In the traditional Chinese music culture with a long history and vast forms, there is an important form of music - Yale.

Yale comes from the palace temple, elegant, pure, harmonious and solemn. The "music education" has lasted for thousands of years in China, shaping the civilization of Chinese ritual and music, and has been recorded in the history of world cultural development.

The culture of etiquette and music has created the broad atmosphere of Chinese civilization, shaped the state of etiquette that respects education and literature, and respects etiquette and harmony, and cultivated the Chinese spirit of continuous self-improvement and virtue.

"It is impossible for rituals and music, and music is not for rituals." Chinese ritual and music culture exudes a splendid dazzling splendor, conveying the time-honored value of the times and permanent charm.

Making rites and music, ruling the country and making peace

  Yale originated from the ritual ceremony of the king of Zhou.

Back in time to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, in the palace of the Zhou royal family and the vassal of Zeng State, the bell rang and the Ding Ding was eaten, and the guests of honor were listening to a unique "symphony", the music curled and the reverberation lingered... As the years passed, history After more than two thousand years, the largest and heaviest Zeng Houyi bell in the world, composed of bronze bells and chimes, presents the world, completely reproduces the solemn scenes of ancient ritual and music ceremonies, and reflects the splendor created by the ancestors of China. The brilliant light of ritual and music civilization.

Although Yale is blocked by the high walls of the palace, occasionally "the joy of the sky" will float to the common people.

It's really the so-called "Pear garden disciples stole music scores, and the head white people teach songs and dances" "This song should only be found in the sky, how many times can I hear it in the world?"

  "Book of Rites, Music" has a cloud: "Music is the harmony of heaven and earth; ritual is the order of heaven and earth. Harmony, so all things are transformed; order, so groups of things are separated." Ji Dan, the founding father of the Western Zhou Dynasty Later Confucians were honored as Duke of Zhou, known as the saint who "made rituals and music".

The Zhou Dynasty implemented a political system of feudal feudalism. The monarch gave land to the children of the royal family, and used the patriarchal blood as a link to form vassal states or vassal territories, and build a central and local political structure.

In order to stabilize the rule and declare the legitimacy and legitimacy of the regime, Duke Zhou created the original "rite and music system" - "Zhou Li" on the basis of the "ancient rituals" made by the ancient sages. Code of conduct, strengthen the sense of hierarchy.

In the construction of ritual and music culture, Duke Zhou also transformed ancient witchcraft and sacrificial rituals, and closely linked "song, music, dance" and "ritual", that is, "introducing rituals into music", which was used to symbolize the order of superiority and inferiority. and ethics.

For example, the specifications and forms of "music" in ritual activities such as sacrificial rituals, sacrificial rituals, shooting rituals, swallow rituals, welcoming guests, sending guests off, etc., must be in accordance with "the law of small and large, compared with the beginning and the beginning, and act according to the like. Let the principles of intimacy, rank, rank, young and old, and men and women all appear in the form of joy.”

At the same time, music and dance, pieces of music, movements, etc., must also reflect the connotation of artistic performance of "singing merit and eulogizing virtue".

Bells, drums, chimes and other elegant musical instruments must be placed according to the standard of "king, hanging in the palace; lords, hanging in the palace; high officials, hanging in the sentence; scholars, hanging in special", constructing a strict hierarchy, complete system, political and religious characteristics Prominent etiquette and music civilization.

  During the Spring and Autumn Period, with the evolution of the social form and the change of the political pattern, a situation of "death and music collapse" gradually appeared.

Confucius accused the behavior of violating and destroying etiquette as "tolerable, but unbearable", so he took "combating oneself and restoring etiquette" as his responsibility. As the core Confucian ideological system, it promotes the ritual and music culture of "the use of rituals, and harmony is precious".

After that, Mencius, Xunzi and other pre-Qin Confucians consciously inherited the questioning, learning, restoring, and imparting rituals, and took "ritual and music" as the carrier of ethics and morality, and constructed Confucian political thought and social ethical thought.

