Forms of singing in Huangmei Opera
There are three forms of singing in Huangmei Opera: main tune, color tune, and three tunes (?caiqiang?,?xian tune?, and?yinsi tune? collectively).
The main tune of Huangmei Opera
The main tune is the most dramatic and expressive tune system among the traditional singing tunes of Huangmei Opera. It takes the Ban style variation (or Banqiang style) as the principle of musical structure. It is this main feature that makes it different from the "Coloratura" of Qupai joint style (or Qupai style) and the "Coloratura" that has the characteristics of both systems. Three chambers?.
The main tune does not mean that it always plays the main role in all the repertoires of Huangmei Opera. In fact, coloratura plays basically do not use the main tune, and some big plays do not use the main tune as the main tune. The reason why this tune is called the main tune is because of its musical form and musical performance function. In addition, judging from the development history of Huangmei Opera music, the main tune is also later than the coloratura and three tunes. This development process is consistent with the development of the repertoire from one-man plays, two small plays, three small plays to string plays and finally the entire play. Therefore, it can be considered that the main tune is the product of the mature stage of Huangmei Opera. Its appearance marks the framing of the basic style of Huangmei Opera music.
Coloratura of Huangmei Opera
Huangmei Opera originated from folk songs and dances. The labor songs of the villagers in the mountains, the songs in the alleys known to women and children, and the joyous singing and dancing in the lantern club fire are the source of the liveliness of Huangmei Opera. In the process of forming the first stage achievements of Huangmei Opera - two small plays and three small plays, it also formed a "coloratura" system of more than a hundred small songs and mixed tunes. Coloratura comes from folk songs, but its function is not the same as folk songs. It has moved from the fields to the stage, from casual singing to prescribed dramatic situations, conveying the characters' voices. The coloratura ditties we see today, no matter how similar they are to folk songs, have indeed been polished by the dramatic wave and possess some characteristics of dramatic music. It is a folk song-style tune system.
1. The artistic characteristics of coloratura
The artistic characteristics of coloratura are reflected in the clarity of mode and color, the simplicity of expression, the dance of rhythm, the colloquial melody lines, The lining words (words) of the libretto structure and other aspects.
Coloratura is a tune system with rich modes. There are the typical pentatonic palace, shang, jiao, zheng and yu modes, as well as the pentatonic and hexa-tonal modes that use partial tones. The different modes and colors of coloratura do not lead to huge contrasts in expressions. Whether it is the Gong or Zheng modes of the major scale or the Yu, Jiao, or Shang modes of the minor scale, they are not only used to express high-spiritedness and boldness, but also to express the weakness of sorrow and sorrow. Driven by the rhythm, in In the ups and downs of the melody lines, they are full of joy and banter. It seems that everything is transparent and optimistic, and the complicated modes just add color. Coloratura's tendency to seek lightness rather than heaviness, and to be optimistic about the heavens rather than being as stable as the Tang Dynasty, has become a basic quality that must be paid attention to in the music of Huangmei Opera and even the entire art of Huangmei Opera.
The simplicity of expressive expressions is also a characteristic of coloratura. Judging from the libretto, the lyrics are all characterized by quick words, humor and humor. For example, in "Escape from Water", a small bamboo pole is three feet long, with a few copper coins attached to it, and the name is "Lianxiang"; and in "Couple Watching the Lantern", the eldest son comes to see the lantern, and he squeezes his head out. The dwarf came to see the lights and squatted in the crowd. The fat man came to see the lamp, and he was so crowded that he was sweating. The thin man came to look at the lamp, and he squeezed himself into a knot? These are all examples. From the perspective of music, the concise musical collection, natural gestures, and intensive character arrangement are combined into a catchy melody, which is both simple and generous.
The rhythm of coloratura has the rhythm of folk dance. It is accompanied by gongs and drums, with smooth "long mallets", and figures entering and exiting. "coloratura two mallets", "coloratura four mallets", and "coloratura six mallets" are closely attached to various parts of the singing, either in the head or in the middle. The performance makes both the performers and the audience unable to hold back the excitement.
The melody lines of coloratura are very colloquial. It not only conforms to the tone of the local dialect, but also expresses the accent of the gong when people speak and the gesture of intentionally emphasizing a certain word.
More than a hundred tunes of coloratura come from many places, such as "Lotus" and "Fengyang Song" come from the north, and "Flower Flowers" come from the south of the Yangtze River. In the process of the evolution of these tunes, the variation caused by language factors is very obvious. , Therefore, the colloquialization of coloratura melody is an important link in unifying the style of coloratura.
