing colors of the sea. Rimsky-Korsakov and Debussy are both masters of symphony color orchestration, but each has his own strong points, so the music they wrote is quite different. From the above two examples, we can sum up three points: first, even descriptive music does not describe the external world purely objectively, but these descriptions are musicalized, personalized and emotional, not the things themselves. Therefore, when a thousand people write about the sea, they write a thousand things. Second, the image of music comes from association, which is an imitation of the movement form of things and the sound they make through music. Third, what a work describes sometimes depends on the title, otherwise it is impossible to accurately judge what it is written. For example, there is a passage in Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky's symphonic poem Frances Cardarimini that describes a whirlwind in hell. If you don't say it's a whirlwind, you might think it's the sea, because they have similar movements. Therefore, the determination of music image depends on the text title. It also shows that the description of music can only be approximate, not realistic. Title music can help you understand the image of the work, so how to understand absolute music? This needs to be understood from people's mental state and feelings. For example, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony of Destiny was given the title of Destiny. The theme of "fate" in music is interpreted by some people as a negative image, a cruel and gloomy image of fate. However, some people regard it as Beethoven's challenge to feudal forces, a roaring Beethoven, a Beethoven with a moth gripping the throat of fate, and a positive image. Isn't this the opposite? In a word, this theme embodies the author's own feelings and his attitude towards fate. The fourth movement is about Beethoven's ideal victory. In this movement, Beethoven also wrote a very genius stroke, that is, at the climax of victory, the theme of sudden arrival of fate reappeared. Some people say that this is a review of past struggles, while others say that this is an attempt destined to make a comeback. But I prefer another explanation, that is, although we have won, we still can't lose our vigilance, and those reactionary things hiding in dark corners may come again. This explanation is more in line with Beethoven's reality, his logic and the philosophy of his works. As for how to understand it, you can also explain it yourself. Symphony gives people a lot of inspiration and can give you a lot of imagination, especially the untitled symphony, because it has no title constraint, strong generality and rich connotation. Even if you listen to it a hundred times, you will find something new. And with the growth of age and the deepening of experience, the understanding of the works will be more profound. This is one of the advantages of untitled symphony. Finally, two conclusions are drawn: first, the specialty of music is mainly lyrical rather than descriptive. Therefore, when we appreciate it, we mainly look at how its emotions infect us, not necessarily what it writes. Music interpretation is only for reference, mainly to play our own independent thinking. Second, to appreciate the symphony, we must first fully mobilize our imagination. Pop music comes and goes in a hurry, but the grand symphony that was born hundreds of years ago is still full of vitality. This just fits the old saying: "Classics are eternal". In this era, the faster and faster pace of life makes people stop and enjoy the beauty of life. Now our ears are full of unintelligible pop music or ridiculous rock. Is that all there is to music? Of course not. Symphony is real music. It is famous for its broadness, ideology and philosophy. Symphony is sitting in a concert hall in a suit and tie and enjoying it seriously. Only in this way will there be that kind of division, and it will sound sensational. Appreciating the symphony is not just about enjoying the music, but actually has that kind of atmosphere. When you act like a gentleman at a concert and be educated like others, you will deeply like this feeling. I wonder if it's arty. First of all, the preparatory activities in the early stage are of course indispensable. If you are not prepared, you will probably listen to everything but don't know what it means. Of course, you must find out the author's life, what works he has and what legendary stories have happened to him. The styles of composers in different periods. What is the background of this piece of music, what does the author want to express and what instrument is used? What do they mean? These often affect the great effect of listening to songs. For example, Tchaikovsky's works were written to commemorate Russia's crushing defeat of the French army. The author wants to express the heroic battle, joy after victory and brilliant achievements of the Russian army. Tchaikovsky's style is different from that of most Russian composers in the same period. His style is closer to the west. In this piece, you can find many shadows of western classical music. For example, the French marseillaise. Many people can't understand symphonies now. Not only China people, but also foreigners are not born to appreciate symphonies. But symphonies are more difficult for us to understand. Because there are huge cultural differences between the east and the west, it is necessary to reserve some western humanistic knowledge. You may have heard many popular songs, but how much can you remember now? I'm afraid not much. Pop music is popular because of its popularity and simplicity. A piece of music is just a few words and keys. Symphony, however, has ever-changing melodies and a huge and gorgeous lineup. Symphony never tires of listening! If you want to know a composer, start with his music. The musical style of a composer in different periods is very different. Composers are always growing. Beethoven in his later years wanted to destroy his early works because he felt that his young works were unbearable. Listen to a piece of music over and over again. For example, Beethoven's Destiny, when you first listen to it, you may only remember the knock on the door of fate. Listen to it again and again, and you will find a pattern. You will find that the beginning and the end echo each other, with the development department in the middle, and the two melodies alternate with each other and continue to develop into the third part. This is the old saying that a drop of water can reflect the sun.