In ancient China, there was no music notation, so what kind of notation was used?

The traditional Chinese notation methods are Gongshi and Minuscule, of which Minuscule is mainly used for Guqin notation.

Working ruler notation is one of the traditional Chinese notation methods. It is named after the use of the characters Gong and Ruler to write down the names of songs. It is closely related to the fingering and key system of many important national musical instruments, and is widely used in songs, operas, operettas, and instrumental music in ancient and modern China.

The Gongshi Sheet Music may have originally evolved from the fingering symbols of wind instruments, but due to the differences in the period, region, and type of music in which it was handed down, the sound characters, fonts, palace tone positions, and singing methods used differed from each other. In recent times, the common Gongshi Sheet Music generally uses the characters of He, Si, Yi, Shang, Shaku, Gong, Fan, Liu, Wu, B, etc. as the basic symbols for indicating pitch (and also chants), which can be equivalent to sol, la, si, do, re, mi, fa (or ascending Fa), sol, la, and si. If the same tone name is in the higher octave, the final stroke of the sheet music character can be upwardly picked up or the radical 亻 can be added, for example, the upper character of the upper octave is written as 上 or 仩. On the other hand, if the homophone name is in the lower octave, the final stroke of the character can be downward, such as Fan, Gong, etc. If it is two octaves higher, the final stroke will be downward. If the name is two octaves higher, the final stroke is doubled or the radical 彳 is added, as in 上. If the character is two octaves lower, the final stroke will be double-accented, as above.

The rhythmic symbols of the Gongshi Sheet Music are called "boards and eyes". Generally, the board represents a strong beat, and the eye represents a weak beat, **** there are scattered board, running board, a board, a board, a board, a board, a board, a board, a board, a board, a board, a board, a board, a board, a board, a board, a board, a board, a board, a board, and a board, etc. Scattered board is the free rhythm; running board is every beat is notated with a board, generally 1/4 rhythm, there are two forms of solid board and waist board: the solid board is the board that is struck at the same time as the musical note, and the waist board is the board that is struck before or after the musical note is issued; a board with a board and an eye synthesizes the 2/4 beat; a board with three eyes is a board with three eyes synthesizes the 4/4 beat; and a board with three eyes is added with a complimentary board, which can be seen only in the Kunqu's Southern Song, which is roughly equivalent to 4/2 beats.

Work ruler spectrum has a long history, the Tang Dynasty, that is, the use of Yan music half-word spectrum, such as Dunhuang Thousand Buddha Cave found in the latter Tang Mingzong Changxing four years (933) written by the Tang Dynasty Great Song spectrum. To the Song Dynasty is the common word score, such as Zhang Yan "source of words" recorded in the spectrum of words, Jiang Kui "White Stone Taoist Songs" of the side of the spectrum, Chen Yuanliang "things in the forest in Guangji" in the pipe color spectrum, and so on. It has been developed to the work ruler spectrum which is popular in Ming and Qing Dynasty.

This kind of notation was used in the Qing Dynasty during the period of Qian and Jia, and there appeared a kind of orchestral ensemble general notation written in the Gongshou Sheet Music - "String and Cable Preparation", i.e., "Thirteen Sets of String and Cable".

The common work rule notation in modern times generally uses the characters "合、四、一、上、尺、工、凡、六、五、乙" as the basic symbols of pitch (and also singing name) [which can be equal to sol, la, si, do, re, mi, fa (or ascending fa), sol, la, si], such as To indicate a higher tone than "b", add the "亻" sign to the left of the characters "尺、工"; to indicate a lower tone than "合", add the "亻" sign to the left of the characters "shaku、工"; and to indicate a lower tone than "合". If it means a lower sound than "合", then add "亻" to the end of "工" and "尺".

Ruler notation uses "丶" or "×、-" or "□、○、●、△、" as the beat symbols, which are also known as plate eye symbols. The notation format of Gongshi Sheet Music is usually written in a vertical line from right to left, with the board eye symbols on the right side of the Gongshi characters. The end of each sentence is indicated by a blank space. For example:

Upper, upper,

Work. Work Work,

Ruler Ruler. Work

up, four.

Four. work, shaku

Combination. Work on,

Four. The combination.

Ruler: Four

Up, Up,

Hop. Four.

