Folk songs are an art form for working people to express their thoughts, feelings, will and wishes. They are also a powerful weapon in their daily life, productive labor and reality struggle.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, people of all ethnic groups created various forms of folk songs, such as "Planting Yangge" and "Juebu Water Song" by farmers in the suburbs of Beijing (Liu Tong and Yu Yizheng's "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" in the Ming Dynasty "), "Yangge" of farmers in Qiongzhou, Sichuan ("Qiongzhou Chronicles of Ming Dynasty"), "Folk Songs" of Wudi in the south of the Yangtze River ("Folk Song" of Feng Menglong of Ming Dynasty), Chu Ge ("Ci Pu" of Qing Dynasty by Wang Yi), Hengshan, Hunan The "Tea Picking Song" ("Guangyang Miscellaneous Notes" by Liu Xianting in the Qing Dynasty), the "Yangko" in Chaozhou, Guangdong, the "Moon Stepping Song" and "Moon Song" (Qing Dynasty) sung by women in Nanxiong, Changle and other places when worshiping the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Li Tiaoyuan's "Notes on South Vietnam"), Guangxi Tong people's "Hen Flower Song" (Ming Dynasty Kuang Lu's "Chi Ya"), Dong people's pipa song (Ming Dynasty Tian Rucheng's "Yan Gong Ji Wen", etc.

Due to the differences in geographical environment, people's customs and languages, these folk songs have different styles and characteristics, and they all perfectly reflect the people's ideological requirements, and have a strong fighting spirit and rich flavor of life. The rulers of the Qing Dynasty were greatly alarmed. For example, the "Penal Law Miscellaneous Criminals" in the Qing Dynasty's Code of Laws stipulated that "any arrogant person will make up his words based on the incident, make up songs, sing along the street, and publish and spread despicable words" However, these measures could not silence the people's mouths. They still created many works exposing the evils of the feudal ruling system and praising the people's uprising struggle in the fierce struggle of life and reality. Folk songs, such as a Ming Dynasty folk song recorded in "Zaolin Zazu" by Ming Tanqian:

"The fish in Fuyang River, the tea in Fuyang River, the fat fish sells my son, the fragrance of tea ruins my house.

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Tea-picking women, fishermen, and plundered by the government

It shows that under the cruel exploitation of the Ming Dynasty officials, even in the years of good harvest, farmers could not escape from selling their children. The tragic situation of women and families being destroyed and killed is not to mention the tragedy. Another example is a late Ming Dynasty folk song recorded in "The Northern Strategy of the Ming Dynasty":

Eat his mother, wear his mother, and open up. This folk song reflects the people's eagerness in the late Ming Dynasty to expect the early arrival of the peasant uprising army led by Li Zicheng. Another example is the Qing Dynasty folk song "On the Seventh Day of the Qing Dynasty":

This song praises Yu Qi, a native of Tangjiabo Village, Qixia County, Shandong Province, who led the uprising peasants to bravely fight against the Qing army in the early Qing Dynasty (1618-1662). Another example is the Qing Dynasty folk song "The Great Miao Uprising". They praise the heroic deeds of the Miao people during the Qianjia Rebellion in the 60th year of Qianlong's reign (1795), but more are some beautiful lyrical songs, such as the Ming Dynasty folk song "On the Moon":

When the moon was about to reach the moon, the moon came up to the top of the mountain. Hey! Hey, it was early when the moon was low, but it was too late when the moon was high.

This folk song boldly praises the pure and simple love of the working people by describing the mood of a woman waiting for a tryst with her lover at the foot of the mountain. Another example is the Dong folk song "Sister Loves Me":

My sister loves me, my sister loves me. Even those who are sincere will know that the spiders weave their webs at the mouth of the river, and the water is constantly pushing the silk.

It expresses the steadfast love of the working people.

