Traditional Chinese Music

HistoryThe legendary founder of music in Chinese mythology was

Ling Lun who made bamboo pipes tuned to the sounds of birds.

The music of China dates back to around 3,000 years ago or as early as the Zhou Dynasty when a complete musical theory and sophisticated musical instruments began appearing in China. About 500 BC and afterwards music had the crucial role of an important pillar of society and by the Han Dynasty the imperial court set up a Music Bureau which was in charge of collecting and editing ancient melodies and folk songs.

One of the Confucianist Classics, Shi Jing, contained many folk songs dating from 800 BC to about 300 BC.

The oldest known written music is Youlan or the Solitary Orchid, attributed to Confucius.

Shi Jing (The Classics of Poetry)

The first song of the Classic of Poetry, handwritten by the Qianlong Emperor, with accompanying painting.

Did you know? • In ancient China the position of musicians was much lower than that

of painters.• The first European to reach China with a musical instrument was

Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci who presented a Harpsichord to the Ming imperial court in 1601, and trained four eunuchs to play it.

• Archaeologists have found the world's oldest playable flute in China. The 9,000 year-old, 8.6 inch instrument in pristine condition has seven holes and was made from a hollow bone of a bird, the red-crowned crane. It is one of six flutes and 30 fragments recovered from the Jiahu archaeological site in Henan province.

Archaeologists Find Oldest Playable Flute In China

Some of 30 flutes unearthed

Background of Chinese Traditional Music

In Confucian teachings, the purpose and role of music are laid out and the qualities of "good music" are defined.

Confucius taught that:

“To educate somebody, you should start with poems, emphasize ceremonies,

and finish with music.”

Foundation Tone

The foundation tone was produced when Ling Lun, the founder of Chinese music and a scholar, went to the western mountain area of China and cut a bamboo pipe in such a way that it produced the correct sound.

A musical note of specific pitch, also had political implications, since each dynasty was thought to have

its own "proper pitch."

Rite and Ritual Music was so important because the ideal society

was to be governed by rites, ritual and ceremonial functions, but not by law or raw power. In a culture where people function according to ritual and ceremony, music is used to help conduct and govern them. So music wasn’t really entertainment, but a means for musicians to accomplish political and social goals.

Music was ultimately a means for optimizing social utility or happiness.

General Traits of Traditional Music •Grand Entry

•Technical Finesse •Pentatonic Scale

•Smoothly Continuous •Grand Finale

To produce the proper respect for the authority and an optimal audience response, music should have a “magnificent beginning,” be “harmonic” and “clear,” have an easy structure, and be “smoothly continuous.”

Grand EntryMusicians in an orchestra or ensemble often begin their pieces

with a grand flourish of all of them playing their instruments simultaneously for a few seconds or by loudly sounding a gong or drum. This signals that the piece has begun and gets the audience’s attention.

Technical FinesseThe musicians will generally tone the volume down towards the

middle. This enables the audience to appreciate the technical finesse of the individual musicians.

Pentatonic ScaleMost of the traditional music of the elites used the ancient

Chinese pentatonic scale. The scale lends to making simple harmonies, but perhaps to maintain the Confucian norms of simplicity and clarity, harmony isn’t emphasized.

Smoothly ContinuousUnlike Western or African music, there is no emphasis on

rhythm or beat. Traditional Chinese music isn't meant to be danced or moved to. As Confucius taught, beautiful and appropriate music is meant to promote social tranquility.

If the music is a part of an official ceremonial function, the music is meant to regulate the behavior of the people so that they perform the ritual appropriately and obey authority.

Grand FinaleInstead of a regular tempo throughout, many pieces feature a

regular but smoothly accelerating tempo. The tempo slowly increases towards a finale at the end. This connotes a river gaining speed as it cascades downwards, and this is often the rhythmic feature of traditional Chinese music.

Three Kinds of Traditional Music

The three general kinds of traditional music that people are most like to hear nowadays are

•Chinese opera music meant for theatrical performances, •ensemble or orchestra music for cultured audiences, and •solo instrumental performance.

