A few days ago, a young suona performer and a suona teacher from the Chinese Music Department of Zhejiang Conservatory of Music has created a suona work "Dancing Shadow". In this work, suona no longer appears loud and high-pitched, but becomes gentle and soft. Focus hopes that through this work, everyone can see the soft side of suona.

a great contrast

As early as 2017, Focus wanted to write a work about the night scene of West Lake, but there has been no better inspiration. Until June of this year, paragraphs of melody gradually formed in his mind. After half a month of creation, the suona work "Dancing Shadow" was born. This is a suona and piano piece, played by Focus and Xiong Zhuangzhuang, "Piano can better set off the artistic conception."

Focus believes, "Instrumental music is not a superposition of nice melodies. It needs to have a theme, logic, and structural direction, so that the work is not complicated and bloated." He divided "Dancing Shadow" into three parts, consisting of Far and near, turning the virtual into reality, it depicts the beautiful and moving scene of dancing under the moon, which is elegant and refined. "In this work, I hope to create a sense of contrast." Focus introduced that in this work, he chose to use the traditional D-tuned suona. The D-tune suona is also called high-pitched suona. Playing a quiet piece of work with a high-pitched suona brings a great sense of contrast. The sound of the suona is as bright as a violin, and it can be explained. Focus has also tried to play the suona with a low voice, but he prefers the surprise brought by the suona in the key of D, which not only retains the timbre of the suona, but also shows the side of the suona that is not often shown.

"Dancing Shadow" is only 5 minutes, it is a short work. "First, the works are not long, which is more suitable for beginners to learn and perform. Second, for the audience, there is a feeling of unfinished business." In terms of performance skills, the focus did not use too much performance technology, and the processing of phrases Try to be as gentle as possible. "Because the suona in D is the most commonly used suona for beginners, and at the same time, I also reduced the difficulty of playing the work in the creation, and hope that more suona beginners can also play this work."

More targeted suona works

Focus has been trying to create since 2019. His first work "Green Bamboo Danfeng" won the 2019 Zhejiang Provincial National Instrumental Music Outstanding Creation Award. "Green bamboo grows in the south, and Danfeng grows in the north. As a northerner living in the south, I hope to show the differences and blending of northern and southern cultures in "Green Bamboo Danfeng". Therefore, in "Green Bamboo Danfeng", both The style of the south, and the momentum of the north. The work is quite difficult to perform, and there are dazzling paragraphs specially written for suona. "There is a passage that can only be played with double vomit. Even suona students need a lot of practice to play it. This is a work that can demonstrate the ability to play suona."

Many suona professionals have commented that "Green Bamboo Danfeng" has a peculiar style, but is acceptable, with a delightful freshness. "The melody is beautiful, not out of the ordinary, and it can also arouse the audience's thinking. This is my requirement for my own works." Focus said.

As a suona teacher in the Chinese Music Department of Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, Focus has always hoped that more people would take off their "tinted glasses" for suona. "In the past, when suona was mentioned, it always gave people a feeling of joy, hilarity or sadness. I hope that whether it is my performance or the works I create, suona can be made more peaceful."

The focus introduced that the creation of suona is relatively difficult. "The sound range of suona is very narrow, only two octaves. It is difficult to express many ideas in such a narrow range." Therefore, many new suona works require performers on stage. Using multiple suonas, "but in the process of changing suonas, there will be gaps, the continuity will be interrupted, and the audience's attention will be distracted." It can take into account the characteristic timbre, special playing skills and fingering of suona. Therefore, many suona students and suona performers said after auditioning his works that they "played it well", and the audience would not have the feeling of "exploding".

Conquer professional ears

Last year, Focus was admitted to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and pursued a doctorate with suona performer Liu Ying. In the freshman concert, he played "Green Bamboo Danfeng". After the performance, many people asked each other who the focus was and how to connect. "That night, I received a lot of friend requests from students of different majors in Shangyin, as well as teachers. They sent me a lot of feedback on listening to this piece." Yang Tingwei, a 2021 graduate student in music aesthetics and criticism, also made a special appointment Focus had an in-depth conversation before writing an analysis piece. The article reads: "The focus's work breaks the public's perception of the traditional style of suona, and subtly integrates tradition and pop, which is refreshing."

Now, there are also other professional folk music performers who have commissioned Focus to create, but Focus believes that he is not a professional composer, and his suona works are based on his knowledge of this instrument. "If you have more understanding and experience of other musical instruments in the future, it is not ruled out that you will try to create works for other musical instruments, but at present, I hope that I can continue to create some suona works that are different from traditional impressions, so that more suona students can have The practice and performance of new works can also allow more children who are learning suona to feel the different temperament of suona."