The ancient concept of "ritual and music" has gradually been elevated to a social ideology that is generally accepted and recognized by the whole society, and has become the main content of Chinese traditional culture, which has had a profound impact on the political life and cultural development of later generations.

  The Han and Tang Dynasties were the heyday of Yale.

During the Western Han Dynasty, the purpose of using Ya Music changed significantly. It was no longer just a "right action" to declare the orthodoxy and legitimacy of the emperor, and to play the function of educating the subjects to quell their desires and obey the hierarchy, but to establish the authority of the emperor. , through the Yale ritual activities, the officials and the people are convinced and obey the emperor and the national system with the emperor as the core.

As recorded in "Historical Records", in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, when ministers went to court or had a banquet with the emperor, they did not have the etiquette of monarchs and ministers.

Shusun Tong set up a banquet ceremony for the meeting of the monarchs and ministers for Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty.

During a series of ceremonies, the generals were solemn and respectful.

Liu Bang was very happy, "I know today that I am the most valuable emperor", so he rewarded Shusun Tong and awarded Taichang the official position of five hundred catties of gold.

Through the ceremony of Yale, the generals' unrestrained habit of the past was changed, and the way of the ruler and ministers was standardized, and the absolute authority of the emperor was also established.

  By the time of the Tang Dynasty, the country was full of dynamism, the dynasties came from all directions, the world was proud, the economic development was high, the society, culture and art were brilliant, and the artistic attainments and aesthetic values ​​had reached the highest level of feudal society.

According to historical records, the emperors of the Tang Dynasty had a tradition of loving music and enjoying music.

In particular, Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, was very talented in music, and was especially good at beating Jiegu. He broke several boxes of drumsticks just by practicing Jiegu.

Song Jing, the famous minister, praised his drumming as "the head is like a green mountain peak, and the hands are like white raindrops".

Li Longji is also very proficient in composition, conducting and arranging. He personally participates in music creation, directs the performance of works, and even checks the performance costumes himself, forming a prosperous scene of "Shangle" in the Tang court.

At the same time, the Tang court set up music and dance institutions such as Taichang Temple, Jiaofang, Liyuan, etc., which performed ritual and music functions, performed singing and dancing acrobatics, cultivated specialized music talents, and started compiling "Ji Li", "Bing Li", "Military Li", "Jia Li" and "Evil Li". "Cultural projects such as "Xianqing Li" and "Datang Kaiyuan Li".

During the Tang Dynasty, the country developed and prospered, which promoted the unprecedented development and prosperity of the ritual and music system and court music, and created an atmosphere of "the court order", "the harmony between the ruler and the minister", and "the courage of the people and the people".

However, after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Yale entered a period of decline due to frequent changes in the ruling regime.

  In the more than three hundred years since the founding of the Song Dynasty, the country suffered from internal and external aggression, and the regime was overthrown twice.

Under the severe political situation and strong external oppression, the Song Dynasty pinned its hopes on seeking the protection and protection of gods and ancestors.

After the peace talks between the Song and Jin Dynasties, the country received a rare opportunity for peaceful development, and the economy and society developed rapidly. Therefore, the court became more and more convinced of the power of the gods, and more respected the Confucian cultural awareness and retro style of "respecting the king and repelling barbarians". Righteousness" as the starting point, inherit and develop the tradition of governing the country of Chinese ritual and music education, abide by the words of the former kings, strictly condemn the voice of Hu Yi, and closely combine the production of elegant music with the Confucian ethics of comprehension and the theory of yin and yang and the five elements.

Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhao Gou, paid special attention to the construction of elegant music, and invested huge sums of money to change music six times.

With the rejuvenation of the country's economy and culture, the social values ​​of the Southern Song Dynasty have undergone great changes, and the performance of Yale has been fully professionalized and developed in the direction of diversification and art.

