On The Art Of Northwest Shanxi Two Single Origin And Evolution Of Singing Skills And Style

The Chinese folk songs form a main part of the Chinese cultural heritage. Shanxi province, known as "the sea of folk songs ", is famous for this song form. And it is easily found in each county of the province. Differences exist in musical styles in different areas because of the differences of geographical surroundings, economy, cultural tradition (esp. the musical tradition ), local dialects, life styles and the influences from the neighbouring provinces. Accordingly, folk songs are known as different musical zones as Middle Shanxi, South Shanxi, Southeast Shanxi and North Shanxi. In the folk songs in North Shaxi, the most distinguished form is " The Song-and-Dance Duet". It is a whole complex of dancing, singing, story-telling and ballad singing. It is circulated in the northeast of Shanxi, east part of Inner Mongolia, north part of Shannxi province. Different schools are developed in the process of their mutual embrace according to their circulation in different areas. The law of its formation and development is in fact the variation from the pro-ecological singing and dancing to folk opera. Thus it is rich in local characteristic. The paper, based on the study of the Song-and-Dance Duet in the noratheast Shanxi, tries to probe the source and development of its performing skill and style vertically and horizontally. Meanwhile, it tries to express the spirit of " Developing the national music culture, displaying the local music education and selecting the local teaching material". In order to carry out the valuable cultural heritage, the paper draws on some language and style of the traditional music forms, absorbs their beautiful temperament elements and rich nutrients and excavates the unique art style and local feature. Based on the investigation and stuey mentioned above is the formation of some new folk songs. These songs, due to their clear national style and modern atmosphere, are expected to provide some ideas for our further study and development of the national vocal music.