What is the musical instrument ocarina?

China has many historic musical instruments, from the 2400-year-old Chu chimes unearthed in Sui Zhou, Hubei province, to the zither and serpent mentioned in the Book of Songs. However, so far, the ocarina is one of the earliest wind instruments ever found in China, mostly made of clay. According to archaeologists, the ocarina arose in prehistoric times, and was first excavated at the Half-slope site in Xi'an, which documents human civilization in a thriving matriarchal clan society about 7,000 years ago.

The formation of the ocarina

The ancient Book of Music quotes the ancient woodcutter Zhou as saying, "At the time of King You, Duke Tyrannosaurus was good at the ocarina". The Shiben (世本) believed that Duke Violent Xin made the ocarina. Wang Zinian "gleanings" said: "庖牺氏易土为埙". This view that the ocarina instrument is the first personal creation, although in the early years of the successive generations, but always lack some strong basis.

According to the scientific point of view, the ocarina should be the primitive ancestors in the long-term production and labor practice gradually created a musical instrument. Early prototypes are hunting stones (ancient records called "stone meteor"), because the stone has a natural cavity or hole, when the pioneers threw such a stone to the prey, the air flow through the stone cavity, the formation of the whistle, the whistle inspired the ancient pioneers to make a musical instrument, the early ocarina is so generated.

Labor expanded the weapons of the primitive ancestors and created the civilization of primitive society.

Three types of ocarinas

In the ancient Chinese court, ocarinas were divided into ode ocarinas and elegant ocarinas. The so-called elegant ocarina, refers to the size of large ("large as a goose egg, called the elegant ocarina" "three rites of passage"), in the elegant music; the so-called ode ocarina, refers to the size of small ("small as a chicken, called the ode ocarina" "three rites of passage"), often in the elegant music other than the other applications in the court music.

The appearance of the ocarina body style history has been handed down to a lot: the Tang three-color ceramic ocarina, red ceramic carved ocarina, monster ocarina, ocarina with a face, painted dragon ocarina ...... the most primitive ocarina has no sound holes only blowing holes, with the advancement of society and the demand for playing, ocarina sound holes gradually increased.

According to the sound holes, from no sound holes to sound holes, from one hole to two holes, three holes, five holes, ancient times there have been six holes ocarina, the Qing dynasty court ocarina that is six holes ocarina. Modern popular eight-hole ocarina and nine-hole ocarina.

Four ocarina history

China's ancient books on the ocarina written records are not much. "Er Ya" note: "Ocarina, burnt earth for the, large as a goose, sharp on the flat bottom, shaped like a scale, six holes, small as a chicken."

"Old Tang Book. Music Zhi" said: "Ocarina, the voice of autumn, everything twilight yellow also, theater soil for the ....... An ancient poem says: "The people are induced by heaven, like ocarinas and chi", which means that heaven induces the common people to harmonize with each other like ocarinas and chi. The friendship of ocarina and chi also symbolizes a noble, noble and pure, unbreakable friendship of ancient Chinese literati.

The Tang Dynasty Zheng Xiji said in "Ocarina Fugue": "The naturalness of the ocarina, the elegance of the ocarina, the elegance of the ocarina, the elegance of the ocarina! Ocarina of nature, to elegant not submerged, in the center not biased, so the quality of thick virtue, the saints noble." That is to say, the natural and harmonious sound of the ocarina can represent the elegant and noble mood and graceful temperament. So the ancient saints are very important to this instrument.

The playing of ocarina and ocarina reflects the position and role of traditional Chinese Confucian ritual culture in the development of Chinese history.

V The temperament of the ocarina

The tone of the ocarina is deep, sad, mournful, and continuous, with a unique musical quality. Perhaps it is this special tone of the ocarina, the ancients in the long-term artistic feelings and comparisons, it gives the ocarina and ocarina playing a sacred, elegant, mysterious, noble spiritual temperament. The book of music said: "the ocarina for the instrument, the sound of autumn. Flat bottom six holes, the number of water. The center of the void on the sharp, the shape of the fire. Ocarina to the water and fire and after the instrument, also to the water and fire and after the sound. Therefore, the sound of the big with the yellow bell, the small sound with the too cluster clip bell, to be all in the sound of the and only".

