What are the characteristics of classical Chinese music?

I. The Five Tones

When we talk about Chinese classical music, we can't help mentioning the ancient pentatonic scale. The ancient Chinese pentatonic scale: Gong, Shang, Horn, Zheng, Feather, which is equivalent to the five scales of modern music: C, D, E, G, A. Strictly speaking, the pentatonic scale is the same as the modern music scale, which is the same as the modern music scale. Strictly speaking, the pentatonic scale is the foundation of China's ancient music jurisprudence.

In the Spring and Autumn period, "Guanzi? In the Spring and Autumn Period, the mathematical method of calculating the ratio of the string lengths of the tones in the pentatonic scale, known as the "three-point loss and gain method," was formally recorded, and the names of the five tones of the scale, namely Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng, and Fei, were also fully described.

In Zuo Zhuan - Zhaogong 20 years and Guoyu - Zhou Yu, also recorded with the five-tone scale at the same time coexisted with the seven-tone scale, its semitone position in the four or five degrees and seven or eight degrees between the tones, respectively, for the Gong, Shang, Angle, change the levy, the levy, the Feather, the change of the Palace, the use of the three-point gain and loss method in the quintuple tone after the results of a further projections.

But from the record of "Zuo Zhuan - Zhaogong 25 Years", "for nine songs, eight winds, seven tones, six rhythms in order to serve the five tones", the variable levies and the variable gongs are more for enriching and decorating the pentatonic scale, which occupies a dominant position in the music practice. In order to meet the needs of the music and the palace, the twelve-law system was established at that time.

The Guoyu-Zhou Yishu named the twelve laws as "Huang Zhong, Daliu, Taizu, Jie Zhong, Gushu, Zhonglv, Leibin, Lin Zhong, Yizhe, Nanlv, Wujun, Ying Zhong". Among them, the singular number of each law is called the law, the even number of each law is called Lu, so the twelve laws are also often called "twelve Lu Lu".

The twelve rhythms were also obtained by the three-part loss and gain method, and there were five tones, seven tones, twelve rhythms, and the concept of the palace as the main part of the scale, and the theory of "the spiral phase as the palace" was further established.

The seven tones

On the basis of the traditional five-tone scale, the seven-tone scale system was also gradually formed and developed

The seven-tone scale in ancient China: Gong, Shang, Horn, Zhen, Zheng, Feather, and Gong, which is also known as C, D, E, F, G, A, B. In the Zhou Dynasty, there were already seven-tone scales and twelve rhythms.

In the 6th century B.C., King Jing of Zhou (544-520 B.C.) asked a music official, Lingzhoujiu, what the seven-tone scale was and what the twelve rhythms were. In his answer, he cited the names of the Gong, Shang, Jiao, Wei, Wei, Yu, and Gong, and explained the relationship between each scale and the twelve rhythms; and he also pushed forward the emergence of the seven-tone scale to the time when King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty replaced the Zhou Emperor (1O66 B.C.

China's music industry is characterized by the use of the seven-tone scale, and it is the only one of its kind in the world that has been recognized as the most important musical instrument in the world.)

China's seven-tone scale is mainly based on the Ya music and Yan music.

Ya music generally refers to the music used in court rituals and ceremonies. It originated from the Zhou dynasty's rites and music degrees, and was used in the suburban society [sacrificing to heaven and earth], the ancestral temple [sacrificing to ancestors], court rituals [court meetings, yanjian music, guests, etc.], the shooting townships [rulers' banquets for the representatives of the populace and the common people], as well as the military ceremonies, and so on.

The activities of the later generations to worship the ancestors [e.g., sacrifices to Tai Bo and Kong] also imitated and applied the music of the suburban community and the ancestral temples. The ritual and music system of the Zhou Dynasty had strict hierarchical regulations for the ceremonies and repertoire in the different occasions mentioned above. The six pieces of music, which are said to have been made for the generations from the Yellow Emperor to King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty, were used for sacrificial ceremonies and major feasts personally presided over by the Son of Heaven and a few princes and lords, and were regarded by Confucianism in later times as the highest model of elegant music.

The scales of elegant music: (also known as the ancient, old or traditional scales)

Extended information:

Chinese Scales:

Many Chinese inventions predate Europe. The Chinese discovered the twelve equal temperament (that is, twelve semitones) more than a hundred years before Europe, and the field of sonority was very advanced; the only regret is that no twelve equal temperament musical works appeared.

The Chinese people were remarkable, and the fact that they were able to come up with so many inventions during the wilderness era, when agriculture was the mainstay, reflects the greatness of the Chinese nation. The glorious achievements of Chinese music in the past have shaken countless people around the world.

Jikang was good at the guqin, and his "Guangling San" and "Plum Blossom Sanlang" were impassioned. Since then, music has become an indispensable part of the daily life of the intellectual class. Classical Chinese music and poets created by the same poetry and song, can be said to be "spring white snow". All of this is the product of a system of thought that has reached a certain level of sophistication.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Chinese Classical Music