In Song Dynasty, Yale was inherited from Zhou Qin, Han and Tang Dynasties, followed by Ming and Qing Dynasties, and Confucian Yale. There are reservations and continuations.

The joy of stone

  The "Gold and Stone Music" composed of drums, bells, chimes and other instruments is known as the "Symphony Orchestra" in ancient China.

Since the Zhou Dynasty, the drum was known as the first of the "eight-tone", and a special system for drum music was formulated, and the official position of "drum man" was specially set up to be responsible for drum-making, drumming and other affairs.

Drum music is shocking and mysterious. In major ceremonies among emperors, princes and nobles, drum music is used to reflect the mighty authority of the royal family and give it special political and cultural meanings.

The "bell" is also an extremely important musical instrument. The music of "golden music" must be used in temple sacrifices, wedding crowns and funerals, military wars, banquets and other occasions.

For the national ceremony, the "ding food" must have "bell ringing", and the bell, like the ding, is the most important ritual vessel and a symbol of national power.

"Qing" is made of jade, and the sound is crisp and bright.

The chime and the chime resonate with each other. The sound is "closer, the bell will sound bright, and the chime sound will be clear". It can be said that the golden stone sings together, the golden sound is jade, the elegant music is clear, and it is pleasant to the ear, opening the "Golden Stone Music" recorded in history. It has lasted three thousand years in history.

  The world-famous Zeng Houyi chime reflects my country's brilliant achievements in music acoustics, music rhythm, metallurgy casting, mechanical engineering and other aspects during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

There are a total of 65 chimes in the whole set. Through sound measurement, each chime can strike two tones at a distance of a minor third or a major third on different parts.

The range of the chimes spans five and a half octaves, which is comparable to the piano range of the Mozart period in the West more than 200 years ago.

And its scale structure is exactly the same as today's common C major 7-tone scale, and the center tone of the full set of bells happens to be the center C tone on today's piano.

From unearthed in 1978 to the present, the chime of Zeng Houyi, which has been dormant for more than 2,400 years, has been played a total of three times.

The first time was three months after the chime bell was unearthed, which coincided with the Army Day, and successfully auditioned "The East is Red".

Hearing the "Golden Stone Music" from the ancient bells and chimes reverberated in their ears, the musicians present were moved to tears.

The second time was in 1979, during the National Day of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Hubei Provincial Museum and the Chinese History Museum jointly held the "Exhibition of Cultural Relics Unearthed from the Tomb of Zeng Houyi in Suixian County, Hubei".

In 1997, Tan Dun composed a large-scale symphony "1997: Heaven, Earth and Man" to celebrate the return of Hong Kong, and the chime bell made a historic sound for the third time.

  In the Song Dynasty, the Yale Orchestra was organized in an orderly manner, with a larger scale, reaching a historical climax.

The shape of the musical instrument follows the tradition of ancient elegant music, and it is made of eight materials of gold, stone, silk, bamboo, leather, wood, scorpion, and soil. The musical instruments of the Ministry are Jingzhong, Bongzhong, Chime, golden scorpion, golden bracelet, and golden duo; special chime, braided chime; one-stringed qin, three-stringed qin, five-stringed qin, lyre, nine-stringed qin, and se; Xiao; Yusheng, Chaosheng, Hesheng, Runyubao, Jiuxingbao, Qixingbao; Xun; Jin drum, Jian drum, Tu drum, Jin drum, Jin Tu, Ling drum, Ling Tu, Lu drum, Lu Tu, There are 38 kinds of Yagu, Xianggu, Fighting; Zhe, Chi and so on.

The orchestra has a sophisticated layout of parts and a scientific timbre ratio, which is comparable to the current "symphony orchestra".

Jiang Kui stated in "Da Le Yi": "Gold should respond to stone, stone should respond to silk, and silk should respond to bamboo", pointing out the balance and coordination between voices, which is similar to the principle of today's "band orchestration method". For example, the "Orchestra Conducting Method" has reached a high level in guiding matters such as volume balance and intensity control in the practice of rehearsal and performance.

