Basic Tutorial on Dizi (Self-Study Manual)
Basic Tutorial 1
How to play the flute?
It's very simple. As long as you can play the simple gadget "pen cover", you are already talented enough to learn the flute! Now, please believe in yourself first, and then cooperate with the following instructions and methods. Playing the flute is the sound produced by blowing the breath into the hole of the flute with your mouth. The essentials of playing it:
1. Close your lips naturally, hold both ends of the flute with both hands, hold the head of the flute with your left hand, and the tail of the flute with your right hand. Place the blow hole at the lower edge of the lips, and blow towards the mouth hole. gas.
2. When the breath rushes out, only allow a small gap for the breath to pass through, and make it become a beam of air and blow diagonally toward the bottom of the blow hole. The principle is the same as blowing the pen cover.
3. In order to prevent the lips from opening when the breath comes out, causing the breath to escape, the cheek muscles must be strong to keep the breath outlet small.
4. The sound blown out must be pure and avoid air sounds.
5. Practice often in front of the mirror, and learn how to align the air holes so that the pronunciation position is correct and impartial, so that all the breath turns into flute sound.
Explanations of several special terms:
1. What is "wind gate"? The damper is the small hole between the upper and lower lips. The damper should be larger when playing low notes and smaller when playing high notes. When playing strong sounds, the damper should be large, and when playing weak sounds, the damper should be small.
2. What is "koujin"? Mouth strength is the muscle contraction that controls the tightness of the lips. By loosening or tightening the mouth tone, the volume, timbre, and pitch can be controlled. When you first learn, use a normal tone of voice. As practice progresses, your control ability will gradually improve.
3. What is "tonal style"? Oral wind refers to the intensity of blowing and the flow of air.
4. What is "tube sound"? The tube sound is a signal that tells you that the finger holes of the flute should be pressed all the way to 1 or 2 or other "fingering" prompts.
5. What are "Xiao Gong Diao" and "Zhenggong Diao"? "Xiao Gong Diao" is the fingering method of all the 5th strokes; "Zhenggong Diao" is all the fingerings of the 2nd position
Posture issues in flute playing
When playing the flute, you need to pay attention to your posture. This is not only a matter of performance image, but more importantly, it is to adapt to the physiological characteristics of the performer, give full play to skills, and better express the music content. Mr. Zhao Songting, a bamboo flute master of the Southern School, once put forward an oral rule on the essentials of posture in his book "Flute Art Spring and Autumn": the wind gate should be straight, the flute body should be flat, the head should be straight, and the chest should be straight. Use your thumb and little finger to support each other, don't let the flute and willow shake gold. An egg can fit between the tiger's mouth, and the hands will be more flexible if the joints are comfortable. The six fingers should be pressed tightly into the holes, and the fingers should be relaxed into an arc shape. There are specifications for the ups and downs, and unnecessary movements are thrown away. The strength of my mouth follows my will, and the thickness of my tone depends on my heart. With arms spread forty-five, the blue dragon and the white tiger can do everything. Avoid artificiality in your performance posture, be serious and sincere. (Qinglong and Baihu refer to the left-handed person holding the flute, called Zuo Qinglong, and the right-handed person, called Youbaihu.) In addition, it should be noted that "the little finger lightly touches the flute body" is the need for holding the flute, and it is also the need to add sound holes in the future. Beginners' fingers Be sure to position yourself well. "Relaxing the fingers" is also the key point. It is most important to avoid stiffness of the fingers when holding the flute. Stiffness means lack of flexibility. Regarding the sitting or standing posture, it is generally necessary to turn the body slightly to the right, face forward, look straight ahead, raise the chin slightly, straighten the chest naturally, relax the abdomen, and naturally separate the feet into a small figure eight shape. Holding the flute is actually the same whether it's left or right. However, due to the widespread use of Boehm flute internationally, the structure of the instrument is always facing right. Therefore, it is better for beginners to hold the flute on the right side, and there is no problem for those who are used to holding the flute on the left. In addition, Mr. Zhao also has a secret for breathing essentials, which is slightly related to posture: Don't move your shoulders up and down, and expand your chest and abdomen at the same time. Blow slowly and flatly to relax the whole body, so that the abdominal muscles do not need to be idle. Blow hard and blow hard downwards, and blow the Dantian with strong force. Use both mouth and nose as needed, and avoid making any sound when breathing. Don't inhale until there is no air, always have some remaining air. Strong but not noisy, weak but not weak, exhale evenly and flow long. Finally, remind yourself to develop a good habit of using your flute to treat others, and never use your flute to treat others.
