Vocal music

Vocal music refers to the form of music sung with the human voice.

Including: bel canto singing, ethnic singing and popular singing. Usually refers to bel canto singing.

Bel canto (Bel canto)

A singing style that originated in Italy in the 17th century. It is characterized by beautiful timbre and rich variety; strict distinction between voices and emphasis on the harmony and unity of sound areas; scientific sound production method and large plasticity of volume; consistent breath sound and smooth and even connection between sounds. This style of singing has had a great influence all over the world. Bel Canto, as it is now called, is a singing style based on traditional European vocal techniques, especially Italian vocal techniques. Under the influence of Renaissance thoughts, opera gradually emerged and bel canto was gradually improved. Perrigan wrote the earliest opera "Daphne" in Italy, and in 1600 he wrote the opera "Euridice". The composer's creation made the opera break through the previous singing methods. Opera requires the combination of aria and recitative; the combination of chorus and chorus; the recitative requires sufficient breath support, and the bright and beautiful sound is required to penetrate the symphony and reach the ears of the audience. The emergence of opera made bel canto perfect.

Bel Canto was introduced to our country after the May 4th Movement, and gradually took root and sprouted in the ancient land of our country. Bel Canto has undoubtedly played a huge role in promoting vocal art in my country. In recent years, young Chinese contestants have won awards in international vocal competitions, which further proves that the artistic level of using bel canto to interpret and express foreign vocal works has reached a considerable level. But how to bring Chinese vocal music to the world? How to continuously combine the advantages of Bel Canto with the characteristics of my country's vocal music art and language to form a Chinese vocal music school still requires a lot of hard and meticulous work, which requires the unremitting efforts of the vast number of professional and amateur vocal music lovers.

Bel canto is called Bel canto in Italian. When our country began to introduce this singing method, it translated Bel canto as "Bel Canto singing method", and those who studied this singing method were collectively called the "Bel Canto School". In fact, the real meaning of the word Bel canto in Italian is "perfect singing". Let’s analyze it carefully and find that the meanings of “Bel Canto” and “Perfect Singing” are not consistent. "Perfect singing" not only includes the voice, it should also include the content of the singing and the singer's demeanor, appearance, temperament, etc. And "Bel Canto" can easily be understood as a singing method with "beautiful voice" as the name suggests. Understanding "perfect singing" as "beautiful voice", in the words of teacher Tian Yubin, this incomplete and inaccurate understanding has caused my country's vocal music to take some detours in its development. To a large extent, Bel Canto is understood to only focus on the voice, which is above all else, while other aspects of learning are ignored. Therefore, many people who learn bel canto singing either emphasize their voices but not the words, or they emphasize the voices but not the emotions. Some singers not only do not emphasize the words and emotions, but even their voices are pretentious. The singing is very unappealing.

Based on the above reasons, some people in the vocal music circle once advocated changing the "bel canto method" to "bel canto method". The purpose is also to accurately understand the meaning of bel canto, so as to avoid deviations in understanding and even practice. In fact, "song" and "sound" cannot be equated. "Sound" is the "carrier" of "song", but it in no way reflects the content of "song". It is meaningless to make a big fuss about the name when the name of "Bel Canto" has already been agreed upon. We can continue to use the customary term "Bel Canto", but the key is how to combine Bel Canto with our country's singing language so that singers can sing both foreign and Chinese songs well.

To use bel canto singing well, you should also know the actual content and principles included in bel canto singing. Mr. Kino Becky’s series of opinions and discussions about Bel Canto in his lectures were summarized by Teacher Tian Yubin into the following six aspects:

(1) Bel Canto is divided into parts;

(2) Bel canto singing requires a unified vocal area;

(3) Bel canto requires consistent vowels and clear articulation;

(4) Bel canto requires coherent sounds;

(5) Bel Canto requires good musical accomplishment;

(6) Bel Canto requires both voice and emotion.

The above six points are important contents of bel canto singing, and can also be said to be six important principles. The reason why it is called a principle is that those who learn bel canto singing must strictly abide by it, and it is indispensable. Otherwise, it is likely to be incomplete and imperfect bel canto singing.

Folk style singing

Broadly speaking, it can include the singing of opera, folk art, folk songs and creative songs with these three styles.

The national singing rules referred to here are understood in a narrow sense, mainly referring to the technical methods and some rules used when singing vocal works with strong national styles. They are not only refined and inherited from traditional national singing methods such as operas, folk arts, and folk songs, but also draw on and absorb the excellent results of Western singing methods.

The study of national singing methods cannot be separated from the national language, because the singing language is an artistic processing of the language of life. In the traditional singing methods of our country, it is often mentioned that "characters are bones, rhymes are meat", "characters lead to tunes", and even with artistic exaggeration: "a thousand pounds of white, four ounces of singing", which shows the emphasis and attention on language factors. . Therefore, the difference in language rules and the different treatment and emphasis on pronunciation, articulation, and language in singing are the principle differences between national singing and Western singing. Language is not only the basis for articulating words, but also the basis for technical means such as vocalization, breath use, and singing, and the basis for music tunes. Intonation, mood, and momentum are the main factors that form style.

Folk songs and folk-style songs have strong local tones. If they can be sung in dialects, their content and color can be better expressed. However, the general rules of local dialects and Mandarin Chinese are the same, so using Singing in Mandarin is also possible.

In terms of style, northern folk songs should be more bold and bold, southern folk songs should be more euphemistic and clever, plateau mountain folk songs should be high-pitched and loud, and plain area folk songs should be more relaxed. Our country is a multi-ethnic country with a vast territory, so it has rich languages ??and folk song styles that cannot be summed up in one word. A song has lyrics first and then the music is composed. The singer not only pays attention to the lyrics and music of the lyricist and composer, but also performs an artistic re-creation to integrate the lyrics and music. It is necessary to take into account both the regularity of the melody and the ups and downs of the intonation, and use the skills of articulation and articulation to artistically and musically transform the language in order to meet the requirements of combining lyrics and music.

Popular singing method

Popular singing method began to be widely spread in China in the 1930s. At first it was called pop song singing, and later it was called popular singing.

It is characterized by a natural voice, which is similar to speaking. The real voice is used in the middle voice area, and the falsetto voice is generally used in the high voice area. The horn is rarely used, so the volume is small. When singing, you must use an electroacoustic amplifier. The performance form is mainly solo singing, often accompanied by dance movements, and the pursuit of natural and sweet sounds. The feelings are delicate and true.

The main feature of popular singing is that it is sung entirely in real voice, close to the language of life, soft and natural. Emphasizing passion and appeal, the singer deliberately uses electroacoustic sound to create an atmosphere when singing, so he pays great attention to the use of microphones and electroacoustic effects.

Popular singing is centered on youth, which can be said to be: write about youth and sing about youth. Young people sing, young people listen.

The popular singing method that existed in ancient times is not the popular singing method in the typical sense that we currently refer to. Modern popular singing has two important characteristics. One is that its style is nationally standardized; the other is that it is combined with modern high-tech electronic technology.

In the 1980s, due to the political and economic reform and opening up, cultural restrictions were lifted and the country opened wide. First of all, popular music from Hong Kong and Taiwan rushed in and formed a craze. This is not just because young people are financially independent, but because pop music has youthful vitality. Shows how people live their lives.

At the same time, a large number of popular singers continue to emerge, with different styles and colorful styles. Since then, popular songs have received great attention and attention from the country, people and the music industry.