Chinese Opera Music

Chinese opera music is meant to augment the operatic story, actors, visual effects, but the traditional Chinese ensemble and instrumental solo pieces are generally meant to calm the passions and dispel unrest.

A small ensemble of about seven musicians playing at one end of the stage.

The instruments include the erhu and other stringed instruments, wood clappers, gongs, cymbals, and wind instruments

Traditional Music Ensembles and Orchestras

Chinese musicians in a traditional ensemble incorporate Western and modern musical styles. Even the instruments may be redesigned to play according to Western musical styles and are made from modern materials.

Non-traditional instruments such as a piano may also perform traditional music. So the music doesn’t sound exactly like the music played 200 years ago, but Western audiences will be intrigued by the differences in style and sound compared to Western orchestral music.

Solo Instrumental Performance

Instrumental performance has long been preeminent in Chinese art. Scholars were generally expected to be proficient performers. Solo instrumental performance is a serious musical discipline. The performances are subtle like a poetic recitation. The music itself is abstract.

• Chinese vocal music has traditionally been sung in a thin, non resonant voice or in falsetto and is usually solo rather than choral.

• All traditional Chinese music is melodic rather than harmonic.

• Traditional music in China is played on solo instruments or in small ensembles of plucked and bowed stringed instruments, flutes, and various cymbals, gongs, and drums.

Traditional Musical Instruments

They can be divided into four categories:

stringed instruments,

percussion instruments,

plucked instruments, and

wind instruments.

Bowed strings

• erhu, zhonghu, dahu, banhu, jinghu, gaohu, gehu, yehu, cizhonghu, diyingehu, leiqin

ErhuZhonghu

Banhu

Woodwind and percussion• dizi, sheng, paigu, gong, paixiao, guan,

bells, cymbals, bottle gourd silk

Dizi

Sheng

Gong

Paigu

Plucked and struck strings

• guqin, sanxian, yueqin, yangqin, guzheng, ruan, konghou, liuqin, pipa, zhu

Zhu

Sanxian

Ruan

Among the many traditional musical instruments of China, the most popular nowadays include the stringed instruments called the erhu, pipa, and guzheng, and the dizi flutes.

Erhu 二胡

Pronounced èrhú (urrh-hoo) in Mandarin, it is a two-string, violin-like instrumentthat is played with a bow like a violin bow.

the traditional instrument that you’ll be most likely to seein a trip to China.

You might see it played non-professionally for entertainment in public parks, and it is also played by street musicians.

inexpensive and portable

Guzheng 古箏

Pronounced gǔzhēng (goo-jung) in Mandarin, it is a large 18–23-or-more stringed instrument. It is said that it is an ancestor of the Japanese koto.

It isn’t commonly played in parks or on the streets. It is meant for Chinese opera and concert performances, and it is often played in traditional music ensembles. It is usually played by female musicians.

Pipa 琵琶

The pipa (pípá, pee-pah) is a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument. The instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with frets like those on a guitar. It sounds like a banjo.

Nowadays, pipa musicians will mainly be seen on the stage or perhaps as entertainers at special parties or restaurants.Modern pipas have been re-engineered to fit better with Western-style music. Steel strings are now used, so players wear special finger plectra.

Dizi 笛子

Dizis (dízi /dee-dz/) are generally made of bamboo, and they generally have six or more finger holes. One hole is covered with paper so that the flute has a peculiar buzzing sound that people like.

There are several kinds of dizi (dízi /dee-dz/) flutes such as the qudi and bangdi depending mainly on the length. The longer ones like the changdi allow for deeper sounds.

ERHU

LUTE

DIZI

SHENG

paigu

gong

ruan

zhonghu

Sources

• http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/arts/chinese-music.htm• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_music• http://www.philmultic.com/English/Chinese_music.html• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_of_Poetry• http://library.thinkquest.org/20443/traditional_music.html#• http://www.crystalinks.com/chinamusic.html• http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/culture/traditional-

music.htm