Coloratura often uses a large number of interlaced words in its lyrics, and some tunes even put the cart before the horse. For example, in "Ji Shui Tiao", the only expressive words are "Go out the door and look up, three roads." Go in the middle, the little love song of the slave family? 20 words, and add the liner notes to become? Walk out the door eh eh lang dang, look up eh eh lang dang, three main roads hey hey hey son ho hey hey son ho walk in the middle, hey What a good boy, a good boy is a good boy, a good boy is good for a good boy, soo'er, soo'er, hey hey, hey hey, soo'er, the slave's little love brother. ?It should be noted that many coloratura liner notes are an indispensable part of the tunes. They expand the structure of the music and enrich the short two- and three-line ditties. The non-expressive nature of the lining leaves a blank space for the singer to add any emotion he or she recognizes. Of course, too many lining words and lining words make it difficult to capture the originally easy-to-understand meaning of the word. This need not be denied.
2. The use of coloratura
Observe the use of coloratura from two perspectives. One is the relationship between coloratura and small operas, string operas, and big operas. The other is the changes in each minor piece of coloratura and the Connections between ditties.
Coloratura is inseparable from small opera, and it is almost synonymous with small opera. In small operas, most of the coloraturas are dedicated to special songs, such as "Double Flowers Tune" and "Drawing Pigweed Tune" are dedicated to "Drawing Pigweed", "Opening Door Tune" and "Guan Deng Tune" are dedicated to "Couple Watching the Lantern" "wait. The use of coloratura in string opera is similar to that in small opera. In major plays, coloratura only serves as an interlude.
The changes in a coloratura tune itself are mainly changes in the melody line. This change often occurs when the raw and dandy characters in small plays or string plays first use the same tune. For example, to the tune of "Beat the Pig Grass", there is a slight difference between Tao Jinhua's performance and Jin Xiaomao's performance. The female voice moves within one octave, often hitting the highest notes at the beginning of the phrase, and the melody is lively and smooth; the male voice avoids the high notes of the female voice, moving within a range of six degrees, and the melody lines are more angular.
Coloratura is a combination of Qupai. It is common to use 1 to 2 coloratura ditties in one play (a small play or a series of plays). These ditties use prototypes, but also produce some variations, which are expanded in melody or pattern. For example, the first half of "Dazhucao" is played to the tune of "Dazhucao", and there are melodic differences between men's and women's tunes. The second half uses "Dui Hua Tiao". First, men and women sing in duet, and then develops into "Dui Hua Tiao Dui Ban". Coloratura also occasionally uses the main tune in small plays. For example, in "The Fighting Pigweed", after the "pair of flower tunes and the banquet", it suddenly ends on the "pingci cutting banquet". But more often, coloratura is used in conjunction with the coloratura among the three tunes. For example, in the short play "Couples Watching Lanterns", the male Cai tune of the Pentatonic Zheng mode is used at the beginning, followed by the "Open Door Tune" of the Pentatonic Gong mode with the female accent as the main accent and the male accent as the complement. Later, the "opening the door tune" itself will change the pattern, forming two different "open the door tune to the tune". When the lanterns of this group pass by and another lantern comes from the other side, the variation of the color tune is combined with the opening tune to form the lantern tune that contains changes in tonality and mode. "Guandeng Tuning" then introduces "Colored Tune to Banner" to expand the body of the music and strongly maintain the mode and tonality of the Colored Tune. The whole play finally ends with the male and female chorus of the Colored Tune. Suppose the color tune factor is A, the door-opening tone factor is B, and the combination of the two is C, the rough lines of "Couple Watching the Lantern" become A-B-C-A-C-A. This kind of structural technique with concentrated materials and proper contrast is still outstanding and cannot be ignored to this day. Tradition.
3. The dramatic musical characteristics of coloratura
The dramatic musical characteristics of coloratura are reflected in the awakening of character consciousness and the use of stereotyped means.
If the creation of a typical "this" musical image is positioned at the highest level of opera music expression, then the stylized singing voice in the middle is the product of the budding character consciousness at the bottom. ?Simple male and female voices. The motivation for this distinction is obvious: to allow people to hear the gender of the character in the music.
The penetration of coloratura by means of plate changes has led to the further emergence of the characteristics of dramatic music. For example, "Duihua Tiao", "Opening the Door Tiao", and "Studying Scholarship Tiao" have all evolved into the form of antithesis, which enhances the narrative function of coloratura.
In addition, the rolling tune, which is considered to be the main feature of Qingyang tune, has also entered the coloratura in the form of a rolling plate. For example, the "open-door tune" is sandwiched between a straight and flat singing tune, which gives the music a contrast between density and speed. , intensifying the dramatic performance.
The three tunes of Huangmei Opera
The three tunes are the collective name for the three tunes: Caiqiang, Xianqiang and Yinsiqiang.
