1. Cultural perspective and musical attitude

At the level of mass psychology, professionals, industry leaders and even social elites, we are not used to saying "Chinese music is the best or the best music in the world". For a long time, many of our media will habitually equate "elegant music" with Western classical music. Western music is in the upper and high-end in every dimension of the evaluation system, while folk music and folk singing are in most cases. not on this level.

Objectively speaking, the weakening of the position of Chinese music in the contemporary world music scene, our sense of existence is more often manifested in praising musicians who can enter several major European and American orchestras or mainstream music circles. Chinese talented musicians can master advanced Western music techniques, techniques, concepts and concepts and become first-class musicians. They can learn "Western" very well. Some music stars are also awarded because of their awards in Western music festivals or competitions. Respected by the music life consumer circle.

The perspective of cultural independence is necessary and necessary. Once we get rid of the Western cultural centralism, write our own happiness with our heart, and only have self, independence, self-confidence, self-respect, self-reliance, and self-improvement, we will discover the beauty of Chinese tradition, The beauty of culture, the beauty of music.

2. Chinese charm and oriental attributes

The erhu was introduced into my country from the Tang and Song dynasties, and has gone through a complete process of sinicization—from foreign countries to China, from folk to palaces, from traditional opera to modern orchestras, the changes and evolution of erhu over thousands of years, reflecting the tolerance of traditional Chinese music Sex, creativity, adaptability and legacy resilience. Erhu is a living fossil of traditional Chinese music inheritance paradigm and cultural evolution.

China's historical tradition does not record the habits of artists. The thousand-year-old erhu must have undergone the transformation of countless ingenious folk masters, and there have been many great works. Otherwise, it will not be able to enter the inheritance sequence of traditional Chinese folk culture. But in the modern society, the erhu has become a solo instrument of contemporary Chinese folk music with musical independence. In the innovation of performance techniques and the creation of solo repertoires, the two artistic masters Liu Tianhua and A Bing have made the greatest contributions.

Erhu solos composed by Liu Tianhua are such as "Good Night", "Moon Night", "Birds in the Sky", "Idle Home", as well as "Ode to Depression", "Elegy", "Singing in Sickness", "Single String Exercise", and another example "Candle Shadow". Shake the Red" and "Bright Walk", these works have greatly improved the expressiveness and effect of the erhu, opened up a new space, and it is refreshing. These 10 erhu songs have become classics of Chinese music. Humanistic concern is a distinctive feature of traditional Chinese music and even Chinese literature and art. Literary expression is a humanistic feeling for thousands of years. Liu Tianhua's works are flexible and open, independent and free, his attitude towards art and life, and the life experience of people at that time. And Chinese traditional humanistic feelings, etc. are concentrated and enriched in his music.

From the technical level, the overtones used in "Good Night" are similar to those of the guqin and other bowed stringed instruments, but they are innovative in the erhu performance; The imitation of sound also reasonably applies the imitation method of the traditional folk such as the Leiqin to the erhu performance. Others such as "Guangming Xing" borrow the techniques of "chord and arpeggio" from Western musical instruments, and so on, it can be seen that Liu Tianhua's understanding of "musical expression" has reached the breadth of understanding and the use of technology. From the perspective of content, "Elegy", "Singing in Sickness", and "Single String Exercise" are a model for expressing their feelings with emotion. It is consistent with the traditional Chinese culture of "poetry expresses will, song expresses forever, sound depends on eternity, and rhythm harmonizes sound" throughout the past and the present. His works are deeply emotional, profound, and straightforward, expressing human nature and shaking the soul. It is normal for them to become classic and famous songs. But the thing.

Just as "Liang Zhu" is the symbol of Chinese violin music, "Erquan Yingyue" is the symbol of erhu music. "Erquan Yingyue" is not only an erhu solo piece, but has also been adapted into a violin solo piece and an orchestral piece. Of course, there are not a few professional erhu players who play "Liang Zhu". "Erquan Reflecting the Moon" is a contribution of traditional folk music to modern Chinese music. It was born out of nowhere and known to the world. It has become a "Chinese symbol" of traditional music, both inevitable and accidental.

A Bing, the composer of "Erquan Reflecting the Moon", is a folk artist at the bottom of the society in an absolute sense. Today we call him a famous folk musician. Ah Bing, formerly known as Hua Yanyun, was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu in 1893. Most people think that "Erquan Reflecting the Moon" depicts the intoxicating moonlight of Erquan. In fact, the essence of the work is not the depiction of the scenery, but the expression of the unique emotion and life attitude of the blind artist after experiencing the ups and downs of the world. According to legend, A Bing walks in the streets and alleys every day, with the piano in his hand and the piano in his hand, and he can play a piece of music, long or short, fixed or random. Music is born from the heart and is like life. Music is not only the free expression of life experience, but also the natural expression of self-emotion, not only the free will of life, but also the natural charm of life.

