What Does a Violin Tutor Do?

Situ Mengyan, also known as Situ Fuquan, was born in Huilongli, Shazhou Township, Chishui District. Born in Shanghai in 1888, he loved music and Cantonese opera as a teenager. In the early 20th century, he began to learn violin playing with foreign violin teachers in Xujiahui Church. Became one of the earliest people in China to be exposed to violin and western music.

Situ Mengyan

The Situ Mengyan family had four sons. In 1949, the Situ family concert was held in Shanghai. son

He is Situ Mengyan, a famous shipbuilding expert, violin maker and violin player in modern China. Situ Mengyan transplanted the melody of Cantonese opera to the violin and used the western violin as a tool for playing Cantonese music. In terms of playing skills and style, "It is Cantonese", which makes the violin completely enter into the mother body of Chinese traditional music culture, and plays the role of "national musical instrument", forming a unique cultural feature, which is called "Stuart Dream Model" in the history of music. The group photo of Situ Mengyan's family after the Situ family concert in Shanghai in 1947. "Situ Mengyan is the first designer of a 10,000-ton giant ship in China and the first violin maker and performer in China." Situ Liang said that the Situ Mengyan family has been out of business since their fathers and has little contact with their hometown. Kaiping Situ Shi strengthened ties with the Kaiping Situ clan at home and abroad, and established close ties with Situ Zhiwen, the youngest daughter of Situ Mengyan. On January 8th, Kaiping Situ will hold a grand Situ association at home and abroad, Situ Zhiwen has decided to come to participate. Situ Mengyan's father had a poor family. He was an apprentice in a Hong Kong shop when he was very young. He also learned abacus and English by himself and slowly learned to do business. In the Guangxu years, when he saw that there was a shortage of sugar in the north, he partnered with people to transport sugar from Guangdong to the north to sell. The business became bigger and bigger. He opened a number of semicolons in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and the Northeast and became a well-known at the time. The rich man in the sugar industry, when the business is the best, the entire street of Yingkou City, Liaoning Province is his shop. Situ Mengyan was born in Shanghai in 14th year of Guangxu (1888). Situ Mengyan was 18 years old. At that time, the government implemented reforms in the late Qing Dynasty, abolished the imperial examinations and established schools, and a nationwide overseas study fever rose. His father sent him to the United States to study abroad at his own expense. Situ Mengyan received two oceans and a letter from his father. The father told him in the letter that because the sugar ship had suffered heavy losses at sea and his business was in trouble, he could no longer afford him to study abroad. These two oceans It was a return trip to him. If he did not return, he would not be able to send money to him in the future. Later, Situ Mengyan also learned that the father of the bankruptcy at that time had to go to his in-house Mr. Zhou's shop in Yingkou to be a buddy in order to support his family. Situ Mengyan looked at his father's letter and froze. Before receiving this letter, he was still a wealthy man who had no worries about food and clothing. But from the moment he received the letter, he understood that another part of his life had begun. He came to study in the United States with the ideal of saving the country through industry. Going back meant that he had lost all his achievements. He was really unwilling. Situ Mengyan promised that the tuition fee for teaching Song Meiling to play the violin became the first expense he earned from working and studying. In addition to working as a tutor to Song Meiling, Situ Mengyan worked as a tutor in the newspaper, helped the farmer pick apples, and even worked as an informant at the police station. He climbed into the room along the chimney and overheard others talking . The most interesting thing is to preach on the train for the church. It is said that the Christian teaching is taught first, and the Confucianism and Mencius in China are talked about last. Situ Mengyan was admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a part-time job in 1938. One day, he and his classmates went to apply for a job in a town on the outskirts of Boston. The two arrived at their destination by train, only to find that the recruitment had ended. They just wandered the streets waiting for the train to return at night. On the street, they saw an ad for a math competition on the same day. Situ Mengyan said, anyway, don't sign up for the fee, it is better to go to the competition, the right is to rest, so they entered the examination room together. Situ Mengyan never dreamed that he received the award notice a week later and he won the first place in the Boston Mathematical Competition. The math competition champion not only has a certificate but also a bonus, Situ Mengyan is unhappy. Situ Mengyan described to the Minister the dilemma of his family's misconduct and had to work part-time. Wu Tingfang shot up the case and said, how can the court sit and watch talented people