The three chambers have many similarities. First of all, Sanqiang combines the factors of Qupai style and Banqiang style in the musical system, showing a "quasi-Banqiang style" state. Each of the three tunes has a basic tune. Caiqiang and Xianqiang are four-sentence tunes. Their character arrangements, compound sentence positions, and usage of gongs and drums are relatively fixed, giving them a fixed feel of the Qupai style. However, each of the three chambers derives its counterpart or number board, and also forms some supplementary chamber sentences. Therefore, the three chambers also have the characteristics of the ban chamber. Secondly, in terms of the division of male and female tunes, the three tunes are different from the main tune in which the male and female tunes are connected together, and also different from most coloratura ditties in which the male and female tunes are sung in the same tune. Instead, the male and female tunes are quite different in melody and are easy to distinguish. Come. Furthermore, in terms of dramatic performance function, the three tunes have the ability to express lyrical narrative.
The three tunes are a group of sister tunes with different tastes, and their differences are also obvious. For example, the sources of the three cavities are different. Caiqiang, also known as "Dacai tune", gradually evolved from coloratura ditties. Xianqiang, also known as "Daoqiang" and "Daoqing", originated from local Taoist music and directly entered Huangmei Opera or was first absorbed by Qingyang Opera and then passed on by Huangmei Opera. Yinsi tune is also called "Huanhun tune", which comes from Qingyang tune, so it is also called "Yinsi Gao tune". The expressions and uses of the three tunes are also different: the color tune expresses the joyful and joyful mood; while the male fairy tune has a relaxed and free spirit. Through special singing methods, it can also obtain strange comic colors or express sad emotions. Yin Si tune Qiang is a melancholy tune. It was originally used by the dead or dying characters in the play to express their sad emotions. The words are sad and the sound is mournful, as if entering the underworld. In addition, the tones and sentence patterns of the three tunes are different. There are two types of Caiqiang and Xianqiang, namely the five-tone Zheng mode and the six-tone Zheng mode, while the Yinsi tune is a five-tone Shang mode.
1. Color Tune
The basic structure of Color Tune is a four-sentence style. The male and female tunes maintain the same mode, character arrangement, and core music, but the melody line is lower for the male tune and higher for the female tune. The color tune begins with the "coloratura six mallets", the second line is followed by the "coloratura four mallets", and the third line is followed by the "coloratura two mallets". After a section of color tune is sung, the "coloratura one mallet" is used to terminate the aria. Caiqiang is a Zheng mode, mostly with five tones, and occasionally the tone changes directly into Gong tones. The falling tones of the four sentences are 5 5 6 5 respectively. The old Cai tune is similar to the Huangmei tea-picking opera. The falling tone of the four-line tune is 6 5 6 5 or 1 5 6 5. Judging from the music material, the melody of the second sentence and the fourth sentence of Caiqiang is very similar, while the third sentence has a strong expansion, forming an ABCB "start, inheritance, turn, and combine" structure.
The auxiliary ban ban of color tune includes dual ban and scattered ban, both of which are composed of upper and lower sentences. This ban style can be performed by one person singing solo or duet by two people, which enhances the narrative function of color tune. The board is straight and the word patterns include five-character sentences and seven-character sentences. The following sentence is often connected with the third sentence of the color tune that has the function of turning into a sentence. You can also start the second sentence of the color tune and then follow the pairing sentence, or you can finish singing a section of color tune and then join the pairing sentence. The main complementary sentences of Caiqiang are "Maiqiang", which takes the place of the third sentence. The sentence length of Maiqiang is shorter than that of the third sentence, and the tone falls on 1, which is fresh and increases the power of the music. The way of landing in color Qiang is to slow down the ending sentence and use the decreasing speed to form a buffer to cause the ending. In addition, the color tune also stays on "Qie Ban", and the melody of "Qie Ban" is roughly the same as "Ping Ci Qie Ban".
The four basic lines of Caiqiang are sometimes expanded due to the increase in lyrics. One way to expand is to add a cap to the beginning of a sentence, and the other is to add a roll. For example, in the ugly singing tune of the "Three Character Classic", due to the changeable lyrics and sentence patterns, large sections of the tune that use both flowing and rolling singing are produced. An example of the variety of colors in a song shows that the traditional singing style of Huangmei Opera has always had a great degree of freedom. When a certain tone forms a rough framework, smart artists will "derive from it". From this ontology whose edges are not very clear, many branches will be born, and they can even be greatly increased or decreased, evolving into Comes in many variations. This is probably the "composition method" used by folk artists to create tunes.
