Popular music goes with the times (The Weather of the Times·Art Performance (4))
Interviewer:
Wang Yan (Reporter of our newspaper)
Fu Gengchen (Honorary Chairman of the Chinese Musicians Association)
Jin Zhaojun (Editor of "People's Music" magazine)
Li Haiying (songwriter, masterpiece "Song of the Seven Sons-Macau" "Crooked Moon")
Li Jian (singer, masterpiece "Legend" and "Wind Blowing Wheat Wave")
Editor's note
Time is like a song, and music always goes with the times. Song is the voice of the heart, popularity is not equal to traffic, and the quality of music has to withstand the double test of audience and time. In the Internet age, how to re-understand popular music? What are the challenges and problems facing music creation? How can creation go deeper into life and the age of Acura, and draw creative nutrients from classic melodies and folk music traditions? In this issue, four first-line creators and experts in the music industry are invited to discuss issues and share their experiences for readers.
"It is not so much that the song expresses the times, it is better to say that the times choose the songs"
Reporter: Last year, patriotic songs represented by "My Motherland and Me" were once again widely sung, reflecting the close connection between music and the times. After a few decades, why can it still move people's hearts? What are the creative ideas of popular music writing major social themes?
Fu Gengchen: It's better to say that the times choose songs instead of expressing the times. The popularity of songs needs "trigger points" to allow the public to resonate and empathize widely. Good works sing the voice of the people, and its artistic life will be very long.
Jin Zhaojun: "My Motherland and Me" has found a universal theme and breakthrough point, and refined the relationship between "my motherland and me" as "the sea and the waves". It is suitable for multiple forms of singing, unlike some songs that are only suitable for one form of singing. Popularity, timeliness, and artistry make the song possess artistic style that transcends time and space.
When dealing with major social themes, the perspective of popular music is often vivid and concrete. The lyrics are based on the individual, the melody is more lyrical, and the style does not change. For example, when Qiao Yu wrote "My Motherland", he consciously extracted the point of "a big river". He said that since ancient times, Chinese people have lived by the mountains and near the water. In the eyes of a child, even a small river The ditch is a big river. The melody of "Red Flag Fluttering" is a popular color. The lyrics start with the obscure poetic style of "That is the rainbow picked from the sun, and no one does not love your color", and then use "Five-star red flag, you are my pride". Ben theme. The lyrics of "Great China" are catchy and the melody has folk song style...As people's lives become more abundant and there are more art forms, creators need to find more clever entry points.
Li Haiying: The language of music should use emotion as the link between lyrics and melody. The closer the emotion is, the more it resonates. When composing the song for "Song of Seven Sons-Macau", I changed Wen Yiduo's original poem "I have been away from your baby for too long, mother" to "I have been away from your mother for too long", keeping the original meaning and easier to sing. The sound of "Kataban" stepping on the stone street and the bells of the "San Bus" archway in Macau have become the material and inspiration for this song. It progressed gradually in the form of a child's confession to the mother, and ended peacefully in the whisper of "mother, mother", forming a natural flow of emotion. It has been 21 years since Macao returned to the motherland, and now this song has been given a richer connotation by the times.
Reporter: Pop music is not only a form of music art, but also has the meaning of popular culture. From the perspective of music itself and cultural communication, how to recognize and understand popular music? What is the fundamental charm of popular music to attract audiences?
Fu Gengchen: The creation and singing of popular music are spread and sung in a broad sense. We should not narrow down "popular music." Songs that are widely sung and have positive meaning are popular music and popular music.
The attention to popular music is not only at the level of technical iteration, communication innovation, and performance form innovation, but also its social and human values. Popular music attracts the public because it observes people's universal emotional experience and sings the "main theme" of people's hearts.
Li Haiying: Music becomes a testimony of the times, so you can listen to it often. Pop music creation orientation is the key to leading the public's aesthetics and industry development. There is no popular without innovation, and innovation is the charm and motivation of popular music. Creators should not set a fixed mode for themselves, but should draw inspiration from a wide range of ideas and be brave in creating.