like you in an awkward situation, and if there is a place for public study abroad, I will give you right away. Situ Mengyan immediately transferred from the mechanical profession to the shipbuilding profession, and he has since become a student of the Qing Dynasty who went to the United States at public expense. Since the Qing government never sent another student abroad, and the Xinhai Revolution soon occurred, he actually became the last government student of the Qing Dynasty. Situ Mengyan has loved music since he was a child, especially "Guangdong Music", and played a variety of ethnic instruments. Although he studied shipbuilding at MIT, his interest in music has not diminished, and he often attends music courses at New England College. Situ Mengyan studied violin with New England College professor and Austrian violinist Jugen Grunberg. At that time, Grunberg was already a famous teacher, and he did not accept private students. However, when he heard Situ Mengyan playing the piano, he was attracted by his good skills and extraordinary sense of music. Mengyan smiled bitterly and said that a disciple who could become a master was a lucky life. Unfortunately, he couldn't afford the tuition. As soon as Grunberg laughed, he said, as long as you clean the classroom for me every week before class, even if you pay the tuition. Situ Mengyan often went to the classmate's home to watch the piano making process, and often took waste materials to learn to make. One day he was making a violin in a waste wooden box packed with soap. An American about 5 years old stood behind and watched it with interest. Later, the American said to him, "Young man, if you want to play the violin, If you are interested in manufacturing, come to my private production room on the third floor, where you can see the beautiful violin. Situ Mengyan admired Goss very much. Goss also had a good impression on him and was determined to accept him as the only apprentice. However, before his visit, Goss asked Situ Mengyan to accompany him to the church first. It turned out that Goss, a violin maker, also had concerns about "the church apprentice, the master starved to death". After arriving at the church, Goss asked Situ Mengyan to swear with him. Gos promised to pass on all the techniques without reservation, and Situ Mengyan would guarantee that he would not open in the United States. Under the careful guidance of Goss, Situ Mengyan made the first violin from the Chinese hands and became the first violin maker in China. This violin participated in the Panama World Expo in the name of Goss and won the gold medal. . After Stuart Mengyan Xuecheng made a high-level violin, he kept his promise, never opened a business in the United States for life, and eventually returned to his motherland. Before Situ Mengyan went to the United States to study in the United States, his father set up a baby doll for him and the Zhou family in Yingkou, Liaoning. Mr. Zhou and his father were not only fellow Kaiping fellows, but also business partners. When the business of Situ's family was frustrated, it was thanks to the help of the Zhou family to overcome difficulties. When Situ Mengyan returned to China in 1915, he landed in Tianjin and his two brothers came to pick him up. On the train back to Yingkou, the two elder brothers told him that when they got home, they would have a wedding with Miss Zhou. Situ Mengyan, who has been educated in the West for nearly a decade, strongly disagreed with the marriage and hesitated to run away to resist it. Finally, the two brothers tied his younger brother back to Yingkou and returned to Yingkou. Seeing his son still unwilling to marry, Situ Mengyan's father couldn't help but said in tears: "At the time of the most broken family, the Zhou family helped us, and the daughters of the Zhou family have been waiting for you during your study abroad. It s hard to find your husband s family again. If you really do nt want to, you can marry another second-family house after you get married. Situ Mengyan finally agreed to worship his wife. Situ Mengyan discovered that Miss Zhou's family, who had not been seen for many years, had become a beautiful and gentle lady. He was glad that he finally obeyed the opinion of his old father. After the marriage, the Situ Mengyan couple had always been very loving and had four sons and three daughters. Shortly after Situ Mengyan returned to China after studying abroad and got married, the government assigned him to work in Jiangnan Shipyard. Jiangnan Shipyard was a famous shipyard in China since the end of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, the main design of the shipyard was the responsibility of British Chief Engineer Morgan. Before each ship is put into production, the drawings have to be reviewed by the British Lloyd's before they can be put into production and insurance. Situ Mengyan, who had just returned to China, did not know that every drawing in the factory at that time had to be signed by Morgan before being sent to Britain. Once, after completing the drawing design, he signed his name in the lower right corner of the drawing according to the habits of working in the United States. Morgan was angry when he saw the signed drawing, and thought that the drawing would be returned by the