Zhao Yuzhai is a guzheng player. Shandong Yuncheng people. Learning guzheng since childhood. Has performed in Nanjing, Shanghai and other places. Joined the Communist Party of China in 1980. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as a teacher and associate professor at the Shenyang Conservatory of Music. In 1953, he won the Outstanding Performance Award at the First National Folk Music and Dance Festival. Once reformed the zheng, the 16 strings were increased to 21 strings. The zheng pieces composed and performed include "Celebrating the Harvest Year", "New Year" and so on. He has compiled "Guzheng Songs", "Zheng Collections" and so on.

biography

Born in 1923 in Yuncheng County, Shandong Province, which is known as "the sea of books and the hometown of zheng and qin", he successively studied Erjiaxian, Bangzi Opera, Shandong Qinshu and other local operas under the tutelage of artists such as Wang Denghai and Wang Erjing. , Erxian, Sihuxian, Banhu, and learned to play the guzheng from Mr. Fan Xiyu and Mr. Li Lianjun.

In 1943, after being introduced by Mr. Shi Dengyan, he took the "King of Silk Strings" Mr. Wang Dianyu as his teacher to learn Leiqin and Guzheng, and became a student of "Donglu Ya Music Club". In early 1952, invited by Teacher Wang, he joined the Tianjin Quyi Troupe. In the first national music and dance performance, the two masters and apprentices won the Outstanding Performance Award for their lute performances. In the autumn of 1953, upon the recommendation of Mr. Cao Zheng, Mr. Zhao applied for a position at the Shenyang Conservatory of Music as a guzheng and leqin teacher in the Department of Folk Music.

In the spring of 1956, Mr. Zhao went to the Czech Republic with the Chinese Art Troupe to participate in the 11th "Prague Spring" International Music Week, where he performed Shandong traditional zheng pieces "Autumn Moon in the Han Palace", "High Mountains and Flowing Water", "Fengxiang Song" and his compositions. "Celebrating the Harvest Year" was warmly welcomed. In October of the same year, he visited the four Nordic countries with a delegation of Chinese musicians and played nearly 20 traditional and self-created zheng pieces. Finnish President Kikkonen and his wife also watched his performance and gave warm praise. In 1962, he held a special solo recital in Jinan, Shandong. In 1963, he published "On the Performing Arts of Zheng" in the Shenyang Evening News, which was his first attempt in music theory and laid a good foundation for his later theoretical works.

In 1957, Mr. Zhao proposed to the Shenyang Conservatory of Music Musical Instrument Factory the idea of increasing the body of the zheng and adding more strings, so the first 21-string zheng was born, which is the prototype of the modern guzheng. Later, at the suggestion of Mr. Zhao, the musical instrument factory began to develop the zither. In 1959, the country's first tension-tuned kite was developed.

personal works

In 1979, in the third issue of Peony magazine in Heze, Shandong, he published "Introduction to Performing Arts in Zheng Learning", and published "Academic Research on Luzheng School Laobaban" in "Yuefu Xinsheng"; The fourth issue of People's Music published "Friends of the Hong Kong Lecture Club", "Mr. Wang Dianyu's Artistic Career" was published in the journal "Song Jianghe", and "Missing Teacher Wang Dianyu" was published in the third issue of "Chinese Music".

Achievement honor

In September 1983, he was invited to serve as a judge of the National Youth Folk Instrumental Music Competition, and then he was invited to give lectures and performances in Guangzhou. Mr. Chen Leishi, a professor at Chinese University, called Mr. Zhao a veritable "Chinese zheng king". Major newspapers and radio stations called him "the king of Chinese zheng and the master of lute". Mr. Zhao's "small shake" playing method of the knuckles of the right thumb is full of particles, and the knuckles are dexterous and free, strong and weak. His playing skills are unparalleled in the world. Mr. Zhao's artistic achievements are fruitful and can be regarded as a performer and an educator. In 1987, he was promoted to a professor of guzheng. His name has been included in many celebrity dictionaries, and has been included in the "Celebrities of American World Musicians".

At 8:00 on February 10, 1998, Mr. Zhao Yuzhai, a famous guzheng performer, educator and president of the Northeast Guzheng Society, passed away unfortunately.

He compiled more than 200 zheng and leiqin songs dictated by various masters in the early years into a score. Learn music theory and Western instruments, and absorb the essence of Western music. In the process of learning the piano, I combined some performance techniques of the two to create "Si Duan Jin". This piece of music not only breaks through the original folk zheng music program in rhythm changes, but also boldly in the climax section. Harmony and chord techniques of the piano are adopted, and the expressive power of the guzheng is fully exerted.

