Suona Art

Ⅱ-37Traditional MusicYanggao, ShanxiBatch 2 (2008)Extension ItemFeatured

01 · Historical Records

Suona is a transliteration of the Arabic “surna” (zurna), called in antiquity “suoliao” or “su'ernai”, and widely current in many countries of Asia, Africa and Europe; it came into China at the latest in the Jin and Yuan periods. In addition, the small suona used in the performance of Fujian nanqu is called the “aizi” or “nan'ai”; the suona used to accompany Puxian opera is called the “meihua” or “chuibian”, and a larger kind is called the “dalong” or “dahaidi”; the all-wood suona of the Uyghur is called the “su'ernai”; and the Tibetan, Miao, Mongol and Korean peoples each have suona of different form. It originated in the drum-and-wind music current in the north in the Yuan and Ming periods, took shape in the Ming, reached its height in the late Qing and early Republic, and has a history of more than six hundred years. The famous Wutai eight great suites have eight named tunes, about sixty-five pieces in all; before the middle of the Qing the Xinzhou bayin mainly played the suite music then current, and from the late Qing and early Republic it began to imitate and learn opera-playing, greatly enriching its performing content. The eight great suites of Jinbei drum-and-wind music use the traditional gongche notation, and each suite has a matching legendary story, providing rich material for the study of the content and origin of Chinese wind music.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

In Chinese folk usage it also has the names of bronze flute, tin flute, pear blossom and sea flute. The suona is made up of the reed, the staple, the air disc, the body and the bronze bell; its finger-holes are arranged in order according to the heptatonic scale, the distances between them being basically equal, it can turn through seven modes, and its range is generally two octaves and a major second. It has such blowing techniques as portamento, tonguing, arched-breath tone, top-breath tone, the rolling “du-lu” and circular breathing, and is a solo instrument of very strong expressiveness. Its volume is great and its tone high and ringing, making it one of the indispensable instruments of the wind-and-percussion band. Jinbei drum-and-wind is a form of folk instrumental ensemble current in the Datong and Xinzhou areas of Shanxi, used mainly in such folk activities as seasonal festivals, celebrations and sacrifices, weddings and funerals and village fire festivals. It is organized in units of the “bayin hui troupe”, generally with one troupe head and ten players, called xianggong or trumpeters; the instruments used include the guanzi, suona, mouth organ, sheng, haidi, small gong, cymbals, clappers, drum, bangzi, huqin and sanxian, with the suona as the leading instrument and the drum, gong and cymbals heightening the atmosphere; in performance the lead and the supporting parts set each other off and answer one another, and the overall momentum is rather majestic. Its tunes derive mostly from folk songs, folk instrumental pieces, operatic named tunes and religious music, and it plays mainly such suite music as the Eight Great Suites and The Great Victory Suite; representative pieces include The General's Command, Water Dragon Chant, The Hundred Crane Banquet, The Wild Goose Alights, Shang Qiao Lou, The Great Eight Gates, Willow River Chant and The Small Goose Alights.

The Eight Great Suites

Jinbei drum-and-wind plays mainly such suite music as the Eight Great Suites and The Great Victory Suite; the Wutai eight great suites have eight named tunes, about sixty-five pieces in all.