The historical origin of Laoting drum

In the early Qing Dynasty, people who entertained themselves in Laoting City loved to sing "Qingping Song", and Sanqu-like tunes were also popular in the countryside. Later, "Qing Ping Song" was played with three strings, and it sounded pleasant to the ears. It was very different from the old music, so they all called it "Le Ting Tune". Later, drums and boards were added to the accompaniment; in terms of singing form, "singing without speaking" was changed to "singing and speaking". Around the fifth year of the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, Leting tune evolved into "Leting Dagu".

In the 30th year of Daoguang reign, Dagu artist Wen Rong changed the wooden board into two iron simple boards, which were called "Pear Blossom Board" (a homonym for the plowshare board), because originally the pear flower board was cut from the sharp points of the plowshares of farm tools. It is made in the shape of a half-moon and is held between the fingers. When struck, it can jingle or jingle, either mute, flat, single or double, with floral variations and a light mood. Artists all used it, so it became popular. Wen Rong then got the "warm iron plate". called.

The disciples of later schools worshiped him as their teacher, and Wen Rong unified many artists from various schools under his sect. And build a genealogy. "Qingmen", whose artists are called "Qingyin disciples", are divided into ten generations: namely, Yue, Yue, De, Lai, Xue, Literary, Wisdom and Huafeikai. Therefore, there is only one family of Qingmen in Laoting. Once, Cui Youwen, the head of Huangliangzhuang in Leting County, went to Beijing to worship and brought Wen Rong to perform with the emperor. He was greatly appreciated and was named "Dingzi" and designated as "Leting Dagu". The singing tunes and tunes are drawn from the beautiful singing tunes of shadow puppets, Peking opera, and other types of music, forming a fixed tune - "nine tunes and eighteen tunes".

Created fourteen patterns and three-character sentences in the rap rhythm: slow, slow flowing water, tight flowing water, fast, loose, red, black flying inside, taking off and landing, collecting, staying, turning, and counting. , five-character sentences to six-character sentences, seven-character sentences to eight-character sentences, cross sentences and even several cross-shaped sentences. During the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, Leting Dagu began to spread in Feichangli, Luan County, and then moved to the areas of An, Level (Lulong), and Yuguan. As more and more Laoting people go to the northeast to operate, Laoting drums also spread to the northeast.

In the fourth year of Guangxu's reign, the name of Yang Changjiu, a drummer from Laojuntang, was placed outside the Xiaodong Gate of Fengtian. He died of illness in Shuangcheng County, Heilongjiang Province.

In the sixth year of the Republic of China, artist Hu Shaolan opened a drum performance venue in Tangshan, and then expanded to Hangu, and later moved into Tianjin and Beijing. In the middle period of the Republic of China, two major schools of Laoting Dagu were formed: the Donglu School, represented by Han Xiangpu. His singing style makes good use of Dantian Qi to sing empty tunes, with a mellow voice, melodious, soft and delicate melody, focusing on clear rhythm and pure pronunciation; the singing tone requires strict standards, and the lyrics will never harm the music or bend the lyrics. The West Road School is represented by Jin Wenran. His singing voice is rough and he is good at controlling his voice. He emphasizes the nozzle and breath, and uses nasal sounds skillfully. He moisturizes his voice with words, and strives to make his words straight and round, fluent and natural. The performance is full of emotion and emotion. The book list of Laeting Dagu is very rich, about 176 volumes.

Among them are 31 long books, including "Generals of the Yang Family", "Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties", "Generals of the Hu Family", "The Biography of Yue Fei", "The Case of Bao Gong", and "Three Heroes of the Sword"; 2 medium-length books "Returning to the Cup", "Wagang Village", "Huyanqing Da Lei", "Friends", "Going to the Grave" and other 17 parts, jokes: "Luhua Dang", "Shuangsuo Mountain", "White Snake Team" and "Yutangchun" ", "The Romance of the West Chamber", "Butterfly Dream", "The Second Sister Wang Misses Her Husband", "Snow in June", "The Young Lady", etc. 107 titles; book titles include "Mouse Wrestling", "Old Money Man", "Tongue Twister", "The Real World" Current News" and 12 more.

Leting Dagu is one of the main types of Han nationality music in northern China. It originated in Leting County and is popular in Beijing, Tianjin, eastern Hebei and the three northeastern provinces. Leting drum is a product of the historical and cultural era and an inevitable result of the development of rap art. The emergence of Leting Dagu was based on the inheritance of various ancient Han rap arts and gradually developed and matured through long-term singing practice. According to records, the maturity of Leting drum should be in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and it was developed and matured on the basis of absorbing the essence of Leting folk music and folk songs. It is said that people in the Leting area have the custom of being good at singing and dancing. During festivals, mass singing and dancing activities and rap activities are held. At the same time, the Leting dialect itself has a natural melody, with every word having a singing sound and a long, thin convolution at the end. Therefore, when people from other places hear Laoting's accent, they feel like singing. If you slightly lengthen the voice and add a drum board to refine and sublimate it, it can become a beautiful tune with a rustic flavor. Leting Dagu gradually developed on this basis. The famous brand of Laoting Dagu has its accidental origin. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, land was allocated to the bannermen. Cui Youwen's predecessors, who were enfeoffed in Leting, took root in Leting County and were known as the No. 1 Imperial Village in Jingdong.

After Cui Youwen's brother won the first prize, the Cui family became richer and more powerful. They had direct access to the five houses and six ministries, and made friends with the emperor's relatives. The Cui family loves folk art. He not only established a shadow puppet troupe, a clapper troupe, and a lotus luo troupe, but also had many drum artists perform in the Cui family. The Cui family also supports these people all year round. Once, Cui Youwen went to Beijing to pay tribute and brought drum artists to Prince Gong's palace to perform. The artists' skills won the prince's joy, and he confirmed the name of Laoting Drum. This name has been used to this day. This is the origin of the name Laoting Dagu.