China folk music is extensive and profound. The development of western music has also gone through a very long process. Since modern times, many China musicians have devoted themselves to integrating Chinese folk music elements into western music, that is, playing Chinese folk music with western musical instruments and interpreting national styles with western musical expressions. The piano music "The Shepherd's Piccolo", the violin concerto "Butterfly Lovers" and the song "A Moonlit Night on a Spring River" are among the outstanding representatives. I want to take these three works as examples to talk about my understanding of the basic means of expression of music.
The common means of music expression are melody, rhythm, timbre, harmony, form, strength, speed, beat, range, mode, tonality, texture and so on. These means of expression are usually comprehensively used by composers to achieve certain effects and create certain artistic conception. I was amazed at the composer's flexible use of these means of expression in his three works, namely, the piano piece "The Shepherd's Piccolo", the violin concerto "Butterfly Lovers" and the song "A Moonlit Night on a Spring River". The following is a detailed analysis:
Piano music "Cowboy Piccolo"
As a piano learner, I have been in contact with and played the famous piano music Cowboy Piccolo for a long time. Recently, I heard the live version of Shi Shucheng and Lang Lang, and I can't help but analyze it intentionally.
1 summary
The shepherd boy piccolo was written by He Lvting in 1934, and it was named after the China nursery rhyme "Little shepherd boy, riding on the back of an ox, piccolo has no mouth to blow". The whole song is ABBA's triad.
The presentation part (a) and the reappearance part (A') depict beautiful rural scenery: bright spring, green Yuan Ye, clear stream, happy shepherd boy riding on the back of cattle, playing flute leisurely. Melodious flute makes us seem to see the innocent and lovely shepherd boy and smell the refreshing fragrance of rural soil.
Development section (b) is a lively dance music with rhythm and chord as the background. Melody is like a flute, bright, high-pitched and lively. The music depicts a shepherd boy playing a crisp flute and feeling relaxed and lively.
Cowboy Piccolo not only uses the techniques of western music, but also shows the characteristics of national music. Since it came out more than 70 years ago, it has made China people feel happy and moved by its rich and fresh rural feelings. Music depicts the beautiful fields in the south of the Yangtze River, with floating clouds above and flowing water below, shepherds and old cows, flutes and songs. It is an audible lyric poem and a visible landscape painting.
The following parts are analyzed one by one.
Part (a) is presented, and the melody is as follows: (Brief score)
In this part, we can clearly see the polyphonic style. The melody of hands is conversational. In terms of rhythm, when the right hand treble is soothing, the left hand bass is urgent; On the contrary, the left hand is slow and the right hand is urgent. In addition, the phrase is repeated, and the topic phrase is repeated twice in the loud part of the right hand. The contrast between the two sentences seems to show the asymptotic behavior of the shepherd boy. Raise the tone area again, as if talking to yourself, the repetition of the phrase is more intense, and finally return to the original position in the strong tone: (music score omitted)
Left-handed low-key sentences are as strong as high-key sentences. Form a beautiful echo with the right-hand treble: (music score omitted)
The following phrases continue the previous style. Compared with the later stage (b), there are not many jumps, and the melody is more soothing. What is worth mentioning is the strength of the phrase. The contrast between strong (F), weak (P) and very weak (pp) is like a shepherd boy's flute floating in the wind. In addition, the slow and long sound at the end of this part fully immersed people in the artistic conception created by the composer, paving the way for a sharp contrast with the next part.
The whole presentation part (a) shows a quiet and unique artistic conception with clear and sonorous C major and melodious rhythm. The combination of two polyphonic melodies is like two shepherds roaming on cows and talking freely.
3 development department (b), the melody is as follows: (music score abbreviated)
4 copy part (A')
Violin Concerto Butterfly Lovers
Violin concerto 1959 by Chen Gang and He. The music is based on China's well-known folk story "butterfly lovers", and some vocals in Yue Opera are used as the music material. The whole song is divided into three parts, with three representative plots-love, anti-marriage and become a butterfly as the main content. Its most important significance is to integrate elements of China opera into western music and tell a concrete story with abstract music.
1 Exhibition Department (Love)
2 Development Department (Anti-marriage)
3 reproductive department (becoming a butterfly)
Flute and harp bring music into fairyland, and silent violin plays the theme of love again. A pair of Huawei butterflies, butterfly lovers, flew out of the tomb and danced together, never parting.
Three "Moonlit Nights on the Spring River"
The whole song is as follows: (brief score)
This song is adapted from the ancient song "Moonlit Night on the Spring River". Because the addition of lyrics is more conducive to our understanding of the artistic conception that the song wants to express. The whole song is medium-speed, calm and charming. First sentence
Create a quiet atmosphere. As the lyrics say, although the melody has a big jump, it still has a sense of "exquisiteness and grace".
In the middle of the music, the rhythm is rapid and slow, full of singing sense; The melody fluctuates greatly, with distinct levels and distinct rhythms.
At the end of the music, the previous theme is reproduced, supplemented by a sad tone, which makes people unable to let go for a long time after listening.
Above, I made a detailed analysis of the melody, rhythm, harmony, form, dynamics, speed, beat, range and mode of the piano music Piccolo, and made a comprehensive and brief analysis of the melody, rhythm, timbre, form, dynamics, speed, beat and texture of the violin concerto Butterfly Lovers.