How to get started with Yue Opera?

First, the important position and function of "Nianbai" in China traditional opera. There are more than 360 kinds of local operas in China. The main difference between them is two aspects, one is language and the other is music.

The main component of music is singing, which is largely limited by the tone of language. Therefore, whether the language is accurate or not and how the language style is expressed will directly affect the singing style and charm of the actors. To sing Yue Opera well, we must first solve the language problem. Some friends have been singing Yue Opera for several years, but they can't pronounce many basic words and rhymes of Yue Opera correctly. Although they have good voices and singing skills, their flavor is greatly reduced because of inaccurate words, and they even say that they don't sing like Yue Opera. So what is the language of "Yue Opera Stage"? As the name implies: "The stage language of Yue Opera is based on the written words of Shengxian and Xinchang Chengguan; Represented by the "vernacular Chinese" performed on stage in the period of Yue Opera in the 1940s; It has a complete sound, rhyme and tone, and it is a language with its own phonetic system. "

Second, how to learn and master the language of Yue Opera As we all know, every word, that is, every syllable, is composed of some factors, such as prefix (initial), neck (middle tone), belly (vowel), suffix (vowel) and word spirit (tone). For example, the word "cavity" in "aria" is a traditional expression of Chinese opera: Q prefix, I prefix, A prefix, ng prefix, suffix, Chinese phonetic names: initials, initials, finals and endings. Some problems we show in singing, such as weak pronunciation and loose speech, are often caused by loose prefixes. Pronunciation is too "empty", often because the word's stomach is not full, * * * has not been fully played; The accent is too straight and too hard, often because the neck pronunciation of some words is not well mastered, and there is no transition between the prefix and the stomach; Some people can't finish their voices correctly, and their endings are ugly, which is often because there is something wrong with the ending radio. If you can't pronounce it correctly, there must be something wrong with the composition of the words. Knowing and understanding the pinyin method of Yue Opera and making clear the head, abdomen and tail of words will provide favorable conditions for us to correct our mistakes quickly. For example, in Ningbo and Zhoushan, Wenzhou, Lishui and Taizhou, the dialects in these areas are far from the language of Yue Opera, that is, many dialects have no "entering tone", that is, no "choking tone", and "duck" is often pronounced as "ah" and "tower" as "harmony". Secondly, "Laicai" is often pronounced as "Lacha" (note: "Laicai" rhyme is a common rhyme in Yue Opera), "Magnificence" is pronounced as "upside down" and "narrow intestine" is pronounced as "shaking" in Jinhua area: when the rhyme of "Yangchang" is mixed with the rhyme of "Magnificence", it will be pronounced as "ddano, hhuano. Another example is Shaoxing and Shengxian, both in the same region, but the characters in Shaoxing are straight and hard, while those in Shengxian are soft and curved, so besides initials and finals, the tone of words is also an important factor in language differences, which is the so-called "Southern accent and Northern accent". So, what are the characteristics of the language in Shengxian County?

(a) There are many words with curvature, and the curvature is large. According to statistics, among 6000 commonly used words, the tone combination of "Yin Ping" and "Yangping" accounts for 43%, and the tones of these words are: Yin Ping 523 and Yangping 3 12. Such as: Northern Shaanxi folk song "Dongfanghong": Dongfanghong, the sun rises. Putonghua:-(Gao Pingtiao) \/-In which: Pingsheng 67% falling tone 67% rising tone 16% Yue Opera pronunciation: ∨∨∨ (falling tone)/∨ In which: Qusheng 83% rising tone 65438.

② The language is euphemistic. Because of the high intonation, people in Shengxian county generally speak softly, which provides a phonetic basis for the lingering, euphemistic and lyrical style of Yue Opera chanting.

(3) The "nose and tail" of the round mouth has many sounds. At the end of the "reunion rhyme" of Yue Opera, not only the mouth and nasal cavity ring at the same time, but also the mouth is round and the opening is relatively small. For example, in the word "An" of the previous call, the main vowel is "a", the mouth is open, and then "n" is added to the upper nose and tail. On the other hand, the rhyme of Yue Opera is the word "O", with a round mouth and a small mouth, and then the word "N" is added to the nose to make the nasal sound of Yue Opera "Shang" rhyme stronger. These phonetic features are rarely used or even not used in other dialects in Zhejiang. Such as "gan"-Mandarin: read (gan), Yue Opera language: read (guon) and watch-Mandarin: read (kan), Yue Opera language: read (kon) and turn-Mandarin: read (zhuan), Yue Opera language: read (official). Therefore, it is necessary for the actors and musicians of Yue Opera to get in touch with the people of Shengxian County, listen to the recordings of their predecessors' performances, and cultivate their language through repeated feelings.