Four, up

For some vocal pieces, the word "工尺" is also written in slant notation, called "□衣式工尺谱". For example: the key number of the staff score, there are "on the word tone, the word tone, the small work of the key, where

the word tone, the six word tone, the five word tone, the B word tone" 7 kinds

The key markings in the staff score, decades ago and the current has been very different, in order to correctly understand the height of the key represented by the key name, now will be decades ago, the popular key name, the current popularity of the key name, the key name is the same, the key name is the same, the key name is the same as that of the key name. In order to correctly understand the heights of the keys represented by the various key names, the pitch relationships between the popular key names of decades ago, the popular key names of today and the international key names are listed as follows:

The popular key names of today The popular key names of decades ago The popular key names of today The popular key names of today The popular key names of today The popular key names of decades ago The international key names of now

Small Worker's Key Small Worker's Key (B key) D key

B key Van's Key Van's Key A key

Fan's Key Upper Key E-flat key

Superior key Sixth key B flat key

Sixth key Shaku's Key

Six Characters Tune Shaku Characters Tune F Tune

Shaku Characters Tune Four Characters Tune (Five Characters Tune) C Tune

Zheng Gong Tune (Five Characters Tune) Zhenggong Tune G Tune

Working Ruler Sheet Music is a unique method of notation for China. It has been widely circulated among the people. Until today, many old artists are still accustomed to using the Gongshi music score to sing or notate music. It still has a positive and special significance in researching and organizing national music heritage and learning from folk music.

It is difficult to find out when the Gongshi music system was first created. According to historical records, the ancient way of writing each note of the Gongshi music score is quite inconsistent with the common way of writing today. The way they are written and read still varies greatly from one part of China to another.

The exhaustive and systematic study of the Gongshi spectrum is a specialized field of study and a difficult and complex task. What is presented here is only the general knowledge in this regard.

Working ruler spectrum in the traditional way of writing is from the right and left for the straight line writing, but also in the form of a brief spectrum of horizontal writing.

In the Gongshi score, the pitch of the tone is marked by the seven Chinese characters "上尺工凡六五乙" and its variants. According to the general singing method, its pitch relationship is the same as 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 of the simple score. The pitch relationship is the same as that of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 in the simplified Chinese score, i.e., a semitone between Gongfan and B (亻上), and a whole tone between the other two neighboring notes.

The length of the tones in the Gongfan score is symbolized by a plate (noted to the right of the first note of each beat. , or x for plate, - or о for eye.) , the number of words contained in each beat, the size of the font, and the distance between words.

If a tone is timed for more than one beat, then a straight line is added below the word. The time occupied by the straight line is based on the general principle of marking the length of the tone.

In the straight line writing of the Gongshi score, in addition to the tone value marking mentioned above, it is often indicated by a vertical line added to the left or right side of the character. The notation and meaning of the vertical line is the same as that of the horizontal line under the notes of the simple meter.

When there are more than six or seven words in a beat or when the rhythm is more complicated, most of them are notated by the method of adding bonus boards (subdivisions of beats).

In the staff notation, there is often a space between phrases to indicate the division of phrases. There are two ways of notating sections: one is to leave a large gap between sections, and the other is to notate sections.

The Chinese guqin is a common notation method characterized by the writing of fingerings and the playing techniques of the left and right hands. Because it is a combination of the fingering and terminology of the guqin's written notation minus the more characteristic parts of the notation, it is called "minus-character notation". The Guqin notation, founded by the late Tang qinist Cao Rou, is a reduction of the textual notation. This kind of notation uses the minus characters to spell out some kind of symbols to record the left hand's fingerings for pressing the strings and the right hand's fingerings for playing, and it is a kind of notation that only records the playing method and the pitch, but does not record the name of the tone or the rhythm, which is characterized by the following features: "the words are simple, but the meaning is exhaustive; the text is simple, but the sound is comprehensive". The minuscule notation is a major reform of the written notation, and is an ancient notation used for thousands of years without being replaced. Nevertheless, a great deal of it has been lost in transmission.

Subtractive notation consists of a combination of right-hand fingerings, left-hand fingerings and general terms. There are eight basic fingerings of the right hand, commonly known as the "four fingers and eight methods", namely, the corpse of the thumb (split), "blade" (support), the index finger of the wood (抹), 乚;(挑), the middle finger of the 勹 (hook), picking (easy), the ring finger of the ding (hit), the 倽 (pick). The other fingerings are actually a combination of the eight variations. The left hand fingering, the main倶 (吟), 犭 (猱), bu (绰), bac (氵 (注), up, down, Jia (佳進复), Burgundy (艮), and so on (弁 (分开).

For example, according to "A Brief Explanation of Guqin Fingerings" compiled by Mr. Cheng Gongliang:

Other fingerings for the right hand:

List. The index finger picks two or three strings in a row; the difference with picking is that the calendar has a faster rhythm.