The ancients described the sound of the ocarina as the sound of autumn, which makes us appreciate a picture of a hazy and fascinating art: autumn is golden, calm and thoughtful, time passes, and there is a faint sadness and sentimentality. The reality of the autumn wind sweeping away the fallen leaves adds a little sadness. This is the sound of ocarina, this is the sound of autumn.

Chinese ancient people blowing ocarina, blowing for thousands of years, its sound turbid and noisy, sent the ancient literati and elegant face of the long river of time passes like a sense of loss, but the time is still relentlessly advancing; Chinese ancient people blowing ocarina, blowing for thousands of years, its sound sad and quiet, melting the ancient scholars and sultans of the closed and heavy Chinese history of the spirit of the hopelessly critical, but history is still in the established trajectory of the Chinese But history is still running according to the established trajectory of China. In a sense, the ocarina is not a musical instrument generally used to play, the ocarina is a contemplative musical instrument, a nostalgic musical instrument, it is no wonder that it? "The virtue of quality and thickness is precious to the saints".

Six ocarinas were once nearly lost

The earliest ocarinas were simple to make, capable of playing only one note. According to the three ocarinas unearthed in Jing Village, Wanquan County (now Wanrong County), Shanxi Province, we can roughly see the development of the ocarina. Archaeological research shows that these three ocarinas were produced before the Yin Dynasty (16th to 11th century BC). The first one is a cubic shape with only one blow hole, which can produce one tone; the second one is an ovoid shape with one blow hole and one tone hole; the third one is a round shape with two tone holes.

The later ceramic ocarinas had several tone holes, and in the Yin Dynasty they developed into five-tone holes, capable of playing a complete seven-tone scale. The six-hole ocarina arose in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.~220 A.D.) and continued for thousands of years.

The ocarina was one of the most important musical instruments in ancient China. Among the available texts, we can confirm that the ocarina was widely used in court rituals at the beginning of the Warring States period. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, the ocarina became an important member of the family of court musical instruments.

The ocarina, with its distinctive charm, is the only one of the eight tones of the earth, which was widely spread among the common people, and was also an important part of the court orchestra, used for ensemble or solo performance. However, by the end of the Qing Dynasty, people almost did not remember that there was such a musical instrument as ocarina, except for the occasional ocarina music when enjoying the elegant music of the court. In the 1930s and 1940s, ocarina music was rarely heard in public performances.

Seven ancient music newborn

In 1983, Zhao Liangshan first used the ocarina in the Hubei Provincial Song and Dance Troupe "chimes music and dance" in the performance of the "Mourning Ying", the music is only a minute, but that other instruments can not be replaced by the special expressive power, give a refreshing enjoyment of the arts, a sensation in the domestic orchestra. 1984, the master of the performance of the Los Angeles Olympic Games in the United States, played ocarina song "Chu Song", this is the ocarina music "Chu Song", this is the ocarina music "Chu Song". In 1984, master Du Ziwen played the ocarina song "Chu Song" at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, USA. The melody echoed over the square, and people were surprised that an instrument made of earth had such a rich and moving expressive power.

In recent years, the ocarina has appeared more and more in the formal performance stage. Many famous musicians in China began to compose for the ocarina, and people's research on the ocarina has entered a new stage. 1993, China's first master of national wind music, Liu Kuanxin, and the contemporary writer, Jia Pingwa, published the ocarina music album << <Waste of the city>>. This association of musicians and writers allowed more people to recognize the ocarina for the first time through literature, understanding the ocarina, with far-reaching influence. Also in 1993, master flute maker Zhang Ronghua achieved great success in the research and production of ocarinas. On the basis of his predecessor's nine-hole ceramic ocarina, he adopted a new technology, improved technology, preferred materials, scientific formulas, and produced ocarinas that exceeded any previous period in terms of range, timbre, volume and pitch. The new craft ocarina blowing labor-saving, exquisite appearance, the royal atmosphere, whether from the visual or auditory can give people the enjoyment of beauty. Its sound quality is pure, beautiful tone, wide range, large volume, can play a complete and accurate 12 equal temperament, and high sensitivity, playing in the band can achieve the effect of harmony and unity.

In 1997, Zhang Weiliang came out with the first ocarina CD album "Ask the Sky", which first used Zhang Ronghua's big bass ocarina to express the music, and thus the ocarina's music culture entered a colorful era.