"Those who strike the bell and chime don't know the sound, those who play the bamboo don't know the acupoints, and those who play the zither don't know the strings. When playing together, the movements are uneven, and when playing repeatedly, the sound is not correct." The problem of inconsistent beats during ensemble performances is described vividly.

He pointed out that "seven tones and one tune are used in music", "one character is matched with one word for knowledge", the tones of the lyrics of "ping, entering, ascending, and going", and the composition principles of "heavy, turbid, light and clear" are close to today's. Composer and other music professional skills.

music and dance

  The ancients believed that "music" is different from "sound", "yin" refers to performance without dance, "music" is a comprehensive performance that integrates singing and dancing, and is the highest level of performance. This is true of the common people. Only the gentleman can know happiness.”

The Zhou Gong system of ritual and music created a system of elegant music, and the form of music and dance performances also developed rapidly.

Music and dance have become a tool for "governance of rituals" and "governance of music", "dance with elephant power" and "dance with elephant virtue", which are used to record merits, worship gods, become enlightened, and help people.

From the ancient Yao and Shun eras to the end of the Qing Dynasty, Ya music and dance accompanied the rise and fall of various dynasties, and has experienced more than thousands of years, and has always been in the orthodox position of Chinese music and dance.

  The royal family of the Zhou Dynasty also set up a special music and dance institution - "Da Si Le", which is in charge of music and dance performances and music and dance education. It is known as the earliest dance school in my country.

The establishment of "Da Si Le" was very early and the level of dance education was the highest in the world at that time.

The highest level of "music" in the Zhou Dynasty was the music and dance of the Six Dynasties, also known as "Six Music".

It is the dance of the six dynasties emperor Jigong, and most of them are the representative music and dance of the dynasties before the Zhou Dynasty.

The music and dance of the six dynasties are divided into categories and usages are clear. They are mainly used in the ritual rituals of the court of the Zhou Dynasty.

Including "Yunmen" in the Huangdi period, "Da Xian" in the Yao period, "Da Shao" in the Shun period, "Da Xia" in the Xia Yu period, "Da Hu" in the Shang Tang period and "Da Wu" in the Zhou Dynasty.

In future generations, "Six Music" is called "the music of the ancestors". Its soothing, stable, peaceful, and distant music plays an important role in promoting social harmony and maintaining national stability. It has become China's feudal society for more than 2,000 years. important means of state governance.

  The Tang Dynasty was the peak period of ancient music and dance creation, which left a deep impression on the history of Chinese music.

The great fusion of culture in the Tang Dynasty promoted the development of music. The local music style of the Central Plains absorbed and developed the music styles of ethnic minorities and foreign countries, and achieved the Tang Yan Music with a very high artistic level such as "Non Clothes and Feather Clothes".

"Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes" is a veritable romantic song and dance masterpiece. It is full of the unique romantic cultural color of the Tang Dynasty. With the neon clothes and feather clothing dance, it has a unique business-style elegant and luxurious tune, which is accompanied by a light and fluttering dance. It is like a dazzling pearl in the history of Chinese music and dance.

As a court yan music, the whole piece combines songs, dances, musical instruments and other art forms. The body of the piece is huge and changeable. Compared with other pieces of music, the performance time is longer and the rhythm is more relaxed. Without losing the beauty of the soothing and vast structure, as Bai Juyi said, "There are countless songs and dances, but the most favorite is the dance of neon clothes".

The whole song is divided into three parts: the scattered preface, the middle preface and the song Po, with a total of thirty-six paragraphs.

In the prelude, there is no dancing or singing, only the instruments play the rhythm; the middle sequence is joined with singing and dancing, generally speaking, singing and dancing along with the rhythm of the instruments; It is the climax of the whole piece. At this stage, the dance is the main focus, and the rhythm of singing and instruments gradually increases, and then gradually slows down again at the end, until the end of the piece.

