Bangzi, also known as Bangban, is a Han percussion instrument. Around the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty (17th century) in China, it became popular with the rise of Bangzi opera. The bang consists of two solid hardwood sticks of different lengths and thicknesses. The 25 cm long one is cylindrical with a diameter of 4 cm, and the other is short and thick and rectangular, 20 cm long, 5-6 cm wide, and 4 cm thick. It is one of the four major vocal chambers of opera, and is named after the hardwood bangzi. In 2008, it was included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list

In ancient times, the yamen used to gather and distribute the ringing instruments struck by the people. Made from bamboo or hollowed-out wood. The second chapter of "Water Margin": "Before and after the village, in the east and west of the village, three or four hundred historians and villagers, hearing the sound of the bang, all dragged guns and sticks, gathered three or four hundred people, and all went to the Shijiazhuang. The sixty-second chapter of "The Strange Status Quo Witnessed in Twenty Years": "The foreign horn outside is blowing again and again, whining, the footsteps of people coming and going, and the beating of the watch, how can I sleep." Ba Jin's "Sand Ding" I: "The second watch's bangzi really sounded, and the crisp sound of wood and the barking of the dog echoed each other in this quiet night. ”

Prop material editing

Clapper

Clapper

Generally, it is mostly made of red sandalwood and mahogany, and in some places it is made of jujube wood heart, and the material must be solid and dry, without scars or splits. The appearance is smooth, rounded and angular. It is used in opera music, rap music and folk instrumental ensembles. Qing Dynasty Li Tiaoyuan's "Drama Saying": "With the bang as the board, the moon qin should be followed, and there is also tightness." The vulgar call Bangzi cavity, Shu is called a chaotic play".

Specific type edits

Clapper

Clapper

Bangzi is used in various Chinese folk bands, and was first used to accompany various bangzi cavities, and is often used on the downbeat to increase the dramatic atmosphere. Around the 17th century (late Ming and early Qing Dynasty), it became popular with the rise of Bangzi opera, and was divided into Hebei Bangzi, Nanbangzi, Falling Bang and Qin Bang. Bangzi sometimes refers specifically to Hebei Bangzi. Hebei Bangzi is popular in the Bangzi cavity in the Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei and Henan regions, and is played with Bangzi opera and folk instrumental ensemble. It is mostly made of red sandalwood, mahogany or jujube wood. Two hardwood sticks of different lengths and thicknesses, the slender one is cylindrical, 25 cm long and 4 cm in diameter, and the short and thick one is rectangular, 20 cm long, 5~6 cm wide and 4 cm thick. Nanbangzi, also known as Cantonese ban, is widely popular in the southern region, used in opera and folk instrumental ensembles, and is also used as an accompaniment to the singing of Peking Opera plucked sons. It is mostly made of rosewood. It is a rectangular hollow body with a rectangular sound hole in the middle. The pendant is also known as the foot pedal pendant, which is used for the accompaniment of Henan opera and Henan pendant. The shape is like a duck egg, and the hammer and mallet are connected as a whole. Qin Bang is used for Qin cavity accompaniment. Oval in shape, 20 cm long.

Hebei Bang

It is also known as "Bangban". It consists of two solid hardwood sticks of varying lengths and thicknesses. Generally, it is made of red sandalwood and mahogany, and in some places it is also made of jujube wood heart, one of which is 25 cm long and 4 cm in diameter, and the other short and thick one is rectangular, 20 cm long, 5~6 cm wide and 4 cm thick.

When playing, hold a rectangle in your left hand and a round wooden stick in your right hand, and strike each other to pronounce the sound. The timbre is crisp, high-pitched and solid, with no fixed pitch, and is an important accompaniment instrument for Bangzi opera, and is often used to regularly strike the downbeat. It is also often used in some folk instrumental ensembles, and is popular in Hebei, Henan and Shandong. [2]

Nanbangzi

Also known as Bu fish, Guangdong plate. "General Examination of Qing Dynasty Continued Literature": "The use of Buyu is equal to the drum or the clapper, and the musical instrument of the Southern Festival is also." "Rectangular wooden hollow body, 24.5 cm long, 8.7 cm wide and 6 cm thick, with a rectangular sound hole in the middle. It is better to use rosewood, and the sound holes must be neatly lined up and the inner chamber is smooth. When playing, hold a stick in your left hand and a bamboo stick or wooden skewer in your right hand.