Third, the relationship between "word" and "cavity" What is "clear pronunciation and mellow voice"? How to achieve "clear pronunciation and mellow voice"?

Yu Weiyuan, a dramatist in the Qing Dynasty, said: "When singing the vernacular, you should speak a little harshly and weigh a thousand kilograms before it can reach the listeners." "Just like catching a rabbit, every word is as round as a pearl, and every word is unclear, just like killing people with a pure knife." Some young playmates are full of passion and hard work on the stage because of their youth and good voice conditions, but because of their weak voice and unclear pronunciation, the audience can never understand what he is saying and singing. This will not achieve the artistic effect of expressing feelings and touching people's hearts. Wang Jide said: "Where a word is performed, every word has a prefix, an abdominal sound and a suffix ... from the belly to the tail, it is home." That's the truth. "Cavity circle" and "cavity circle" include three aspects:

1. Smooth and pleasant. Tune, pronunciation and intonation are harmonious, and do not sing "inverted words".

2. It is reasonable to embellish the cavity, lighten it, stop it, modify it and slide it.

Give full play to your perfect voice. We can't simply understand "round cavity" as mellow timbre. The so-called "circle" means appropriate and perfect. In this respect, the skit is related to the roundness of Tsing Yi; The euphemism of pearls and autumn leaves is well reflected. Fourth, the stage language of a good Yue Opera constitutes the stage language-the rhyme is based on words, expressions, sentences and intonation. Among them, intonation is the basic basis of "white rhyme", "only those who don't have enough words can sing, and those who don't have enough words can sing loudly", and "white rhyme" is essentially a musical language without tunes. "Intonation" is a variety of emotions in speech, that is, tones, which are embodied in: (1) the teasing of intonation and the coordination and contrast of volume.

(2) The arrangement and prominence of logical stress.

(3) Use reasonable words and phrases to organize paragraphs and punctuation.

(4) Collocation and application of modal particles.

(5) the personality characteristics and personality of the language.

The same sentence can be read in a happy and sad tone, and it can also reflect various forms of different characters, different personalities and different occasions. Different arrangements of stress will lead to different answers. Are you going to see the forum? ! (Answer: "I'm not going, are you going?" The white rhyme of stage, such as "Calling the Head", "Setting the Scene Poetry", "Introduction" and "Sitting on the Stage", is a special tone formed by artistic exaggeration according to different word meanings, sentence patterns, characters, lines and occasions. Its purpose is to enhance expressive force and make people listen more clearly. In order to facilitate memory, the following "singing formula" is for your reference. The most important thing is to sing aloud and convey your feelings through your voice. Those who don't have enough words can sing, and those who don't have enough words can sing aloud. Pronunciation is as heavy as a thousand pounds, and clarity and strength lie in the power of the mouth. Words are separated, and neck, abdomen, tail, spirit, sound, rhyme and tone cannot be mixed together. The prefix should be strong with "spray" to distinguish the position of "five tones" Master the transition sound of the word neck, strictly divide the mouth shape of "four calls" and the word "belly" is full, and pronounce it with * * * until the end is not deformed. Open the tail, nose tail, nose tail, distinguish the suffix and listen skillfully. Ping, Shang, Qu and Confucianism are divided into yin and yang, and the trend is wrong. Restrain, promote, pause and frustration, be firm and gentle, find out the logical stress accurately, start, continue, turn and combine paragraphs clearly, and focus on emotion. How can you hear clearly without words? Pronunciation distinguishes the head, abdomen and tail, and the pronunciation is clear and round. The parts of mouth, nose, throat, brain, chest sound and * * sound should be identified. The key to intonation lies in listening, out of tune, pedaling hard, controlling the abdomen with breath, and sucking quickly and using less is the most effective. The word, sound, cavity, gas "taste" and emotion are all appropriate, soft and touching. Naturally relaxed neck, full of sound and emotion, full of flavor. Happiness, anger, sadness, happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, lightness, heaviness, slowness and urgency can all be measured. The characters in the play have a deep understanding of feelings.