British side. He did not review the drawing, and instructed the secretary to send it directly to the United Kingdom. He wanted to wait for the returned Chinese lesson to learn the rules. Situ Mengyan respected him very much, and the two became good friends. Later, when Morgan left China, Stuart Rock was recommended as the chief engineer of Jiangnan Shipyard. Situ Mengyan not only designed and manufactured China's first shallow water merchant ship navigating the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, but also successfully designed and manufactured a 10,000-ton giant ship for the US Navy. However, the giant ship was eventually converted to commercial operation. This was the first time that the Chinese designed and manufactured a 10,000-ton giant ship. "Situ Mengyan Mode" Situ Mengyan did not leave his favorite music. In addition to serving as the professor of the Shanghai Strings Club, he often opened a music salon at home and exchanged ideas with Chinese and foreign music circles. About 192 He met Lu Wencheng, Yin Zizhong, He Dasha and others who later became Guangle masters. Lu Wencheng and others have all studied violin under Situ Mengyan. Situ Mengyan believes that the sound of the violin is suitable for expressing the graceful and lightness of "Guangdong Music" He first applied the violin to the performance of "Guangdong Music". He recorded a record. He also experimented and developed with Lu Wencheng, changing the erhu's silk strings to steel strings, and changing the erhu holding piano to two-legged harps. Later, Gaohu was also successfully manufactured, adding a bright and bright lead instrument to "Guangdong Music". Peking opera master Yang Baozhongshan applied the violin technique to Beijing opera, also benefited from Situ Mengyan's guidance In order to introduce Chinese music to foreign countries, Situ Mengyan translated Cantonese opera "Swallow House", Peking opera "Sky Girl Scattered Flowers", instrumental music "Autumn Moon in Han Palace", "Arid Sky Thunder", etc. In order to introduce foreign music to China, he copied Schumann's "Fantasia", the black people's song "Old Black Slave", the Irish folk song "The Last Rose", etc. from the staff into a staff scale. There are as many as 1,000 songs. He completely transplanted the melody of Cantonese opera to the violin, and used the western violin as a tool for playing Cantonese music. In terms of playing skills and playing style, It s still a southern country music style, it s completely Cantonese. It basically gave up the western composition technique and the original traditional performance technique of the violin, so that the violin in Guangdong Music lost its original Western music culture when it was introduced. Connotation, the violin completely enters into the mother body of Chinese traditional music culture, plays the role of "national musical instrument", and forms a unique cultural feature in the form, concept and performance of its music. It is called " Situ Mengyan model. "The Situ Mengyan couple have seven children together, and they all like music. But Situ Mengyan did not want the children to use music as a starting point. He thinks that the occupation of music in old China had no way out and no social status. Situ Mengyan saw that the five children who studied music were violinist and cellist, and he was very happy because he saw When the children arrived, they had a sincere heart for music. Situ Mengyan happened to have 6 birthdays. Among the children on stage, the oldest is Situ Haicheng, 24, and the youngest Situ Zhiwen is 14, Situ Mengyan. His youngest daughter, Situ Zhiwen, also carefully collected the program lists of the two family concerts. After decades, each program list is as smooth as new. Situ Mengyan died of illness. However, the Situ music family he created was a branch. Fan Yemao. Five of the seven children are engaged in music. The second son, Situ Haicheng, is the chief violinist of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. The third son, Situ Xingcheng, later went to Taiwan and was an all-around string player and educator (1982 He died in Taiwan in 1949.) His fourth son, Situ Huacheng, is a famous violinist, chief violinist of the Central Orchestra, and a professor at the Central Conservatory of Music. His younger daughter, Situ Zhiwen, is a well-known cellist, China. President of the Cello Society of the Music Association. After learning of the news, Situ Mengyan's fourth son, Situ Huacheng, made a special trip from Shanghai to Tianjin and confirmed that it was his father's autograph. In those English words, there is a famous saying of Martin Luther: who can master the skill of tuning, he can adapt to everything. Situ Mengyan learns the violin. He has learned from others and introduced foreign guitars and violin to the "Guangdong Music" band; his solo and accompaniment music has been recorded as a record and sold at home and abroad. Chronology of Situ Mengyan Events Situ Mengyan (1888-1954), formerly known as Situ Fuquan, was born in Kaiping, Guangdong. China's modern famous shipbuilding experts, violin makers and performers. Situ Mengyan studied the violin and began to use the violin for the performance of "Guangdong Music"; Situ Mengyan's family held a family concert at Shanghai Lanxin Theater;