Generally speaking, the folk songs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties are simple and rich in characteristics. For example, in terms of performance form, the "Yangge" of Qiongzhou, Sichuan in the Ming Dynasty was performed by one person tapping each song. The accompaniment of a big drum with a wooden frame covered on both sides and a mud-coated drum head is actually the predecessor of Yangge, which is still popular in Sichuan today. In the pipa songs of the Dong people in the Ming Dynasty, the two-stringed pipa was played as accompaniment when singing. The song of Jiangnan is a form in which one person sings the lead and everyone sings a part. The folk songs of Wu region generally consist of four sentences, such as "On the Moon", so they are also called four-sentence folk songs.

During this period, folk songs also developed some large-scale musical forms. For example, the Changshan Song of Wu in the Ming Dynasty split the four-sentence folk song from the middle and divided it into the first part of the second sentence and the last part of the second sentence. section, with a ditty inserted in the middle.

Sometimes you can also add a narrative before or after the ditty; or insert a narrative between the front and back sections of the folk song, and then follow the last section of the folk song with a ditty. This kind of long folk song is actually an artistic folk song. Its further development is to increase the number of ditties inserted between the preceding and following paragraphs and tell a short story. For example, in the book "Folk Songs" compiled by Feng Menglong, "Cat's Pendant" and "Guizhi Xiang" have been used at most. , "Zhu Yun Fei", "Lazy Thrush", "Zao Luo Pao", "Xiang Liu Niang" and other six songs. It can be seen that this kind of Changshan song has a tendency to transition to rap music.

Xiaoqu is a kind of popular song developed on the basis of folk songs from various places, also known as "popular song".

It first appeared in the late Yuan Dynasty. Gao Zecheng's "Pipa Ji" and other Yuan people's Sanqu had already used "Gua Zhen'er", "Shanshan Sheep" and other ditties. At first it was popular in villages and towns all over the country, and later it entered the cities and was sung in singing houses and taverns. In the city, it has further matured artistically through the efforts of folk professional artists. Around the Xuande and Wanli years of the Ming Dynasty (1426-1620), many centers of small songs had been formed in Beijing, Bianliang, Yangzhou, Chengdu, Quanzhou, Panyu (Guangzhou) and other places. There is not only communication between them, but also different creations.

, "Suzhou Song", "Bean Leaf Yellow" and other songs are the most reliable. Among them, "Playing with Children" was sung in Bianliang (Kaifeng) before Jiajing (Ming Dynasty Shen Chongsui's "Wanli Yehuo"), and "Suzhou Song" was mainly popular in Jinling and Fujian. Judging from the tunes, the former is cheerful and enthusiastic, while the latter is sad and deep, but both are simple and simple, filled with a strong local flavor. It is not only very different in interest from Song poetry, but also different from the gorgeous and complex ditties of the Qing Dynasty. From these two examples, it seems that we can see the transformation of the musical style of a generation.

Around the time of Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, ditties from various places had new developments and gradually began to transition to rap music.

At that time, the northern ditties centered in Beijing had broken through "Southern Gongs and Northern Drums", "Luojiang Resentment", "Cut Indigo Flowers", "Guoshan Diao", "Taiping Year", "Cowardly" Single song forms such as "Parasite Grass" developed into a suite form on the basis of "Chaqu". "Chaqu" is a kind of folk song that appeared in the early Qing Dynasty. Its basic form only has six sentences. These six sentences are also six sections cut by the three strings, also called "Pingcha". In the six paragraphs of "Pingcha", you can often add lining words and embedded sentences according to the needs of the content, so there are also "Shucha", "Mancha" and other forms. The basic form of the Beijing ditty suite is to divide Pingcha into two parts, the front and back, and insert a single song in the middle:

Pingcha (the first three lines), a single song, and Chawei (the last three lines) (sentence) However, according to the needs of the content, more or less songs can be inserted in the middle. There is no set rule. In addition, sometimes it is also possible to use several pieces of music to connect individual pieces into a suite.