Remit. In the same string on the rapid wipe hook, two consecutive sound, this is the remission of a string playing method. If it is to remit two strings, not according to the former method of successive two, but in the rapid wipe neighboring two strings, the name of the finger then cover the previous string of the remaining sound. These two ways of playing the remission rhythm is similar, playing action is completely different.

Wheel. Picking, picking, picking on the same string (speed depending on the specific set), three consecutive sounds.

Zuo, long zuo. In the same string on the rapid picking, wipe, pick three sounds for the Zuo, if followed by continuous wipe picking several sounds for the long Zuo, the long Zuo can be added to six to thirteen sounds, usually seven sounds are more often used.

Double Play. In a press tone and an empty string, play two "such as a sound" sound, playing method is the middle and forefinger first set up in the big finger, and then pick after picking, out of the sound powerful.

Other fingerings on the left hand:

Hu. After a slight pause, then up to the next pitch, often written in the music score as "Wu Shang", up to what pitch will be marked in the music score; another said to be on the amplitude of a semitone or a semitone or more, leading up to the process of the process does not linger for the Hu.

Flow. Often written as " ", that is, trickle down, playing similar to the next, "trickle" so that the "next" sound process is slightly slower, there is a slide effect, often used in the next quasi.

To and fro. After the sound is played, it will be continuously nicked to the previous pitch and note down to the original pitch, several times to and from. The score does not necessarily indicate the number of times to and from, once to four or five times may be, three times is commonly used.

General terminology, including the key name (string method), string name, emblem name, scattered, pan, according to the tone and speed, strength, expression terminology and so on. Its writing method, first in the song name under the note of the tune (string method), and then the spectrum of the word with a large word as the main text, with a small word as a side note, respectively, to note out. The upper part of each character generally represents the position of the emblem pressed by each finger of the left hand, and the lower part represents the string name and the fingering used by the right hand. If the upper part is omitted or there is only the string name without the right hand fingering, it means that the left hand position or the right hand fingering is the same as the previous one. Most of the marginal notes are explanations of the larger words that precede them, or represent left-hand fingerings and lead-outs. This method of notation is unique in preserving traditional playing techniques and providing a more accurate representation of ancient music.

The creator of the minus character notation was Cao Rou of the Tang Dynasty, whose activity was around the Middle Tang Dynasty. From the Middle Tang Dynasty through the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties to the present, at least nearly a thousand years of long years. Due to the differences in social customs, aesthetic tastes and guqin playing techniques in different eras, the guqin minuscule scores have undergone various changes, which can be roughly divided into the following phases:

Preliminary period - the Middle Tang Dynasty

The minuscule scores of this period are represented by Cao Rou. It was just born from the textual score, and compared with the textual score, there are two major differences: ① Clearly distinguishing between the "four fingers and eight methods", which changed the textual score of the index and middle fingers can be used to erase or the middle and nameless fingers can be used. (2) All the fingerings and terms are simplified by taking their radicals and composing new characters. Other aspects, especially the reuse of the right hand "蠲", "全扶 "and other "complicated sound" fingering, string names "宀" (Gong), "倽" (Shang), "?" (horn), and the names of the emblems "?" (little), "products" (inch), and so on, are the same as the text score. Therefore, this kind of minus-character score is still relatively complicated. Because of the differences in the parts of the same score that are subtracted by each qin master, different systems of subtracting characters have been formed.

Developmental period---Late Tang Dynasty to Two Song Dynasty

This period can be represented by the late Tang Dynasty's Chen Clumsy and the Northern Song Dynasty's Cheng Yu? as representatives. There are three main changes: First, some terms are further simplified, such as the string name was renamed as "one (or "big"), two, three, four, five, six, seven". Secondly, the right hand "complicated sound" fingering further differentiation, the emergence of a variety of different similar fingering. Such as remit that is stacked remit, back remit, positive remit, reverse remit, clip remit points. Thirdly, with the increasing emphasis on the requirements of "sound and rhyme", the left hand fingering has been developed. For example, briskness is positive briskness, up briskness, down briskness, clip emblem briskness, again briskness and so on.

Maturity - the end of the Song Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties

This period can be represented by the end of the Song Dynasty, "The Forest of Things", the middle of the Ming Dynasty, "Pine String Pavilion", the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, "Five Knowledge Zai Zither Recordings", and the end of the Qing Dynasty, "Introduction to Zither Learning". The general tendency is that the right hand "complicated sound" fingering is replaced by a single sound fingering; a variety of terms are further standardized, such as the emblem position has been collectively referred to as a few emblems and a few points; the left hand fingering has been developed; and began to appear on the board of the requirements of the point.