Nanbangzi is popular in the south of our country. It was originally used as an accompaniment instrument for Cantonese opera, and later it was also used for the accompaniment of Peking opera and Cantonese music. The pronunciation is short and mellow, and in addition to playing the downbeat in the accompaniment of opera and instrumental ensembles, it can also be used to express special sound effects such as the sound of horses' hooves and the sound of machine gun fire.

Falling

Clapper

Clapper

It is also known as "pedal bangzi". Wooden spherical. It is shaped like a duck's egg, with a diameter of 9 cm and is hollow. It is divided into three types: large, medium and small, with a length of 13.5, 11.5 and 10 cm, and a diameter of 9.5, 8.5 and 5 cm. There is a wooden tenon at the waist, which is fixed vertically to a standing stick. A tenon groove is placed below, and the center crosses a shaft to connect the striking wood and the rope respectively. It is used for the accompaniment of Henan opera and Henan pendant book.

There is a wooden tenon at the waist of the pendant, which is fixed on a standing stick, and there is another tenon groove on the vertical stick, and there is a striking wooden clay in the middle, and a nail is crossed in the center, and one end of the wooden clay is tied to the player's right foot by a rope, and the pronunciation of the wooden crush is controlled by the stepping of the foot. When playing, it is often tied to the table legs and played by the accompanist who plays the pendant.

Qin Bang

It is used for Qin cavity accompaniment. It is oval in shape and 20 cm long.

Playing method editing

When Hebei Bangzi is played, the left hand holds a rectangular and the right hand holds a cylindrical wooden stick, and the cylindrical percussion rectangular wooden stick is used to pronounce the sound, the timbre is crisp and solid, and there is no fixed pitch.

Nanbangzi holds the bangzi with his left hand and a bamboo stick or mallet in his right hand to strike. Pendant plays are often tied to the table legs, and the mallet is used to control the sound of the hammer. The performer is often the same as the person who plays the piano.

Bangzi cavity editing

Also refers to the bong cavity. Bangzi cavity is a general term for a kind of opera vocal cavity system. It originated in Shanxi,

Bangzi cavity

Bangzi cavity

The "Shanxi Bangzi" at the junction of Shaanxi is characterized by high-pitched and agitated singing, and the knots are struck with wooden bangs. Then, it developed to the east and south, forming different forms of Bangzi cavities in different regions, such as Shanxi Bangzi, Hebei Bangzi, Henan Bangzi, Shandong Bangzi, Jiangsu Bangzi (Xuzhou name of Henan Opera) and so on. [3]

[1] Shanxi is the "hometown of opera", and local drama has a long history. In addition to the long and profound historical origins, world-renowned writers, and simple and beautiful unearthed cultural relics, Shanxi opera art also ranks first in the country in a wide variety of opera genres. There are as many as 54 local operas in Shanxi, accounting for one-sixth of the more than 300 operas in the country.

The "big operas" in Shanxi's local operas are Pu Opera, Jin Opera, Beilu Bangzi and Shangdang Bangzi, which are known as the "Four Great Bangzi of Shanxi". Among them, Pu Opera, Jin Opera, and North Road Bangzi have the same root and different branches, and they are all authentic of Bangzi's vocal cavity, and the mass base is very broad.

2 HistoryEdit

As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, musicians, singers, and jugglers appeared in the Jin Kingdom. In the Han Dynasty, the hundred operas were popular, and in the middle of the Han Dynasty, the hundred opera activities were all the rage in Jinnan, Shanxi Province. From the Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, after more than 1,000 years of gestation and evolution, opera has become increasingly formed. By the time of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were large stages for actors to act in some villages in the south of Shanxi. All these reflect that the art of opera in the south of Shanxi had reached a certain scale at that time.

The gong and drum acrobatics that were first spread in the areas of Linyi, Wanrong and Yuncheng in the southwest of Shanxi, as well as the competition operas in Wutai, Yingxian, Shanyin, Ningwu, Shuoxian, Qilan and Wuzhai in the north of Shanxi Province and the team operas in Changzi and Pingshun in the southeast of Shanxi have had a profound impact on the development of the drama industry in Shanxi Province. A common feature of these plays is that only percussion instruments such as drums and gongs are used for accompaniment.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the decline of Yuan miscellaneous opera and the spread of vocal cavity operas such as Kunshan dialect, Yiyang dialect, and Qingyang dialect in Shanxi Province, local operas with Bangzi and Rantan as the main body flourished. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the inscription of the rebuilding of the music building in Ji County has the record of "the auspicious day of the first month of Puzhou Yihe class performed here". In the winter of the 46th year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty, when the prefect of Pingyang invited the dramatist Kong Shangren to compile and revise the "Chronicles of Pingyang Mansion" in Pingyang, on the day of the Lantern Festival of the New Year, he watched various traditional folk art activities such as local Yangge, bamboo horses, Kunqu opera, and random dan. I love Kwai Wa to take small steps, and a piece of Yu is Handan". It can be seen from this poem that Puzhou Bangzi has formed a unique performance form at that time, and there have been famous actors with solid basic skills like Kwai Wa.

