Let's first look at a story recorded in Wang Zhifang's poems: "Dongpo guards Qiantang, but his father has passed." He writes poems, shows Dongpo, recites them first, and vibrates the left and right; After all, it is said that Po said,' How much are Zheng Xiang's poems? Poe said, "Be there in ten minutes". Auspicious surprised, ask it. Edgar Allan Poe said,' Seven points is reading and three points is poetry. Isn't that quite right? A poem that was not well written was recited by the author, and Su Dongpo's judges gave him full marks. Although it is a joke, this story is enough to illustrate the importance of chanting to poetry. Not only did the ancients write poems and sing, but modern people also wrote poems and recited them several times. By reciting, we can find out where the sound and rhyme are not harmonious and which words need to be replaced, which is convenient for review. It can be seen that people attach great importance to the singing of poetry regardless of ancient and modern times. What's more, the appeal of poetry is often expressed through singing; Learning ancient poetry often begins with singing. Ancient poetry can be sung. The so-called chanting is reading, a kind of reading with rhythm and rhythm. The so-called singing, according to the interpretation of the international standard Chinese dictionary, is to sound according to music, which is what we usually call singing. There seems to be a difference between singing and singing. Can it be said that the sound can be recorded by music score, that is singing; If it can't be recorded in music, it is a chant. But singing and singing can't be completely separated, they are related. Singing is singing without notes, and singing is singing with notes. Sometimes you can sing. The two are integrated, complementary and dialectical. Not only all ancient poems can be sung, but also many can be sung. For example, Yuefu poems can be sung with music and words. However, how did the ancients recite poems? We know very little. Modern people can't recite poems like the ancients. In addition, with the development of the times and the change of pronunciation, the singing method of poetry should also change and develop. Modern people's singing should be more scientific and advanced than the ancients. In fact, modern people can not only sing traditional poems with good grades, but also sing in various ways. According to the language used by singers, it can be roughly divided into the following categories: 1. Singing in Mandarin is very popular among modern young people. Reading and singing old-school poems in Mandarin is often seen on TV, movies and various parties. However, when reciting poetry, we should pay special attention to the rhythm of traditional poetry, that is, the law of "flat", the rhythm and charm of poetry. The pronunciation of some words needs special treatment. For example, Mr. Ye Jiaying, a Canadian Chinese scholar, has a lot of recorded materials for reciting poems. She recites them in Mandarin. Although it is Mandarin, some words don't sound like the pronunciation of Mandarin. Mr. Ye Jiaying explained it this way: "Because I was born in Beijing, I can only speak Mandarin, and I can't pronounce the correct Rusheng characters. But in order to make the tone of ancient poetry sound harmonious and conform to the tone of the ancients, I try to pronounce all the words into the fourth tone. "After this processing, it sounds more attractive than ordinary reading. It would be better if you could recite it with a little music like a poem with music. Singing traditional poems in Mandarin is even more important. This kind of singing method needs to compose music and write lyrics first like ordinary songs, and the singer only needs to sing according to the soundtrack. Of course, to sing well depends on the singer's understanding of the work and the use of singing skills. ) Because it is a aria with a fixed tune, it is generally impossible to play it at will. For example, many of Mao Zedong's poems are sung as songs. Singing in dialects Our motherland is vast, and there are many local languages in Chinese alone. Putonghua has not been implemented for a long time, but dialects have taken root and sprouted in various places for thousands of years. Singing poems in dialects has a long history. Cantonese recite poems in Cantonese or Hakka, Fujian and Taiwan Province people recite poems in Minnan dialect, Shanghai people recite poems in Shanghai dialect, and people everywhere recite poems in local dialects. On today's stage or screen, we can often see people learning Mao Zedong's Hunan dialect poems and Marshal Chen Yi's Sichuan dialect poems. Sounds very local. I sometimes recite traditional poems in Nanchang dialect. The entering tone of Nanchang dialect is very obvious, and the intonation and cadence of poetry with it are particularly clear. Traditional poems can also be sung in dialects. Mr. Liang Jiong-hui, a lecturer of Minnan Language in course center, the "National Tsinghua University" education in Taiwan Province Province, specializes in this and offers related courses. For example, the almost lost string poem art in Changde, Hunan Province is to compose classical poems and sing them in Changde dialect. It is worth mentioning that those dialects that retain ancient sounds are especially suitable for poetry singing, such as southern dialects such as Min dialect, Cantonese, Wu dialect, Gan dialect and Hakka dialect. When singing poems in these dialects, it's easy to distinguish the level tone, cadence and charm. Nowadays, young