Selection and pasting of flute membranes
There are many types and brands of flute membranes. Some people use bamboo membranes (poor quality, lack of toughness, elasticity, and easy to blow are its shortcomings), while others use bamboo membranes. When playing border folk music, amniotic membrane is used (poor vibration, hard or dull tone, and a unique flavor), but most people collect it from the reed membrane (also called tube membrane) on the inner wall of the reed pipe. Because of its fine texture, good toughness, and elasticity It is also good, with bright and crisp pronunciation and good vibration, so it is very popular. Common brands of flute membranes available on the market include general tube membranes, Jiayin brand flute membranes, Dunhuang flute membranes, Baihua brand flute membranes, Anhui Longtanhu flute membranes... No matter which brand of flute membrane it is, when choosing it The best ones are fine white, translucent, free of impurities or fibers and films. Judging from the current quality of the reed film production areas, the reed films in Wuhe, Xiaoxi and Huainan areas of Anhui are the best. Due to the local soil , the reed membrane there is uniform in thickness and elastic, making it an ideal flute membrane for professional flute players. (The quality of the "Minggui flute film" recently introduced by Mr. Yu Xunfa is quite good) The first step in using the flute film is to choose the adhesive. Currently, the ones used are donkey hide gelatin, donkey skin paste, yellow fish glue, resin, bletilla striata...etc. Hejiao and Bletilla striata are the most commonly used and can be purchased in general traditional Chinese medicine stores and medicinal material stores.
Since the flute membrane itself has a certain degree of stretchability and water absorption, the affixed flute membrane will automatically restore to a certain extent, so it can be a little tighter when it is applied. After it automatically restores, the tightness of the flute membrane will be moderate. It can produce a pleasant sound, but if it is to be used as it is, the diaphragm needs to be loosened. When applying the film, first cut a square piece of the flute film so that the fibers of the film itself are parallel and overlapping with the fibers of the flute. Then use donkey hide gelatin dipped in water and apply it around the film holes. Use the thumbs and index fingers of your left and right hands to pinch both sides of the film. , pull out the wrinkles that are perpendicular to the fiber lines of the reed film, and then slowly press it toward the lower side. After adjusting evenly, press and hold for a while, and you are done. When collecting the flute film, pay attention to moisture and sun protection. When the flute film turns yellow, becomes old, and loses its elasticity, it must be replaced. (If fresh flute film needs to be stored for a long time, you can wrap it in a plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator to keep it fresh
Technical issues in playing the flute
Dizi Due to the relationship between skills and region, the performance of the music is simply formed into two major schools, one is the Southern School; the other is the Northern School. In terms of skills: Southern music is good at trembling, folding, vibrating, and beating; Northern music is good at spitting, sliding, chopping, and Flower. Therefore, different playing styles are distinguished. Here is a brief introduction to several commonly used flute techniques:
Tremolo (tr): For example, the vibrato of 6 is equivalent to playing 67676767.
Virtual. Tremolo: a type of vibrato, a virtual vibrato technique in which the finger does not completely cover the sound hole (press half of the hole) when vibrating.
Boeing (w): a type of short vibrato, also called lianyin, meaning Quickly vibrate the finger above the tonic.
Duplicate (again): For example, the duplication of 6 is equivalent to 717 6. 6 is the tonic, and 717 is equivalent to the compound tone, which is a decorative tone. A kind of call tone, also called a gift tone: a decorative sound that appears at the end of a sound, which indicates the pitch of the "give", also called a gift tone.
Tap sound (Ding): Use your fingers to quickly "hit" the next hole of the main note.
Tongue sound (TK): Use the tip of the tongue to spit lightly. Techniques include single spit (T), double spit (TK), and triple spit (TKT or TTK). It is a staccato technique.
