94-Year-Old Peking Opera Drummer

In Peking Opera， the drummer is indisputably the soul of the musical band. In addition to needing to master a full gamut of drum skills， the lead percussionist needs to be extremely versed in stage performances， stereotyped stage characters， tunes， melodies， singing styles and plays. Liang Shaoyuan， now 94 years old， started working as a drummer at 14. Within the Peking Opera circles， his nickname “Little Braid” enjoys respect， trust， and popularity.

Liang Shaoyuan was born into a family of Peking Opera artists. His maternal grandfather Sun Zuochen was a celebrated stringed instrument accompanist; his father Liang Junfu was a preeminent Peking Opera artist specialized in painted-face character; his elder brother was a drummer and his second brother was a well-known buffoon character. The family settled down in Shanghai in the 1920s after the father became successful on the Peking Opera stage in Shanghai.

Liang Shaoyuan began at the age of six to tag along with his maternal grandfather to watch Peking Opera performances. At seven， he started to practice kongfu with his elder brother. He was a sunshine boy everyone in the Peking Opera circles loved. As a boy， the junior had that short braid at the back of his head. His elders referred to him affectionately as Little Braid. The nickname stuck. He was known as “Little Braid” for decades.

Liang Shaoyuan came to Hangzhou in 1956 when he was invited to work as lead drummer for seven masters of Hangzhou Peking Opera Troupe (the predecessor of present-day Zhejiang Peking Opera Troupe). This job offer was a concerted approval of the seven masters， therefore a great honor. Liang came to Hangzhou also for the sake of his wife， for her ancestral roots were in Yuhang， now a district of great Hangzhou. She wished to be close to her roots and relatives.

In the early years of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)， Liang Shaoyuan was forced off the stage. He made his comeback in the capacity of teacher. In 1972， he began to give drum lessons to six students. The six have grown up to be master drummers for important Peking Opera troupes such as Zhejiang Peking Opera Troupe， Zhejiang Kunqu Opera Troupe and at Zhejiang Academy of Performing Arts. Liang Shaoyuan is viewed as master drummer in Zhejiang.

In his long performing career， Liang developed a style of his own. He says that his backstage percussion performance seeks seamless coordination with performance of masters. A master drummer must have a large private repertoire. For this reason， he needs to commit to memory drum performances of all plays. In old times， a drummer had to memorize a whole set of plays and know all the performances of masters so that he could help artists stage masterpieces. In his prime time， Liang was great at creating atmosphere through his drum performance. His rhythm was perfect. He had profound knowledge of different schools and styles of Peking Opera. He depended on his amazing memory， his understanding of features of different stage artists， and his hands-on stage experience. He recalls that as each master had a different set of requirements and a different style， the drummer must find out these differences and figure out a way to cope with them. He learned from masters and colleagues. Yu Yujin was his master， the master he kowtowed to. When Liang worked the cymbals in a band， Liang learned a lot from master drummer Wang Xieyuan by watching him drum. Liang also learned a lot from Hang Zihe by watching him drum in performances.

In his life career， Liang worked with a galaxy of Peking Opera artists， including some celebrated masters and including all stereotyped roles.

In an interview with me， Liang reminisced about his drumming for Yan Huisheng， a celebrated woman master. His principle was to create a drum percussion that was so convincing and well anticipating that she did not need to instruct him what she really needed. Gai Jiaotian， a famous Peking Opera master based in Hangzhou， had Liang as his drummer. Liang understood Gai Jiaotian so much that he gave Gai Jiaotian perfect drum accompaniment. Gai was greatly satisfied with Liang.

As a matter of fact， the masters at Zhejiang Peking Opera Troupe were so accustomed to Liang’s drum accompaniment that they would feel uncomfortable if someone else served as the drummer. Liang told me an anecdote about his canceled trip to Shanghai. He had planned to travel to Shanghai and made arrangements so that a substitute drummer would cover for him in a scheduled performance. Then the lead master came to him and asked him to drum， explaining that the substitute drummer was good enough. So Liang canceled his trip.

Liang explains the Peking Opera drum art this way: the only purpose of the drumming art is to make actors comfortable and make audience applaud.□