Making Lion Dance Music (Tutorial)

This video is a tutorial to help understand and teach the fundamentals of Chinese Lion Dance Music to beginners.
The music created here is very much a 'hybrid' style.. a more western performance, where the crashing cymbals seen in Traditional Lion Dance are toned down to enable it to be performed in close proximity to the audience; in restaurants etc... Sadly Western ears don't appreciate 6 pairs of cymbals crashing for a full performance close to their table :)
The video covers practice techniques for playing the Drum, with explanations of the rhythms and patterns used in a Traditional Chinese Lion Dance for each of the instruments.
0:00 Introduction to making Lion Dance music
1:00 Drum Techniques
1:44 Grip
2:31 Single Strokes
4:12 Double Strokes
5:19 Paradiddles
7:59 Ruffs
10:05 Dynamics and Accents
11:50 Cymbals and Gong
12:00 Cymbals Introduction
12:12 Cymbals - Rolling
12:30 Cymbals - Crashing and Muting
13:00 Cymbals - Muted Taps
13:20 Cymbals and Drum Together - Examples
14:17 The Gong Introduction
14:33 Gong - Rolling
14:56 Gong - Stricking and Muting
15:58 Drum and Gond Examples
16:28 Lion Dance Structure
17:35 Three Star Pattern
18:23 Sleeping Lion
19:65 Waking Lion
21:02 Standing Lion (Awake Lion)
22:07 Long Bows
22:50 Long Bows (with Bent notes
23:33 Five Star Pattern
25:40 The Greens
26:12 Seven Star Pattern
28:11 Ending Bows
29:30 Final Words
30:30 Example Music with Drum , Gong and Cymbal
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#LinDanceMusic #MakingLionDanceMusic #ChineseLionDance

Пікірлер: 58

  • @RedLimeVideo
    @RedLimeVideo3 жыл бұрын

    We love reading your comments. Remember folks, music is DIFFERENT all around the World, and it’s no different in performing these type of dances too. The video was produced to help those in the UK, associated with this team and not in any way to suggest this is A Defacto method or style. Peace and love.

  • @3066jc
    @3066jc3 ай бұрын

    I play the lion tail and what you have said here is entirely true! Most commendable especially from a Westerner, you must have experienced a lot of Chinese culture in your youth! Well done ! Keep at it !

  • @animeislife4247
    @animeislife42474 жыл бұрын

    Hope your week goes great thank goodness it’s all about the rain so I’ll have it done before the day of tomorrow morning

  • @JohnSeto
    @JohnSeto4 ай бұрын

    Thank you for the very good explain. I've grown up with this music but never really thought about the sequences of the drums.

  • @Zendrums108
    @Zendrums1085 жыл бұрын

    Thank You For your wonderful tips and the great video!

  • @obeytweety
    @obeytweety3 жыл бұрын

    Totally badass, unique style

  • @graciayuan7034
    @graciayuan70345 ай бұрын

    Great video appreciated very helpful

  • @chaneppchannel_935
    @chaneppchannel_9353 ай бұрын

    Omg😮😊 i play Chinese Opera Drum too, it's nearly the Style.

  • @bturnerphotos
    @bturnerphotos6 жыл бұрын

    Great video!

  • @shredhead999

    @shredhead999

    6 жыл бұрын

    it is not

  • @hongdekungfu
    @hongdekungfu Жыл бұрын

    Good video lots of fine points to what you are saying. More musical than some teams can do. Good music theory.

  • @matsudarx8
    @matsudarx84 жыл бұрын

    Very weird. All lion dance drumming music I know are very different. I am aware of the crane mountain (hok san) and the buddha mountain (fat san - the wong fei hong hometown) styles that are practiced in southern china, most of south east asia, hong kong, macau, and anywhere with chinese, but I have never heard of this style. Can anyone please enlighten which style is this?

  • @SharifBey

    @SharifBey

    3 ай бұрын

    lol…you are being very gracious with your words. Yes, I’m asking myself the very same questions.

  • @GersonMera
    @GersonMera9 ай бұрын

    Excelente Video!! Muchas gracias por compartir las técnicas!! Todo es perfecto!! ¿ tienen la partitura del tema final ?

  • @nanashipersonne4151
    @nanashipersonne41512 жыл бұрын

    Just listened to a lion dance for a new company opening. It sounded bad, so I‘m here checking if it‘s supposed to sound like that.