Footprints of co-performance of men and women in Yue Opera

Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were three forms of performance: first, the actors in Xiao Geban and Shaoxing Literature and Opera Period (1906 to the early 1940s) were all male; The second is the female class produced in Shaoxing literature and drama period, and the actors are all women; Thirdly, after the rise of women's classes in 1930s, until the early days of the establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC), there were a few Yue Opera groups and mixed performances by men and women. The so-called "mixed performance" means that although there are actors and actresses performing on the same stage, the actor may be an actress and the actress may be an actor. There are several situations of mixing performance; First, when boys' classes were popular in the early 1930s, some actresses joined boys' classes to perform as early as 193 1. The first female class chose Liang Tu Xinghua and was invited to perform in the male class. Because the original students in the class were not good at opium, she was asked to replace them. Her partner was Dan Yu Yuhong, a man. Tu Xinghua also performed with Bai Yumei in 1933. Secondly, the family members of male class artists have been influenced for a long time and joined the male class after they have certain skills. For example, Dan's daughter Xiao (formerly known as Zhu) lived in Shanghai with her father since childhood, practiced under his guidance, and then joined the men's class. In addition, after the decline of men's classes in the late 1930s, some actors in men's classes attached themselves to women's classes. Most of them played professional roles such as old students and clowns, and both actors and actresses sang the same song. In a word, before the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), there was no performance form of pure male-female co-performance (that is, men playing male roles and women playing female roles). Only in 1943, in the Siming Mountain guerrilla base led by Zhong * * *, there was a social education team belonging to the Cultural and Educational Office of the East Zhejiang Administrative Office, which absorbed a group of Yue Opera artists (such as Zhu Fangsen, Yue, and Qiu, an old actor of Yue Opera). ) In cooperation with the new writers and artists, in the form of male and female co-productions, "Bridge Fire" and "Legend of Heroes and Children" were newly edited and performed. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the team retreated northward to Shandong. After a period of activities, the reorganization ended, which lasted less than three years. Fuxing Yue Opera Troupe was founded in early 1950, and it is the last mixed-sex troupe in Shanghai. The actors of the troupe are former actors such as Tong Zhengchu, Zhou Jianhe, Gaiyuetang, Yin Hanbin and Ye Shaokui, and the actresses are Xing, Xing, Hu and Zheng Zhongmei. 1952, the troupe toured in Zhejiang, and soon settled in Jiaxing, and later developed into Jiaxing Yue Opera Troupe, where men and women performed on the same stage. In the early days of the People's Republic of China, Shanghai Yue Opera performed many modern dramas in the competition with the situation, which showed the high political enthusiasm of Yue Opera workers. However, from an artistic point of view, performing modern drama with Yue Opera always gives people a sense of artistic disharmony and incompetence. Under the guidance of literature and art serving the workers, peasants and soldiers, the Shanghai cultural leadership department began to promote the co-performance of Yue Opera between men and women. This must first solve the problem of actors. Due to the decline of the men's class of Yue Opera in the 1940s, the remaining actors are middle-aged and elderly people, who can't meet the requirements of performing revolutionary modern drama in age and cultural accomplishment. /kloc-in the spring of 0/950, the Yue Opera Troupe of Zhejiang Culture and Art Troupe was established. Most of the actors are young middle school students, and they co-starred with men and women, rehearsing modern dramas such as Wang Xiuluan, which is the first co-performance of Yue Opera after the founding of the People's Republic of China. /kloc-in the winter of 0/950, the Drama Reform Department of the Ministry of Culture of the East China Military and Political Commission instructed the East China Yue Opera Experimental Troupe to try out male and female co-performances. In the last ten days of 1 1, the East China Yue Opera Experimental Troupe went to Shengxian County, Zhejiang Province to recruit six young people, including Zhang Shiyao, Lu Shijun, Xu Hao Jing, Gao Licheng, Zhang Shuimiao and Liang, all of whom graduated from junior high schools and primary schools in Chengguan Town. The youngest is 15 years old and the oldest is 17 years old. As group students, they are led by Xiong Lan (played by Chen Ronglan). While studying culture and vocal music, music theory, physical training, singing and other businesses, they also participated in walk-on performances. When the students first took the stage to play the servants and officials in Borrowing the Red Light, the audience burst into laughter as soon as they appeared. Because in the all-female Shaoxing opera, a walk-on actor played by a young man suddenly appeared, and the audience could not help but feel surprised and funny. At that time, the troupe leaders were inexperienced in how to recruit and train actors, which led to frustration in their work. First of all, the school age is not suitable, from 15 to 17, which is the boy's voice change period. When students take exams, they are all children's voices (rural children in the early 1950 s developed late). Soon after entering the troupe, their voices changed, and