Portamento: The process of moving between notes is "smooth." ", including upward glide, downward glide, and compound glide. Use your fingers to slowly open the sound hole or slowly press it closed to create a singing-like effect (referring to portamento), or use breath control to achieve a soft effect (air portamento). ).
Chop sound: Similar to the sound of a bird, each finger rises and falls quickly at the same time, plus a pause (stressed pronunciation), resulting in a special sound effect
Flower tongue (*): Use A technique in which the tongue vibrates naturally and continuously to create a dense and granular feel to the notes. Calibration: a fast scale progression similar to piano arpeggios. When the speed is very fast, it can also imitate the sound of bird calls.
Fortissimo (>): similar to the heavy pronunciation, mainly using the breath of "exhalation", which has the effect of accentuating the sound. The tone is obviously staccato, with a heavy tongue. Tongue attack: Generally, when playing the first range of a slur or a note without a slur, the tip of the tongue should be vomited moderately (lighter than a light vomit). The movements when pronouncing the word "ti" are similar, and the sounds are blown out very clearly and definitely
Throat sound: similar to the sound effect of flower tongue, but the difference from flower tongue is that the vibration part is in the throat. The protruding and drooping uvula. The pronunciation particles are rough.
Overtone (.): The same fingering method produces sounds with different octave relationships. The intensity is between two octaves. A type of overblowing.
Flying Finger (flying): Using the driving force of the arm to quickly move one or several fingers (up to three fingers) of one hand on one or several sound holes. The playing method of wiping left and right. Can produce strong breaking sound effect.
Liyin: The sound that rapidly ascends or descends step by step from low to high (Shang Liyin) or from high to low (Xia Liyin) is called "Liyin". It is required that the fingers rise and fall definitely and decisively during playing, so that every note experienced is very clear and smooth, as if it appears step by step like going up and down stairs quickly.
Abdominal tremolo (-): Use the strength control of the abdomen to make the breath rise and fall like waves, which can be fast or slow, loud or small, to express emotional excitement.
Generally speaking, flute playing skills can be summarized in the four basic skills of Qi, fingers, tongue, and lips. Qi skills are the most difficult to master. Finger skills require clean, neat finger movements, even speed, and flexibility. , elastic; tongue skills require even strength, granularity, even rhythm, and durability; lip skills require attention to the appropriate expression of the big and small air gate and mouth power. It means that no matter what the skill is, as long as you practice it frequently, practice will make you perfect. But the most important point is that flute players must be responsible for the music when using various techniques, otherwise they will add superfluous information and destroy the original beauty of the music. This is what we should understand.
Basic Tutorial 2
The relationship between mouth wind, wind gate, mouth strength and tongue position in flute playing
You may find some phenomena when playing the flute , for example: when playing high notes, the lips should be closed tightly, when playing low notes, it takes more effort, and the air blown out does not need to be too strong. When exhaling, the higher the sound, the harder it is to exhale, etc. The following is only used in the table. Analysis:
The relationship between the shape and range of the flute and the wind, wind, mouth strength, and tongue position:
Bloody wind, door strength, tongue position
High The range or the soprano flute is slightly faster and slightly tighter
The alto range or the alto flute is moderate, moderate, moderate and medium
The low range or the bass flute is slow and slightly loose and loose
The pronunciation of the flute also differs depending on the range or type of flute:
High range (flute): pronunciation = TiKi or DiGi (D and G are for emphasis)
Middle range (flute): Tuyin Kujue = TuKu or DuGu
Low range (flute): Tuyin Kujue = TaKa or DaGa
Breathing during flute playing Questions
1. What is "chest breathing"? Chest breathing refers to the contraction and relaxation of the intercostal muscles, which affects the ribs and sternum to rise and fall together, expanding or contracting the chest cavity, and allowing the lungs to achieve the purpose of breathing.
2. What is "thoracic and abdominal combined breathing method"? The thoracoabdominal breathing method refers to the contraction of the diaphragm muscles to cause the diaphragm to drop, the alveoli to stretch downward and squeeze the abdominal cavity, the abdominal muscles to relax and naturally expand forward and downward, and at the same time, the psoas and intercostal muscles naturally expand outward to expand the chest cavity for breathing. purpose. 3. What is "abdominal breathing"? Abdominal breathing mainly uses soft elastic muscles such as the diaphragm and abdominal muscles to contract and relax, assisting the lung lobes in the downward expansion of breathing, and uses the reaction force of abdominal pressure to achieve the purpose of breathing.
