In the thirteenth episode of the novel "Romantic Dream" in the Qing Dynasty, there is a specific scene that describes the children of the Banners in Yangzhou performing octagonal drums during the Daoguang period (1821-kloc-0/850): "Three people came up and put the table in the middle, and one sat in the middle with a big drum; The one standing with an octagonal drum on the left; The man stood on the right with his hands crossed. The people sitting read a few opening remarks, said a few auspicious words, and played the drums, while the people on the left played the octagonal drums. The people sitting there sang many jokes in Beijing dialect. The man on the right was interrupted by chatting, and how many hands were fanned around the neck by the sitting person, which caused everyone to laugh; This is called fighting. " The man on the right is a clown, and the performer is a joke.
There are many performances of disassembling octagonal drums and singing in three packages. After the Republic of China, because most of the professional artists who performed the double reed also performed the disassembly of the octagonal drum, they changed to two people singing, that is, one played the clown, the other played other roles with three strings, and the clown temporarily dressed up on the stage. During the performance, the lyrics were interspersed with a lot of funny content, which made the atmosphere lively. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, octagonal drum began to perform on the same stage with various drum, cross talk, double reed, magic and other skills, collectively known as what kind of juggling. Famous actors since the early years of the Republic of China include Guo Rongshan, Han Yongxian, Du Fu, Guo, Gu and Yin Fu Lai. The main tracks are Fenhe Bay, Grave, Jujube, Fear of Fortune-telling, Wu Di's curse, and Breaking Up Kitchen. Due to the lack of repertoire, low style and interest, and little innovation in singing and performance, it gradually declined after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and there was no successor. Beijing Quyi Troupe has 8 lyrics and recordings of Fenhe Bay recorded by Xu Zhuosheng and Cai Yuanli on 1980 according to Gu and Yin Fulai. In the Qing Dynasty, when the children of the Qi nationality organized box office to sing octagonal drums, they also included some other forms of folk art and acrobatics, which were referred to as "the whole hall octagonal drum" for short. Their music types included voiceless drums, fork music, piano cavity, waist knot, horsehead tune, solo, cross talk, antique tricks and so on. During Jiaqing and Daoguang years, Dan Xianer and Yun Xi were added. In the late Qing dynasty, Julian's quick book was added. When performing, you need three to five to a dozen actors, and one hall will perform nine to a dozen programs. Speak first, sing first. It can be divided into three categories: drum (octagonal drum, big drum), willow (seasonal tune) and colorful (ancient colorful strokes). Speaking, learning, teasing, singing, blowing, playing, playing, pulling and changing are all included. Therefore, it is called "the octagonal drum of the whole hall".
Chongyi's Miscellaneous Notes on the Ruling and Opposition since Daoxian said: "The octagonal drum hall is divided into three types: drum, sliding and colorful. Drummers, singing also; Slip, cross talk and the like; Color, recruit. " Beijing artists have a slightly different view, thinking that "drums" refer to octagonal drums, plum blossom drums in the northern plate and Pearl River fast books. "Willow" should be willow, which refers to the ditty such as horsehead song loved by the children of flag bearer. "Color" refers to ancient color tricks, cross talk, double reed and other forms. There are many kinds of octagonal drum songs in the folk songs of Qing Dynasty, such as Continuation of Nishang Song, Legacy of Snow White, Million Sentences, Five Paizi Songs and Five Other Paizi Songs. However, the lyrics included in "Nishang Continuation" are all scripts sung by the children of the Song Dynasty during the Qianlong period, and the works are different from those created by Manchu children in taste and style. The main playing skills are "playing, shaking, touching, rubbing and patting".
Playing method: the left hand holds the drum and the right hand refers to the drum surface, which is the basic playing method of octagonal drum. It can be divided into "single finger bomb", "double finger bomb" and "combined bomb".
Shake: Shake the drum with your left hand so that it collides with the cymbals.
Touch: hold the drum with your left hand, and touch the drum with your right finger to make sound.
Rubbing: The thumb of the right hand rubs in a circle from the outer edge of the drum surface to the inner edge, and the index finger hits the drum surface once. Because the python skin on the drum surface pricks downward, the back rubbing can make the drum skin vibrate, and then make the cymbals on the drum frame ring.
Beat: The left hand holds the drum and the right hand beats the drum surface, which is used to indicate the end of the performance. Six programs.
1, tea songs: accompanied by sanxian and octagonal drums, singing two small tea songs and one big tea song.
2, ridicule: two or three people gag and tell jokes, and introduce the names of actors in various programs.
3. Waist Festival: including singing "Four Seasons Orioles Tune", "The Eight Immortals", "Fisherman's Music" and "Wanshouxiang" in groups.
4. Antique trick or threesome trick.
5. Julian's fast book or double yellow (formerly known as "one person and two studies").
6. Dismantling and singing the octagonal drum: also known as brand drama, two or three people subcontract to sing in a corner, and the track has "Happy Return".
In the octagonal drum of the whole hall, besides rap, there are some acrobatics, such as playing with plates, sword dancing, drilling circles and so on.