Friday, 9 January 2009, 11:59
Today, we were given a one-day crash course on the
percussion instruments of Chinese music. The percussions mainly originated from the opera as they were significantly used in operas. Because of this great importance, the percussions have inevitably been influenced into Chinese orchestral music.
The Chinese opera that we watched this afternoon (on a field across Reservoir Village at Bedok Reservoir) had been an eye-opener for me. It was a pleasant first experience to be in the heartlands, encountering traditional Hokkien opera.
Before the performance, we got to go up the stage to witness behind-the-scenes instruments, costumes, props, performers. It's incredible how these opera troupes manage with so little space on a seemingly fragile platform. I learnt that the stage is not as delicate as i thought it was, and the same goes for traditional opera, there's so much more to the noise and bright colours. It's a whole incredible form of art and culture that can be appreciated even by we young ones if a little more heart is put into understanding it.
The
opera performance began with the entrance of the
8 immortals (八仙). They carried out a ritual for half an hour, where the gods and goddesses had to pay their respects. Then a man in red rope and white mask came out with scrolls of well-wishes.
Then, the
real opera started.
STORY: A father and daughter (lost her mom since young, and dad did not remarry) goes on a journey out to sea together. An unfortunate storm caused a shipwreck and the daughter is lost. Thankfully, a fisherman saved her and was reunited with her father in the end.
my points on the SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PERCUSSIONS IN OPERA:
- Waving of sleeve, arm/ hand movements of man in white mask and scroll [cymbals, 小锣]
- Bigger arm and body movements/ strides [cymbals, 小锣- louder and faster]
- After all performers have left the stage [cymbals played alone in a quicker speed before dying off]
- Fill pauses in-between speech (father-black hat, red rope)
- Provide accents and climax in speech
- Fill pauses in songs (eg. daughter (gold rope) mourning mother, page boy singing with paddle)
- When father and daughter have boarded the boat
- Shipwreck [quicker rhythms- intensity]
- Add rhythm to music [Wooden block played during singing]
- Father's cry of grief for lost daughter [drums-louder and stronger]
- Mark beginning and end of song/ speech
- Page boy paddling boat
- Fisherman pulling net with daughter in it
- Fisherman picking up fishing net
- *When the opera comes to an end i suppose:P (we didnt finish it)
All in all, i'm thankful for this fieldtrip as i'm beginning to better understand and appreciate Chinese opera, especially music wise. It's a really precious art form of our heritage and we should not be entirely out of touch with it. Though we didnt get the language, it was fun trying to guess what's going on on stage. :D perhaps next time, i might even volunteer to go watch opera with my grandpa! perhaps.
Labels: Iynyi
Music, AWESOME
