Chinese pure music series#
The Qing period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Ji Dakui 紀大奎 finally concluded that the "six equals" might be another series of tones that included only altered tones ( bianlü). Some commentators interprete the character 同 as a clerical error for 間, others for a homophone of tong 銅 "bronze (pipes or tubes)". The chapter Chunguan 春官 "Spring offices" in the Classic Zhouli includes a third term, namely "six equals" ( liutong 六同), in the phrase zhang liulü liutong zhi he 掌六律六同之和 "XXX controls the harmony of the six lǜ pipes and the six equals". Similarly, the oldest traces of the "intermediate tones" ( jianyin 間音) in the inscriptions on the bells found in the Warring States 戰國 (5th cent.-221 BCE) period tomb of Marquis Zeng 曾侯乙, refer to altered tones, and not to the six lǚ 六呂 pipes. Older texts like the Guoyu (with Shi Bo's 史伯 discussion on music) or the history Zuozhuan 左傳 speak of five or six tones, and not of six pipes. The term "six lǜ pipes" 六律 is first to be found in the Confucian Classic Zhouli 周禮, which was finalized during the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE). These were called "altered tones" ( bianlü 變律) and are also to be found in many musical modes ( gongdiao 宮調) of theatre airs. For some music instruments, especially the zither, reduced of half-tones were made use of.
Chinese pure music full#
The "pure tone" of each pipe was seen as a "correct" tone ( zhenglü 正律), meaning a full tone in the sense of the Western musical system. Yet the problem of this system is that the absolute height of this tone was not fixed anyhow, and therefore also those of the other pipes whose tone was always related to that of the basic tone. The height of the twelve tones depends on that of the basic tone of the Yellow Bell pipe. The oldest surviving bronze bells are inscribed with words like tuobin 妥賓 (later called ruibin 蕤賓) or wutai XXX 無旲 (corresponding to the later wuyi 無射). In fact, bells are the oldest music instruments that give evidence of the pentatonic system used in China, and the names of the height of these tones. The Yellow Emperor ordered him to cast twelve bells ( zhong 鍾). Kunlun 崑崙 the idea came to him to use these sounds to create a tempered musical system. When he heard the cries of phoenixes in the vales of Mt. According to legend, the system was invented by a certain Ling Lun 伶倫, a minister of the Yellow Emperor 黃帝.
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This method makes it necessary that the diameter and the circumference of each pipe is the same. By alternatively substracting a third and adding a third of the length of the pipe, the higher tones of the scale are created. The length of all pipes in this system are derived from the Yellow Bell pipe ( huangzhong 黃鐘). The earliest system of the pitchpipes is called "pure intonation" ( chunlü 純律). Although there is an explanation given for the meaning of the word lǜ 律, the real origin of this designation, as well as that of the lǚ 呂 pipes, is shrouded in mystery.
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These were later called the six yang pipes ( liu yanglü 六陽律) and the six yin pipes ( liu yinlü 六陰呂 see Yin and Yang). Music Master Zhoujiu discerned between odd-number pipes ( danshu 單數) and even-number pipes ( shuangshu 雙數) or "intermediate pipes" ( liu jian 六間).
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Six of the pipes were called lǜ ( liùlǜ 六律), the others lǚ ( liùlǚ 六呂). These are based on one fundamental unit, from which all other measurements are derived, like the bones of a spine (which is the actual meaning of the world lü 呂). One of the oldest definition of the term lǜ 律 is to be found in the history Guoyu 國語, where the music master Ling Zhoujiu 伶州鳩 explained that lü means something with the help of which standards for measurements are created ( suoyi li jun chu du 所以立均出度). The term lǜ 律 means "measure", and is later also applied to "judicial measures" of the administrative law (like lüli 律例 "laws and precedent cases", or the modern term falü 法律 "law") the term lǚ 呂 means "XXX". Most fundamental for Chinese music theory is the system of the twelve pitchpipes ( shi'er lü 十二律) that is composed of a scale of twelve pipes ( lülü 律呂).