Thesis: Chinese style music

In recent years, novel forms of "Chinese style" music have become popular. From a traditional aesthetic perspective, this music form conforms to the Chinese classical aesthetic spirit in terms of lyrics, arrangement, singing method and overall style, and is closely related to the psychological accumulation of national culture. But while this form of music is widely popular, we should also seriously reflect and explore the best way to spread traditional culture.

In recent years, a new generation of music creators and singers have integrated some elements of China's national culture into their songs, forming unique "Chinese style" pop music. This novel and unique music form quickly swept the pop music scene, attracted widespread attention from the audience, and gained popularity among the public. It is precisely because of this that more and more singers have pushed the trend of "Chinese style" music to the extreme in order to cater to the public. At the same time, this "Chinese style" also shines in various arts such as advertising, movies, clothing, architecture, etc., forming a unique "Chinese style" culture. It can be said that the popularity of "Chinese style" is closely related to the traditional Chinese aesthetic spirit influenced by Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. At the same time, this phenomenon also originates from the psychological accumulation of Chinese national culture.

1. What is "Chinese style" music

"Chinese style", if interpreted literally, is a music style with Chinese characteristics. Of course, this does not refer to Chinese traditional music, but to a unique music form that integrates traditional music in the field of popular music. Regarding the definition of "Chinese style" music, Huang Xiaoliang, a musician who has been widely recognized by everyone, said in his blog: "Chinese style is the three ancients and three new (ancient poems and poems, ancient culture, ancient melodies and new singing methods, new arrangements, and new concepts) A combination of unique Chinese music. The lyrics have Chinese cultural connotations, and new singing methods and arrangement techniques are used to enhance the atmosphere of the songs. The songs combine the nostalgic Chinese background with modern rhythms to produce implicit, melancholy, elegant, and light song styles. " People have tried to define "Chinese style" music as follows: "Chinese style" songs mostly use the main melody of "palace style"; a large number of Chinese musical instruments are used in the music arrangement, such as erhu, guzheng, Xiao and pipa. etc.; Chinese folk songs or opera methods are used in the singing; Chinese ancient poems or legends are used in the subject matter. Although these two statements are still open to debate, they also reveal the characteristics of "Chinese style" music to a certain extent.

(1) The lyrics contain Chinese classical culture

The most prominent feature of "Chinese style" music is that the lyrics contain Chinese classical culture. Some works directly use ancient poems and poems, such as Faye Wong's "Shui Tiao Ge Tou", Tsai Chin's "Like a Dream", Yi Nengjing's "Niannujiao", etc., which means directly composing classical poems to music and integrating them into modern soundtracks to re-create interpretation. Some works borrow images commonly used in classical literature, such as "moon", "water", "mirror", "plum", "bamboo", "orchid", "tea", "willow" and other fusion works. Such as "East Wind Breaks", "Fair like Snow", "Chrysanthemum Terrace", "Thousands of Miles Away", "Blue and White Porcelain", "Orchid Pavilion Preface", etc. There are also works that convey traditional Chinese emotional content, such as Jay Chou's "In the Name of the Father", "Listen to Mom", "Snail", etc. These songs are obviously closely aligned with the traditional Chinese ethical sentiments of family affection. Some musicians pointed out: "The lyrics of 'Chinese style' music works have two main characteristics. First, the lyrics overall create a classical national cultural atmosphere and use a large number of classical images; second, the lyrics contain some distinctive national symbols, so as to This is to reflect the national characteristics.

The lyrics of Jay Chou's masterpiece "East Wind Breaks" are: "A lamp of separation and loneliness stands at the window. I pretend behind the door that you haven't left yet. It's like revisiting the old place under the full moon. Even more lonely, the candlelight that wakes me up in the middle of the night can’t bear to criticize me harshly. A pot of wandering wandering around the world is hard to swallow. After you leave, the wine warms the memories and misses me... The maple leaves dye the story. I can see through the ending. I lead you through the ancient road outside the fence. In the old days, even breakups were silent." The title of the song itself is the name of the song, and words full of classical imagery such as "parting sorrow", "candlelight", "ancient road", "missing thin", etc. create a sense of sadness. ((Blue and White Porcelain) "Plain embryo", "glaze color", "copying", "kiln firing" and other words describing the production process of blue and white porcelain are cleverly integrated into the lyrics, while trying to render the elegant and indifferent scenery of Jiangnan, forming a "Compendium of Materia Medica" borrows Li Shizhen's medical work "Compendium of Materia Medica" to convey classical feelings, while Hu Yanbin's "Cao Cao" describes the story of the heroic Cao Cao. The main characteristics of "wind" music in terms of lyric content.

