Chapter 7 Section 3 Music of the Eight Tones

The variety of the same category of things continues to increase, which will inevitably lead to people's pursuit of reclassifying such things.The large increase in the varieties of ancient musical instruments also made the ancients need to classify musical instruments.In the Zhou Dynasty, there were more than 70 kinds of Chinese musical instruments recorded in literature alone. So far, the earliest classification of musical instruments in Chinese history-eight tone appeared.It first appeared in the "Zhouyu" part of the historical book "Guoyu", which records the speeches of the nobles of Zhou, Lu and other countries during the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period.The so-called "octave" refers to the eight categories of musical instruments.At that time, musical instruments were classified according to their production materials. For example, chimes, bells, gongs, bells, etc. were made of metal, and they were classified as "gold"; chime, chime, etc. were made of stone or jade, and they were classified as "stone". ; Xun, Fou, etc. are fired with clay, which is classified as "soil"; drums, drums, and drums, etc., use animal leather as the tympanic membrane, and are classified as "leather"; "Silk" category; 柷, 敔, etc. are made of wood, which are classified into "wood" category; They are made of bamboo tubes and are classified as "bamboo".In this way, there are eight categories of "gold, stone, earth, leather, silk, wood, gourd, and bamboo", so they are called "eight tones".

"Among the eight tones, gold and stone are the first." Gold and stone percussion instruments in the Shang and Zhou dynasties were often regarded as "heavy instruments" and received special attention in the ceremonial music activities of the court and nobles.During official performances, such instruments are placed in prominent positions and show the social status and power of the owner through them, so only princes and nobles may own such instruments and enjoy the music played by such instruments. Qin, se and other stringed instruments belonging to the "silk" category were widely spread among the intellectuals and the public called "shi" during this period, and gradually developed into highly expressive accompaniment instruments and solo instruments.Qin, now known as "Guqin" or "Lyre" (Figure 12), is said to have been created by Shennong, the leader of the ancient clan. It uses paulownia wood as the body and strings as the strings. It is three feet six inches long and originally five strings. , to the Zhou Dynasty as seven strings.During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, a group of qin players emerged among the scholars, and their qin skills had developed to a relatively high level. Confucius was once praised for being good at playing the guqin.There is another guqin player named Boya. "Lushi Chunqiu·Benwei Pian" contains a famous story about him: Boya was born in the Warring States Period. Knowing that no one can appreciate the music he plays, he often enjoys himself alone and plays the piano alone.One day, Boya came to Yaxing, and first played a piece of "High Mountain". A woodcutter named Zhong Ziqi immediately praised after listening to it: "How magnificent! The meaning of the song is as majestic as Mount Tai!" Boya was shocked. Then he played another piece of "Flowing Water". As soon as the tune ended, Zhong Ziqi immediately praised, "It's so magnificent! The music is as mighty as a river!" Become a rare "confidant" in music.Now we often say that "a close friend is hard to find" comes from this allusion; the term "high mountains and flowing water" has therefore become a synonym for beautiful music.Today, there is a tourist attraction in Wuhan, Hubei Province called "Guqin Terrace", which is said to be the place where Boya played the piano. Under the eaves of the main entrance of the "Guqin Terrace" hall, there is a horizontal plaque with the four characters "High Mountain and Flowing Water". When visitors see it, they can't help recalling the ancient music story of Boya and Zhong Ziqi.

Today's commonly used idiom "to make up the number" also comes from the "pao" musical instrument yu in the "eight tones". "Han Feizi Nei Chu Shuo 1" records: King Xuan of Qi (reigned 319-301 BC) liked the music played by Yu, but he only liked to listen to the ensemble and not to the individual solo, so every time he listened to the music, he let the music out. More than 300 Yu musicians played at the same time, so the number of Yu musicians supported in the palace reached more than hundreds.A man named Mr. Nan Guo knew nothing about Yu blowing skills, but because he knew King Qi Xuan’s hobby, he recommended himself to become a musician for Wang Yu blowing. King Qi Xuan was very happy and let him join in playing Yu blowing. ranks.Whenever the palace ensemble played, Mr. Nan Guo would mix in the Yu-playing team of hundreds of people and pretend to be playing the Yu: shaking his head and wiggling his fingers. In fact, he didn’t play the tune at all, so he was still in the court orchestra for a long time. long time.But the good times didn’t last long. After the death of King Qi Xuan, King Qi Min (min Min) succeeded to the throne, but he had a completely different taste for Yu from King Xuan: he only liked to listen to solo performances, and was not interested in large ensembles, so he sent orders to play Yu musicians. He said that in the future, Wang Zouyue would perform solo one by one.When Mr. Nan Guo heard the news, he knew that he would never be able to get away with it, so he quietly escaped from the palace.This humorous music story reflects from one aspect that Yu was quite popular and difficult to play during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods.Yu is similar to Sheng, and its shape is to insert a number of bamboo tubes with gongs in a horizontal row on a scoop-shaped bucket.The earliest sheng object seen so far is the sheng unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in the Warring States Period; the earliest yu object seen so far is the yu unearthed from the Mawangdui Tomb of the Han Dynasty later than the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods (Figure 13).

The "eight tone" classification of musical instruments prevailed in the Zhou Dynasty, which shows that our ancestors had a relatively scientific understanding of physical acoustics in the practice of music more than 2,000 years ago, and the craftsmanship of musical instruments has also reached a very high level.Later, with the changes of history, the word "Bayin" gradually lost its early taxonomic meaning. In modern times, it has evolved into a synonym for some local folk bands played by a variety of musical instruments, such as the "Bayin" in Wutai Mountain, Shanxi. Yin" Club, the "Eight Tone" Band of the Zhuang Nationality in Longlin County, Guangxi, etc.