Searching for Ancient Musical Instruments in Ancient Poems —— Interpreting the Beauty of Ancient Music

In the popular costume drama now, a guqin (or guzheng), a pipa and an erhu will appear from time to time, playing the sound of nature, which not only sets off the atmosphere, but also shows talent and properly brushes the flow weapon. The ancients also described Ren Xia as "fearless" and he was a romantic figure.

But counting carefully, the average number of ancient musical instruments, except the above, is nothing more than flutes, flutes, cymbals (who let there be an idiom called "fiddling"), harps (known to Xiao Li's fans) and drums, and it is amazing to count more than ten kinds. Therefore, if you want to have a general understanding of China's ancient musical instruments, you must definitely read The Beauty of Ancient Music. After all, there is really nothing to learn about costume drama except Weiya and gown.

Beauty of Ancient Music combs the knowledge of ancient musical instruments with popular words and beautiful writing system, explores seclusion by combining real archaeological data and rich historical documents, and cooperates with Gu Zhuo's simple hand-painted illustrations. It is really an excellent popular reading of China music history. 20 16 "China good book" recommended.

Author Su, a native of Nanjing, Jiangsu, is a scholar and writer. He studied fashion design in the School of Design of Nanjing University of the Arts and China Aesthetics in the Department of Philosophy of Peking University. His main research interests are China ancient art and Han Buddhism. Even if you don't look at the photos, you can imagine that this is a talented woman in Jiangnan full of classical flavor from the text alone.

The Beauty of Ancient Music is based on the eight-tone classification of ancient musical instruments in China according to different materials, such as gold, stone, earth, leather, silk, wood and bamboo. It tells the origin, development and aesthetic significance of ancient musical instruments in China from the aspects of musical instrument shape, historical background, manufacturing technology, literature and art, and combining the relationship between heaven and earth and the five elements of solar terms.

Let's look for traces of ancient musical instruments from ancient poems.

Drum may be the earliest musical instrument of mankind. The Yellow Emperor fought Chiyou in Zhuolu, a drum made of genuine leather, which shook for 3,800 miles and caused landslides. The Book of Songs says that "the catfish drum meets everything". I'm afraid the sound of "meeting everything" is the sound of crocodile singing or crocodile drumming, or both. "Two rounds and four horses help jade to beat the drum", "Dawn follows the golden drum and holds the jade saddle at night", "Until the war drum, from Yuyang, it shook the earth and broke the tune of the rainbow skirt and feather coat." The rumble of gongs and drums is even more shocking on the battlefield.

According to ancient legends, Fuxi may have attached a board to make a piano, but the piano does have a long history. Before the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, there were already pianos and musical instruments. In the pre-Qin period, mountains and rivers knew each other, and in the Wei and Jin dynasties, Ji Kang's masterpiece Guangling San was handed down to later generations. Whether it is "a touch of the strings will take me, and a thousand valleys will relax" or "a seven-stringed paulownia will be sent by hand and returned to the flood", the piano is the standard of an expert.

It is said that Motome, a female musician of the Yellow Emperor, was the first person to play the pipa, later than Fuxi. The piano begins with five strings, and Thule begins with eighteen strings. Inferring from the basic law of technological development from simple to complex, Qin should appear before Thule. The sound is crisp and meaningful. "Hare and harp are in the palace, so they are quiet and kind" and "I want to know why my golden harp has fifty strings, and each flower-like harp is the interval of youth". After the ancient ritual vessels were transformed into folk musical instruments, it seems that they are more intertwined with the love between men and women. Qian Qi, the most educated harpist in the Tang Dynasty, won the to be no.1 with a song "Try the Soul Drum of Huxiang". Generally speaking, the college entrance examination proposition composition rarely becomes a writer's masterpiece. Similarly, imperial examination-oriented poems rarely represent the true level of Tang Dynasty poets, but Qian Qi's poems can definitely represent his own highest level. No one can see the end of the song, and there are several peaks on the river. This sentence has been lingering for thousands of years.

The origin of Xiao can be traced back to the human bones 9,000 years ago, which basically took shape in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Its voice is elegant, "cry if you have any complaints", and its sound quality naturally determines that it cannot be separated from admiration and meditation. "Moonlit Bridge 24, where do jade people teach flute playing?" What charming and elegant eyes, with a touch of sadness. "Xiao Shengyan, the dream is broken" describes the broken mountains and rivers, and the wind and rain are desolate.

The Beauty of Ancient Music contains 60 kinds of musical instruments, which cannot be described one by one. The pillow beside the desk and exquisite Chinese taste not only enhance the posture, but also add elegance and joy to life!