Published five books in a year and a half by handwriting without a computer

  What is Yu Junjian busy with?

love folk songs love life

  In 2020, the outbreak of the new crown epidemic gave the famous singer Yu Junjian more opportunities to stay at home, and also provided him with a lot of time to think and create for his love of writing.

Starting from January 2020, Yu Junjian spent a year and a half to complete "Yu Junjian: Ethnic Singing Questions and Answers 131 Cases", "Yu Junjian Vocal Music Notes" (Volume 2 and 2), "Huaxiang Diary", "Guilin Supplements", "Setting Sword Meiyu· Five books (six volumes) of Yu Junjian's Selected Poems and Poems of Metrics and Poems, with a total of 1.5 million words, will be published by the end of 2021.

  In an exclusive interview with a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily recently, Yu Junjian said that he has concentrated his thoughts on art, his observation of life, and his talents in poetry, calligraphy and painting in these books.

  The bottom line of ethnic singing is "taste"

  "Now there are fewer and fewer 'authentic' Chinese folk songs." Talking about the current status of Chinese national vocal music, Yu Junjian couldn't hide his worries.

Around 2021, Yu Junjian once gave a public singing lecture at a vocational art school in Hebei.

When he asked the children present "what is 'original singing'", no one knew.

He also asked some post-00s about folk songs, and most of the children didn't know what folk songs and national singing were, which shocked Yu Junjian.

In view of this, Yu Junjian wrote the book "Yu Junjian: Questions and Answers about Ethnic Singing", which introduced the origin, development, status quo and future of Chinese ethnic singing in detail, especially discussed the difference between ethnic singing and bel canto.

  "The biggest difference between ethnic singing and Western singing is actually the difference in language, but we haven't summed up the content for a long time." Yu Junjian pointed out the current core problem of ethnic vocal music.

From the professional point of view of singing, he further explained that there are many pronunciations in the Chinese language that are not found in foreign languages, such as some words in Western languages ​​that do not have rhythm and other language states, such as "Golden Beijing", "If you use Bel Canto" From the perspective of sound, there is no problem in singing these words, but it loses the charm and feeling of the Chinese language. We have taken away the soul of the national singing method, which is a very serious problem. If things go on like this, Our descendants will not know what the national singing method is like."

  Yu Junjian believes that the bottom line of "national singing" is to sing "taste", and pay attention to the unique articulation and accent of Chinese characters.

In Chinese folk songs, any character and color of the words can be sung. "'The fragrance of flowers in a flower basket', this 'fragrance' is sung in a national singing method that conforms to the Chinese language and habits, and the audience can feel that kind of fragrance. Fragrance. Similarly, sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy can also sing that kind of empathy.”

  In Yu Junjian's view, any school must have two bottom lines, one bottom line is the training system, and the other bottom line is the evaluation system.

"There used to be a training system for ethnic singing, but later it was subverted by bel canto, and the judging system disappeared. Therefore, we must clarify the difference between ethnic singing and bel canto so that we can find cultural confidence."

  The "Westernization" of ethnic singing has serious consequences

  After retiring in 2016, Yu Junjian rarely appeared on stage, instead focusing on teaching.

He serves as the dean of the China-ASEAN Academy of Arts, and has also set up "Yu Junjian Public Welfare Classroom", "Yu Junjian National Vocal Music Advanced Training Class", etc., giving lectures on various occasions.

In just five years, he has cultivated eight gold medal winners for the national singing style of the "Golden Bell Award", the highest award of Chinese music, including Haiyang and Zhang Mingxu.

  In his view, singing is not an independent art, and needs to continuously learn various kinds of knowledge and expand his knowledge.

He also incorporated this idea into his teaching.

In the classroom, Yu Junjian often said to the students, "Half of the singing should belong to literature, a singer should not only think about the sound, but should explore the background of the song, as well as the deep mood conveyed by the lyrics and music. "

  Yu Junjian believes that there are too many treasures in Chinese folk songs, which are all manifestations of Chinese culture, but now they are rarely sung.

""Come in February" was written by Xian Xinghai, who is Xian Xinghai? The author of "The Yellow River Cantata"; "The Fragrance of Flowers in a Flower Basket" was written by Ma Ke, who wrote "The White-Haired Girl"; From My Beloved Pipa" was written by Lv Qiming, who wrote "Ode to the Red Flag". They are both great composers. In the 1970s, Mr. Wu Yanze still sang "Come in February" on stage, but now he wants to When you sing this song on stage, the audience will laugh 'how can you sing such a 'small' song? You need to sing the majestic "Goodbye, Dabie Mountain". Often this kind of 'small song' can better express the dialect. Taste and regional customs, this is also the charm of the nation. The national singing method has become Westernized, and no one sings and writes folk songs rich in national charm. If this continues, the demise of the national singing method will be seen by our generation. "

  "Writing is my pursuit"

  This time, he wrote down 1.5 million words in one breath. Except for "Yu Junjian's Vocal Music Notes", which was organized according to the shorthand of the class content, the rest were all handwritten by Yu Junjian word by word.

"I don't use a computer, I just write by hand." In Yu Junjian's opinion, handwritten words are alive, warm and emotional, while computer typed words are cold.

"Especially when filling ancient poems, I often consider whether a word is good or bad. When I want to change a word, I change it on the computer, it is gone, and I can't find it again. After I change the handwritten word, I can still get back."

  Yu Junjian began publishing works in 1976 and joined the Chinese Writers Association in 1991.

Over the years, he has not stopped writing, and has published 21 books so far, including music monographs, poetry collections, prose collections, and poetry, calligraphy, and painting works.

  Today, he still maintains the habit of writing every day.

During the epidemic, offline classes were not available. The students formed a "singer group", and everyone communicated in the group every day.

Yu Junjian wakes up at 6 o'clock every morning, the first thing is to write a short article and send it to the group to communicate with everyone, so there is a thick "Huaxiang Diary".

For the simultaneous creation of several books this time, Yu Junjian devoted most of his time to writing, getting up at 4 o'clock every day and insisting on writing for seven or eight hours.

These books are not written one book after another, but several books at the same time. "When I was writing, the manuscripts of the five books were all placed on the table, and when they got stuck, I changed another book. Writing is like changing your mind.”

  When it comes to the cultivation of an artist, Yu Junjian admitted that he was greatly inspired by Han Meilin. "Once when he talked about the cultivation of an artist, he used the word 'writing equals', and I also pursued in this direction."

  Text/Reporter Tian Wanting