A Bing's songs are not always sad and desperate. We all know the ups and downs and ups and downs of A Bing's own life. in the heart. Such a person becomes a blind person and wanders in the alleys. He will have the supreme wisdom of life, the unique Chinese sense of destiny, and the admirable and extremely powerful life resilience. People who really understand Ah Bing will not only hear the word "sorrow" in his songs. If a person can't get out of "sorrow", he will not be able to live at all.

A Bing calls his work "Zilaiqiang", that is, his own "self-composed music" and "self-portrait", while the neighbors who know him well call it "Yixinqu", and no one calls it "Blind Sorrow" ""The Blind Cries". In 1950, the famous musicians Yang Yinliu, Cao An and two professors from the Central Conservatory of Music made a special trip to Wuxi to record A Bing's performance, and named the recording "Erquan Reflecting the Moon", which is a profound understanding of the work. And a great expression of pure Chinese style. He Luting once said, "The elegant name of "Erquan Reflecting the Moon" actually contradicts its music. Rather than describing the scenery of Erquan Yingyue, the music expresses A Bing's own painful life experience." [1] But this suffering is expressed in a more peaceful way. "On the tenth anniversary of the National Day in 1959, the China Foreign Cultural Association played this piece to international friends as one of the representatives of Chinese national music. Since then, this piece has been widely circulated at home and abroad, and has been highly praised, becoming a '20th century Chinese Musical Classics'". [2]

Wang Guotong, a famous huqin master, used a low-key, thick-stringed erhu when he played "Erquan Reflecting the Moon". Usually, what A Bing himself uses is the thick-stringed erhu. Now some people play "Erquan Reflecting the Moon" too softly, too sadly, and too emotionally. This expression orientation is different from the essence of the original work, at least there is a difference, listen to A Bing's recording , you will appreciate the tranquility and broad-mindedness, desolation and sadness expressed in the work, but at the same time we can also appreciate the author's tenacity and perseverance, uprightness, high personality, and iron bones. Of course, performing works according to one's own understanding is the freedom of performers, and we don't advocate one thousand people.

It is precisely this rich emotional connotation that the scene in a report appears: "When the erhu sounded, Mr. Ozawa Seiji stopped moving and listened calmly. Lingering, Ozawa Zhenger began to cover his face and shed tears. Jiang Jianhua, who was playing the tune, was shocked by his cry when he was playing the piece. He looked up slightly and saw that Ozawa Zhenger had already burst into tears... Ozawa Zheng Er stood up and hugged her, and told her that if he heard this piece in advance, he might not dare to play it. Because the day before, Ozawa Zheng Er had just finished conducting "Erquan Reflecting the Moon", but Compared with a large ensemble, such a simple erhu sound can penetrate deeper into the soul.”[3]

At the beginning of this century, Jinghu's "Deep Night" once again amazed the world. The famous huqin player Jiang Kemei took "Deep Night" out of China and went to the world, in Vienna's Musikverein, Berlin Konzerthaus, and the United Nations General Assembly Hall in Geneva. Such as the world's top music hall, the unparalleled love from China two thousand years ago, shocked the local musicians and the audience. The audience stood for a long time, applauded and cheered, enjoying the unique charm of the Chinese huqin.

"The traditional Chinese opera instrumental music card "Deep Night" is a variation of the Kunqu vocal music card "The Wind Blows the Lotus Leaf Sha". As a representative work of the opera instrumental music card, "Deep Night" reflects not only the origin of the vocal music card and the instrumental music card This relationship also shows the unique law of innovation and change in traditional Chinese opera music, "one song is multi-purpose and one song is changeable"." [4] "Huqin music cards in Peking Opera, with "Farewell My Concubine" dance swords "night" "Deep" is the best, "Deep in the Night" is played by Jinghu and other stringed instruments, with the cooperation of Nantang drums, the tune is smooth and the rhythm is lively, giving full play to the special expressive power of Jinghu."[5]

There are various sources of textual research on the origin of the song "Deep Night". In fact, it is as likely as most works from the folk to have multiple sources. Starting from the field of public knowledge, we say that "Deep Night" comes from Peking Opera Qu Pai, and the background of its music is the story of Farewell My Concubine. The music is rich in connotation and full of emotional content, including heroic and tender feelings, joy and sadness, pride and sadness, life and death, and other great contrasts and extreme emotions. It depicts the overlord of Western Chu and Concubine Yu from multiple levels and angles. The main content of the beauty of the country and the love and sacrifice of the two people, their musical performance is vigorous, affectionate and sexual, reaching the supreme height of the modern performance of traditional Chinese music. The performances of "Er Spring Reflecting the Moon" and "Deep Night" show the infinite depth of the inner and the infinite distance outward, proving the infinite possibility of Chinese traditional music to fully express human emotions.