Li Jian: The central word of popular music is "music". It must conform to the artistic attributes of music, not just "pop." The standard of a good song is that the shallow level is sweet, and the highest level is to hit people's hearts. Popular music is unique because it takes into account the two artistic laws of music and literature. The creator must not only master the rhythm, but also the text, but also the mystery in between.
"Ingenuity is the vitality of popular music"
Reporter: Sometimes listeners lament that there are more and more channels for listening to songs, but there are not many new songs in "Interesting". Looking back at the development of Chinese popular music, many popular works have been passed down to this day, and their popularity has not diminished. What characteristics do you think these works have, and where do their classics come from? What aspects of pop music creation still need to be improved?
Li Jian: The classics need to pass the precipitation of time, and pass more people's singing and testing.
Classicality is diverse. Sometimes it is the popularity of a certain mood, and its precipitation and singing are a kind of record. Sometimes it is a precipitation with universal emotions, which does not change with the passage of time. The works that really make music popular and become classics are all expressing common human emotions or emotions.
Jin Zhaojun: Popular music works that can be handed down often have three characteristics, namely, a distinctive era and life atmosphere, high-level artistry, and popular popularity that is widely accepted and loved, which gives rise to the classic nature of popular music.
The creative attitude determines the creative level. A song can be polished and revised for half a year or even longer. For example, "Loneliness Makes Me So Beautiful", the orchestration alone was revised to the 17th edition. Many works are shining in the modification. The seriousness of the singer also determines the level of music. Why are some singers out of tune at the scene? Because I have only recorded it once or twice in the studio, I still repaired the sound after each sentence was recorded, instead of singing from beginning to end at once, without strict training. Pop music is not a speculative paradise that becomes famous overnight, and all practices that violate the laws of art cannot last for long.
The creative mentality determines the quality of creation. Musicians should not forget their original intentions, and create with a passion for music and a strong feeling for life. Some songs will have a precipitation period and will only become popular after a period of time. To be calm, be more "intentionally planting willows" mentality, and be less utilitarian of "intentionally planting flowers".
Reporter: In the information-intensive Internet era, the measure of "popularity" has changed. Some people think that there is a phenomenon of "more songs and fewer boutiques" in current popular music. Do you agree with it? Is this related to the changes brought about by the Internet to the spread of popular music? Facing the new environment and new challenges, what new problems have appeared in popular music creation?
Jin Zhaojun: The standard of "pop" has changed, and the era of music consumption has come. But the standard of judging classics and fine works has not changed, that is, there must be breakthroughs and creativity in ideology and artistry.
In the past, popular music was checked by record companies and editors chose excellent works. Now it is "creation for the whole people." There are no professional gatekeepers in online music production, the threshold is lowered, the output of music has increased sharply, and the probability of being heard and remembered is also declining. Some people think that the lack of high-quality goods is because there are too many offline works and too many short-lived "net celebrity music". There are many composition modules on the Internet, and you can apply them with ready-made rhythms. But how to integrate lyrics and melody organically, how to innovate artistic expression, these problems have not been solved. The most important thing is that such works have not been brewed and polished, they lack personalized expression and cannot resonate. Popularity is not an assembly line. Popular music is a breakthrough that "everyone has in his heart but nothing in his writing". Originality is its vitality.
Li Haiying: In the Internet era, there are richer platforms, more diverse audiences, and higher levels of music production hardware. However, the development of popular music requires the creation of the main body to further enhance the originality.
At present, some young musicians are more willing to be "workers". For example, when creating and producing around a certain singer, the style and positioning are fixed to write "propositional music." In my opinion, creators still have to start from the music itself and maintain the consciousness and subjective consciousness of creation. To have creative ambition and sense of mission, that is, to create works that are accepted and loved by more people and can be popular or even spread, rather than commercial products that make music.
Li Jian: The standard of music has never been lowered because it is easy to spread. On the contrary, because of the large number, people have fewer opportunities to hear good music. In recent years, Internet and TV music variety shows have become one of the ways for newcomers to enter the field of mass communication, but people have found that the songs are turned over and over in various programs, which exposes the lack of excellent original works.
