What are the five tones and the seven tones?

Five tones is the collective name for the five tone levels of Gong, Shang, Horn, Zheng, and Feather, also known as the five tones. Seven tones is the seven tones of the scale and its seven levels of the general term, or known as the seven rhythms. The names of the seven steps of the seven tones are Gong, Shang, Triangle, Four Changes, Chant, Five Levies, Six Feathers, and Seven Changes.

The five tones and the seven tones are the basic structural elements of ancient music in China. According to historical records, after the Jin Dynasty, both pentatonic and heptatonic tones were used to express the sequence of strings or the order of individual levels in different modes, without being bound by the intervals agreed upon in the names of the individual steps. For example, the character Gong only indicates that it is the first step of a syllable in a certain tuning, and the character Shang only indicates that it is the second step of the scale to which it belongs.

The five tones are Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng, and Yu, also known as the five tones. The names of the five steps of the pentatonic scale are Gong, Shang, Triangle, Zheng, and Feather, which correspond to 1 (do), 2 (re), 3 (mi), 5 (sol), and 6 (la) in the simple meter. Several traditional forms of scales in China, whether they are ancient scales, new scales, clear commercial scales, pentatonic or hexatonic scales, or heptatonic scales, which all contain these five tones.

In the same pentatonic scale, each tone as the main tone, constitutes a different mode, which is based on the main tone of the scale name to name the mode. For example, when the Gong tone is the dominant tone, it is named Gong tone; when the Shang tone is the dominant tone, it is the Shang tone. And so on, there are horn, levy, and feather tunes. The Huainanzi has "a law and five tones", "law" here refers to the main tone, this sentence is based on the main tone to determine the mode. For example, the folk song "Shandandandan Blossoms in Red" is in the key of Shang. In different forms of music and scales, pentatonic is an important tone level.

In China's traditional music theory, the Gong sound is considered one of the most important levels in the scale organization, and "Guoyu - Zhou language" Lingzhou Hatsu said in his discussion of music: "The Gong, the Lord of the sound." Traditional musicology is generally used to determine the pitch of the palace tone as a standard to determine the pitch of the tune, the pitch position of the palace tone is determined, the position of the merchant, the horn, the levy, the feather and other tones will also be determined.

Seven tones is the general name for the seven-tone scale and its seven levels, or seven rhythms. Zuo Zhuan - Zhaogong 25 years, Zi Chan on music: "For the nine songs, eight winds, seven tones and six rhythms, to serve the five tones." The State Language - Under the Language of the Zhou", Lingzhoujiu on music: "Therefore, with the same number of seven, and with the law and its sound, so there are seven rhythms." The seven tones and seven rhythms are the seven tones of the musical scale. The names of the seven scales of the seven tones are Gong, Shang, Triangle, Four Changing Symbols, Five Symbols, Six Feathers, and Seven Changing Gongs, with the Changing Symbols approximating 4 (fa) in the simplified Chinese score, and the Changing Gongs approximating 7 (si). It can be seen that the seven tones are evolved from the five tones, the traditional music theory will be called the five tones, the five tones, with the difference in the form of the scale and change the position of the other two tones (four changes in the levies, seven changes in the Palace) is called the two changes, the change of the levies is the levy of the lower semitone, the change of the Palace is the Palace of the lower semitone.