  • @wawawho18_adventures
    @wawawho18_adventures2 жыл бұрын

    Wow. your techniques and explanation are spot on! great job! was really helpful! these are actually drumming technique names too! cool!

  • @josephnguyen9234
    @josephnguyen92345 жыл бұрын

    What style is this? I’m more used to hearing sar ping drumming or jow ga drumming, so I’m not so familiar with this style.

  • @RedLimeVideo

    @RedLimeVideo

    5 жыл бұрын

    Hey! The drum patterns are based around 3/5/9 star rhythems I'm told. As the comment to the video, this is VERY MUCH a hybrid style for Western ears and entertainment over a more Traditional style from China. Hope that helps. Thanks for commenting :)

  • @spissatus
    @spissatus8 ай бұрын

    Jose, thank you for making such a complete video. As you expressed and is clear by the comments, traditions vary tremendously. I have been trying to pinpoint *why* the three five seven star patterns are named those numbers and star. I was curious if you have insight. Why three five seven? Are there three steps or beats or patterns? Why stars? Thank you for any insight.

  • @saffronw.e3177

    @saffronw.e3177

    3 ай бұрын

    i dont think he knows lol. which he should before making a tutorial video. id recommend getting roots in kung fu and talkign to a kung fu school in your area if its possible. each school has their own versions and philosphy of what the meaning is. like even the two kung fu schools ive been to, (all from the same original grandmaster and same style though) have a bit of a different view. but, it refers to the lions movements not the time signature necessarily (although it could and theres stuff such as using the three fingers to mute, but generally everything would be 4/4 unless youre finding some really old school secret stuff where the time signature actually does change, bows and beats can change timing based on the lion though, in the traditonal style you watch the lion and lengthen or shorten based on the movement, modern international style with the jongs has to be an exact length so what is played is not changed in terms of timing, it needs to be like exactly a certain amount of time BUT ANYWAYS 3 star is walking, the lion walking around, the beat is in 4/4 but can also be in 3 or 6 based on how many times youre playing it, but generally yeah, its just the beat played for walking 5 star is either head up (happy lion, excited) or according to the jow ga video, a different type of walking. now 7 star is a very specific movement/ beat its hard to explain unless you know lion dance but its girl stance and stick the head in the air left right jump centre, lick the knees or something similar, jump back , set. ( with variation of course) now where the debate is between the two schools, one calls this move sam sing (5 star) and one call its chut sing (7 star) the older people say its 7 star from what ive seen so i lean towards that. stars have to do with the shape , like a constellation, of the movements/ foot patterns of the lion .

  • @michaeltung6112
    @michaeltung61125 жыл бұрын

    Hi, this is a great video. I am trying to follow through but would like to understand what people usually refer to when they say three stars, five star n seven star. Appreciated!

  • @RedLimeVideo

    @RedLimeVideo

    5 жыл бұрын

    Hi Michael. This video may help explain 3, 5 and 7 star patterns: kzread.info/dash/bejne/k4FoqZSuYpTPpKg.html

  • @michaeltung6112

    @michaeltung6112

    5 жыл бұрын

    Hi, thks for the reply. I watched that video before but I can only see what he is doing for the three star roll but the 5 stars n seven stars are to fast to for me to figure out what he was doing.

  • @clarenceewe
    @clarenceewe2 ай бұрын

    Great demonstration, but it's snare drum technique, which it too detailed to play along with 4 pairs of fortississimo cymbals and a gong.

  • @nicholaseng
    @nicholaseng7 жыл бұрын

    This is the best drum video I have seen! Thanks for the tutorial. Appreciated as a lion dance fan and musician!

  • @juanitamuller2874
    @juanitamuller28749 ай бұрын

    Why you stop doing drum content 😢

  • @philipykao99
    @philipykao995 жыл бұрын

    You white boys did a good job, dudes. I watched quite some lion dance tutorial films on KZread but most of them are in Cantonese, which is a dialect I, as Chinese from Taiwan whose mother tongue is southern Fujian dialect, cannot understand completely. My English listening comprehension, however, is good enough to understand very well what you are teaching. How sarcastical it is!

  • @damnsahil9874
    @damnsahil98743 жыл бұрын

    I play lion dance in Singapore and the music is very different

  • @ronvigeant3106
    @ronvigeant31065 жыл бұрын

    yeet ty im from the asian lion dance team and they were telling me to look for your own

  • @DavidGonzalez-kd4jq
    @DavidGonzalez-kd4jq19 күн бұрын

    Excuse me, what's the size of the drum?