The design of these three parts is wonderful, with a degree of relaxation, and the various parts are combined together, which fully shows the splendor of court music in the Tang Dynasty.

  In the Southern Song Dynasty, Yale's "singing" and "singing without music" were symbolic changes, and there were three types of performances: "Dengge", "Er Dance" and "Gongjia".

"Dengge" is the collective singing of a chorus of more than 40 people accompanied by the Gongjia Band.

"Second Dance" is the "Wen Dance" and "Bazao Dance" of 64 people.

Dance performances are usually performed to the music of Deng Song and Gongjia.

The performances of "Palace Frames" are divided into two types: "Pleasure in the Hall" and "Joy in the Hall".

The layout of "Music in the Hall" follows the ancestral system of "silk is not as good as bamboo, bamboo is not as good as meat" and "noble voices". musical instrument.

On the other hand, the scale of "Music under the Hall" is very large. According to the four directions of east, south, west and north, dozens of chimes, chimes and other musical instruments are placed.

The clubs between the various formations are ingeniously laid out, "lifting silk to see tiles, lifting bamboo to see pagodas, lifting leather to see wood", which shows the level of singing and dancing performances, the acoustic level of the band and the level of stage art organization at that time.

Music Scores and the Law of Yellow Bells

  Music score is an important carrier of music culture and the main basis for evaluating the level of music art.

Music scores in my country have a long history and are of various types, including written scores, minus-character scores, Gong-chi scores, Yanle half-character scores, etc., recording valuable musical works of all dynasties and dynasties.

The written notation is such as "Jieshi Diao·Youlan", the existing notation is the handwritten scroll notation of the Tang Dynasty, and it is now preserved in the Shinkoin Temple in Nishigamo, Kyoto, Japan; Yanle half-character notation such as "Dunhuang Pipa Notation"; Gongchi notation is Ming The main way of notation since the Qing Dynasty; minus-character notation such as guqin notation.

The ritual document "Zhongxing Lishu" compiled by Taichang Temple during the Chunxi reign of the Southern Song Dynasty is the earliest and most comprehensive ritual book that records the music scores and performance procedures of Ya music. It contains 428 Ya music songs and instrumental music performance scores. , made a detailed record of court rituals and music in the Southern Song Dynasty.

"Zhongxing Lishu" is not widely circulated, and few people see its face, and even "Siku Quanshu" has not been collected.

This book was included in the "Yongle Grand Ceremony" of the Ming Dynasty, but when the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing, a fire destroyed the "Yongle Grand Ceremony".

Fortunately, Xu Song, the editor of the Qing Hanlin Academy, compiled the "Book of Rites of Zhongxing" from the "Yongle Grand Ceremony" and preserved it.

The manuscripts compiled by Xu Song went through several turning points. In April 2002, they were finally officially photocopied by the Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House and saw the light of day again.

  The Book of Rites of Zhongxing is the earliest and largest document using Lulu Pu to record Yale music discovered so far in the history of ancient Chinese music.

Scholars have also tried to translate, but their results have been constantly questioned.

In addition to technical factors, the difference in musical concepts between ancient and modern is the main reason.

By the 1920s, my country had formed a technical theoretical system with the basic music theory, notation, and composition of Western music as the core, and traditional Chinese music concepts in the concept of absolute pitch notation, the pursuit of melody lines, and the rules of mode. There are huge differences in rhythm and form.

At the beginning of the 21st century, Professor Tian Yaonong of Hangzhou Normal University presided over the reconstruction project of Yale music, absorbed the musical score verification and translation results of ancient music research experts Qiu Zhiji and Yang Yinliu, etc., and completed the performance of six representative Yale music works. Book" and "Fengya Twelve Poems", seven representative pieces were selected for experimental translation and performance. The Southern Song Dynasty Yale, which had been dormant for nearly a thousand years, finally reappeared in Hangzhou, the ancient capital of the Southern Song Dynasty.

  Since the Zhou Dynasty, the "national standard" of music temperament centered on the heavy instrument of elegant music "Lexuan" has been established, making Yale the "gene" of Chinese music culture.