"The lyrics and music should complement each other to construct the image of artistic beauty"
Reporter: In your opinion, what should be the ideal relationship between words, music and singing? From your own creation and observation, what experience do you have to share with music creators and performers?
Fu Gengchen: Pop music creation cannot be immersed in one's own "small world". It is necessary to grasp the musical language that has a real sense of reality, to have inspiration and passion from life, and the truth, goodness and beauty of art.
From the perspective of composition, to express the lyrics vividly and accurately, it is necessary to understand the theme of the work and the artistic style of the work. When I wrote the song "Tunnel War", I wrote the first draft in Beijing at first. It was relatively plain, and I was not satisfied with it myself. Later, I went to visit Ranzhuang and Lizhuang in Hebei Province to experience life for a month, and talk face-to-face with the veterans who fought in the tunnel. The image of tunnel warfare gradually came alive—they were running under the pan, under the stove, passing through the wall, and coming out of the cropland...One day, I walked to the side of the village and looked at the cropland on the opposite side. Come out: "Tunnel warfare, hey, tunnel warfare, millions of soldiers lay in ambush..." I ran back to my hometown where I lived and immediately composed this song.
Li Haiying: Lyrics and music should complement each other to construct an image of artistic beauty. To create "The Curved Moon", I first composed the music and then wrote the lyrics. The original intention was to depict the beautiful Pearl River Delta. I draw materials from the scenes of life on the water of the Dan family. At that time, we needed to cross the river by steamer. If we missed the electric boat, we could only take a small boat. Our boat is a double oar, and the sound of the scull is different from that of a Jiangnan single oar, so I directly incorporated the unique rowing sound into the beginning of the song. The images of the night sky, flowing water, boats, and moon are the emotional memories deposited in my heart. Inspiration does not wave and wait for us. Creators should keep living, learning, and writing, and maintain a diligent and solid creative state.
Li Jian: I think that the combination of lyrics and music is like a pair of lovers. It takes love and harmony to produce a real chemical effect. Sometimes, it is not possible to say that the words are not good or the melody is not good, but they have not found the right person, they are all waiting for a match.
Whenever I write a song, I ask myself: What exactly do I want to express? How to express? Most of the themes have been written before, and the creators are looking for their own angles and musical vocabulary. If there is no way of expression, there is no meaning of expression. Gradually explore your own creative style. For example, the writing of melody, the consideration of words and sentences, any aspect can present the so-called "unique". The style is definitely not set, it is formed naturally.
The origin of creation is from all directions, and reading and traveling means vast space. But after all, it is the creators who have to experience themselves and have insights into their surroundings.
Jin Zhaojun: The song must have a finishing touch, and the lyrics must capture the dynamics of life and express the public's mentality. The most touching sentence should be concise, powerful, and colloquial so that it can be written down once it is heard. For example, "Where has the time gone", for different environments and different people, "where has the time gone" is a question worth thinking about. Today, with a fast-paced life, it is easy to cause popular discussions.
Reporter: In recent years, "Chinese style" has become a trend in the creation of popular songs, such as the application of poetry, the use of national musical instruments, the reference and integration of traditional folk songs and minor tunes. How can popular music make better use of national culture and music traditions?
Jin Zhaojun: National folk music is "root" music. Whoever has a deep foundation will have more room for development in the future. In 2003, a foreign musicologist told me, "The world music of the 21st century is Chinese." Because the root of Chinese popular music is national folk music, which has abundant resources.
The key to using national folk music is to develop. For example, "Huayin Laoqiang Yisheng", which combines Huayin's old tune and rock music, and "Left Finger Moon", which combines pop, opera and artistic pop singing, are all combined with modern music techniques or other music genres. creation.
It is necessary to correctly understand "the more national, the more global." We should also focus on using music languages that everyone can understand to create, and be good at using the creative achievements of modern popular music in melody, harmony, rhythm and other aspects, as well as electronic music, computer production and other technologies, so as to convert good resources into good works .