people, especially young students in cities, are very familiar with Mandarin. Because they have been listening to and speaking Mandarin since childhood. This is undoubtedly a great progress of the times. But nowadays young students know little about dialects. Ignorance of dialect knowledge is unfavorable for learning and inheriting ancient culture and national culture. While vigorously promoting Putonghua, we should also pay attention to the research and utilization of dialects. It is hard to imagine how people will face the cultural heritage of our nation for thousands of years if dialects die out one day. 3. Singing China operas and classical poems in opera language is a Chinese treasure. According to the list of China operas collected by Tianjin Theatre Museum, there are more than 1000 kinds of traditional operas in China. Poetry is sung in many operas. Take traditional Peking Opera as an example. When a character first enters the stage, he often has to read a poem (or antithesis) with a strong sense of rhythm, and it is often rhymed, unhurried, cadenced and strewn at random. For example, Mi Fei's poem "Beating the Drum to Scold Cao" says: "Words are like running water, and it's all a war of words. If people get the hand of heaven, they naturally laugh and ask for titles. "In fact, this is a high-quality poetry reading. The phonology of Beijing Opera uses Zhongzhou Rhyme and Huguang Tone, and also pays attention to sharp words, group words and catchy words. The author thinks that the ancient charm of reciting poems in this form must be good, so I try to recite poems for friends around me with it, and everyone says it sounds good. It should be said that the rhyme and whiteness of Beijing opera is still relatively popular, so reciting poems (even ancient prose) is a very recommended method. In Beijing Opera, the tunes of Kunqu Opera are often used to recite poems. For example, in The Legend of the White Snake, the boatman sang "Paddle the White Ping Pile", in Zhang Matsushita's book, the grass withered and the leaves fell in late autumn, in Qingfeng Pavilion, and in Farewell My Concubine, the Han soldiers sang "Chu Song". The author used this song to sing his own poems in various poetry concerts many times, and the effect was good. There is also a singing form in the play, which is more suitable for expressing feelings. For example, when Zhao appeared on the stage in Cosmic Front, "The cuckoo cries branches, blood and tears are dark and sad" means singing first and then singing. In just ten words, the full sadness and resentment of the role are vividly displayed in front of the audience, which makes people shudder. For another example, after reading Yingying's poem in The Matchmaker, Zhang Sheng sang the word "Jade Man Comes", vividly showing a bookworm's complacency. This processing method can be completely used for poetry singing. If someone sings a word full of epigrams "Ding Fengbo", all the words "funny" in the word are regarded as aria, and the rest of the sentences are all aria, which has a good effect. In fact, it's good to sing poems directly with Pi Huangqiang in Beijing Opera. At the poetry and ode meeting to welcome Macao's return, the author sang his own poems with Xipi 26 and Xipi rocker, which was very popular. However, if Pi Huangqiang is used to sing, there are two points to be noted: First, an existing aria cannot be completely copied, because the form of Beijing opera aria belongs to "banqiang" and must follow the law of "singing according to the words", otherwise it is easy to "invert the words". Second, it is best not to choose adagio when choosing a board, because its rhythm is too slow and the cavity is too long. In the long historical development of the Chinese nation, folk songs are the crystallization of traditional cultures of all ethnic groups. People inherit civilization with songs, convey emotions with songs, and show their hearts with music. As a basic form of the integration of songs and poems, folk songs are naturally suitable for singing poems. Qu Yuan is a master of folk songs. Most of the nine songs he wrote were folk songs of Chu offering sacrifices to the gods. In folk songs, people mostly use dialects and national languages. Some modern folk songs are processed by literary and art workers and use Mandarin or semi-Mandarin. For example, we are very familiar with our favorite revolutionary song "Ten Send to the Red Army", which is adapted from Gannan folk song "Picking Tea to Tune Long song". It is tactfully beautiful, like crying, singing half a sentence, stopping half a sentence and singing repeatedly, leaving a vivid and profound impression on people. The episode of "Knocking on the door with a plate in hand" in the film Red Guards of Honghu Lake follows the technique of "knocking on the tile plate" in Yangzhou Qingqu, which originated from the "small singing" in Yuan Dynasty. There are also episodes in the movie Sister Liu, aren't they all good Guangxi folk songs? These are all good examples of singing poems in folk songs. The above methods of modern people singing traditional poems can be chosen and used according to their own conditions. But besides these methods, there must be other ways to sing. How to sing? Mr Ye Jiaying put it this way: "You can sing whatever tune you think you like and suit. "As long as you feel that you can express the appeal of your work well, it feels good. In addition, you can imitate learning by listening to the recorded materials of others' singing, and get inspiration from it, so as to find the singing method that suits you.