Learning Your Dongs and Chiangs
How do you wake a lion? You need the right rhythms to rouse the beast and have it dance to your beat! Musicians are as important as the performers within the troupe. Learn the 5 main techniques of Southern lion dance drumming and how they're taught!
How to train your members
Unlike other dance forms where musicians are a discrete group to its dancers, lion dance percussionists are fully-fledged members of the troupe. Both the dance and its music are intrinsically tied to martial arts, so the regimented training, rhythmic discipline, and precise synchronization are important to the players as well (Chen et al., 2002).
Patterns are traditionally orally transmitted from master to student (Guo, 2007). Rhythmic instruction is through a method called luogujing, where different sounds are represented by onomatopoeic Chinese characters (状声字 zhuang sheng zi).
Let’s learn a technique together!
Infographic source: (Guo, 2007)
Main Techniques
Even before the lions come out to play, the drummers are the ones who set the stage. The dance is split into 15 to 16 small sections, depending on the troupe’s routine. Each of these has its own corresponding drum pattern. Traditionally, the lion leads the performance, and the drummers have to pay close attention so that they can match the correct rhythms to its actions (Chen et al., 2002).
Southern lion dance generally has five main techniques, ordered by increasing momentum and excitement (Shenzhen Lion Dance, 2013).
1. Thunder Drums
(擂鼓 lei gu)
A rolling beat that builds anticipation. Historically, it was a war drum pattern, galvanizing soldiers on the front (Ci Dian Wang, n.d.). The lion will rise from its sleeping position and totter around.
2. Waking Lion Drums
(起狮鼓 qi shi gu)
The lion jumps to life and executes the bowing. Signals the beginning of the performance.
3. Moving Lion Drums
(行獅鼓 xing shi gu)
This is another name for the Three-Star Drum pattern. Could you get it right? Here, the lion shows the eight states, plays around, and searches for food.
4. Pouncing Lion Drums
(抛狮鼓 pao shi gu)
The lion 'finds' the food, and investigates it energetically. It might display seeing, sniffing, touching, and kicking the fruit or vegetable around.
5. Seven-star Drums
(七星鼓 qi xing gu)
This drumbeat was invented by the founder of the Hok San style, a faster, and more vigorous cousin of the original 3-star pattern (Chen et al., 2002). It's played at the climax of the performance: the lion biting, eating, and shredding the cabbage before... spitting it out!
Together, on 3!
The youngest and most inexperienced members begin on the cymbals or gongs. Cymbals usually play a simpler version of the drum’s rhythm. Being easier to play, they can train their ability to keep tempo, play on the beat, and control dynamics, before learning how to play the drums (Chen et al., 2002).
"The third beat of the drum is the first beat of the gong." This refrain is drilled into the heads of initiates, the key to synchronicity between the gongs and other instruments (Guo, 2007).
The drummer starts by cracking on the sides of the drum. They can do so any number of times, but they would only be considered ‘beat 1’. It is followed by two strong strikes of the drum’s center with the same hand, forming beats 2 and 3. On this last beat comes the ring of the gong (Guo, 2007).
Watch this principle in action!
Try it yourself!
Play the three-star drum video and try clapping on the right beats.
HINT!
Drum: 得洞咚 得洞咚 得洞咚咚咚咚咚
Gong: 噹 噹 噹 噹 噹
References
5elementsld. (2016, October 16). How to Play the Gong 101 - Lion Dance with 3-Star Drum [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP5Qlql3WAg
am I who. (2016, April 14). Lei gu [Thunder drums] [Video]. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7eEVFq-XC8
am I who. (2016, April 14). Pao shi [Pouncing lion] [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1zbuWaqSgo
am I who. (2016, April 14). Qi shi [Waking lion] [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD7n3Sc4XJk
am I who. (2016, April 14). Qi xing [Seven-star] [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QU6XEkQ0n0
am I who. (2016, April 14). San xing [Three-star] [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj4q7AqHI5Q
Chen, G., Cai, Z., Gao, H., & Wang, J. (2002). Wu shi ji yi huo dong zhi yan jiu [Research on the Skill of Lion Dance]. Sports Administration, Ministry of Education, Taiwan.
Ci Dian Wang. (n.d.) Lei gu [Thunder drums]. https://www.cidianwang.com/ cd/l/leigu365578.htm
Guo, W. (2007). Wu shi de yi shu [The Art of Lion Dance]. GigaMedia.
Shenzhen Lion Dance. (2013, December 2). Jie mi shen zhen wu shi ji ben gu da fa [Uncovering the Basic Drumming Method of Shenzhen Lion Dance]. http://www.shenzhenwushi.com/articleinfo/detail_3_109_399.aspx
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