Chapter 10 Ling Lun/It is said to be the creator of Chinese rhythm

Ling Lun is said to have been a musician during the time of the Yellow Emperor. "Ling" is the name for musicians in the pre-Qin period, such as Lingzhoujiu.Ling is also written as "Ling", and the artists of later generations are called "Lingren", which is where they come from. We all know that one of the elements of music is melody, and melody is composed of high and low tones arranged in a certain order.These high and low sounds have a certain vibration frequency, and there is a certain proportional relationship between them.That is, the world-wide sound names C, D, E, F, G, A, B and roll call 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.In ancient times, people in long-term practice developed from a single tone to two tones, forming a two-tone scale, and then gradually developed into a four-tone scale, a pentatonic scale, and finally a complete seven-tone scale.At the same time, the absolute pitches of the twelve note names of C, #C, D, #D, E, F, #F, G, #G, A, #A, and B are gradually stipulated.In ancient Chinese music theory, these sound names and roll names have different names, which are Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng, Yu and Huang Zhong, Da Lu, Lin Zhong, Gu Xi, etc. that we often see.

According to legend, these rhythms were discovered by Ling Lun.It is said that the Yellow Emperor asked Ling Lun to be the lawmaker. After Ling Lun accepted the task, he went to the foot of Kunlun Mountain in the west, in the valley of Xixi, felled bamboo, and made twelve bamboo tubes of different lengths. Harmony, which bothered him very much.So he went to Ruan Yu again, where he heard the phoenix's cry.The phoenix's cry has six different high and low sounds, and the phoenix's call has six different high and low sounds.He found that these twelve tones were very harmonious, so he set these twelve tones as the standard temperament.