Shandong Yuncheng is the hometown of Mr. Zhao Yuzhai, the "King of Chinese Zheng". As one of the representatives of Shandong Zheng family, Zhao Yuzhai has been based on the "Northeast Music College" (the predecessor of Shenyang Conservatory of Music) since 1953, and has been integrating Chinese traditional music. At the same time as the art of zheng music was arranging scores and summarizing theories, it began to try important practices in the creation, interpretation, teaching, communication and improvement of modern Chinese zheng music art in the new era, which promoted the progress of Chinese zheng music art in the middle of the 20th century. Speaking of the brilliance of Zhao Yuzhai and the development of zheng music art of the "Northeast Music School", we have to mention Mr. Cao Zheng, who taught in the Northeast at the same time as Zhao Yuzhai. The two zheng masters are close to the "tradition" and push the "modern" two-way path. , together with the force to create a new scene of the development of Chinese zheng music art pattern in the 20th century.

"Chinese Zheng Wang" Mr. Zhao Yuzhai

In May 1950, Cao Zheng gave a performance report in the form of a guzheng recital in the "Northeast Luyi" Music Department (the predecessor of the Northeast Music Academy), and presented his newly compiled "Popular Zheng Pu" to An Bo, the Minister of Music. He was then transferred from the south to teach at "Northeast Luyi", and became the first full-time guzheng teacher in a professional college after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Later, Mr. Zhang Heming, a Shandong qin and book artist who was performing in the Northeast, was invited to teach at "Northeast Luyi", and followed him with him. He studied Shandong Qinshu and Shandong Zheng, and practiced the construction of the traditional zheng music art pattern of "inviting zheng masters into" the college to teach and learn from the folk zheng music art from all over the world.

A photo of Cao Zheng teaching students in the 1950s

In 1953, Zhao Yuzhai, a young folk zheng master in his thirties, gradually stood out from the first folk music and dance show. Also recommended by Cao Zheng, he was "invited" to teach at the "Northeast Music College", and to conspire with the art of Chinese guzheng. development path. Since then, two zheng masters of the same age, Cao Zheng (1920-1998) and Zhao Yuzhai (1923-1998), worked together in the "Northeast Music Academy" to introduce and disseminate zheng art through radio, newspapers and other media, and recorded and distributed zheng music at the same time. Records, with a multi-pronged approach in book scores, teaching materials, literary theories, records, radio stations, concerts, etc., laid a solid foundation for the rapid rise of Chinese zheng music art in the mid-20th century. In terms of communication and theoretical research, a new situation was opened up in the transformation of specialization and the two-way path between "tradition" and "modernity" at that time.

Teachers and friends of playing the zheng took a souvenir at the Northeast Music College in March 1956

(Cao Zheng is on the left in the front row, and Zhao Yuzhai is on the right)

After Zhao Yuzhai entered the "Northeast Music School", he studied piano with Zhang Zimin. In 1954, he used the piano chord playing method for the first time in the Shandong zheng piece "Si Duan Jin" "Public Celebration", and applied it to the end of the zheng piece, playing it with both hands. chords, ending the whole song in a fast alternating, full and powerful burst of sound. Before and after the Spring Festival in 1955, Zhao Yuzhai, organized by the school, went to the south of Liaoning to give condolences to perform. After returning to school, he composed the first modern-themed zheng piece "Qing Feng Nian" based on the tones of the Shandong zheng piece "Little Stream". Comments In the article "Innovators of Guzheng Performance", Mr. Li Ling pointed out that the birth of "Celebrating a Prosperous Year" ended the history of one-handed guzheng playing, and opened up a new era for the development of the art of guzheng performance.

Guzheng solo "Celebrating a Prosperous Year", Zhao Yuzhai's music and performance, China Record Release

(The earliest 78 rpm old vinyl record)

The creation of "Celebrating the Harvest Year" was inspired by the thriving and happy Spring Festival in the villages of New China. The whole piece can be divided into three sections. The beginning of the piece is a loose board to create an atmosphere, the sixth section starts to go up, and enters the first section of "Little Stream Flowing Water" ([Old Eight Board]) theme presentation. Interspersed, alternating hands of chords in different ranges and syncopated rhythm patterns are varied. The second stanza is played at a relatively stable speed in the middle range, and concentrates on retaining the characteristic instrumental vocabulary of traditional Shandong zheng music, such as the use of the flower finger of the right hand, the "dense shaking" method of the small joint of the big finger, and the three-degree pressing of the left hand. Portamento and full vibrato are combined with specific chamber structure, rhythm pattern, melody tone, etc. The appearance of partial tones of "fa" and "si" is more of a temporary change of tone, so it is different from the past. The decorative transition of wandering microliters has undergone a functional transformation. The third paragraph is reproduction, which enhances the range of contrast between the front and the back in terms of sound area, strength, speed, and playing method. On top of the traditional flower finger and "adjacent string homophonic" performance skills, it also borrows and transplants piano chord playing and harp. The arpeggios and pipa strumming are played, and the left-hand "point column" is used to simulate the sound of gongs and drums, and the whole piece ends in a typical allegro structure at the end and a cheerful and lively atmosphere.

Zhao Yuzhai guides Naren Gerile to learn guzheng

In the middle of the 20th century, the guzheng musical instrument began to be professionally separated from the folk music and music genres rooted in the coexistence of singing and instrumental music; at the same time, the art of zheng music scattered around began to compete with the art of Western instrumental music, and passed professional music schools. The teaching system has formed a professional pattern with the juxtaposition of China and the West; the traditional tones and techniques based on oral transmission have also been re-integrated with the pace of "instrumentalization" and new explorations have begun. The creation of "Qing Feng Nian" is inseparable from Zhao Yuzhai's combing, summarization and research on traditional zheng music art, and also inseparable from his study, reference and application of Western musical instruments and music theory. "Qing Feng Nian" is another composition of zheng music after "Qing Feng Nian", which is obviously influenced by more epochal factors and Western techniques than traditional instrumental music, from the subject matter of creation, performance techniques, musical structure, tone-type processing, etc. It gradually penetrated into the creative field of national instrumental music, and then began the historical process of transitioning from translation, arrangement, and ordering to creation, adaptation, and transplantation. It divided the "traditional repertoire" and A watershed moment in "composing music".