Pu Opera, also known as Puzhou Bangzi, is the oldest of the four major Bangzi operas in Shanxi, named because it originated in Puzhou (now Yongji County) in southwest Shanxi. It was formed at the end of the Ming Dynasty and prevailed in the Qing Dynasty, with more than 1,000 repertoire. The impassioned and euphemistic and gentle, rough and bold and delicate artistic style, especially the strong local color, makes Pu Opera deeply loved by the folk of southern Jinnan.

Puzhou Bangzi spread to Jinzhong, and merged with the local Yangge and rap art to form the middle road Bangzi. After the Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty, the fame of Zhonglu Bangzi became more and more loud, and began to spread to Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Gansu and other places, winning the love of the locals. Jin opera began in the Xianfeng and Tongzhi years, and it has been sung for a long time, and grand events have emerged one after another. Before Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty, Jin opera once dominated the Beijing opera scene, and even became the representative drama genre of Shanxi.

Influenced by the spread of Pu Opera, the northern Jin Dynasty produced the North Road Bangzi with agitated voices and bold styles. In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, two large-scale migrations caused a large number of people from southern Jin to move to northern Jin. The immigrants love their homeland, and they like to hear the local sound, so that Pu opera gradually spreads in northern Shanxi. In the fusion with the local language and folk art, the Beilu Bangzi Opera was finally formed with the remains of the ancient Yan Zhao's "generous and tragic songs" as the basic characteristics.

Shangdang Bangzi, originated from the ancient Shangdang Junze and Lu Erzhou, which has a profound opera tradition, and was formed by the Luo Luo opera, roll opera and local small opera folk songs from other places in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and integrated the Bangzi opera that flowed into the southwest of Shanxi and Jinzhong. [2]

3 Content Editing

Pu Opera

Puju is also known as Puzhou Bangzi, also known as "Random Bullet", "Jin Cavity", "Shanxi Bangzi Cavity", etc., and the Middle Road Bangzi, North Road Bangzi, Shangdang Bangzi and known as the four major Bangzi in our province.

During the Jiaqing and Daoguang periods of the Qing Dynasty, Puzhou Bangzi slowly formed two schools of South Road and West Road. The Southern Road School is centered on Ruicheng, and its singing style is big bends and major keys, and basically does not use falsetto; while the Western Road School is centered on Puzhou, and its singing style is mostly rough and hot, with a certain amount of kung fu in stunts, and there are many lyrics, the drama is easy to understand, and the repertoire is rich.

During the Qing Xianfeng and Guangxu periods, the Taigu ticket number of Qixian County bought a theater troupe in Puzhou with 1,000 taels of silver, and they visited and performed all over the country, during which they brought out a large number of famous actors such as 700 Sheng, Lao Puzhou, etc., while they visited the performance, they had close contact with Bangzi on the Middle Road, Bangzi on the North Road and Bangzi on the Beijing Road, so that their drama road was broader. Pu opera celebrities are full of talents. For example, Lao Yuanerhong (that is, Zhang Shixi: Shanxi Yi's Mayingren, Guo Baochen's teacher), Guo Baochen, Er Baohong, Tianliang, Gai Shaanxi, Seventeen Sheng, etc., can be independent, and Guo Baochen and Hou Junshan are particularly outstanding.

In the 20s of the 20th century, many excellent drama clubs appeared in Pu Opera. Their activities spread all over the country, and many famous actors led by Yang Dengyun, Sun Guangsheng, and Wang Cuncai appeared.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Pu Opera industry has developed rapidly, and a large number of famous actors such as Ren Xiangxin and Guo Zemin have made significant contributions to the art of Pu Opera.

The music of Pu Opera includes three parts: singing, music cards, and gongs and drums: there are more than 500 repertoire such as this play and folding play, and there are all repertoire that sing, do, read, and win by playing. The most influential among the masses is "Dou E's Injustice", which gathers the essence of Pu opera actors, is a perfect combination, exquisite in art, and is praised for a while. In the performance of stunts, Pu opera mainly includes hat wing gong, lingzi gong, mustache gong, pinzi gong, chair gong, banner gong, stilt gong, fan gong and so on.

