Gong and Drum Art

Ⅱ-123Traditional MusicFengcheng, JiangxiBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

Fengcheng huacha gongs and drums took their beginnings at the Longguang Academy in Rongtang town, Fengcheng, during the Southern Song, and have a history of more than eight hundred years. This heritage item took shape in the late Ming and early Qing, became widespread in the 1980s, and is current in Fengcheng city and the neighbouring counties and cities of Jiangxi Province and over the greater area of central Jiangxi; it is a folk instrumental art of which the local people are fond and which has been transmitted without interruption for a long time.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

This small folk instrumental ensemble form, in which the suona, gongs and cymbals all count as percussion alike, is commonly called “chuida” by the people. Fengcheng huacha gongs and drums have more than a hundred traditional tune patterns; classified by source they fall into four large groups, folk-song tune patterns, operatic tune patterns, traditional tune patterns and adapted tune patterns; classified by the way the drumstick is used they fall into single drumstick and double drumstick; classified by genre form they fall into long pieces and short pieces. Its musical forms are mainly the single-tune form, the variation form, the cyclic form and the linked-tune form; the scale is mostly the Chinese pentatonic scale, that is 1, 2, 3, 5, 6; its modal colour is rich, with the Chinese gong mode and the zhi mode predominating, and modal change within the same gong system is common. The traditional band consists of seven players and ten instruments: two suonas (played by two players, one taking the high part and one the low part); small hall drum, wood block and ban ruler (one player); two pairs of cymbals (two players, cymbal one and cymbal two); gong (one player); small gong and yunluo (one player), the drummer doubling as the conductor. The art of huacha gongs and drums has profound content. Between phrase and phrase, section and section and tune pattern and tune pattern, modal changes of every kind, within the same gong system and between different gong systems, are found everywhere. The dialect melodic figures of the folk-song tune patterns, the instrumental melodic figures of the traditional tune patterns and the vocal melodic figures of the operatic tune patterns all gather in the tune patterns of huacha gongs and drums, making the melodic figures of these tune patterns complex and varied. The tune patterns of huacha gongs and drums blend many musical features of the folk songs, opera and narrative singing of Fengcheng and the neighbouring counties and cities, together with those of the traditional tune patterns. Each tune pattern shows both individuality and commonality, and thematic music runs through it throughout. Huacha gongs and drums have fixed performing societies, traditional categories of instrument, strict band establishment and a vast system of tune patterns; they are an ancient, classical and weighty genre of folk instrumental music. Huacha gongs and drums are transmitted mainly from master to apprentice and are closely bound to the everyday life of the people; whether it be the various rituals in which the people welcome gods and worship the community deity, the marriage and funeral customs of the people, or celebrations, performances and entertainments in modern social life, they are an indispensable art form for the expression of people's thoughts and feelings. They are rich in folk cultural content, they enrich the spiritual and cultural life of the people, and they promote social and economic development and the progress of spiritual civilisation.

Folk-song tunes

One of the four large groups of tune patterns of Fengcheng huacha gongs and drums as classified by source, with dialect melodic figures.

Operatic tunes

One of the four large groups of tune patterns of Fengcheng huacha gongs and drums as classified by source, with vocal melodic figures.

Traditional tunes

One of the four large groups of tune patterns of Fengcheng huacha gongs and drums as classified by source, with instrumental melodic figures.

Adapted tunes

One of the four large groups of tune patterns of Fengcheng huacha gongs and drums as classified by source.

Long and short pieces

Fengcheng huacha gongs and drums are divided into long pieces and short pieces by genre form; they have more than a hundred traditional tune patterns, whose musical forms are mainly the single-tune form, the variation form, the cyclic form and the linked-tune form.

Single and double drumsticks

Fengcheng huacha gongs and drums are divided into single drumstick and double drumstick according to the way the drumstick is used.

Seven-player ten-instrument setup

The traditional band consists of seven players and ten instruments: two suonas (one taking the high part and one the low part), small hall drum, wood block and ban ruler (one player), two pairs of cymbals (two players), gong (one player), small gong and yunluo (one player), the drummer doubling as the conductor.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Fengcheng huacha gongs and drums are current in Fengcheng city and the neighbouring counties and cities of Jiangxi Province and over the greater area of central Jiangxi; they took their beginnings at the Longguang Academy in Rongtang town, Fengcheng, during the Southern Song, have a history of more than eight hundred years, and took shape in the late Ming and early Qing. The traditional band consists of seven players and ten instruments: two suonas taking the high and low parts, together with small hall drum, wood block, ban ruler, two pairs of cymbals, gong, small gong and yunluo, the drummer doubling as the conductor.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Yang Renhe (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Han, born in December 1953, a native of Fengcheng city, Jiangxi Province. After finishing high school he returned to his home village to farm and became leader of the Chuanli huacha gong and drum team. From 2006 onward he took part many times in the provincial and municipal intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, performances and practical exchange activities. He donated the complete set of traditional huacha gong and drum instruments he had kept and all his hand-copied folk scores (in gongche notation) to the municipal intangible cultural heritage exhibition hall. Over more than fifty years of practice he has taken on more than a hundred apprentices and has formed folk huacha gong and drum teams in a dozen or more villages — Chuanli, Rongjia, Jiaohu, Xabian, Jiaomei, Jianghutou, Jiaohu Street, Yuanxi, Rongfang and others — which have long been active in the countryside. In 2008 he led a huacha gong and drum troupe onto the stage of CCTV's Happy China Tour. Representative inheritor of gong and drum art (huacha gongs and drums) in the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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