Chapter 2 Chapter 1 Searching for Ancient Music

Ancient mythology is an artistic general reflection of ancient natural phenomena, the struggle between ancient ancestors and nature, and the primitive social life of ancient ancestors, which contains many natural landscapes and social reality elements of the corresponding era.The myths and legends about music in ancient Chinese literature reflect the specific musical life and musical thoughts of the ancestors in a tortuous way. In the oldest creation myth recorded in Chinese historical documents, Nuwa and Fuxi are the earliest and only couple at the beginning of mankind.Nu Wa not only used clay to create batches of next generations—human groups, but also invented music for children so that they would no longer be lonely in the sound of music.Nuwa's first musical achievement was the invention of a musical instrument called "reed" ("Shiben Zuopian"). mouth spring", "mouth string". "Spring" was first made of bamboo, so the word "bamboo" means to carve a reed tongue on a short piece of bamboo, put the left hand in the mouth, and use the right finger to move the bamboo to make the reed tongue vibrate and make a sound. , and then played a beautiful, lyrical tune.If it is connected with the modern "kouhuang" and "kouxian" in the music life of various ethnic groups, most of them are women's collections, and they are commonly used wind instruments for women, then the ancient ancestors said it was the creation of the female ancestor goddess Nuwa It is not surprising that it is invented, which is an objective reflection of the music life of ancient ancestors women.Later, she ordered her subordinates to create the wind instruments "Duliangguan" and "Banguan" ("Shiben Emperor Series"), and wind instruments began to spread again from then on.

Fuxi in mythology is also a musician. Legend has it that he first invented the stringed instruments "qin" and "se" among Chinese musical instruments ("Shiben Zuopian").It is said that the "se" made by Fuxi is seven feet two inches long, with 27 strings on it ("Guang Ya · Shi Yue"), and at the same time created music called "Fu Lai" and "Driving Bian" ("Guang Ya·Shi Yue"). Shiben Emperor Series", "Chu Songs Great Moves"). Nuwa and Fuxi, one created the reed pipe music, and the other created the qin and se music. Since then, music and music activities in the world have gradually enriched.

The Yellow Emperor in ancient myths and legends is also very talented in music, and he is also a great music master in the eyes of the ancestors.When he was fighting Chi You in Zhuolu, he created a musical instrument called "horn" in the army. The horn blew out a sound like a dragon's chant, which frightened the troops led by Chi You; Playing drums to aid in the battle, the sound of beating once can "vibrate five hundred miles", and beating nine times in a row, Chi You and his army were devastated, and were captured and killed by the Yellow Emperor in Qingqiu ("Tian Zhong Ji" quoted "Huang Di Nei Zhuan") .

Kui is the god of thunder and the god of music in ancient myths and legends, and also the legendary music official in charge of music in the age of the Yellow Emperor and Yao and Shun.As the god of thunder and music, Kui is the incarnation of ancient reptiles such as crocodiles (Figure 1). "Shan Hai Jing · Hai Jing New Interpretation Volume Nine" says that it is a kind of divine beast that "goes in and out of the water, there will be wind and rain, its light is like the sun and the moon, and its sound is like thunder". , was regarded as the god of thunder and music by the ancestors.After the Yellow Emperor got Kui, he used his skin to make a drum, because the sound could travel 500 miles, and the world was peaceful from then on.This kind of drum is called "鼍鼎" in historical documents. "鼍" is similar to "Kui", and the pronunciation of the two characters is the same. "鼍" is written in the shape of a reptile in oracle bone inscriptions, but it is actually a crocodile.A drum is a drum covered with crocodile skin.Scattered crocodile carapace can be seen inside the cavity of a drum unearthed from the site of the Late Neolithic Longshan Culture in Taosi, Xiangfen County, Shanxi (Fig. 2).The above-mentioned myth of Kui and the discovery of the real object of the drum just confirm each other, which shows that the drum percussion instrument is one of the earliest musical instruments used by ancient Chinese ancestors, and that the ancient percussion instrument was firstly the beating of the human body itself (the humanized Kui used the tail The theory of the origin of percussion instruments induced by the rhythm of drumming its belly) has made a wonderful footnote.In addition to the drum, the musical instruments mentioned in ancient myths and legends include earthen drums, chimes, bells, bells, gongs, xuns, pipes, chi, reeds, qin, and se.

Yu is the leader of the tribal alliance in ancient Chinese legends.Legend has it that Yu was unable to meet his lover Tu Shan's daughter because he was patrolling the south due to flood control. In order to express her eager anticipation for Yu, Tu Shan's daughter sang a love song affectionately: "Waiting for Xiyi [yiyi]!" ( "Lushi Chunqiu·Yin Chu Pian" (Figure 3) This is the earliest and shortest four-character love song known so far.It means "waiting for you!" Except for the modal particle "xiyi" expressing exclamation, the only substantive words are "waiting for people".This story and its extremely concise libretto reveal and confirm the exposition of the ancient music literature "Yue Ji" on the origin of ancient singing: "The emotion is in the middle, so the shape is in the sound", "The old song is the words, and the long words It’s also.” That is to say: emotions are agitated in the heart, and they are expressed as voices; singing instead of words is actually an extension of the voice of speech.Interestingly, we can still see the image interpretation of the ancient theory of the origin of music that "singing is the development of language" in the structure of the ancient Dongba hieroglyph "sing" used by the Naxi Dongba religion (Figure 4).In Dongba script, a straight line (—) is used to represent the speaking voice; a wavy line (~~) is used to represent the conversion of the speaking voice into a singing voice, and the dotted lines (----) above and below the singing voice represent the breath conveyed during singing.

Famous music and dances in ancient times include "Ge Tian's Music", "Cloud Gate", "Da Xian", "Da Shao" and so on. "Ge Tian's Joy" expresses the working life style of Ge Tian's tribe ancestors who are both farmers and herdsmen, as well as the ritual and music procedures of offering sacrifices to heaven, earth, and ancestors, praying for lush vegetation and grain, and prosperity of humans and animals.During the performance, three people hold the oxtails in their hands and sing "Zaimin", "Xuanniao", "Suicaomu", "Fenwugu", "Dadi Gong", "Yidide", "Zongyuan" to the rhythm of the music. This is similar to the scene of "hitting the stone and smashing the stone, and all the beasts lead the dance" ("Shangshu · Yiji"). "Cloud Gate" is a music and dance that praises the great achievements of the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor is the god of the sun in myths and legends. "Daxian", also known as "Xianchi", expresses the content of offering sacrifices to the dead ancestors. "Xianchi" is the place where the sun sets in the myths and legends, and it is the place where the dead ancestors return to. "Dashao" is called "Shao" for short, and it is also called "Xiaoshao" because it uses the braided wind instrument panxiao as the main accompaniment instrument. It is said that it is a ritual music and dance in the Yushun era. Known as "Nine Songs", the "Shao" music that Confucius heard in Qi State is the legacy of this ancient music and dance.