"That's Me" was probably composed in the mid-to-late 1980s. Its composer Gu Jianfen once said: "I didn't understand my mother until I became a mother. When I understood how to When I repaid my mother with ten times or a hundred times of love, she had already left. This irreparable regret has created feelings that I will never forget." It can be seen that this song is, to a certain extent, the composer's love for his mother. A work of deep nostalgia for my hometown.

The musical form of "That's Me" is not composed in the form of a section song or a comprehensive song like ordinary songs, but in the form of a single or three parts which is relatively rare in song creation. The musical form allows emotions to be reappeared and echoed back and forth. The musical form diagram is as follows:

Introduction+A+B+A

Number of measures: 1~56~19 20~3637~50

Introduction 1* **Measure 5, the most original thing here is that two modes (natural and harmonic minor) are combined in the introduction of the song. Measures 1 to 4 of the introduction are in the natural minor key, but from the 5th measure, the iconic note level of the harmonic minor - the #VII sound - appears. This technique greatly weakens the "national flavor" of the song. Moreover, in the 5th measure, the key is shifted to the dominant key (d minor). Through the harmonic connection of "D2/D-D", the introduction finally ends on the dominant chord. This also shows the author's eclectic approach to creation. Technique. Therefore, the author believes that the tonal mode of the song is g natural/harmonic minor, not the commonly referred to as "feather mode".

Starting from the 6th measure, the piano part also completed the "D-t" progression and entered the A section of the song:

The lyrics "I miss love" are composed by a It is composed of a simple upward movement of 5 degrees to express the excitement when recalling the hometown. It is worth noting that the lyrics "Little River in My Hometown" originally ended in the fifth section, but the author added a "complementary sentence" similar to the end of the lyrics in Western operas, and also resembled the "drawn" accent in Chinese operas. , the author calls it "adding flowers and moistening the tune", which greatly enriches the singing ability of the music, and can be regarded as one of the "wonderful touches" of this song.

The author found that when some colleagues sing this sentence, they often break the sentence on the 3rd beat of the 5th bar, take a breath and then complete the complement. The author believes that this violates the objectivity of music and the author's intention. From a lyrical point of view, the second beat of the 6th bar is the end of the half-sentence of the lyrics; from a musical point of view, this fill-in is just an "accessory" to the unfinished melody and does not form an independent sentence. Therefore, the author believes that when singing, you can pause for breath here, but you cannot breathe, and treat it as a sentence break.

In the second line of the lyrics, "There are also squeaking and singing water mills by the river." Here, the arranger first used the "D-t" progression to consolidate the tonality of the song, and then continued to use a A series of off-key chords (as shown in Example 2) are used to create an imaginary hometown, and even uncommon III chords in dominant minor are used to depict the expansion of emotions. In addition, in the 6 measures of music in Example 2, the beat changes four times, including three different time signatures: "3/4, 4/4, and 5/4". With such a changeable rhythm, it can be imagined that what the author wants to express here is the complicated mood when he misses the scenery of his hometown. It is only a short 6 measures of music, but it contains such rich emotional expressions.

Finally, what needs to be mentioned is that the opening lyrics "I miss love" are composed of an ascending fifth, which is also the core motivation of the entire song. For example, the beginning of the introduction, except for the passing tones in the middle and the 3rd tone of the main chord, also has an ascending 5th-degree structure:

The author here painstakingly uses a 5th-degree motive to dominate the entire song, and his intention is very clear. Simple - to achieve emotional unity in the song. This song does not express a dramatic emotional conflict, but uses a relatively simple emotion to describe the nostalgia for the hometown and the emotional changes therein.

The following music is a continuation and development of the previous one. The lyrics mention "Mom" and talk to her, further bringing the listener's soul closer. Then there are three consecutive sentences of "That's me", which not only clarify the meaning of the song, but also use parallelism to deepen the listener's impression. In terms of melody, these three lines of lyrics adopt the overall downward movement method, ending the music on the G sound, which means that "I" who miss my hometown cannot get it, and can only continue to miss it silently in my heart, and then feel depressed. The repetition of the music began and the second verse of lyrics was sung. Here, in order to highlight the theme of the wanderer's homesickness, the lyricist carefully selected four images: "I" miss the "smoke, fishing fires, small river, and bright moon" in my hometown. These four images have appeared repeatedly in Chinese classical poetry and are some of the typical images that can most arouse the homesickness of wanderers. Focusing on the theme of homesickness, the lyricist chose these four scenes to gradually outline the artistic conception of the song and clarify the general structure of the lyrics. In terms of music, the arranger has always used wave-like arpeggios as the accompaniment of the piano part, which seems to be the ripples in the heart. Together with the lyrics and melody, it vividly reflects the mood of a wanderer who is homesick.

When the song enters the B section, a glissing technique is used to promote it. This is also a common technique used to lead to the climax in modern song accompaniment. In the B section of the lyrics "I miss love", the previous 5 degrees (at the beginning of the song) was changed to 8 degrees, increasing the emotional explosiveness.

The first crown sound "a2" in the whole song appears in the lyrics "hometown", forming the first climax of the song. The texture of the piano part here also changes from the previous arpeggios to columnar chords. These are all composed to highlight the emotional explosion of the song:

In the 30th bar of the song, the three consecutive sentences "That's me" are used in the music. Three consecutive ascending progressive tones are used. The type embodies the singer's increasingly excited and urgent feelings. The "a2" sound in measure 33 reaches the climax of the whole song (it is also the third time the crown sound appears), and then the melody descends gracefully, falls on the tonic of the mode, and enters the repeating section:

The reproduced section A is exactly the same as the presented section A in terms of melody and piano part texture. The only difference is the change in the lyrics. Finally, the falling note of "That's me" is raised 8 degrees to the main note. There is an endless feeling.

The last thing to add is that the song "That's Me" is a "recitative" lyric song in song creation. Creating in this way can make the song closer to daily life in singing. Language inertia increases the intimacy of the singer.

Gu Jianfen’s many excellent works are all widely circulated masterpieces, which have had a profound and long-lasting impact on the Chinese music scene. This is unique in China for a composer who mainly writes popular songs. phenomenon. Her works in various periods can accurately represent the spiritual outlook of that era. Her song creation has always influenced and promoted the prosperity and development of contemporary song creation in our country.

(Author’s unit: Hunan Normal University School of Music)

Editor in charge: Yang Jian