The chime of Zeng Houyi, unearthed in 1978, is the most detailed material and precious sample for the study of musical temperament in my country. Its chime and chime are inscribed with temperament inscriptions. The main drum and side drums are engraved with musical temperament inscriptions. The bell body has 2800 musical temperament inscriptions. For the remaining characters, there are records corresponding to the titles of music laws in many countries, such as Zeng, Chu, Qi, Shen, Qin, and Jin.

Since then, successive dynasties have gradually formed the standard tone of musical temperament with "bell" as the standard pitch, which has basically established the musical temperament system and paradigm of traditional Chinese music.

During the Han and Wei Dynasties, it inherited the "Lexuan" of Yale music, and also followed the rules of the Zhou Dynasty to further unify the music standards of various kinds of music.

When Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty came up, he proposed that "national music is called 'elegant'...the elegant person is righteous", and formally established the elegant music as the national music, forming the concept of "Chinese Zhengsheng".

In the Northern Song Dynasty, the court attached great importance to the standards of elegant music and music temperament, especially the pitch of Huang Zhonglu, which had been adjusted six times.

According to "Song History" Volume 126, more than 70,000 professional craftsmen were used to change the pitch standard of Huang Zhonglu in the second year of Jingyou alone.

Among them, there are 153 metal workers, 216 carpenters, 49 leather workers, 16 potters, 91 scrapers and 189 painters.

The craftsmen spent nearly five months making and debugging the musical instruments, and made seven sets of Yale musical instruments.

However, after less than three years of use, it was re-produced because of the pitch deviation of the instrument.

Every time the pitch standard of Huangzhong rhythm changes, it means that chimes, chimes and wind instruments have to be remade and adjusted.

It can be seen that without the attention and support of the supreme ruler of the Song Dynasty, such a huge and frequent musical instrument production project would be unsustainable.

Living Inheritance and Protection and Restoration

  After the Southern Song Dynasty, there was no major change in Yale.

Ming and Qing ya music basically followed the style and value function of the previous ya music.

As a sacrificial ceremony at the national level, Yale ended its inheritance with the end of the last feudal dynasty in China. However, Yale plays an important role in leading and demonstrating in the form, style, rhythm, and norms of traditional Chinese music. It established the overall style of Chinese traditional music.

In the 1950s, the Confucian Yale in Liuyang, Hunan still maintained a living inheritance. Mr. Yang Yinliu recorded the performances at that time and recorded precious performance materials.

In the 1980s, Qufu Confucius Temple learned from Liuyang’s form of offering sacrifices to Confucius and Yale, and resumed the performance of Confucius Yale.

In recent years, Yale has been promoted and promoted, such as Pingdingshan College's re-establishment of the University Yale Orchestra, and the China Conservatory of Music's reconstruction of Yanguo Yale's performances.

In 2010, nearly 1,000 teachers, students and employees of Hangzhou Normal University spent three years collecting the literature and materials of the Southern Song Dynasty Yale, copied the musical instruments, costumes, and honor guards of the Southern Song Yale Band, and translated hundreds of music scores and rare songs of the Southern Song Dynasty Yale. He studied and rehearsed some representative works, so that the Southern Song Yale in the literature is reproduced in the world in the form of "song, music and dance", presenting the classical charm of the Southern Song Dynasty Yale, and inheriting the long-standing Chinese ritual and music civilization.

  Ritual music culture embodies the broad and profound Chinese civilization and the profound connotation of Chinese traditional music.

Today, when the Chinese nation is heading for a great rejuvenation, excavating, inheriting, innovating and developing the precious historical and cultural heritage of Yale has a special era value and far-reaching value to carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture, expand the influence of Chinese culture, and lead the peaceful development of mankind. significance.

  (Author: Dong Wei, Associate Professor of Hangzhou Normal University, Vice Chairman of Hangzhou Literature and Art Critics Association)