Chapter 69 Gagaku

Elegance and vulgarity are a set of relative concepts. Yayue generally refers to the music and dance of the court's sacrificial ceremonies, court meetings, banquets, honor guards and other activities, which originated from the ritual and music system of the Zhou Dynasty.In the imperial court’s suburban society (sacrificing to the heaven and earth), ancestral temple (sacrificing ancestors), court ceremonies (challenges, Yanxiang, etc.), Xiangshe (local bureaucratic gatherings), military (march, celebration, triumph, etc.) ceremonies, except for one In addition to a set of cumbersome ceremonies, there are music and dances, and these music and dances have very strict regulations in form and content.

Among the various aristocratic etiquettes in the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period recorded in "Zhou Li", those related to gala music are: Jiaoshe: a ceremony for offering sacrifices to the gods of heaven and earth; Banquets at the banquet, etc., including Daxiang, Yanli, Dashe, pension, etc.; Xiangshe: a gathering of bureaucrats and landlords in the village to compare archery; Wang Shidaxian: a triumphal celebration held when the war is won; Used for hunting in the nature of marches and military exercises. As a tool of ritual and music education, the status and role of music and dance art has also been raised to an unprecedented height.

The lyrics of various main ritual music in the Zhou Dynasty are mostly contained in "Daya", "Xiaoya" and "Song" in the poem, and a few belong to "Ernan" in the poem "Wind". The musical instruments used in gala music mainly include chime bells, chime chimes, qin, se, xun, sheng, yu, panxiao, chi, chime, 敔, etc., which are different from those used in folk music. However, due to the overly stylized performance of Gagaku music, the rigidity of music and dance due to overly elegant, and the overly complicated rules for performance and appreciation, etc., its artistry and appreciation are greatly restricted, so it is not very popular. Apart from formal ceremonies, people still prefer "vulgar music" represented by folk music. "Le Ji" records that Wei Wenhou said that he "listened to ancient music while wearing a crown, but was afraid of lying down, and listened to the sounds of Zheng and Wei, and he would never tire."

After the change of dynasties in the past, large-scale transformations will be carried out on the previous dynasties. Even in the same dynasty, the later monarchs often change the gram music out of their own preferences, delete the content that praises the previous dynasty, and add new folk music After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, many ethnic minorities and foreign music elements were added.The musical instruments used in later generations of Gayue also changed with the times, and new pipa, flute, 筚篥, Fangxiang, etc. were added.