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Traditional/Classical Music: Chinese Music: Instruments |
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| Chinese music has ancient roots. The art flourished in the Shang dynasty
after the 14th century BC, and its origins were surely earlier. Though remarkable for its
stability, the music of China has not been stagnant and has all the variety and richness
to be expected in the art of a vast, ancient, and populous land. The importance of Chinese music extends beyond China's national borders. The presence of Chinese musical instruments, as well as repertoire and style characteristics, is conspicuous in Korea, Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia. THEORY Musical speculation and descriptions of musical performances began to appear in many of the historical, ceremonial, and literary documents written between the 6th and 1st centuries BC. These writings reveal an immensely sophisticated idealism that is the principal musical legacy of ancient China. Music and musical thought were the expression of an all-embracing world view. Art and life have never been closer: music, it was believed, was an emanation of the heart and an image of the cosmos. The author Lu Buwei (Lu Pu-wei) "was able to speak of music only with a man who has grasped the meaning of the world." The influence upon conduct and conviction ascribed to music was accordingly great: it was regarded as the basis of government, of order. This is evident in the sustained attention given to accuracy in musical tuning, which was seen as essential to the harmony of the world: the readjustment of pitch became one of the first acts of a new emperor, and an Imperial Office of Music was established under Han Wudi (Wu-ti) (r.140-87 BC). Chinese melody is ordinarily based on a 5-tone (pentatonic) scale, although additional pitches can be introduced. Expressiveness, however, is often less a function of melodic patterns than of the individual note, which carries cosmological connotations. This emphasis on the single tone raises timbre to a position of enormous importance, and Chinese musicians have employed with immense skill the range of coloristic possibilities afforded by their instruments and voices. Polyphony is alien to China. Traditional notation involves a separate sign for each degree of the scale, although tablatures are used by zither players, and staff notation has been imported in modern times. INSTRUMENTS Musical instruments are first described in the great classics that document the history of China's kingdoms before the 2d century BC. The Book of Odes (Shi Jing) compiled song texts from periods as early as the 10th century BC. These describe the use of instruments in ritual entertainment. The most frequently mentioned are drums, bells, zithers, flutes, and mouth organs. The following instruments are those most prominent in contemporary usage or are of historical interest. Among the percussion instruments, the qing (ch'ing), tuned sonorous stone chimes of the Zhou (Chou) era, has been retained today for use in Confucian ceremonies. Another early instrument is a large barrel-shaped bronze gong, the tong gu ("metal drum"), a ritual instrument of southeast Asia that was introduced to China during the Han dynasty's military expeditions. It is remarkable for its metal workmanship and ornamentation. Today, gongs (luo) and cymbals (bo) in a variety of sizes are used in Taoist ceremonies as well as in opera. An instrument that is used in the important role of directing the opera is the ban, rectangular wood clappers. In Buddhist ceremonies the muyu ("Chinese temple block"), a slit-gong of camphor wood in a symbolic carving of a fish, is used for setting the musical pulse. The generic term for drum is gu, of which diverse types abound. Drums are used in folk music, religious functions, opera, and in a variety of ensembles for entertainment. The skins are generally nailed to the wood shell and are commonly played with sticks. Some well-known types are the huagu, the flat-shaped "flower drum" used by northern ballad singers, the ubiquitous dagu, or "great drum," a barrel-shaped double-headed instrument, and the banggu, a single-headed opera drum with a small resonant surface producing a piercing "dry" sound. Of the wind instruments, the flutes made of bamboo have remained as simple in construction as they were in ancient China. The end-blown xiao has a gentle quality and is appropriate for small ensembles. The transverse flute ti produces a more assertive tone and a wide range of expressive effects. A rice-paper covered hole next to the mouthpiece gives the ti a "buzzing" timbre, and performers have developed highly virtuosic techniques. Also of ancient origin is the sheng, a free-reed mouth organ. It survives in very limited usage for secular and Confucian music, yet provides a unique chordal sound texture. The double-reed sona, a member of the SHAWM family, is widely used in the Near East, Asia, and Europe and is commonly played in Taoist ceremonies and occasionally in opera. Of the string instruments, the she and qin are zithers closely associated with the scholars of ancient times. They created an esoteric and sophisticated repertoire and a highly detailed system of notation for the instrument. First appearing in the early 15th century, collections of qin music are the largest source of notated instrumental music. The more brilliant sounding zheng, a 13-string zither, was better suited to entertainment and became widely popular. This instrument suggests the influence of Chinese culture in east Asia, for it was adopted by adjacent countries. It has been used in Japan since the 7th century and is there called a koto. The yangqin, a hammered dulcimer of Near Eastern origin, is commonly used for entertainment. Other plucked string instruments include two short-necked fretted lutes: the pipa with a shallow pear-shaped body, and the yueqin, called the "moon guitar," with a circular body. The san xian differs from these in having a long neck with a small snakeskin-covered resonator. A large family of bowed string instruments has evolved since the 9th century. These are generically called huqin, while each regional variation is known by a specific term that may differ among regions. Examples are erhu, jinghu, dijin, nanhu, erxian, yehu, and matou and jin. They all have a string-bearing neck that projects through a small resonator and a bow, the hair of which passes between the two strings. Instrumental ensembles in varying sizes have figured in the history of Chinese music. In earlier days, the size of an ensemble reflected the eminence of its owner.
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music is LIFE!
music soothes even the savage beast
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