they encountered great difficulties in singing and practicing their voices. Coupled with other reasons, these students all changed jobs less than two years ago. 1In the spring of 953, the East China Yue Opera Experimental Troupe went to Shengxian County to absorb three amateur actors, Huang, Ma and Ma Lunyu, who were about 20 years old and retired from the army art troupe, to continue their co-op experiments. Like the first batch of actors, they also rehearsed modern operas directly while studying business, and arranged for new musicians to compose music to Guan Sen, in order to explore and solve the vocal problems of male and female co-performances. From June 1954 to May 1956, four modern plays were rehearsed, including The Technician Comes, Two Brothers, Conviction in Invalides and Uncle in the Country. Among them, "The Technician Comes" starring Wang and Huang participated in the East China Opera Observation and Performance Conference held in the autumn of 1954 and won the performance award. The rehearsal of these plays is a small experiment of male and female co-performance of Shanghai Yue Opera. Male and female voices adopt "homophony and different accents" (different male accents), which has poor charm. Shanghai audiences are not used to this, and even dislike the actors' coming on stage and singing. For example, when the first drama "The Technician Comes" co-performed by men and women was staged in the theater, the heroine Wang won applause, while the hero Huang was booed. This small-scale co-production experiment of men and women has not become a climate and is not sustainable. Less than three years later, all four actors changed careers. Premier Zhou Enlai is very concerned about the co-performance of men and women in Yue Opera. As early as 1949, when he met Yuan Xuefen, he raised the issue of male and female co-acting. He met Yuan Xuefen, Fan Ruijuan, Fu Quanxiang, etc. during the first national opera viewing and performance conference in 1952. He also pointed out that in feudal society, men and women could not be on the same stage, which was one of the reasons why women played men and women played women. Now is a new society. Of course, drama must express modern life, but it is difficult and limited for women to play men in art. Cooperation between men and women is a historical necessity. 1953, during Premier Zhou Enlai's visit to Shanghai, he watched the traditional play Iron Hood Barrel performed by the old artist Zhu Fangsen in collaboration with Lv Ruiying and Zhang Guifeng in the auditorium of the former East China Military and Political Committee on Yan 'an West Road, and talked with Yuan Xuefen about the development of the co-production of men and women in Yue Opera. For this reason, East China Opera Research Institute set up a training class for Yue Opera actors (later the Yue Opera Class of Shanghai Opera School) in 1954, and recruited 60 young students (including 40 boys and 20 girls) in Shanghai, Shaoxing and Suzhou. According to the requirements of technical secondary schools, students are given more formal training from three aspects: politics, culture and specialty. Students have been personally taught martial arts and physical training by Peking Opera teachers and Kunqu teachers, laying a solid foundation. After graduation, most of them entered the Shanghai Yue Theatre, and on June 1959, an experimental troupe with male and female performances was established to perform experimental performances on modern dramas and costume dramas with male and female performances in Yue Opera. After years of exploration, on the basis of inheriting the traditions and genres of Yue Opera, according to the singing conditions of different actors, we adopted the methods of "homology", "homology" and "homology", which basically solved the problem of male singing and won the recognition of the audience. Especially "Eleven Lang" rehearsed by 1960 has been a great success in Shanghai and abroad. The drama is a large-scale costume comedy adapted from the traditional Peking Opera White Water Beach, Sunshine House and Tong Tianxi, which is both ideological and artistic. The drama is full of life, beauty, ugliness, singing, acting, reading and fighting, and there are literary and martial arts scenes, which are both lyrical and not good at women's Yue Opera. In particular, Shi Jihua, who plays the leading actor Ichiro, is both civil and military, and his singing won warm applause from the audience. Experts believe that the singing of Shaoxing opera actors, from "awkward" in the past to "audible" later, from "audible" later to "applauding and winning seats" now, is "a great turning point" and is known as "singing the three passes of Eleven Lang". This is the first time since the founding of New China that Shanghai Yue Opera has won unanimous affirmation and praise from experts and audiences in the experiment of co-performance of men and women. From then on, it reversed the prejudice of Shanghai audience against the co-performance of men and women in Yue Opera. This drama not only became the masterpiece of Shi Jihua's co-performance with Yue Opera, but also laid the foundation for the development of Yue Opera co-performance in Shanghai. Later, Li Huiniang, starring Shen Jialin, and Yangzhou, starring Zhang Guohua, and other large-scale costume dramas were welcomed by audiences to varying degrees. During the three years from 1959 to 1962, the experimental troupe performed a large number of costume dramas and modern dramas, not only in first-class theaters such as Lido and Ruijin, but also in workers' clubs in various districts. Good artistic quality and continuous practical performance have won a large audience for the experimental troupe, most of whom are young audiences. The main actors Shi Jihua and Shen Jialin have their own fans and admirers.