Combined with "Shepherd Boy Piccolo", "Butterfly Lovers", and "Spring River Flower Moonlight Night", the musical expression methods are analyzed with examples

Chinese national music is broad and profound. The development of Western music has also gone through a very long process. Since modern times, many Chinese musicians have devoted themselves to integrating elements of Chinese folk music into Western music, that is, using Western instruments to play Chinese national music and using Western musical expression methods to interpret national styles. The piano piece "Shepherd Boy Piccolo", the violin concerto "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" and the song "Moonlight Night on the Spring River" are outstanding representatives. I would like to take these three works as examples to talk about my understanding of the basic means of expression of music.

Common musical expression methods include melody, rhythm, timbre, harmony, musical form, intensity, speed, beat, sound area, mode, key, texture, etc. These means of expression are usually comprehensively utilized by composers to achieve certain effects and create certain artistic conceptions. In the three works of the piano piece "Shepherd Boy Piccolo", the violin concerto "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" and the song "Spring River Flower Moonlight Night", I was amazed by the composer's flexible use of these expression methods. The following is a detailed analysis:

A piano piece "Shepherd Boy Piccolo"

As a piano learner, I have been exposed to and played the famous piano piece "Shepherd Boy Piccolo" very early. After listening to Shi Shucheng and Lang Lang's live version, I couldn't help but analyze it.

1 Summary

"Shepherd Boy Piccolo" was created by He Luting in 1934. It was named after the Chinese nursery rhyme "The little shepherd boy, riding on the back of an ox, plays the piccolo without any tune". The whole song is in ABA' three-section form.

The presentation part (A) and the reappearance part (A') depict beautiful pastoral scenery: bright spring light, green fields, clear streams, and happy shepherd boys riding on the back of cattle and blowing the wind leisurely The melodious sound of the flute makes us seem to see an innocent and lovely shepherd boy and smell the refreshing fragrance of the countryside soil.

Development Part (B) is a more cheerful and lively dance music. It is based on rhythm and chords. The melody is like the sound of a flute. It is bright and high-pitched, lively and dancing. The music depicts the shepherd boy playing with the crisp flute sound. Playful, light and lively mood.

"Shepherd Boy Piccolo" not only uses Western music techniques, but also displays the characteristics of national music. For more than 70 years since its inception, it has delighted, moved, and amazed the Chinese people with its rich and fresh local sentiment. The music depicts the beautiful fields in the south of the Yangtze River, with floating clouds above, flowing water below, shepherd boys and old cows, flutes and singing. It is an audible lyric poem and a visible landscape painting.

The following will analyze each part one by one.

2 Presentation Part (A), the melody is as follows: (Music score omitted)

In this part, we can clearly see the polyphonic style. The melody of the hands is conversational. In terms of rhythm, when the high voice of the right hand is relaxed, the low voice of the left hand is fast; conversely, when the left hand is slow, the right hand is fast. In addition, the musical phrase uses a repetitive technique. The high-pitched part of the right hand first repeats the theme phrase twice. The contrast in the intensity of the two sentences seems to show the asymptotic approach of the shepherd boy. Raising the register again is like having a conversation with oneself, and the contrast in intensity is even stronger when the phrases are repeated again, and finally it returns to the original position in the forte: (Music score omitted)

The sentence pattern of the lower part of the left hand is at the same pitch The voice part also has strong singing ability. It forms a wonderful echo with the high voice of the right hand: (Music score omitted)

The following phrases continue the previous style. Compared with the subsequent development part (B), there is not too much jump in the melody. More soothing. It’s worth mentioning the strength of the phrases. The contrast between strong (f) and weak (p), very weak (pp) is like the sound of a shepherd boy's flute drifting in the wind, faintly visible. In addition, the slowdown and tenor at the end of this part fully immerse people in the artistic conception created by the composer, and pave the way for a sharp contrast with the next part.

The entire presentation part (A) uses a clear and high-pitched C major key and a calm rhythm, showing a leisurely and unrestrained artistic conception. The two polyphonic melodies combined together are like two shepherd boys roaming on bullocks, talking to each other without restraint.

3 Development (B), the melody is as follows: (Music score omitted)

4 Recapitulation (A')

Two Violin Concertos "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai"

Chen Gang and He Zhanhao wrote the "Butterfly Lovers" violin concerto in 1959.

The music is based on the well-known Chinese folk legend "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" as the theme, and is composed of some singing tunes from Yue Opera as musical materials. The whole song takes the three representative plots of the story - falling in love, resisting marriage and turning into a butterfly as the main content, and is divided into three parts. Its most important significance is to integrate elements of Chinese opera into Western music and use abstract music to tell a specific story.

1 Presentation Department (Love)

2 Development Department (Resistance to Marriage)

3 Reappearance Department (Butterfly)

Flute and The harp brings the music into a fairyland, and the violin with muted instrument recreates the love theme. Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai are a pair of butterflies, flying out from the tomb, dancing gracefully and never separated.

3 Song "Spring River with Flowers and Moonlight Night"

The full song is as follows: (Music score omitted)

This song is adapted from the ancient song "Spring River with Flowers and Moonlight Night". Thanks to the addition of lyrics, it is easier for us to understand the artistic conception the song wants to express. The whole song is medium-tempo, calm and charming. The first sentence

creates a quiet atmosphere. As the lyrics say, although the melody has a large jump, it still has a "smooth and nana" feeling.

In the middle part of the music, the rhythm alternates between slow and rapid, full of singing quality; the melody fluctuates greatly, with clear layers and rhythm.

At the end of the music, the previous theme is reproduced, supplemented by a sad tone, which makes people unable to let go after listening to it for a long time.

Above I have reviewed the melody, rhythm, harmony, musical form, dynamics, speed, beat, register and mode of the piano piece "Shepherd Piccolo" and the melody of the violin concerto "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" , rhythm, timbre, musical form, intensity, speed, beat and texture were analyzed in detail, and the song "Spring River Flower Moonlight Night" was comprehensively analyzed briefly. Through these analyses, I can clearly see that the composer is comprehensively using these means of expression to "achieve certain effects and create certain artistic conceptions."