  • @prettyIazy
    @prettyIazy5 жыл бұрын

    I do Vietnamese Lion Dance Drumming which is very fast

  • @giantasiansticker8068

    @giantasiansticker8068

    2 жыл бұрын

    Yyt

  • @bchompoo

    @bchompoo

    Жыл бұрын

    In Thailand it's a bit faster with lots of gong and clapping sounds.

  • @wenwang7560
    @wenwang75605 жыл бұрын

    I play lion dance in indonesia and the music is very different

  • @RedLimeVideo

    @RedLimeVideo

    5 жыл бұрын

    It does. Also In Indonedia I believe there are Regional differnces too - just like Japan. Lots of countries have their own version of a Lion Dance, with differnt Lions, Music and style of performances. There is no apparent right or wrong, jus cultural differences and variations :)

  • @shredhead999
    @shredhead9996 жыл бұрын

    appreciate the video.. but you still have lots of practice and study to do...

  • @RedLimeVideo

    @RedLimeVideo

    5 жыл бұрын

    One is never at their journeys end.

  • @yourdog6412
    @yourdog64122 жыл бұрын

    i would say to keep your drumsticks straight like this “ll” not like this “/\” so your drumsticks are harder to touch together

  • @user-xi4sy2cq6p
    @user-xi4sy2cq6p6 жыл бұрын

    How is your master

  • @RedLimeVideo

    @RedLimeVideo

    6 жыл бұрын

    The Master of the style of Kung Fu I practice is well - thank you for asking. He is not however a teacher of Lion Dance, as he is more practiced in Unicorn Dance.

  • @paulchan3358
    @paulchan33584 ай бұрын

    🇨🇦👍👍👍👍👍👍👍🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊

  • @wendyliem1093
    @wendyliem10935 жыл бұрын

    Lion dance Samarinda

  • @kungdoydar
    @kungdoydar4 жыл бұрын

    Very Testicular performance hahaha ... Congratulations...

  • @Bruce-pe2oc
    @Bruce-pe2ocАй бұрын

    I know how to play lion dance drum by my self

  • @klutchtls
    @klutchtls6 жыл бұрын

    okay white man

  • @isoboi_goat4606
    @isoboi_goat46064 жыл бұрын

    The drumming was ok but the cymbal and gong player sounded bad

  • @RedLimeVideo

    @RedLimeVideo

    4 жыл бұрын

    thanks, we enjoy reading the comments. We would have liked to have seen your videos, to see how you play, but you don’t have any!

  • @nateturalkicks8088
    @nateturalkicks80887 жыл бұрын

    This is horrible

  • @silent4182

    @silent4182

    7 жыл бұрын

    Natetural kicks no you are horrible

  • @nateturalkicks8088

    @nateturalkicks8088

    7 жыл бұрын

    at least I can actually lion dance and play the instruments correctly

  • @iBankai1995

    @iBankai1995

    6 жыл бұрын

    Natetural kicks where is your video? I want to see how awesome you are. Be happy that you write anonymously, your master would be ashamed if he would read that haha

  • @DamDD

    @DamDD

    4 жыл бұрын

    Natetural kicks I like how everyone that says it good doesn’t know anything about lion dancing lol it is horrible

  • @ethanmoy9380
    @ethanmoy93804 жыл бұрын

    This is so bad like dude why just why

  • @saffronw.e3177

    @saffronw.e3177

    3 ай бұрын

    honestly yeah, its completely divorced from the actual lion dance tbh and kung fu. Lion dance drumming is a language, and it is used to show what style you come from, who the lineage is etc and also to tell the lion what to do, there is a lot missing here and he cant really compare to regional differences in east asia, as if this is a uk style of drumming, because those regional differences come from the specific styles of kung fu, not some dude making his own beat and saying its a regional style. I think before making a tutorial he should be watching how to make the lion music, theres also a significance in the crashing of the cymbals, its to scare away evil but also to train your hands to be continously punching. in the end it all ties back to kung fu and lineage and that is what is missing most and its not to say it cant be moved forward but you need to know the basics and what youre doing before you move forward. like you should know what a hung gar, choy lee fut, malaysian style even if youre gonna mix em up you should be able to say exaclty what youre playing. there are plenty of techniques to be taught for lion drumming, like sending the qi through the drum, proper stance, and how it resembles punching, however he is just showing snare drumming techniques really, and looks like hes gonna hurt himself.