gongs and drums are traditional percussion instruments in China. Percussion instruments in China are divided into metal, bamboo and other three kinds according to the different materials. Gong is a metal percussion instrument, which is made of copper. Its sound is loud and strong, and its aftertaste is long and lasting. The earliest users of gongs were ethnic minorities living in southwest China. By the second century BC, with the increasing cultural exchanges between different ethnic groups, the gong gradually spread to the mainland of China. Gong was widely used in war, and ancient military leaders often used it to direct their troops to fight. The word "Jin" in China's ancient military term "sound the golden bell and retreat" is another name for the ancient gong.
drums appeared earlier. Judging from the unearthed cultural relics found today, it can be determined that the drum has a history of about 45 years (taking the earth drum unearthed from the early tomb of Taosi site in Xiangfen, Shanxi as an example). In ancient times, drums were not only used for sacrifice, music and dance, but also used to attack enemies and drive away wild animals, and were also tools for telling time and giving an alarm. According to the Book of Rites, there was an "earthen drum" at the time of "Yi's family", that is, a drum made of clay. Drum has a good * * * sound, and its sound is vigorous and loud, so it has long been used by Chinese ancestors as an army cheering. According to legend, in the battle of Zhuolu, where the Yellow Emperor conquered Chiyou, "The Yellow Emperor killed Kui with his skin as a drum, and his reputation was 5" (The Imperial Century was quoted in Volume 582 of Taiping Yu Lan). "Beat the drums to kill the enemy, sound the golden bell to retreat" is a word we often hear in traditional storytelling.
prestige gongs and drums are a kind of folk percussion performance that was born and popular in huozhou city, Hongtong and Fenxi counties in Linfen, southern Shanxi. Because the drums are thunderous and majestic, they are called majestic gongs and drums. Huozhou is the hometown of majestic gongs and drums, and Huozhou has the reputation of "the first drum in China".
According to legend, at the end of Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan personally led his eldest son Li Jiancheng, his second son Li Shimin and his righteous teacher Jiashi to send troops south from Taiyuan, aiming at Guanzhong. The first stop of the army arrived in Huoyi, and Sui Jun met with stubborn resistance. After several days of heavy rain, and catching up with the lack of food and grass and the tight rear, Tang gaozu's confidence was frustrated and he almost backed out. At the critical moment, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin urged them to March, and their advisers put forward their clever plans. Li Shimin played his troops with majestic gongs and drums, and won the battle in one fell swoop. The gongs and drums team was named "majestic gongs and drums" by Li Shimin, and it has been passed down from generation to generation.
I was deeply shocked by the majestic gongs and drums in Huozhou!
When I was in junior high school, I often heard the training of the village gongs and drums in winter. Why do you want to play drums? It is to prepare for the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month. Spring Festival and Lantern Festival are both traditional holidays in China, but they are quite different. The Spring Festival is a time to say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new year. Every family should get together, spend New Year's Eve, eat jiaozi and take home activities as the main activities. Lantern Festival is the 15th day of the first month, which is between the two solar terms of beginning of spring and Rain. It is the first full moon in a year, and it is also the time for spring returns to start all over again. The traditional program of Lantern Festival is to watch lanterns, mainly outdoor activities. Since ancient times, it has been a day for young people to go shopping to catch up with the excitement, and there is a tradition of "the fifteenth day of the first month". On the fifteenth day of the first month, there is only one thing in Huozhou City-beating gongs and drums to impress! In Huozhou, we call it "making a scene"!
I went to Huozhou City for the first time when I was in the second year of junior high school. It was really an eye-opener. In the early morning of the 11th Five-Year Plan, people from all villages and towns gathered on the highway in twos and threes, riding bicycles and walking, without seeing the head before and the tail after, and everyone ran in one direction-Huozhou City. When I arrived in Huozhou City, it was already a sea of people. There are 18 rostrum in a long street in Huozhou City, which runs from the front of the Drum Tower to the East Street. Every rostrum is crowded with spectators. Small vendors selling snacks such as sesame candy, rice candy and sesame cakes and selling toys are doing business at the edge of the crowd. In Huozhou county, almost every village has a majestic gongs and drums team, with hundreds of large gongs and drums teams and dozens of small ones. The gongs and drums team must perform hard at every podium, and the judges on the stage are responsible for scoring. The outstanding gongs and drums players should be rewarded with a piece of red silk, and after the game, they will receive a bonus according to the amount of red silk. The drummer with the highest level has several bright red silks hanging on his body, which is very bright. See the people on the rostrum to send red silk again, and the drummer knocked harder!
