This is the continuation
of my blog post. History of the Chinese Musical Instruments. Please do check
out my previous post.
--
Between the years 115-138 B.C Zhang
Qian an explorer of the Western Han
dynasties. Visited various countries in the Westerns region. These visits
resulted in an increase in cultural exchange in various ethnic groups, a number
of foreign instruments were introduced to China. The greatest changes, occurred
in the China’s flutes and Xiao. It
was not until in the Han dynasty that Chinese flutes were played vertically.
Accordng to Mr. Qia Jianzhong, “In the past the Xiao
was also called the flute. Before, the
flute in China was played vertically.”
In the Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian introduced the flutes in the Western regions to China
and they were played horizontally. Flutes that were played vertical were
renamed Xiao. The sounds produced by
the flutes are clear and is pleasant to the ear as the chirping of birds. Both
the Xiao and flute are favorite
musical instruments of Chinese people and both are equally important.
After the downfall of Han
dynasty, China entered a period of incessant wars among various dynasties.
These wars became a catalyst for increased cultural exchange as a result
foreign cultures found their way to China. Gradually, Instruments that are
introduced to the people of China through the silk road become important to the musical life of the country.
Ruanxian is an improved version of Pipa from the Western regions as used in the Han dynasty, it was called the Qing
pipa, but later renamed Ruanxian,
named after a scholar who was skilled in playing it. It is a plucked
stringed-instrument. A Ruanxian has a
round soundbox it also has a straight handle, string bridges, and strings. The
crank-handled Pipa is quite different
from the round Chinese Pipa, and it
is so named because part of its handle is a crank . The Pipa has a pear-shaped soundbox.. The name Pipa suggests how the instruments is played. Pi indicates the strings are plucked inwardly and Pa indicates the strings are plucked
outwardly. Renowned Tang Poet Bai Juyi (wrote an essay telling how a
Pipa is played).
“The large string hum like rain, the small strings whisper like a
secret. The string hummed whispered and then were intermingled like the pouring
of large and small pearls into a plate of jade.”
At first the Pipa was played played horizontally as Bai Juyi wrote she held the Pipa horizontally to hide half of her
face. It took more than a thousand years before it was played vertically as it
is in the stage today. That period lasted from the 7th century in the Tang Dynasty up to the 17 th century
in the Ming dynasty. Today the Pipa has a box and is played with the
hand.
The Pipa was introduced to
Japan from China in the Tang dynasty,
and even today the Japanese used a bug spectrum to play the Pipa. Today, the Pipa was among the well-known Chinese musical instruments.The Konghou originated in West asia and was introduced to China’
through China’s Western regions.The Paiban
was introduced to the Tang dynasty
from today’s Northwest China and all
of these is evident from the openness of Tang
culture towards other culture.Dizi Pa is a kind of vertical flute and is named as 1.8 Zi. Although the instrument
disappeared in China long ago it became a traditional instrument in Japan, as
with all the case of musical instruments in the Tang dynasty.
It is said that over a
thousand years ago a musician of the town imperial palace fled the capital and
made his way to this town in South western in Xian due to war. It is here that he established a musical ensemble to
teach local people imperial music. Incredibly the group is still active today. Most
of them are simple farmers, and after doing their family work they meet
together for practice for performances. Most of the musical instruments were
handed down to them by their forefathers, and their skills in the instruments
were passed on in the same way. It is believed that the musical score in silk that
they keep was produced several hundred years ago during the Ming dynasty.
Li Mingzhong, research fellow
Shaanxi Art Institute says, “Xi’an musicians use up to seven types of
drums. The score of their ensembles
depends on drum beats. So Xian musicians don’t use drums to command music
ensembles as they do in operas Drum beats are use to unite every part of the
ensemble. So drums are very important. Although these types of ancient musical
instruments were once reserved for Imperial use only overtime they gradually
extended to ordinary people.“
Today musician can’t be
seen while accompanying performers in the Peking
Opera. However the music of the opera reveals to the audience how able the
accompanist are as they give expressions equally well as to tragic feelings or a more gentle sentiments
required for the story. Peking Opera doesn’t require a large number of
accompanist. Usually just 7 or 8 musicians playing strings or percussions and
wind instruments are all that was required and this is the result of many years
of experimentation.