(2) The arrangement and singing methods integrate a large number of national music characteristics

Generally speaking, contemporary pop music is accustomed to using Western keyboard instruments , percussion instruments and electronic music are mainly used, while "Chinese style" music uses traditional musical instruments, such as erhu, pipa, bamboo flute, guzheng, etc., so that the Chinese charm is actively presented, which is a new and unique musical expression. For example, Jay Chou's "Dongfeng Po" mainly uses the erhu; "Huo Yuanjia" mainly incorporates pipa and drums, and the dull and heavy drum sounds express the martial arts style of a great master. The whole song is full of momentum. The flute is used, and the sound of the flute is smooth, lyrical, euphemistic and melodious. The traditional musical instruments and modern music elements are skillfully blended together to appropriately express the elegance and indifference of the Jiangnan water town.

In addition to soundtracks and arrangements, a lot of "Chinese style" music boldly uses traditional music singing methods, such as ethnic singing, opera singing, etc. For example, Chen Sheng's "One Night in Beijing" was sung in Laosheng tune, followed by Huadan tune in "Huo Yuanjia", Qingyi tune in "Women in the Red World" and "In the Name of the Father", Kunqu tune in "By the Plum Blossoms", Tao Pin's "Susan Shuo" quoted the arias from the Peking Opera "Su San Qi Jie". The alternation of the two musical forms and singing methods in "Thousands of Miles Away" brings about wonderful chemical changes in the music, which is refreshing. With the ingenious fusion of two different music forms by Jay Chou and Song Zuying in the 2009 CCTV Spring Festival Gala, this "mixed" music form has become more and more popular.

(3) The overall style pursues classical artistic conception

In traditional Chinese art, artistic conception is an important criterion for artist creation and an important embodiment of the Chinese classical aesthetic spirit. Wang Guowei said in "Renjian Ci Hua": "Temperament is not as good as describing realm. It is the essence of realm. Temperament and charm are the end of it. When there is realm, the two will follow. Artistic conception is an important part of Chinese classical aesthetics. Category, Chinese classical art works, whether poems or music, are all about implicitness and indifference, pursuing the long-lasting and profound artistic conception, and the "Chinese style" music is implicit and hazy in terms of lyrics, arrangement, singing and melody. In the filming of the MV, attention is paid to making the music as a whole show a typical oriental classical artistic conception. "Chinese style" music mostly uses classical poetry as the theme, and the emotional expression conforms to the "neutral" aesthetic standard. At the same time, the tune is melodious and harmonious. It also embodies the Confucian aesthetics of subtlety, gentleness and kindness. In addition, the shooting of the MV also reflects the classical aesthetic requirements of blending scenes, virtuality and reality, and subtlety. In ancient Chinese art, there are such things as "falling flowers", Images with specific meanings such as "wild geese", "spring" and "twilight" are relatively stable and independent artistic symbols at the aesthetic level. Susan Lange, an American semiotic esthetician, defined aesthetic images as "wild geese", "spring" and "twilight". Examine it as "emotional symbol" and "artistic illusion". She said: "The artwork as a whole is an emotional image. For this kind of image, we can call it an artistic symbol. Lange started from the fact that art is a symbol that expresses human emotions, and believed that artistic imagery is also a symbol of emotion. "Chinese style" music is full of similar traditional images, such as Jay Chou's "Blue and White Porcelain", which is not so much a song as a misty Jiangnan ink landscape, with a beautiful woman vaguely visible among the budding water clouds. White clothes and plain sleeves, and crowds of people flying around. Classical images such as "smoke and rain", "blue and white", "plain embryo", "plantain" and "door knocker" are combined with melodious tunes and a beautiful MV in ink style to form a unique artistic conception. This kind of expression that expresses emotions by borrowing scenery to express emotions is in line with the traditional Chinese aesthetic requirement of "containing but not revealing".

2. The classical aesthetic spirit and national cultural and psychological accumulation behind "Chinese style" music

The so-called aesthetic spirit refers to the inherent aesthetic temperament and character unique to a national aesthetic culture. It is the core factor that constitutes a nation’s aesthetic concept, aesthetic consciousness, and artistic attitude. It is a relatively deep part of a nation’s culture and is consistent with the philosophical spirit of a nation. Once the aesthetic spirit is formed, it will be integrated into the national cultural and psychological structure, affecting the development of national culture, art and aesthetics for a long time. The Chinese classical aesthetic spirit is gradually generated and constructed from the continuous conflict and integration of China's multi-ethnic and multi-cultural countries, as well as the philosophical spirit with Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism as the core. Music scholar Mr. Lin Hua once mentioned in his treatise: "In our aesthetic personality, there are elements derived from the accumulation of unique aesthetic experiences of mankind, and at the same time, there are elements influenced by national aesthetic consciousness..." .