The performance of his self-composed "Celebrating Harvest Year" at the "First National Music Week" was a great success, and he was cordially received by Chairman Mao and other state party and government leaders in the South China Sea. At the closing ceremony of the conference, Comrade Lv Ji, chairman of the National Music Association, said in his speech that the creation of "Qing Fengnian" was a major contribution to the development of national music; music critic Li Ling published an article in the "People's Daily". For the article "Guzheng Playing Innovator", he spoke highly of Mr. Zhao's artistic achievements. The birth of "Qing Feng Nian" has opened up a new era for the development of guzheng performance art. He composed dozens of pieces such as "Good Commune", "Workers' Praise", "New Year", "Peace Dance", "Ten Years of Celebration", etc. He has published "Zheng Song Selection" in People's Music Publishing House and Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House. and "Guzheng Collection". Recorded and played more than 80 zheng songs on the central and provincial and municipal radio stations, and produced "High Mountains and Flowing Water", "Si Duan Jin", "Da Ba Ban", "Fengxiang Song", "Celebrating a Prosperous Year" and "Good Commune" for the China Record Club. " and other albums, among which "Celebrating the Harvest Year" and "New Year" won the first prize of national and provincial music works respectively. In the Leiqin major, in addition to arranging the drama music dictated by Mr. Wang Dianyu, he also created and adapted music such as "Reminiscence of the Past", "Song of Happiness", "The White-Haired Girl" and "The Waves of Honghu Lake", which fully demonstrated in the creation. of his artistic talent.

During the "Cultural Revolution", he composed the guzheng music "Happy Celebration", "Unforgettable" and the Leiqin music "Remembering Boling"; in October 1979, he participated in the 4th National Literary Congress, the 3rd Music Congress and hosted by the Central Conservatory of Music In March 1980, he attended the Liaoning Provincial Literary Congress and the Liaoning Branch of the Music Association, and was elected as a member of the Liaoning Literary Congress and the executive director of the Music Association; in June 1980, he held the Zheng Leiqin in the concert hall of the Shenyang Conservatory of Music. In the solo concert, "Joyful" and "Unforgettable" were selected by Liaoning TV Station and sent to CCTV to broadcast on the National Day. In the summer of 1980, he participated in the "Shenyang Music Week" and performed a group performance of fourteen guzheng groups on the same stage for four generations.

personal works

He composed dozens of pieces of music such as "Good Commune", "Praise for Workers", "New Year", "Peace Dance" and "Ten Years of Celebration". Recorded and played more than 80 zheng songs on the central and provincial and municipal radio stations, and produced "High Mountains and Flowing Water", "Si Duan Jin", "Da Ba Ban", "Fengxiang Song", "Celebrating a Prosperous Year" and "Good Commune" for the China Record Club. " and other records. Among them, "Celebrating the Harvest Year" and "New Year" won the first prize of national and provincial music works respectively. In Leiqin major, in addition to arranging the drama music dictated by Mr. Wang Dianyu, he also composed and adapted such music as "Reminiscence of the Past", "Song of Happiness", "White Haired Girl", "The Waves of Honghu Lake", etc. Fully demonstrated his artistic talent. He has written books such as "Guzheng Song Collection" and "Zheng Song Collection".

Other Information

Zhao Yuzhai is a master of guzheng art from the folk and rooted in the folk. He began to learn the art at the age of eight, and successively learned from Wang Denghai, Wang Erjing and other artists to learn Erjiaxian, Bangzi Opera, Shandong Qinshu and other local operas, and learned to pull Zuihu and Erxian. , Sihu Xian, Banhu, and learn to play the guzheng from Mr. Fan Xiyu and Mr. Li Lianjun.

Social evaluation

In his decades of guzheng playing practice, Zhao Yuzhai has created many of his own unique playing styles and techniques, which enriches the art of guzheng playing and makes the expressive power of guzheng more perfect. For example: his right thumb knuckles' "small shake" playing method has strong granularity, and the knuckles are dexterous and free, with distinct strength and weakness. In his performances, he often used heavy vibrato playing after glissando, fully showing the rough and pungent local style of Shandong zheng music; and the octave playing method was frequently used, with full strength and pure sound. When playing an adagio music, the vibrato is applied while sliding up and down, showing infinite sadness and sadness, making it utter a sad and cut-off rhythm.

The method of playing chords alternately with both hands is the first. I remember that when the author first entered the door of music in the late 1950s, he heard the modern zheng piece "Qingfengnian" composed and performed by Mr. Zhao Yuzhai many times on the radio and records, and was influenced by it. It is a strong infection of the real mountains and waters that are full of verve and emotion. This newly created zheng piece has some legends with pure, serene and picturesque melodies.

Zhao Yuzhai's artistic achievements are fruitful, and in 1987, he was promoted to professor of guzheng. His name has been included in many celebrity dictionaries, and has been included in the "Celebrity Dictionary of American World Musicians".