China opera music is developed in the soil of China national music garden. Like classical songs, folk songs, folk music and national instrumental music, it has created rich and colorful China national music. Compared with the former, its connotation and extension, form and content, style and color all reflect the highest level of Chinese folk music, and it is a master of all kinds of music in China! Throughout the world, there are folk songs, folk art, dance and national instrumental music, but there is no China traditional opera art which integrates singing, dancing and music and takes singing, reading, doing and playing as the basic means of expression. Therefore, China opera is a unique artistic phenomenon in the world, especially opera music, which has formed a completely different version, style and color from the world, especially European music.

There are 400 to 500 operas in China, and there are more than 30 operas of ethnic minorities alone. This is a huge art group. If we analyze it a little, it is not difficult to see that the biggest difference between the two operas is the difference in musical style. If we compare China's opera music with European opera music, it does not reflect the individual musical styles of composers such as Mozart, Rossini, Strauss and Su Pei, but represents a province, a city, a region and a nation. In other words, it is rooted in the soil of different places, developed according to the musical language characteristics of different places, and has a strong local color (except Beijing Opera in China, other operas are collectively called "local operas"). Therefore, China opera music has the characteristics of group style, local style and national style. Music, as an important part, clearly distinguishes various operas. The same script can be adapted into Beijing Opera, Yue Opera or Henan Opera. But only music cannot replace each other. In the concept of traditional Chinese opera as a comprehensive art, we not only pay attention to various artistic categories such as choreography, performance, costumes and dance beauty, but also pay attention to other means of expression, such as hands, eyes, body, method and steps. It can be said that music is the lifeline and identification symbol to distinguish traditional Chinese opera. There is a folk saying: watching a play is not called "watching" but "listening", which is the reason.

China's traditional drama matured in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. As we all know, both Song Ci and Yuan Qu have music scores. The framework of a epigraph or qupai is fixed, and the playwright either fills in words by sound or by words, thus producing ever-changing operas. For hundreds of years, classic plays such as Dou Eyuan, The Romance of the West Chamber, Pipa and Peach Blossom Fan have emerged one after another, resulting in ten classical comedies and ten classical tragedies in China, which are highly praised by modern people. Unfortunately, there are only scripts left, and no music left. Nevertheless, we can still see some musical tracks and clues from some scattered ancient books, such as Song of the Taoist White Stone, A Wide Record of Shilin in the early Yuan Dynasty, Legacy of Taikoo in the Ming Dynasty, Gongpu in Jiugong Dacheng Nanbei Ci in the Qing Dynasty, Cipu by Duanjin and so on.

Since the formation of Kunqu Opera, Gaoqiang Opera, Bangzi and Pi Huangqiang, they have learned from each other and absorbed from each other. After hundreds of years of vicissitudes, China opera music represented by Beijing Opera, Kunqu Opera, Henan Opera, Yue Opera, Huangmei Opera, Shaanxi Opera, Sichuan Opera and Guangdong Cantonese Opera has been formed, especially Beijing Opera, which is known as the national opera. As we all know, for example, Xipi originated from Shaanxi Qinqiang Opera, Huang Er from Yihuang Opera in Jiangxi or Hubei, and some tunes, such as Siping Tune, Gaobazi and Nanbangzi, are all borrowed from other operas. It is said that most of the instrumental music and qupai in Beijing Opera Hall originated from Kunqu Opera, while most of the percussion music in Wushu Hall originated from Bangzi Opera. Judging from the formation and development of Beijing opera music, it can become a national opera mainly because it is good at eclecticism, as the saying goes, "All rivers run into the sea, and tolerance is great." Can it be said that multi-directional and multi-level absorption is an important reason for the development of traditional Peking Opera?

Since the traditional opera music is "a hundred rivers flow into the sea with great tolerance", who created and edited their vocals and instrumental music? In the past, the writing of the history of traditional Chinese opera was centered on actors, but as for the causes of the genre, it was rarely explained from the perspective of creation. Forgive my ignorance, but Mei, Shang, Cheng and Xun are four famous artists. So far, I haven't seen a monograph discussing the characteristics and differences between Qing schools in terms of melody, rhythm, timbre, range and accompaniment. In the history of China's traditional operas, such as Wei Liangfu, we only know that he reformed the original simple Kunqu opera from the aspects of the arrangement of qupai, the handling of twist, the arrangement of rhythm, the articulation of words and the accompaniment of instrumental music, making Kunqu opera a big drama, but we don't know how he turned the original Kunqu opera material into a new drama. Another example is the formation of Mei School's singing and accompaniment. We only know that piano master Mei Yutian,, and the master Mei * * * are on the same stage with other singers. However, people don't know their specific creative process. It can be seen that most of China's traditional opera music creation is centered on actors, which is formed by repeated consultations and polishing between pianists (or pipers) and drummers without strict score records, and then passed on to the second and third generations of disciples in the form of "oral transmission". Today, this method is still used in most Chinese opera circles. As far as I know, many scores of Beijing Opera vocals were obtained from Mr. Liu Tianhua, a master of Chinese music. Therefore, the creative process of traditional music is probably a mystery forever.

The performance factors of traditional Chinese opera music are composed of (vocal) actors and (instrumental) musicians. From a long-term perspective, I think the forms of solos, duets, duets and chorus used by the actors in the play will not change much in the future, nor will the gongs and drums in the martial arts field, but the instrumental accompaniment of the band will change greatly. Practice has proved that in the early days, every kind of drama had a basic framework of instrumental music, such as: three major pieces of Peking Opera (Jinghu, Yueqin and Beijing Erhu); Three pieces of Hebei Bangzi (Banhu, Bangzi, Sheng); Three heads of Guangdong Cantonese Opera (Gao Hu, dulcimer and Qin Qin); There are three kinds of Yue Opera (main Hu, deputy Hu and pipa). Musicians and drummers who play the main instruments hold the accompaniment of the whole opera. Under this basic combination of civil and military, according to the needs of the plot and singing, instruments such as suona, sheng, pipa, sanxian, zhongruan, Daruan, erhu, zhonghu, (cello) and double bass were gradually added, ranging from 10 to more than 20 people, forming a medium-sized band. For example, the Peking Opera Wild Pig Forest and Wangjiang Pavilion appeared in 1950s and 1960s; Yue operas A Dream of Red Mansions and Rouge Kou; Huangmei Opera "Fairy Couple"; Guangdong Cantonese Opera "Zhaojun Out of the fortress" and so on. As a result, the scale of small and medium-sized national orchestral music composed of wind pipe music, plucked music, percussion music and strings has been formed. The author thinks that from the classification of "Introduction to China National Music", folk songs, folk songs, dances and traditional folk music (such as Jiangnan Sizhu, Hebei Blowing Songs, Xi 'an Drum Music, Cantonese Music, etc.) to court music and temple music do not have the conditions and scale of orchestral music. Only traditional Chinese opera bands can have national orchestral music, whether in the functional configuration of musical instruments, staffing or emotional comparison. As early as May 1987, at the first academic seminar of the Chinese National Orchestral Society, the author made a speech on "On China Opera Music, one of the important foundations for the development of modern China national orchestral music". My argument is: "Opera band is the predecessor of China national orchestral music".