Because the music system of color tune is between the main tune and color tune, it is also very common to use it in conjunction with them. Especially in small plays, the combination of color tune and color tune is more frequent. In addition, in the early coloratura opera performances, coloratura was often used to "play the lottery". The so-called lottery is a kind of fundraising activity that is independent of the theater and a means for artists to obtain income. Regardless of the fact that some artists will inevitably perform vulgar performances in the lottery, the tunes used for lottery should be the ones with the widest audience and the most representative of the characteristics of the opera. Artists choose it from a hundred, and the audience accepts it without getting tired of listening to it. Therefore, the morphological characteristics and musical taste of color tune cannot be ignored.
2. Xianqiang
The basic structure of Xianqiang is also a four-sentence style, but its form is more complicated than Caixiang. Xianqiang requires repetition of the lyrics in two places, one is the last three characters of the first sentence (seven-character sentence), and the other is the repetition of the entire fourth sentence. In this way, the lengths of the four phrases become uneven, creating a contrasting effect within the phrase, with some phrases passing by and others being emphasized.
Complex sentences are a common expression method in Gaoqiang. In Yuexi Gaoqiang, complex sentences must be punctuated with symbols on the manuscript, which shows that artists attach great importance to it. The complex sentences in the high tune are repeated with new melody, and the range of the tune also changes greatly, which is similar to the complex sentences in the fairy tune of Huangmei Opera.
Xianqiang also uses coloratura gongs and drums. Use the "Six Hammers of Coloratura" to start the head, and use the "One Hammer of Coloratura" to finish it, which is the same as the coloratura. However, the civil war tune sandwiched "huaqiao two mallets" between the first tune and the three-character compound sentence. After the three-character compound sentence, it was followed by "huaqiao four mallets", forming a state in which the first libretto (including the compound sentence) was in full swing. This is different from There is a big difference in the even usage of gongs and drums in Caiqiang. In the old Xianqiang, Bingqiang is also used, and "leaning gongs" and "beating joints with the tune" are used. These are the retention of the characteristics of high tune. The auxiliary ban form of Xianqiang is Shuban (also called Duiban), which is a structure of upper and lower sentences formed by changing and repeating the second and third sentences in Xianqiang tune.
The supplementary tune sentences of Xianqiang are "Maiqiang", and the sentence length and falling sound are the same as "Caiqiang Maiqiang".
Xianqiang has a remarkable feature. It can use variation techniques to form different variants. This variant is not slightly different in the general sense, but has considerable differences in expressions. Take "The Match of the Immortals" as an example. When the fairies secretly came to Tianhe to watch the beautiful scenery of the world, they used fairy tune to express their joy after being liberated; when the seven fairies cast a spell to make the thousand-year-old locust tree speak, they cooperated with This magical scene was performed by a male singing fairy tune with a strange tone and exaggerated tone; when Dong Yong learned that the Seven Fairies would be forced to leave him, the old locust tree that had served as a matchmaker was speechless and unable to help. , he sang with great sadness: ? Dumb wood, dumb wood, screamed three times in a row without opening his mouth. ?The fairy tune is still used here. Such different situations, different characters, and highly contrasting emotional expressions are all reflected in Xianqiang.
3. Yinsiqiang
Yinsiqiang is the main tune of Huangmei Opera and among the three tunes, it has the simplest expression and the most abundant drawl. Specially used when it is sad, the last words of the upper and lower sentences have four to six bars of line.
The Yinsi tune is full of twists and turns, sad and touching, and it perfectly expresses the despair of the characters in the play. Because of this characteristic, it is often used in conjunction with the main tune to complement the tragic tone of the main tune.
Yinsi tune is a five-tone Shang mode. The modal color is different from the main tune, color tune and fairy tune. This makes it stand out among the crowd and is easy to distinguish.
The Yinsi tune is not suitable for repeated use because of its long-formed tunes and single expressions. Generally, it is used only once before switching to auxiliary forms and supplementary tunes. From here it seems that we can understand the requirements of Banqiang style for upper and lower sentences: it excludes non-narrative and overly long drawls. At the same time, it requires a neutral color for expressions, and those whose emotions are too narrow and difficult to change. The tune sentence is not suitable to be used as the prototype of the variation, nor is it suitable to be the parent body of the upper and lower sentences.
The auxiliary pattern of Yinsi tune is the number board with upper and lower sentence structure, which has strong narrative ability. Its melody comes from the upper and lower sentences of Yinsi tune, which is also a pentatonic Shang mode. The supplementary tune of Yinsi Qiang is "Yinsi Maiqiang". Its structure and falling sound are the same as Caiqiang Maiqiang and Xianqiang Maiqiang. It is often used after the upper and lower sentences of Yinsi Qiang to turn to the number board or other cavities of Yinsi Qiang.
Due to the interoperability of expressions, the Yinsi tune is often combined with "crying", and the sad tone is supplemented by a crying tone to achieve a stronger tragic expression;