Music of lion dance
Referencing the video above, it shows a lion dance performance that includes a troupe of musicians accompanying the dancers with the instruments normally used for a lion dance performance which are the cymbals, a gong and drums. The dancer’s movement has a specific musical rhythm as the music follows their movements, the drum follows the lion while the cymbals and gong follow the drummer.
Throughout the performance, the lion will show various expressions and execute physical gestures to make the lion look life-like. There are 8 different stances that are performed: happiness, anger, fright, merry-making, suspicion, drunkenness, sleep and wakefulness. These stances are all choreographed to a particular beat in the music. Normally, one entire performance can take up to 12 minutes.
The music arranged has many different patterns that the dancers must be familiar with in order to follow along and execute each movement. Each pattern signifies certain gestures and according to each beat, the drummer is able to communicate with the dancers to tell them what movement to execute and the dancers can also communicate with the drummer by making subtle gestures, this will make the performance smoother as they are able to communicate and understand each other better.
The tempo of the music is also very fast paced throughout the performance, so it is even more important that the dancers and drummer communicate with each other so that they can ensure that both parties are on the same page and are aware of what movement to do next.
Tempo of Music
With reference to the video attached, the drummer will start by giving the dancers a signal by hitting the side of the drum first and are accompanied by the cymbals immediately after the dancers start moving. The dancers will lead the performance while the drummer follows the dancers’ movements closely so that they are able to be on beat and they are able to execute the gestures at the right moment. The tempo of the music is fast in the beginning as the dancers are moving and jumping throughout the performance. The dancers will also move the lion head according to the beat of the drum along with doing other actions like the body and legs being positioned in a certain gesture.
Towards the middle of the performance, the drums and cymbals will progressively get quieter and a little slower as the dancers start the “eating romaine lettuce” (cai qing). The way the dancers are moving is trying to make its way to the lettuce slowly before eating it. Here, the music gets louder as the lion prepares to eat the lettuce.
While the lion eats the lettuce, the cymbals and drums will be fast, this gives the dancers an estimation of how long the dancers need to take for the “eating romaine lettuce” segment. Once finished, the lion will look up towards the audience and wait for the other lions to finish eating.
Afterwards, the drummer will start to give a beat for the dancers to lift the front person up and pose for photos, before ending off with a fast paced tempo and it will end off with the drummer hitting the ending beat and the dancers will take off the lion head.