The further development of Beijing ditties began to become "danxian" around the Qianjia period. The single string is accompanied by three strings, and its form consists of the beginning of the song (the first three lines of the song), a number of singing songs, and the end of the song (the last three lines of the song). It is generally used to sing a complete story. In single strings, the "number singing" is the leading part after the beginning of the song. It was originally a folk song unique to Beijing in the Ming Dynasty (Liu Tong and Yu Yizheng's "The Scenery of the Imperial Capital" in the Ming Dynasty). Its form is very unique, similar to a recitation without a fixed tune, and the lyrics are composed of two four-character sentences. , can be repeated many times, and the rhythm seems to have unified regulations:

It and the ending of the music can sometimes be omitted in single strings, so the single string music form is also very flexible.

The ditties in the Huaihe and Jiangnan regions centered on Yangzhou were also specifically called "Xiao Sing" during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, in addition to single songs such as "Silver Nipples", "Four Great Scenes", "Splitting the Jade", and "Moving the Paddle Upside Down", it already split some brands (pieces) into head and tail songs. Several different brands of suite forms are inserted between the two parts. Therefore, the number of inserted brands determines the length of the music.

Generally, the number of insertions is not certain. For example, if "Manjianghong" is used as the beginning and end and four other different brands are inserted, this form of music is called "Five-petal Plum":

"Manjianghong", "Yinnuo" "Silk", "Red Embroidered Shoes", "Yangzhou Song", "Ma Tou Diao", "Man Jiang Red Tail"

Another example is the popular "Six Joys of Mountain Gate" in Wuxi area, which uses "Parasite Grass" as the theme It is composed of six different brands of the Lord, so it is called "Liu Xi"; and "Shanmen" is the title of the music content. For the brands that are inserted or connected, some parts of them can generally be arbitrarily extracted according to the needs of the music, but not all of them may be inserted or connected. And after insertion or connection, different changes can also be made. This kind of musical form that inserts a certain brand seems to have similarities with the "Jiaotiao Huolang'er" of the Yuan Dynasty and the Changshan Song of Wu Di in the Ming Dynasty.

Yangzhou ditties are generally sung rather than spoken, and are accompanied by pipa, sanxian, yueqin, sandalwood instrument, etc. (Qing Dynasty? Li Dou's "Yangzhou Paintings").

The ditties in Bianliang area were originally northern ditties. Later, it spread to the commercial centers of Henan, such as Yu County and Nanyang, and absorbed the ditties from the Huaihe and Jiangnan regions. By the Qianjia and Qianjia years of the Qing Dynasty, it had developed into the drum music that is still circulating today.

The musical form of drum music, except for single songs, is divided into two schools: the southern and northern schools. The basic form of Northern style music is composed of several brands inserted between the head and tail of the drum. The basic musical form of the Southern School is divided into two parts, the first and the last, using the "Dock Tune", "Man Jiang Hong" and other brands, and several more brands are inserted in the middle to form a suite. In the development of these two basic musical forms, the brands inserted in the middle have also produced various ways of coupling. However, it can be roughly divided into two types: Mangling, which is made up of different brands, and Maangda, which is made up of only two different brands. The number of inserted brands in the Guziqu suite is also not certain, so most of the small-scale music forms with a small number of insertions are still folk songs, while the large-scale music forms with a large number of insertions are almost all rap music.

Drum music is usually sung without white, but there are also songs that can be sung with both white and white. The accompaniment instruments are mainly three-stringed instruments, supplemented by pipa and zither. In addition, there are two-stringed instruments (falling qin), Yueqin, Erom (small huqin), yungban, octagonal drum, moon drum, etc.

During the reigns of Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, in addition to some large industrial and commercial cities, ditty also had new developments in many small and medium-sized counties. For example, the ditty in Zichuan, Shandong at that time was like this. It mainly used three-string accompaniment, and its music In addition to the form of Guzici that is composed of a single song and the same melody repeatedly, there are already the following forms of suites: First, the complete same tune is used at the beginning and end, with one or several other songs sandwiched in the middle. Qupai, such as: "Playing with Children", "Lotus Falling", "Playing with Children"