Generally speaking, it is generally believed that Western classical music is higher or much higher than traditional Chinese folk music in terms of its richness and complexity. Of course, we do not deny the achievements of Western classical music, nor the great contribution that Western music has made to human audiovisual aesthetics, but at the same time we should know the independence, uniqueness and irreplaceability of Chinese traditional music. Chinese civilization uses unique and independent methods and techniques, with a continuity of thousands of years, the relationship with poetry, life, and etiquette, as well as the musical performance and performance system established from the perspective of pure music, is Western music. unattainable and imitated.

3. Expression in Expression and Modernity in Tradition

The entry of erhu into the modern band is an inevitability of congenital conditions. Erhu playing techniques and skills are continuously inherited, innovated, enriched and developed, so that the erhu is enough to support the melody performance of the entire folk band, and the brilliance of the erhu can be seen everywhere in the folk band.

The technique of the erhu right-hand bow is particularly important. Bow movement is the kinetic energy for any bowed stringed instrument to sound. The changes in force, speed, length of movement, and strength of the bow are directly related to the performance of the bow, as well as the overall performance of the folk band.

Different from the violin, the erhu is more in line with the mechanics of human fingers, hands, wrists and arms due to its pull-down bowing, and has better controllability - strength, weight, length, rapidity, pause, etc. more expressive and performative. The bow runs between inner and outer strings that are 5mm apart in parallel, making it constrained and restricted significantly different from an open bow. Such high ability and high restriction make the erhu's bowing technique produce a unique effect, coexisting with vigor and beauty, agitation and tactfulness, good at expressing a variety of mood patterns and tunes, and at the same time having musical performance. Uniqueness, individuality.

Like other bowed instruments, the rubbing technique of the left hand of the erhu is an indispensable technical means, and plays an irreplaceable and important role in the presentation of the ideological content, creative theme, and artistic conception of the music. In the performance of folk bands, the use of vibrato is widespread and common, and it is the main method for changing the style and color of music. The kneading technique changes the physical tension of the sounding strings and the length of the strings by pressing the high-frequency inner and outer molds to the sounding strings, so that the pitch is rhythmically rhythmically in a half-tone interval, and at the same time, the high frequency of the upper and lower finger pads is passed. Repeated rolling makes the timbre full of changes, or strong, weak, fast, or slow vibrato sound, which plays an important role in the communication of the composer's creative ideas.

Erhu's portamento technique originates from its long-standing tradition of quasi-object and foley technique as a folk musical instrument, which can strengthen the dramatic narrative expression of the music and increase the richness of the emotional expression of the music. Portamento is a basic and common technique for timbre retouching, and it is also one of the most common techniques used in Chinese bowed and stringed instruments. It can make music vivid and changeable.

Music expresses both ideas and emotions. Since the erhu is developed from a solo instrument, its singing, narrative and independence are stronger. Even in unison and ensemble, its inherent and strong telling instinct is enough to make it the main part of music narrative in folk bands. The expressor leads the expressive direction, color, style and interest of the folk band. To convey, transmit, express, and express our spiritual perception under the premise of skillfully using various techniques - in the music with passion and strong conflict, the performance of erhu is decisive, sharp, direct and powerful; in the music with deep emotion, rich and delicate , Erhu's performance is soft and tactful, deep and leisurely. Erhu can be as powerful as a galloping horse and fierce, but also lingering like silk and full of philosophical thoughts. Erhu can fully bear the richness, diversity, complexity and ambiguity of melody and harmony expression, no less than any bowed stringed instrument in the world.

4. The advancement of culture and the establishment of self-confidence

With the acceleration of the modernization of Chinese traditional music, Chinese national orchestral music and Western classical orchestral music can fully achieve an equivalent comparison of musical performance. Except for Chinese national music, there is no second country or national music that can achieve the same performance.