majestic gongs and drums * * * have four musical instruments: gong, drum, cymbal (cymbal cha) and cymbal. Gong is the most, followed by drums, cymbals and cymbals, and cymbals are the least, which is roughly 14, 8, 6 and 4. The gongs and drums players are all peasant children, dressed in uniform sportswear and deep sunglasses, lean and cold. During the performance, the performance team is arranged in a square, round or plum blossom array, and the drummer is in the middle of the team, with a flat drum on his body, and two drumsticks are embedded with red healds. The drumming is touching and makes people's blood boil. Gong players surrounded the drummer, each with a big bronze gong, which sounded quiet and made a dull bass. Dozens of gongs were struck at the same time, which made a thunderous sound and caused the audience's heart to vibrate. At the climax, the clapper standing at the back of the team lifted the cymbal over his head, turned his wrist 45 degrees after hitting the cymbal, and then turned his wrist again. The brass cymbal kept turning, and the red and yellow silk fabrics in the cymbal bowl kept flying, which was very spectacular. The performance is wonderful, leaving only the simple drums. Drummers get together and beat the drums repeatedly. At one time, their right hands hold the flowers in the air, which is called "single holding flowers". At another time, their hands circle in the air, which is called "double holding flowers" and "alternating holding flowers". At another time, their right hands throw the drumsticks into the air, and when they fall, they quickly catch the knocks, and the drums are not chaotic at all, making people see things dazzling and overwhelmed.
There was a huge crowd in front of the rostrum, and the excited audience rushed in and pushed past, unable to help themselves. The police in Huozhou City are not worried about the group stampede, they have rich experience. The policeman in charge of maintaining order wears sunglasses and has a bamboo broom in his hand, patrolling back and forth in front of the crowd. Seeing where the people were crowded badly, the police went over and waved brooms and gave a slap, and the crowd immediately retreated. Naturally, some people who have been beaten are not convinced, and they seek the police theory. It is often the scholar who meets the soldier, and the reason is unclear. Although this way of maintaining order is a little rough, it is very effective. In those years in Huozhou, I really didn't hear of a stampede accident on the Lantern Festival. On December 31st, 214, when there was a stampede on the Bund in Shanghai, it occurred to me that if Huozhou police were present, there would be fewer casualties or even no stampede accident.
The majestic gongs and drums of the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) have been beating all day. We walked along the eighteen rostrum and looked at them one by one. Excited for a day, shocked for a day, tireless. The sound of gongs and drums, like the rushing of the Yellow River, echoed in my ears for a long time. In the winter vacation of the third grade, the sound of gongs and drums accompanied us through a study holiday. I was admitted to high school with excellent results in summer.
Later, Huozhou became famous for its majestic gongs and drums in China. In 1988, the majestic gongs and drums team of 3 people in Huoxian (now huozhou city) became famous at the opening ceremony of the first National Farmers' Games held in Beijing.
In 199, China hosted the 11th Asian Games. At the opening ceremony, a majestic gongs and drums team composed of 41 people took the lead. The majestic gongs and drums team has a magnificent lineup, and its wonderful performances are well-known at home and abroad.
In 1991, I was no longer "ambitious in my chest", and I went back to school in Linfen No.3 Middle School. The uncertainty of my future was accompanied by my hard-working study life. School started on the sixth day of the winter vacation, and I spent the fifteenth day in Linfen. On the fifteenth day of the first month, I gave myself a holiday and went to the streets to watch the majestic gongs and drums performance. Listening to the strong voice like a war drum, watching the drummers who are fully engaged, I feel strong confidence and infinite strength gradually integrate into my body with the drums. The next day, Linfen Daily published a close-up photo of a majestic performance of gongs and drums, entitled "Drum Soul". This name gives me a sobering feeling, a feeling of "looking for him for thousands of Baidu, but suddenly looking back at that person is in a dim light". In the college entrance examination in July of that year, I was admitted to a key university in Nanjing with a score of 33 points beyond the undergraduate line.
In the summer vacation of 1993, I went home by train with my classmates. A team of more than 1 people came up at Pukou Station, full of familiar Huozhou accent. After asking, I realized that they were the Huozhou prestige gongs and drums team that had just returned from a visit to Singapore. These young and rough men are all going abroad for the first time. They spread out their glasses in the carriage, clamoring for each other, telling stories about their feelings of going abroad and performing programs. Bold personality and confident face are full of the self-confidence and pride of Huozhou people.
In 1995, I joined the army as a local college student and went to the Xinzhou College Student Training Brigade in Shanxi for training. One of the programs at the graduation ceremony was an 8-person military boxing performance. The square is in the valley, and when the team is launched, it goes away in rows, and the sound of marching echoes in the valley. This scene gives me the feeling that it is very similar to the performance of the prestige gongs and drums team. It should be the most appropriate for soldiers to perform majestic gongs and drums. How I want to be a drummer in the gong and drum team!
However, it is my long-cherished wish to participate in the majestic gongs and drums performance for many years. After joining the army, I participated in many important scientific research or cultural activities, but I didn't have the opportunity to participate in or organize gongs and drums performances. Although I didn't have the opportunity to form a mighty and invincible prestige gongs and drums team, I brought the spirit of concentrating on others to my work.
This year, the army began to reform its scale structure and strength. As a soldier, we will embark on a new journey. In the "century military reform", everyone may become "one in three hundred thousand", some people are worried, and some people hesitate to wait and see. In a slightly unstable mood, I vaguely heard the sound of drums in the depths of my soul.
In my dream, I became the drummer of the majestic gongs and drums team! Leading more than 1 lean men, we got together, vigorously waved the drumsticks, and knocked and knocked hard ...