"If we talk about the origin of ventriloquism, I am afraid that it can be traced back to the ancient barbaric period, when human beings in order to lure prey or scare off powerful beasts will imitate the sounds of some animals, the most primitive ventriloquist is from here, and later in the Warring States Period, there are also ventriloquists who are good at roosters and dogs to help Meng Weijun get out of danger. ”

Then in the Tang and Song dynasties, in the Tang Dynasty, there was an organization called "Xuexiang Sound Society" that specialized in cultivating ventriloquists, and then in the Song Dynasty, the art of ventriloquism has been greatly developed. ”

"The Song Dynasty is a dynasty with great spiritual and material richness, all kinds of folk art developed rapidly, the Song Dynasty had a play next door, ventriloquists rely on the eight-foot barrier, a table, a chair, a fan, a ruler, the artist in the barrier to learn to sing and imitate a variety of animal sounds, Song Huizong period has a ventriloquist named Liu Baiyu, can imitate a variety of animal sounds, skills are very superb. ”

"Until the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, our ventriloquist art is really mature, is one of the hundred operas, the Qing Li Zhensheng's "Hundred Opera Bamboo Branches" in the expression of ventriloquism is 'surrounded by green silk is good stealth, and the elephant sound is wonderful one by one. Who knows that the crowd is empty and noisy, and there is no second person who has never been extinct', this is what he said. ”

"Before the 30s of the 20th century, our performances were behind the barrier, as the so-called only heard its voice and did not see its people, after the 30s, our performances slowly walked out of the barrier, and the audience face-to-face and emotional performance, but also with the help of modern technology audio amplifiers, so that we have the possibility of a wide range of performances, we actors have performed everywhere over the years, including face-to-face performances abroad. But the part I played before was a traditional ventriloquist, and there was a barrier. ”

Zhang Yushu gave He Xiangdong a general introduction to the history and origin of ventriloquism.

He Xiangdong listened very carefully and seriously.

Zhang Yushu continued: "Our ventriloquist and your cross talk can also be said to be from the same door, ventriloquism was originally called like a voice, and it also paid attention to learning to sing behind the barrier, at that time, there was a person who performed and two people performed, and your cross talk was almost the same as a stand-up counterpart, and later a part of the ventriloquist people walked out of the barrier and began to perform in front of the audience, and there was also a rudimentary form of cross talk. There is also a ventriloquist in the twelve courses of your cross talk, and you must have heard your master perform it. ”

He Xiangdong nodded and said: "Yes, my master is good at logging and learning bird calls, but he will stuff a small appliance into his mouth to help when he learns bird calls, otherwise he can't learn it, in fact, you are more clever." ”

Zhang Yushu also smiled and said, "I rely on this to eat, if even this is compared to your master, how can I live?"

"Hehe......" He Xiangdong also smiled.

Zhang Yushu said: "I also have a position in the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe, and I can only spare half a month at most to teach you, so your study pressure will be very high during this time, and you have to be prepared." ”

He Xiangdong also restrained his smile, nodded very seriously and said, "Uncle Zhang, don't worry, no matter how much pressure I have, you can come." ”

Zhang Yushu touched He Xiangdong's head with satisfaction, and said: "During this time, what I mainly teach you is the luck of ventriloquism, as well as the use of mouth, lips, tongue and throat, these are all basic skills, you must practice solidly, thousands of high-rise buildings rise from the ground, relying on a solid foundation." Ventriloquist is the same as your cross talk, it takes decades of water grinding to become a talent, don't try to reach the sky in one step, it's impossible. ”

He Xiangdong nodded in understanding.

Zhang Yushu continued: "The ventriloquist breathing method has always been a single breathing method before, in a CCTV program "Birds' Vocal Method", bird experts introduced us to the special structure of birds, the bird's song can actually last for several minutes, they have no vocal cords, but there is a vocal tube, the vocal tube inhales and exhales have the function of vocalization, and this method of occurrence in birds is the 'circular luck method' and 'circular vocalization method'. ”

"This method has inspired us a lot, especially Brother Yuliang's special conditions for using the vocal cords to make sounds anyway, coupled with his years of exploration and practice, he finally studied the circular luck method and the circular vocalization method, this method can repeatedly use qi, repeat the sound for a few minutes, reaching more than ten times that of normal people, and the rhythm is more harmonious, the effect is very good, this is what I want to teach you. ”

He Xiangdong nodded and said yes, and Zhang Yushu began to teach how to be lucky.

"Qi" is the driving force of sound, and if there is insufficient qi, the sound is insufficient, and scientific luck is the fundamental foundation of ventriloquist performance, the foundation of the foundation. The practice method of circulating luck is to strengthen the breathing volume of the lungs first, and then practice the exhalation volume according to the physiological breathing law and vocal principle of the person, and the time for exhaling a breath is gradually lengthened from a short time, from the first ten seconds to a minute or even longer, the qi sinks into the dantian, the lungs are relaxed, the pressure on the lungs is reduced, and the nose is inhaled with the mouth, and the qi is cleverly stolen to store qi, so that the qi is useful and inexhaustible.

Zhang Yushu instructed He Xiangdong over and over again to practice the method of luck, especially focusing on teaching the trick of stealing qi and storing qi. In fact, the first thing to practice ventriloquist luck is the breathing volume of the lungs, but Zhang Yushu has little time, so he can only teach the method first, and the basic skills can only wait for He Xiangdong to go back and practice slowly by himself.

He Xiangdong is also extremely smart and learns very quickly, basically Zhang Yushu teaches once and doesn't need to say it a second time. Zhang Yushu was also very happy, and repeatedly praised He Xiangdong for being a good seedling.

Throughout the day, the two of them were practicing the Cycle of Luck method.

He Xiangdong also lived here that night, so he and Zhang Yushu made up a bed. As soon as it was dawn the next day, He Xiangdong got up and ran to a place where no one was practicing morning class, after all, he was a cross talk artist, and his achievements could not be abandoned in a day. There is also a saying about practice: "If you don't practice for one day, you know, if you don't practice for two days, your peers know, and if you don't practice for three days, the audience knows." ”

After practicing the morning class, He Xiangdong returned to the guest house, and after breakfast, Zhang Yushu began to teach ventriloquist vocalization.

Ventriloquist because it imitates the wind, thunder, rain and electricity in nature, as well as animals, musical instruments, war and other scenes, it needs to use a variety of complex vocal methods, with the human voice as the main sound, with the human body's mouth, teeth, lips, tongue, larynx, small tongue, oral muscles, soft palate, etc. Ventriloquism also has its own unique vocal range and scale, using monophonic two-tone round mutes, as well as chopping, dragging, and combining notes in the scale to complete the performance. Because ventriloquism pays attention to the real with the fake, it also has a vocal method of inverting the voice, and then combining it with the pronunciation of the upper voice, which is the so-called circular vocalization method.

Traditional ventriloquist performances pay attention to speaking, singing, and blowing, in fact, they should belong to the category of quyi, but later after the founding of New China, ventriloquist masters Sun Tai and Zhou Zhicheng entered the acrobatic troupe in Shanghai directly from Hong Kong to the mainland, so ventriloquism was classified as acrobatics.

But in the later development process, the acrobatic performance gradually lost the figure of ventriloquism, ventriloquism disappeared from the acrobatic stage, but the music industry is unwilling to admit that ventriloquism is a part of the music industry, and ventriloquism has become an unclaimed orphan, and the current situation is embarrassing, which is really sad.