This phenomenon shows the advanced and pioneering nature of Chinese culture as a whole. To be precise, such a situation is possible only when a strong culture is compared to a weak culture, and a big culture is compared to a small culture. Just as a 100m world champion can imitate a child running a 100m slowly, the other way around cannot. We can't find a Western musical instrument, let alone a Western piece of music, which can be as influential to the present as "High Mountains and Flowing Water" two thousand years ago. Liezi (eight chapters) written by Lie Yukou, a native of Zheng State during the Warring States Period, records a story that has been passed down for hundreds of generations and has become a Chinese cultural gene, that is, the story of Yu Boya, a doctor in Jin State, and Zhong Ziqi, a woodcutter, playing and listening to the qin. . The story takes place in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Boya was good at drumming and Ziqi was good at listening to it. When Boya played the qin, the will in his heart was in the high mountains. After listening to Ziqi, he said, "It's good, it's like Mount Tai!" The will in Boya's heart is like a river. !" What Boya's heart desires, Ziqi's heart will surely gain. When Ziqi died, Boya said that the world would no longer have any bosom friends, and that the qin would be broken and the drum would never be repeated for the rest of his life. This is the story of the famous "Boya Guqin", and also the origin of "High Water and Flowing Water" and "Zhiyin". The social status of the two people is so different that when the listeners die, the drummers die. This is unique in the history of human music. Unique. Chinese traditional music has its own inherent independence. Even if we do not deliberately deny the West, we must not belittle ourselves. If we look at the world, at least we should be me their behavioral habits.

"Han Feizi: Inner Chu Shuo Shang" said: "King Xuan of Qi sent people to blow the yam, and there must be 300 people. The minister of Nanguo asked the king to blow the yam, and King Xuan said it, and hundreds of people would eat it." , which took place around 300 BC, a band of 300 people was probably unmatched in the world at that time. Chinese music has spread widely throughout history, and this influence is no less than the influence of modern Western music on the world. Xuanzang's "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" records, "The King Jieri of Tianzhu once said to Xuanzang: The disciple heard that he had the song and dance of "The King of Qin Breaking the Array", but he didn't know who the King of Qin was." Around 650 AD, the Chinese The music spread thousands of miles away and was admired by famous Indian kings such as King Jieri, which shows the wide spread of Chinese culture.

Infinite depth goes to the heart, which is the trend of Western postmodernist music. But China is different. The independence of Chinese music and the individual experience of music have been like this since the birth of Chinese music.

"Historical Records: The Family of Confucius" records: Confucius studied the guqin master Xiangzi, but did not enter for ten days. Master Xiangzi said, "It can be beneficial." Confucius said, "I have learned the song, but I have not yet obtained the number." There was a time when he said, "I have learned the number, and it can be beneficial." Confucius said, "Qiu Wei You have obtained his will." Youjian said, "I have learned my will, and it can be beneficial." Confucius said, "Qiu has not yet acquired him as a man." There is a certain period of deep contemplation, and a feeling of high expectations and far-reaching aspirations. . He said: "Qiu Deqi is a man, dark and dark, almost long, and his eyes are like looking at sheep, like kings of the four kingdoms, who can be this other than King Wen!" Shi Xiangzi set up a seat and bowed again, saying: "Master Gai Yun " "Wen Wang Cao" also." Another aspect of Chinese music is related to the literati tradition. Introspection and self-cultivation are the ends, and music is the means. In the Chinese concept, technology is never the goal. This is the relationship between people and music in the traditional Chinese concept, and this is the inspiration given to us by the famous story of "Confucius learning the qin".

Chinese people are humble, intelligent, brave and hardworking, so we believe in our bright future even more. We should have enough self-confidence, abandon the Western culture-centrism, and look at our culture with Chinese people's independent thinking and eyes, and respect our civilization. When the world looks up to China again, we will let people see China The greatness of civilization, the greatness of China.

Notes:

[1] Long Yulan: "Liu Tianhua and Erhu Art", Journal of Shaoguan University, No. 4, 2003.

[2] Xing Liping: "On the Artistic Feelings of Erhu Famous Song "Er Spring Reflecting the Moon", Reference Network, 2019, No. 18.

[3] Zhongshan City Culture and Art Center: What do you think of when you mention "Er Spring Reflecting the Moon"? "November 8, 2010.

[4] Song Yuanyuan: "Starting from the Opera "Deep Night", "Xinjiang Education Journal", No. 9, 2005, p. 121.

[5] Song Yuanyuan: "From the Opera "Deep Night" Qu Pai, "Xinjiang Education Journal", 2005, No. 9, p. 121.