"Music is the common language of mankind", no matter when and where, everyone expresses their yearning and love in different ways. For many friends who love traditional culture, folk music is undoubtedly their favorite form.

In recent years, folk music has undergone great changes in stage presentation and social popularity. Different from the background music and square dance accompaniment music that the elderly listened to when they were walking in the past, today, whether it is the concert hall of the Grand Theater, the auditorium of the school, or even in the pop music style of bars and other occasions, you can always hear folk music. melody.

Changes in musical instruments bring more room to play

As the country pays more and more attention to the elderly, the treatment (pension) is getting better and better, and the economy is getting richer, but many young people have no time to accompany the elderly because of their busy work. Lonely. It is said that music is the best friend of mankind, and learning music has become a "required course" for many elderly people. As a Chinese with the blood of the Chinese nation, folk music is even more sought after by the elderly. For anything, there are several steps to learn, appreciate and experience, and folk music is no exception. Speaking of the study of ethnic musical instruments, Uncle Yang is one of them. He found that the ethnic musical instruments today are different from the past. Not only are the appearance, packaging and workmanship more meticulous, but the sound is also the same as what he remembered when he was a child. Slight difference. In this regard, the reporter asked Yin Jiawen, a publicity member of the Party Branch of the National Orchestra of Jiangsu Performing Arts Group and a young erhu performer. She said frankly, "Folk music is the abbreviation of national instrumental music. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was an era when music flourished. With the rapid development, the musical instruments have undergone many improvements, so the current range of timbres has been greatly increased, such as suona and flute, by adding sound holes to expand the range of sound. There are many more examples of this, making it ultimately a fairly scientific, standardized national instrument."

It is understood that the changes in these techniques have more room for artists and fans who play folk music. Although the purpose of expression of culture and art all over the world is the same, the way of expression presents different sensory feelings due to differences in cultural understanding. Chinese folk music is more fantasy, so it is more freehand; on the contrary, Western art is based on ideals and becomes more realistic. Driven by two different concepts, musical instruments as tools for expressing music are very different. In order to express a sense of realism, Western musical instruments have strong certainty in expressing specific sounds. On the contrary, Folk musical instruments show uncertainty.

Take Western harps and Chinese guzheng for example, the strings of the harp are fixed at two points. Once the strings are fixed, the pitch is also very clear. The guzheng is fixed at two points and supported at one point. The strings on the right can be pronounced independently, and the strings can also be pressed with the left hand when pronouncing. As a result, the sound has all the intervals and differentials within the range that the toughness can bear, making the sound present. non-deterministic features. When playing a certain note, within its acceptable range, the accuracy of the pitch is not so bounded, and the player can fully express his inner subtle feeling through the uncertainty of the note. The expansion of the range and the improvement of the timbre make this effect the icing on the cake. For those who love to play folk music, playing folk music is definitely a better way to cultivate their sentiments and release their emotions wholeheartedly.

Multi-integration, the prosperous orchestral era of folk music

In the picture of singing and dancing, some people are playing suona, some people are playing singles, some people are beating drums, and a cheerful and exciting folk music is presented in people's minds. Many elderly friends' appreciation of folk music is still in the "era" of costume dramas, but nowadays, with the standardization of national instrumental music, the scale of orchestra preparation, and the large-scale repertoire, folk music is becoming more and more popular. In various large-scale theatrical performance venues such as the Grand Theater Concert Hall, we specially watched the first performance of the 2022 music season of the Jiangsu Performing Arts Group Chinese Orchestra - "Imagination of Spring" National Symphony Concert, and had the honor to interview the conductor of this show, a famous conductor , Professor Xu Zhijun, an educator, said that learning folk music is not only about learning musical instruments, but also learning to appreciate it. It is true that times have changed, and the way we appreciate folk music today will also change.