In the traditional Chinese aesthetic spirit, the concept of "unity of nature and man" is its core philosophical foundation. This philosophical view of "the unity of man and nature" prompted Chinese classical art to emphasize the spirit of life and the profound consciousness of the universe that run through "Tao" and "Qi", pay attention to the life experience of intuitive perception, and at the same time pursue the ideal value of "inner transcendence" . The spirit of life and consciousness of the universe constitute the inherent characteristics of the aesthetic spirit of Chinese art. What Chinese art pays attention to is not isolated individual lives and objects, but the sense of wholeness, flow and vigorous vitality of life. This aesthetic spirit leads to Chinese classical aesthetics focusing on charm, charm, momentum, energy, atmosphere and artistic conception, etc., and also It is the spirit of re-life and requires the expression of the infinite vitality of the universe. This aesthetic spirit will inevitably affect the aesthetic practice of Chinese people. Although Chinese pop music is dominated by Western music forms, this aesthetic spiritual requirement rooted in the national psychology also calls for the emergence of music forms that conform to the aesthetic characteristics of the Chinese people, and "Chinese style" music is in line with the inner characteristics of the Chinese people. Aesthetic requirements.

At the same time, Chinese people have long been influenced by Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Among them, etiquette, justice, integrity, golden mean, family affection, and ethics have also affected emotional expression in art to a certain extent. The resulting aesthetic style makes people subconsciously fall in love with freehand classical lyrics, traditional folk musical instruments, and subtle and restrained emotions. When appreciating "Chinese style" pop music, this "nostalgia" for traditional culture makes it easy for the audience to resonate emotionally with the music.

3. Reflections brought about by "Chinese style" music

Many scholars hold a positive attitude towards this "Chinese style" phenomenon in the art field. In the face of a rapidly developing society and increasing globalization, today, more cultural forms and aesthetic standards are influencing and changing our aesthetic practices. Under this situation, how to inherit the five thousand years of Chinese traditional culture is undoubtedly an important issue worthy of our attention. In the era of consumption, any cultural behavior can only be paid more attention to and accepted by the public if it achieves the acquisition and dissemination of cultural information through consumption that is transformed into commercial behavior. And "Chinese style" music is undoubtedly a new way to spread traditional culture. It enables cultural consumer groups to obtain aesthetic pleasure in cultural consumption through specific commercial communication methods and business behavior methods, and ultimately realizes the spread of traditional culture and classical civilization. From this point of view, this unique music form is an effective way to spread traditional culture.

At the same time, many scholars have raised doubts, believing that this form of music is more fashionable than sincere. These songs are controlled by commercial motives, and the profound connotations of five thousand years of civilization are broken down and somewhat shallow by superficial lyrics. At the same time, the songwriter's lack of understanding of traditional culture leads to the incorrect spread of traditional culture. The famous collector Ma Weidu once pointed out that there were two errors in the lyrics of Jay Chou's "Blue and White Porcelain", one of which can be called a "fallacy." In this poem (Blue and White Porcelain), Ma Weidu believed that the most fallacious sentence was "The Han official script on the bottom of the bottle imitates the elegance of the previous dynasty." He explained: "Blue and white porcelain has quickly become the overlord of Chinese porcelain since its birth. For seven hundred years No one has ever touched it. However, the bottom of the bottle has never been written with official script. Only some blue and white vessels were written with official script in the Chongzhen Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty. Apparently the person who wrote the words did not know much about porcelain. Another mistake is the sentence " I was thinking of you when I copied the inscription in Song style." Ma Weidu explained that the error in this lyrics is that "the inscription in Song style is only seen on enamel porcelain from the Kangxi, Yongzong and Qian dynasties, but not on blue and white porcelain." In addition, there are some common sense errors. For example, singer Yi Nengjing pronounced "Lun" in "Feather Fan Lunkerchief" as "Lun" in "Niannujiao", and Dai Penni sang "I want to watch Lu Xun's back all night long" in her new song "One Person's Luggage". But the author of "Back View" is Zhu Ziqing... This fallacy in Chinese culture and literature will have a negative impact on cultural communication and society.

It can be seen that "Chinese style" music is very popular. At the same time, we should think about it. The real "Chinese style" can be used to express the essence of Chinese traditional culture, and we must choose the best communication method and accurate broadcast content, rather than arbitrarily pasting it driven by commercial interests. Some traditional cultural labels serve as slogans to attract listeners and gain economic benefits.