On one side of Qi Yifeng's desk, there are many musical instrument boxes neatly placed. He opened three of them, which contained silk strings, Xiaoerhu (Dian Erhu) and lamp strings. The silk string and the small erhu are the traditional main string instruments in Yunnan lanterns. The lantern string is a newly improved musical instrument that has been widely used in recent years and has now developed into the main string instrument. Yunnan lanterns also include colorful musical instruments, which usually refer to ethnic musical instruments in Yunnan, such as elephant foot drums, cucurbits, small sanxian, and even leaves, etc., which play a decorative role in the lantern soundtrack.

Main stringed instruments: silk strings, small erhu

Qi Yifeng, head of the Chinese Orchestra of Yunnan Lantern Theater and a national first-level performer, introduced that the musical instruments used by the orchestra usually include four parts: strings, plucks, wind and percussion. String music, including erhu, Zhonghu, cello, bass, etc.; plucked music, usually including dulcimer, pipa, Zhongruan, Daruan; wind music, referring to bamboo flute, suona, sheng, etc.; percussion, plate drum, small Drums, big drums, gongs, bowls, cymbals, etc. are conventional musical instruments. As the saying goes, "half-time gongs and drums, half-time play", without percussion, it would not be called "play", which shows its importance.

As a kind of local opera, the musical instruments used in Yunnan lanterns have been perfected in the continuous development. The traditional main stringed instruments of Yunnan lanterns refer to silk strings and small erhus.

Qi Yifeng carefully took out his silk strings and Xiaoerhu from the music box. These two instruments have accompanied him for nearly twenty years. Today, their voices are still loud. "The sound of silk strings is loud. In the 1960s and 1970s, the sound system was not developed. If the sound of the musical instruments was not loud in the country performance, it would not play a leading role." Qi Yifeng said. The little erhu looks a bit like Jinghu, but its voice is not as loud as Jinghu. Qi Yifeng specially performed a section. Compared with the loudness of the silk strings, the Xiaoerhu's voice is slightly "hoarse". "Only Yunnan lanterns use Xiaoerhu." Qi Yifeng said: "The tunes in the lanterns are different, and they are used when they need to show explosive power. For silk strings, small erhu is used when expressing softness, and the combination of the two can show the different styles of Yunnan lantern music.”

In addition to the main stringed instruments, Yunnan lanterns also use color-type instruments. Color-type musical instruments usually refer to the musical instruments of ethnic minorities in Yunnan. They are not used as the main musical instruments, but play a decorative role in the lantern soundtrack. Qi Yifeng said: "Color-type musical instruments have outstanding timbre, sound quality, and individual characteristics. Because of their outstanding individual characteristics, they will 'fight' with other musical instruments, such as Xiaosanxian, which has strong penetrating power. There is a small sanxian, and you can clearly hear it. There is a piece of music mainly based on the small sanxian in "Zheng Lou Waizhuan", which is specially selected according to its musical characteristics and plot needs. Common color-type instruments include cucurbit, Like foot drums, etc., leaves are also used.”

"Light String" was successfully improved

Qi Yifeng's love for musical instruments originated from his father's influence since childhood. "My father was the curator of Songming Cultural Center for 26 years, and now he still writes plays, composes music, plays dulcimer, suona, etc." Qi Yifeng started learning dulcimer with his father when he was 10 years old, and is still a little famous in the county Child star. After graduating from junior high school, Yunnan Vocational College of Culture and Art went to the local area to recruit students, and Qi Yifeng became one of the orientation students. During the four years of his studies, Qi Yifeng took the bus to Liangjiahe every Saturday morning at six o'clock and then went to the Provincial Lantern Troupe to learn erhu with Mr. Hu Qian. After graduation, he successfully entered the Provincial Lantern Troupe. Orchestra leader.

Qi Yifeng and the older generation of lantern people have always hoped to improve a musical instrument to meet the current demand for lantern music. "In the long-term music aesthetics, people who play musical instruments have formed the problem of being 'picky'. Learning an instrument is to constantly correct yourself and constantly be critical. Only by being critical can you make your performance more perfect and better."

After Qi Yifeng served as the head of the group, with the strong support of the dean Huang Shaocheng, he has been committed to improving the traditional main stringed instruments. "The idea was made six or seven years ago, and it was finally formed in the past few years." Qi Yifeng said: "The entire improvement process is very difficult. Fortunately, after several generations of efforts, it has finally been successfully improved in the hands of our generation."

This main stringed instrument is called "Dengxian". At present, it is widely used by Yunnan Lantern Theater, free lantern groups and lantern lovers. The lamp strings that Qi Yifeng showed us were the first-generation products after improvement and maturity. At that time, the Chinese Orchestra purchased a total of seven strings. The main body of the lamp string is also designed in the shape of bamboo, but its material is actually old mahogany, and the old mahogany used is still the old material of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The sound of the wood is cleaner, purer, softer, and more suitable for modern people. Aesthetically acceptable.

The length of the lamp string and the size of the barrel will affect the sound of the instrument itself. "The barrel is also made of wood. It is difficult to make a round shape by hitting the wood to the thickness of the finished product. Only one master in the country can make it. The panel of the lamp string is made of snakeskin, but there are many kinds of snakeskin, and the timbre of each kind is not the same, which requires repeated debugging." Qi Yifeng said: "But the successfully improved lamp string is better than the previous instrument. , better operation, quicker to get started, more exquisite timbre and sound quality, and better integration with other instruments in the band. The addition of lamp strings has enriched our accompaniment methods. The three main stringed instruments, erhu and lantern strings, will all be used in lantern performances."

Qi Yifeng summarizes "support and follow"

In the performance of Yunnan lanterns, the importance of the main stringed instruments does not only refer to simple performances, but they play a more important role. Qi Yifeng summed up the four words "support and follow".

"Support" refers to how to hold up a "cavity", which is for the actor, "supporting" the actor in the middle, not only does not steal the actor's limelight, but also makes the actor's singing icing on the cake. "Help", that is, every tune will have a "passing door", "passing the door" needs to let the actor know what kind of emotional atmosphere to enter, so that the actor can feel it, whether it is cheerful, happy, or angry, sad. and many more. "Follow" means that when the actor is singing, you have to follow the actor's singing voice. The difficulty of playing the main stringed instrument is that when encountering different actors, the performer must cooperate according to the needs of the actors. This requires the performer not only to understand the music, but also to understand the actor's heart. Therefore, don't look at just using a musical instrument, but consider the overall quality of the performer. "Bringing" means not only cooperating with the actors, but also bringing the band to accompany the actors' singing in the process of singing.

"Music can most directly touch the depths of people's souls and arouse inner emotional resonance." A good main stringed instrument player must not only be able to play, but also be able to watch plays, and have his own understanding and control of the script and the characters. Later, the music is integrated into the performance of the actors through the performance of the musical instruments, and finally infects the audience, impresses the audience, and allows the audience to feel the inner emotions of the characters. "Qi Yifeng played a piece of "Dou E's Injustice" for us on the spot. The content is Dou E's remarks about his grievances. We can feel Dou E's full of grievances from the music. Baba's performance is difficult to resonate with the audience. The addition of musical instruments can make the audience feel the emotional expression of the performer faster and integrate into it." Qi Yifeng said.