Research On Tune Characteristics And Social Functions Of Pingjiang Shadow Opera In Hunan Province

Shadow play is a opera form meaning that the artist manipulates the shadow people produced by animal skins,cardboard and other different materials(the artist's performance props,also known as shadow body and shadow doll),uses the light source to project the image on the window for the talking and singing accompanied by music,and then performs a story.Pingjiang shadow opera is one of the important representatives of the shadow opera in Hunan,whose themes are derived from the daily life of ordinary people to reflect the ordinary people's living conditions and pursuit of value as the crystallization of working people's wisdom and spirit with rich flavor of life.On the basis of continuous absorption of sister arts,Pingjiang shadow play has gradually formed its own system from the tune,performance,prop and other aspects and become a unique local opera art.In 2012,it was listed as the intangible cultural heritage of Hunan to be protected.Based on predecessors' research results,this author focuses on tune characteristics and social functions of Pingjiang shadow play,and discusses its characteristics from a new perspective to people unfamiliar with Pingjiang shadow play.So,this paper actively promotes the Pingjiang shadow play with a positive significance to promote the protection and development of Pingjiang shadow playIn this paper,characteristics of Pingjiang shadow play are discussed and analyzed from the following aspects:In the first chapter,the author discusses the origin and the profile of Pingjiang shadow play.Shadow play is originated from the Han Dynasty,greatly develops in the Tang Dynasty,comes into prosperity in the Song Dynasty,enters into Pingjiang in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.Soaked in the unique geographical environment and human environment of Pingjiang,the Pingjiang shadow play has formed with unique local characteristics.In the second chapter,the characteristics of Pingjiang shadow play are discussed mainly from the lyrics,tunes and singing.Pingjiang shadow play lyrics are divided into “iron lyrics”,“ordinary lyrics”,and “water lyrics”.The sentence structure is generally the up-down sentence and the lyrics of each sentence generally include seven words.Pingjiang dialect is used for singing,so it is really humorous.The tune is mainly divided into the suona tune,qin tune and other auxiliary tunes according to the tone of Pingjiang dialect with its own unique characteristics.In the singing,the author makes a discussion from the Pingjiang dialect enunciation and the use of various businesses.In the third chapter,social functions of Pingjiang shadow play are argued,including the petition function,entertainment function and educational function with a very important value for individuals and the country,so the shadow play can be enduring in the long history.In the fourth chapter,the author discusses the status quo,inheritance and development of Pingjiang shadow play.With the impact of modern Western music culture,the survival and development of Chinese traditional music culture has been impacted and challenged unprecedentedly,in which especially the China's shadow play is near extinction as an important local opera.As a local opera after more than a thousand years,it is facing such a grim situation,so we are indeed difficult to accept this fact.Therefore,the author provides some personal ideas on the protection and development of Pingjiang shadow play to play a little effect.However,due to the author's limited knowledge,there are still many deficiencies in the paper,so the author really hopes that experts correct and make comments.