This is the basic form of this kind of suite. It can have various variations depending on the content. For example: "playing with children", "zaoluo shirt", "playing with children", "zaoluo shirt", "playing with children"

can be understood as being connected by two identical basic forms. However, the constant repetition of "Playing with Children" and "Zaoluo Shirt" can also be seen that it has entangled structural factors. Another example: "Playing with children", "Han Tou Lang", "Playing with children", "Split the jade", "Play with the children" Split the jade", "Western tune", "Split the jade", "Western tune"

can be understood as being composed of five different basic forms. Second, use several different tunes to form a lingering form: "Split the Jade", "Fang Siniang", "Silver Necklace", "Move the Paddle Backward", "Split the Jade", "Ya Ya Oil" ", "The Broken Bridge", "Qingjiang Yin"

The purpose of these suite forms is naturally to express more complex and longer storylines. Therefore, at that time, Zichuan ditties were not only folk songs, but also a kind of rap music that could perform long stories.

As for the ditties and folk songs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many highly realistic works have not been preserved, but there are also some that have been accidentally preserved, such as "Baixue Yi" compiled by Guangsheng of Qing Dynasty. "Cut Indigo Flowers" in "Music", "The Unrecognized Grain Boat", captures the characteristic image of things in life at that time, the grain boat, and expresses the people's hatred for feudal exploitation.

Another example is "Six Joys of the Mountain Gate", which fully reveals Lu Zhishen's rebellious character through the story of Lu Zhishen getting drunk and hitting the mountain gate in "Shui Chu". Another example is Pu Songling's long-form rap "Song of Tribulation" composed of Zichuan ditties in the early Qing Dynasty. It used the story of Zhang Hongjian in "Liao Zhai" to expose the darkness of the society at that time, lashed out the corrupt officials who were in cahoots and committed all kinds of evil, and praised the peasant uprising. Heroes and their deeds.

This is the song "Playing with Children" in the first episode of "The Tribulation Song" - "People are on the run". It vividly reflects the miserable life of people in exile in the early Qing Dynasty. In addition, at that time, there were more works that reflected the theme of love between ordinary men and women in society. The content of this type of works is varied and quite complex; some praise pure love, some mock feudal marriage; some condemn heartless men, and some appreciate pornography. Among them, works such as "Suzhou Song" (for example, see above), which describe young women's pursuit of freedom in marriage, are particularly typical. They reflect the new trend of thought in which people demand to break through feudal etiquette and strive for freedom under the conditions of the growth of capitalist factors and the prosperity of urban economy.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the ditties from various places also had different artistic achievements, but in general, they were all good at making use of economical materials, inserting new materials by changing heads, and using displacement and tonality. Various melody development techniques such as changes (keys and modes) create accurate and vivid artistic images. For example, the Sunan ditty "Man Jiang Hong" is composed of this basic melody repeated six times:

And each In the second iteration, since the lyrics almost always have new requirements, the melody always has different changes. For example, in the second iteration, except for the head change, the melody has almost doubled in size, while in the third iteration it has almost doubled. It has been doubled again:

This method has obviously achieved good results. It makes each change of the melody not only meet the needs of the new content, but also achieve the unified requirements of the whole song. At the same time, ditties also use various techniques of different tunes and tonal changes to express different characters, and the characters' confessions are often used in the expression method. For example, at the beginning of "Six Joys of the Mountain Gate", Lu Zhishen is standing in front of the mountain gate. A business-style monologue:

Through his doubts about "eating vegetarian food" and "living Buddhas", he portrays his rough and unrestrained character who cannot settle for a quiet and peaceful religious life. As for the subsequent action of drunkenly beating up the mountain gate, it was the final result of the development of his rebellious character. In this process, this song successfully uses the contrast of modes and colors, and inserts a Jiangnan folk song in feather mode sung by a wine seller:

Its addition indeed makes the whole song more interesting. In order to be vivid, the image of a wine seller appears vividly in front of the audience. Moreover, with the development of the storyline, this song also uses the expression technique of natural modulation. For example, when Lu Zhishen greets "Here comes the wine seller?", the tune has shifted to the subordinate key. This change in key obviously helps Showing the further maturity of his rebellious character. In addition, this song, like some local ditties, is also good at using syncopated rhythms and melody development techniques of ascending and descending multiple times to make the melody ups and downs and circuitous, thus creating its tortuous, delicate and complex artistic characteristics.