Jin drama

Jin opera is called Zhonglu Bangzi because of its formation and activities in the central region of Shanxi. In the early stage of its formation, Zhonglu Bangzi boldly absorbed the folk art of Jinzhong, showing the local characteristics of Zhonglu, and effectively promoting the development of Zhonglu Bangzi.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the commercial economy of the Jinzhong Basin developed rapidly, and the economic development led to the improvement of cultural literacy, and various drama ticket clubs also developed vigorously. Since many businessmen were keen to play and sing, merchants and artists studied singing together, learned their skills, and sponsored artists. All of these have played a huge role in promoting the development of Bangzi's singing voice and music in the middle road.

In the 30s of the 20th century, the development of Zhonglu Bangzi reached its heyday. Ding Guoxian, Zhang Baokui, San'ersheng and other famous men of the middle road Bangzi faction have become popular all over the country one after another.

Ding Guoxian learned from each other with Peking Opera artist Ma Lianliang's "Four Jinshi" with "Anti-Xuzhou", absorbing the artistic nutrition of Peking Opera and making Zhonglu Bangzi more artistic.

After the liberation of the country, in order to inherit and develop the traditional art of Zhonglu Bangzi, the party and the government have successively cultivated a large number of outstanding actors such as Wang Aiai, Tian Guilan, Song Zhuanzhuan, and Wu Aiqing. They are well-known on the stage of Jin Opera, showing a gratifying scene of Jin Opera art.

North Road Bangzi

Beilu Bangzi got its name because of its formation and main activities in the northern part of Shanxi Province. Its music is divided into three parts: singing, music cards and gongs and drums. The main part of the singing cavity belongs to the plate cavity variant, which is formed by the regular connection of various plate types. Its plate types are: splint plate, slow plate, two sex, stacking board, three sex, flowing water, medium plate, rolling white, etc.

There are more than 400 major plays in the North Road Bangzi, most of which are based on historical and classical texts. There are also some plays that reflect the life of ancient society. In addition, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, he wrote many modern dramas that reflected the struggle and life at that time.

The traditional repertoire "Jinshui Bridge" was produced as a stage art film by the Central News Documentary Film Studio in 1980. The traditional repertoire is mainly artistically manifested as: 1. It has a strong folk color, and it also gives ordinary people their thoughts, feelings and life interest when expressing the storylines such as gods and monsters; 2. The language is life-like, easy to understand and easy to accept by the common people; 3. There are many lyrics, which is also the most significant feature of Bangzi on the North Road.

On the party bangzi

Shangdang Bangzi got its name because it was produced and mainly spread in Shangdang County during the Qin and Han dynasties. There are many theories about the origin of Shangdang Bangzi, and it is generally believed that it was formed in Zezhou Mansion (now Jincheng, Shanxi). Although it is called Bangzi, it is actually a type of drama in which five kinds of vocal cavities are performed on the same stage: Kun (Kunqu Opera), Bang (Bangzi), Luo (Luo Luo Cavity), Juan (Juan Opera), and Gong (Pi Gong). In the process of its formation, it was influenced by Pu Opera, but it is very different from the above three big bangzi.

In 1959, on the screen of the Buddha Hall in Qinglian Temple in Jincheng, the repertoire list of performances on October 15 in the 11th year of Daoguang (1831) was found, among which "Caixian Bridge", "Songguan", "Great Blessing" and so on are all traditional plays of Shangdang Bangzi. During the Anti-Japanese War, our army advanced to the southeast of Shanxi Province and established the Taihang and Taiyue base areas. Shangdang Bangzi is full of vitality. The famous writer Zhao Shuli created the modern drama "Vientiane Tower" here, and the costume dramas "Ye Gongtu" and "Han Yuniang" created and adapted here are very popular among the people. Then "Xiao Erhei Married", "Wang Gui and Li Xiangxiang", "White-Haired Girl" and other plays were also performed by the Shangdang Bangzi Troupe.

Through the exploration and creation of generations of artists, Shangdang Bangzi has formed a unique set of performance procedures and artistic styles. In the 80s of the last century, Shangdang Bangzi sprung up, and a number of fresh plays such as "Killing Wife", "Borrowing Grain", and "Letter from Two Places" emerged, and there were innovations in performance, music, stage, etc., so that Shangdang Bangzi made the plot more lyrical and moving on the basis of maintaining the characteristics of the original drama, and was loved by the audience. [3]