4. Why is it best to use "abdominal breathing" instead of "chest breathing" or "thoracic and abdominal breathing" when playing flute? First, the ribs and sternum that play a role in chest breathing have no elasticity. It is impossible to use the diaphragm like abdominal breathing to control the breath through the elasticity of the diaphragm muscles to contract freely and use the abdomen as the fulcrum. Second, the chest breathing method inhales the air into the upper part of the lungs, which can easily cause the air to stagnate in the chest, causing a tense and compressed state, making it uncomfortable to hold in the air. When used improperly, internal injuries are more likely to occur. Third, the abdominal breathing method is like the "empty top and solid bottom" mentioned in Chinese Qigong. When playing, the power comes from the two feet, just like the power from the Dantian. The center of gravity is down and there will be no top-heavy feeling. Use the abdomen as a fulcrum. The whole body's strength is supported. Fourth, abdominal breathing can help massage internal organs to achieve the health purpose of prolonging life. Fifth, during thoracic breathing, the alveoli expand front to back, left and right, which is not only laborious but also has no depth of breath. On the contrary, abdominal breathing expands up and down, which is not only smooth but also deeper.
5. Are female players really inferior to men? In fact, from the perspective of vital capacity, the normal value for men is about 3656.5ml, and the normal value for women is about 2511.3ml. Physically, they suffer more than men. But as long as they receive physical assistance, psychological assistance, and technical assistance, women can even perform better than men. Physiologically, you can use swimming and jogging to increase your lung capacity; psychologically, you must have confidence in yourself. Women play musical instruments more emotionally and have a more beautiful tone; technically, women can try to use thoracoabdominal combined breathing method. , basically this is a more scientific breathing method recognized in the West. In short, no matter how hard you work, you will gain something. Skill is accumulated over time. As long as you persevere, you will be able to make achievements and show your glory day by day!
6. What is "grabbing for energy"? Gas grabbing is generally used when playing eighth notes and sixteenth notes continuously in fast music. To grab air, you mainly need to inhale through your mouth and move quickly.
7. What is "circular breathing"? Circular breathing, also known as breath swallowing, was originally a Suona playing technique. The method is to quickly retract the tongue back when the breath is almost gone, and at the same time expand the mandible to store the air in the mouth, and then squeeze the air out of the mouth through the contraction of the upper and lower jaw and cheek muscles, and at the same time use Inhale a new breath through the nose, and then blow it out skillfully to keep the flute sound going. This is "circulatory ventilation".
Tone problems in bamboo flute playing
When you practice, in addition to training your fingers to use flexibly, your tongue to move quickly, the music has different levels of strength, intensity changes are obvious and rich. Apart from performance, the main goal is to play the flute beautifully and melodiously. This is where we have to talk about how to deal with the flute’s timbre. Basically, most people always think that playing the flute with bright timbre is very popular. As the saying goes, "The erhu is valued for its softness, the three-stringed string is valued for its violent force, and the flute is valued for its bright tone." In fact, this is not the case. The timbre of the flute must be processed according to the style, background and mood of the music. The problem is, if the flute only seeks a single timbre, it will not only limit the development, but also affect the performance. The timbre changes of the flute are actually very complex. For example: the flute solo "Bamboo Traces" played by Mr. Yu Xunfa, "Qingzhuqing" played by the late Mr. Bai Taisheng, etc. And what kind of bamboo flute timbre performance should we pursue in daily life? It should be a bright, penetrating, relaxing and gorgeous tone. The tone in the low range should be deep and thick. The tone in the mid-range should be full, solid and gorgeous. The tone in the high range should be transparent, and the most taboo is violent and violent. Noisy and harsh.
How can I produce such a sound?
1. The whole body should be relaxed and the respiratory muscles should be kept in a certain state of tension.
2. Relax the buccinator muscles. Do not puff your cheeks when playing the flute. The lip muscles should be closed naturally and maintained at a moderate level of tightness.