When most people listen to a piece of music, it is easier to know the basic emotions they express, whether they are happy, joyful, sad or depressed. , such emotions are also easier to "touch", but the specific style of music - this kind of thing based on the basic emotions, which makes the emotional content more specific and content - that is, the different types of basic emotional styles, is not So easy to understand. Different composers will have many different styles when they create folk music, not to mention the styles of different pieces are not the same. In the national symphony concert "Imagination of Spring" by the Provincial Performing Arts Group Chinese Orchestra, Professor Xu performed the performance, and one of the songs "Gada Merlin" was well-loved. In the interview, Professor Xu answered that in the whole piece, the composer used stippling texture, linear layered texture, block-opposed texture, mosaic texture, superposition of timbre and texture. Creation techniques such as subtraction and timbre connection are used to show the deeds of this Mongolian hero. This kind of creative technique, composition technique, and the embodied "scenario" with a strong personal identity, even a national identity, displayed through the characteristics of the instrument itself - is the type of style that the basic emotional style is intended to express. In this passionate and slightly painful mood, the performance of this song also made reporters realize the "look" of Mongolian music and the musical style of composer Xin Huguang. And this style system, which combines the quintessence of traditional folk musical instruments, performance skills, and Western "scientific" composition techniques, is being used more and more in the repertoire of today's large-scale folk orchestras. More and more folk music fans are listening and accepting.

In large-scale folk orchestral concerts, many friends who like to listen to folk music may find that the scale of the performance is relatively large, while in some traditional local performances or some opera performances, the number of performing teams is relatively small, and traditional Chinese musical instruments are unique. Relatively strong, the timbre is very characteristic. The larger the system, the more possibilities for different instrument combinations, and the processing of effects such as harmony will be correspondingly more difficult. At the same time, different musical instruments have different sound ranges. When collocation in a large-scale orchestra, it is necessary to deal with the coordination of the sound range, so that the final overall music effect can be layered, rich and not abrupt from low to high.

In terms of stylistic repertoire, when playing some Jiangnan Sizhu and Cantonese music, the combined performance of the small compilation can give full play to the advantages of flexibility, highlight the characteristics of the style of the music, and also have a strong ornamental value. The protection unit has also won the gold medal of the Jiangnan Silk and Bamboo Competition at home and abroad for three consecutive years, with extraordinary strength.

Besides, the large-scale excellent music works of contemporary China performed by large-scale national orchestras, we not only realized the more magnificent picture sense of traditional Chinese music in the whole concert, but also did not produce the "noisy feeling" that everyone remembered in the past because of the variety of musical instruments. The Erhu Concerto "Red Plum Capriccio" moved the reporter quite a bit. The whole piece is written in lyrical first-person, describing the ups and downs of Jiang Jie's heart. Echoing each other, it achieves a musical effect that has both the main theme and the other but is not overwhelming, and at the same time everyone "coexists in harmony".

In the history of Chinese bands, whether it is Han, Wei Xianghe Daqu or Wei, Jin, Qing, and Shang music, even in the past dynasties, there was no one who specialized in conductors: the singers of ancient music in the past, and the "Zhihui" during the slavery period. (Da Si Le in the ceremonial music and dance of the Six Dynasties, Xiao Wu, San Le, Yi Ren in Yi Le), "Jian Gu" in the Bell and Drum Band, "Zhi" in the Yale Club, and the Zhou Dynasty's eight-tone music. Drums began to have a certain commanding quality when they arrived at the festival of Xianghe Daqu in the Han, Wei and Qing Dynasties, the Jiegu in the Yanle Daqu in the Tang Dynasty, the drum master in wind and percussion music in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the drum master in opera music. The rhythm and speed of the whole orchestra can be hinted and controlled to a certain extent. After the establishment of the modern national orchestra and the basic structure of the symphony orchestra, there is a real conductor. With the establishment of the national orchestra, some The problems of western harmony, polyphony, orchestration and musical structure are placed in front of traditional Chinese folk music, so that conductors must not only consider the attribute expression of traditional folk music (such as familiarity with the rhythm of traditional musical instruments, and the sound that is matched between them). The effect of the command - which instruments should reflect what style characteristics, which instruments can reflect the original Chinese color, and the characteristics of folk music that should be expressed in the music), the comprehensive effect brought by Western music theory must also be considered. Questions, such as whether the different ranges of high, middle and low are harmonious, how the uncertainty of the performance of the instrument makes the conductor adapt to the changes, how should the traditional music's title cycle, the multi-section structure and the symphony of Western music, and the single chapter of the concerto be combined. command. In this regard, Professor Xu said that compared with Westerners, Chinese conductors have a better understanding of Chinese music culture in their bones. Therefore, while integrating Western music technology, they should think more about the understanding and overall control of music. He emphasized that the performers of today's folk ensembles are all Chinese, and they have been immersed in Chinese culture since childhood, and learned these instruments at a very young age. The traditional genes are deeply rooted in the players' hearts. To some extent, they can better Communicate with the conductor and present the music perfectly.

