Instrumental Drama “Harmony” Brings Chinese Folk Music to Life
By He Jing, Yangcheng Evening News Reporter
On December 10, the Wanping Theater in Shanghai was graced by a performance of “Harmony,” an instrumental drama featuring young non-professional musicians. The drama tells the story of Zhao Xiaohe, a young musician who enters the dreamlike ancient city of “Taiyi City,” where the five major families master musical instruments and hold the annual “Taiyi Music Club” wrestling competition. Through this competition, Zhao Xiaohe learns that musical skills are about progress and harmony, resulting in a powerful message of unity and cooperation. “Harmony” is the first installment in the “Music Dreamers” trilogy, created to promote Chinese folk music and traditional culture.
The “Music Dreamers” series is a youth charity performance brand developed by the Shanghai Musicians Association. Launched in March, the series aims to inspire national and cultural confidence among young performers and audiences. This performance brand has been cultivated by the association, which has brought together talented young creators, including music arranger Li Lin, known for his work on popular variety shows such as “Talent Show,” “Crossover Singer,” and “Hidden Singer.”
Li Lin, after receiving the summer task, spent six months perfecting the music for “Harmony.” Drawing inspiration from traditional Chinese music, Li painstakingly arranged the pieces to match the characters’ personalities in the drama. With guidance from the expert tutoring group, Li successfully told compelling stories with his music. One of the tutoring group members, bamboo flute player Wang Shaoqing, provided Li with invaluable inspiration. The song “Tea Mountain Lantern,” based on the Yunnan folk song “Ten Sisters,” was adapted into a duet to convey the innocence and liveliness of the children in the play.
In a recent interview, Li Lin discussed the new and challenging experience of creating an instrumental musical drama for young children, emphasizing the need for ensemble playing and character interpretation. He believes that participating in this type of performance gives children a deeper understanding of music and the opportunity to collaborate with others to create art.
Qiao Jia, secretary general of the Shanghai Musicians Association, expressed the association’s vision for creating a charity performance that allows music students to immerse themselves in the art form, ultimately enhancing their skills and understanding of traditional Chinese music and instruments.
Editor: Ai Xiuyu
Text/Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter He Jing
Picture/organiser
On the evening of December 10, an instrumental drama “Harmony” performed by young non-professionals was performed at the Wanping Theater in Shanghai. In the drama, musician student Zhao Xiaohe comes to the ancient city “Taiyi City” in a dream, where the five major families all master a musical instrument and hold a wrestling competition every year – the “Taiyi Music Club” . In a competition with musicians from other families playing different instruments, Zhao Xiaohe finally understood that musical skills are not about winning or losing, but about making progress and taking harmony as beauty, so that he can finally achieve prosperous harmony.
As the first part of the trilogy of the new theme series “Music Dreamers”, “Harmony” relies on Chinese folk music as the medium, draws materials from traditional Chinese culture, and performs instrumental plays to “transmit the sound of China with the sound”. The sound of the piano evokes national pride”, allowing young performers and the general audience to experience the exquisiteness of traditional Chinese music and build “national confidence” and “cultural confidence”.
“Music Dreamers” is a youth charity performance brand initiated and maintained by the Shanghai Musicians Association, and has been launched since March this year and has brought together outstanding young creative forces to serve as the main creators. Among them is music arranger Li Lin, who has arranged music for many popular variety shows such as “Talent Show”, “Crossover Singer” and “Hidden Singer”.
After receiving the task this summer, Li Lin spent half a year polishing, conceiving and perfecting it at the same time. He carefully selected from a huge library of traditional music such as bamboo flute, erhu, guzheng, and percussion instruments to find the music that matched the temperament and personality of the characters in the play, and then recreated it. He also often asks for advice from the teachers in the specialist tutoring group in order to show the most expressive power of the instrument on stage and “tell” stories with music. Wang Shaoqing, a member of the expert tutoring group and a bamboo flute player, gave Li Lin a lot of inspiration. The bamboo flute song “Tea Mountain Lantern” is based on the Yunnan folk song “Ten Sisters”. Wang Shaoqing believed that the cheerful tone of the song was in line with the innocent and lively image of the children on their way to “study” in the play, so Li Lin adapted it into a duet for plot.
In an interview with reporters, Li Lin said that he also deliberately added famous traditional Chinese songs such as “Ambush from Flying Daggers” and “Mountains and Flowing Water” to create “Harmony”, and rearranged the music based on the repertoire and student performance characteristics to incorporate the new ideas of the age. “Instrumental musical drama is also a new and challenging stage experience for these eight and nine-year-old children. They are used to solos, and instrumental musical drama is more demanding for children. Not only do you need mastery of music and techniques . The level of the performance also includes the interpretation of the plot, the understanding of the characters in the play, etc. It is not just playing according to the score.” Li Lin said, “There are solos, ensembles, ensembles, lines, and by participating in the performance of this play, children can gain a deeper understanding of music and learn how to work together with other children to complete a work.”
Qiao Jia, secretary general of the Shanghai Musicians Association, said: “By creating a charity performance with music students as the main characters, students can participate in the performance immersively, improving their performance skills, and also deepening their understanding of traditional Chinese instruments and music national.”
Editor: Ai Xiuyu
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