3. Put your tongue away, press the base of your tongue, and relax your throat as much as possible, as if you are holding a braised egg. This is called "gas holding".
4. The damper should be as round as possible. Due to the relationship between the upper and lower lips, it will naturally be slightly oval. In theory, the rounder the damper door shape, the better.
5. The imaginary air column rushed out by the damper should be concentrated into a small beam, the better.
6. The flute membrane should be as loosely attached as possible, so that the high notes can still be blown out.
By adjusting the various vocal parts in this way and making them coordinated, you can achieve good tone.
Selection, maintenance and repair of flutes
When choosing a flute, you should consider the quality and type of the flute. The quality of the flute not only depends on the quality of the flute itself, but also depends on the level of production. When selecting and purchasing, you should conduct inspections:
1. Inspect the bamboo quality of the flute. The flute pipe must be made of solid bamboo (the bamboo pattern is old). The bamboo grain is fine and dense. The tube body is straight and round. The flute body is generally slightly thicker at the head than at the tail, but the difference should not be too large. The thickness of the flute tube is moderate. The inner wall of the flute tube is flat and smooth. There are no insects, cracks, etc. all over the body. The shape is beautiful and elegant. These requirements can be identified visually.
2. Check the pitch of the flute. The method is to play against a standard flute or fixed-tone instrument (such as sheng, accordion, organ, etc.). First, check the tonic and tube tones of the flute's original tune with the D and A notes of a standard-pitched flute or a tuned instrument. If the flute tones are the same pitch as the standard tones or form an octave relationship, then the pitch of the flute is accurate and the tonic tone is correct. After determination, the accuracy of all pronunciation of the flute is tested according to the interval relationship. You can also play each overtone to see if it is easy to pronounce and clean. Checking overtones is also a good way to check the intonation of solid notes.
3. Check the volume of the flute. Generally speaking, the louder one is better. A loud flute has a loud sound and strong vibration. Sometimes there is a numb feeling in the fingers when playing.
4. Check the timbre of the flute. The general requirements for timbre are loose, thick, round, and bright. On the one hand, this depends on the quality of the flute itself. On the other hand, it is also closely related to the laminating technology and playing skills.
5. Test the sensitivity of the flute. Generally speaking, it is better to have the breath come out and the pronunciation is not slow. The faster the reaction, the better.
The same kind of bamboo six-hole fixed-tuned diaphragm flute is divided into three categories, and there are various flutes in different tunes in each category. How to choose? Generally speaking, it is more suitable for beginners to choose a medium flute in the key of E or F. Because this type of flute has a moderate pitch and is easier to play, it is also commonly used in performance. If you have the conditions and want to choose more flutes, in addition to the middle flute in E and F, you can also choose a melody flute in D and a bangdi in G. These two flutes are also commonly used. With these three flutes, once you learn how to change the key on the same flute, you can generally play music in various keys.
When you own a bamboo flute, it is best to use cotton to wipe off the moisture from the flute, and then hang the flute to let it dry naturally to avoid mold, odor, and paint peeling. , the flute is most afraid of being dropped, exposed to the sun, moth-eaten, and moldy, so it should be taken good care of and used. If a certain note of the flute is not accurate, and the note is too high, you can use appropriate materials to fill the sound hole (the next hole) of the note from top to bottom until the note is accurate; when the note is too low, the same position can be used. Use a tool to dig from bottom to top until the pitch is right. If the upper octave is too low, push the flute stopper toward the blow hole until the pitch is right. When the upper octave is too high, adjust the flute stopper in the opposite direction to the blow hole. , until the pitch is correct. When the high notes are difficult to play, you can blunt the edge of the blow hole, adjust the front sound hole, or modify the inner diameter of the flute tail tube. If the overtones are not accurate, there will be big problems with the opening ratio or the inner diameter of the flute itself, and the relative pitch will be 80% off, and the flute can be said to be useless. If it's cracked, try to repair it. If it's moldy, wipe it with medicinal alcohol. If the paint falls off, repaint it. If there are insects, use camphor oil to repel them. If the thread falls off, redo it. If it's really hopeless, just replace it with a new one. flute.