Cultural confidence, the beauty of folk music is around

At present, there are still some people who hold different views on the appreciation and positioning of folk music, and even think that folk music is very earthy. When talking about the common people's understanding of folk music, Professor Xu emphasized that the soil is not soil, and everyone has different feelings in their hearts. Such discussions exist. However, with the opportunities brought about by the development of China's strength, whether it is the education sector's emphasis on and cultivation of art, or the government's investment in various cultural and artistic undertakings, ordinary people have gradually realized that the former soil and foreign countries are actually China. The discourse power and impact of one culture on another culture in the conflict between Western cultures, the sensory way of thinking of foreign beauty may not be applicable in China, and many people, under the influence of today's environment, will say "beauty is always around". sigh. The soil of the past actually contains a kind of heritage behind it. The beauty displayed by this heritage makes people willing to slowly taste, discover, inherit and carry forward. For example, many young people wear Hanfu and sing opera, and they are integrated into more and more people. Many elderly people sign up for some folk music chorus classes and folk music ensembles, and there are also elements of folk music. Professor Xu went on to say that it is precisely in such an atmosphere and infection that the Chinese National Orchestra has lived up to the expectations of the public, actively strived to explore the integration and flexibility of folk music in today's diverse social environment, and formed its own unique system.

At the same time, Conductor Xu pointed out another reason why many people think that folk music is inferior to Western music. This is not only a matter of cultural and aesthetic understanding, but also the quality of the performance. In the past, due to the change of dynasties, there were indeed some historical and cultural heritages that were not well inherited. Comparatively speaking, folk music also has such a problem. The music history and theoretical records of some dynasties often disappear – they are lost in the continuation of the times, no successor can be found, or they are not well preserved in their original form. down. There are even some misunderstandings in the understanding and inheritance of some works due to the understanding of a small number of people. In addition to the changes in the current environment, such as the entry of Western culture, which is different from the atmosphere and environment of the ancient times, it will create "earth" for people. impression. Of course, there will be other problems now. There are some inferior folk music works that seem to be packaged brightly and under the traditional banner. All these will not only cause certain troubles to people's aesthetics, but also have no effect on the inheritance of folk music culture. benefit.

"China has a vast land and vast resources, and its culture has a long history. In terms of understanding folk music, we should be pioneers and pathfinders of folk music culture. For example, we should go to remote mountainous areas to conduct field surveys, constantly think and innovate, and understand the characteristics of local ethnic culture. Integrate it into music creation and spread it to future generations in China." Professor Xu said meaningfully, "In this national symphony concert, the national orchestra "Sum of Seven Colors" is composer Zhang Chao based on the colorful rays of the sun. Go to the association and map it to the spiritual connotation of the seven ethnic minorities in Yunnan living harmoniously under the same blue sky."

The first concert of the 2022 Jiangsu Performing Arts Group's National Orchestra Music Season - Imagination of Spring drew the curtain with several additional repertoires and increasing cheers from the audience. This is the first concert of a series of Chinese Orchestra concerts. But it's by no means the last. Because of the continuous growth and development of national orchestras, there are also many folk musicians like Professor Xu Zhijun who are constantly escorting the spread of Chinese national culture. Behind this, there are more musicians who work hard behind the scenes. With their efforts to enhance people's interest in learning folk music, cultivate and appreciate the quality of folk music, and appreciate the great advancement of folk music culture, while bringing culture and art into people's hearts, it is believed that the future of Chinese folk music will shine like spring's imagination. .