This popular band
integrating modern and traditional styles caused a sensation in China, the
members of the band were all women using traditional Chinese instruments to
play contemporary music. (12 Girls Band).
Interestingly the musical instruments in their hands actually didn’t actually
originate in China but over a long period of time became a representative of
Chinese musical instruments.
Older Chinese
people will find playing the erhu in
the way that they played is unacceptable. The erhu is usually played in a certain manner and context. The erhu is as important to the Chinese as
violin is to the Europeans. However many Chinese people don’t know that the erhu is not an original Chinese musical
instrument.
Qian Jianzhong says, “We didn’t have this kind of instrument in
China. Furthermore, until the xiqin appeared during the Tang Dynasty. There
were no records about the xiqin until the Song dynasty at which time it was
renamed the erhu fiddle. So the erhu fiddle is a product o fthe integration of
Chinese and foreign cultures. “
The erhu mainly consists of a bow and
a two strings. But it went through a number of transformations before
maturing in the Yuan dynasty to come to the instruments we know today. The
result was a bowed string instrument. This kind of instrument was kinda new to
China. This instrument was used to accompany the opera, song and dance
performances and is an ensemble instrument used in various traditional music
groups. According to Qian Jianzhong the erhu’s tension is in its middle. The pitch isn’t very high so the erhu fiddle is sounds quite mellow.
Eventually the erhu ousted the pipa as the leading instrument in the Tang dynasty.
Qian also mentioned, “The pipa has nodes. When the strings are plucked
at, these nodes are produced. It also has strings and other things but it
produces its sound mainly through the
points. When it is played the erhu fiddle makes a fine sound. When it is played
slowly it makes a long continuous sound. In addition the erhu can mimic the
sound of the human voice. When it Is played the erhu most often sounds like
singing. This is also true of performances given by Liu Tianhua whose erhu fiddle was
a good singer. The pipa cant do that as it makes sounds through its
frets not lines. Which makes it different from the erhu fiddle.”
After the Ming and Qing dynasties variations on the erhu have emerged in China including the gaohu,banhu and jinghu
and in this way the erhu came to
dominate Chinese folk musical instruments.
Thanks to the effort of
Chinese musicians by the period of 1000
years. 4 types of instruments have
come to dominate Chinese music.
String instruments were represented by the erhu, jinhu and gaohu.
Plucked instruments were represented by qin and pipa.
Wind instruments were represented by the flute, xiao, sheng, and suona.
And percussions instruments were represented by tanggu, tonggu and bo.
However in Europe in
the middle ages things were quite different, by that time larger ensembles were
beginning to take shape and larger number of musical instruments were being
used producing increasingly complicated music. Modern symphonic music
originated to devoted to the glory of God and as such was often more passionate
and dramatic.
Traditional Chinese
music continues to progress along a Chinese style path. Ancient Xun
makes music that takes you back to the remote past. The Pipa is used produce music that can give expression to a beautiful
scenery of a moonlit river on a beautiful spring. The Erhu excels when it comes to portraying people’s sadness and
worries.
These musical
instruments made of different materials producing different timbres worked together to give expressions to
the unique traditional Chinese culture.Ancient Chinese
scholars officials have their own aesthetic taste. The Qin which has a history of a thousand years was a symbol of life
for the high people of society. All emperor’s high ranking officials and
scholars of the Song and Yuan dynasty right up to the Ming and Qing dynasties took delight in music produce on the Qin.Different kinds of
ancient Qin have survived to the
present day some of them were handed down from generation after generation
within a single family while others, once assets of the Imperial palace. Yet o are
no longer regarded as ordinary musical instruments having become precious art
objects in their own rights.
Even today the ancient
Qin is still used to produce music
that gives expression to ancient Chinese culture and traditions. And it has
that unique character that enables it both to express melancholy and nobility.
Today many modern
Chinese find in a world full of frantic activity, the sound of Qin can bring peace and tranquillity.
---
Source:
New Frontiers International documentary CCTV 9.
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento