When was the pentatonic scale established?

A scale is a group of sounds arranged up or down in the order of pitch (sound level) according to a certain mode. According to the number of tones contained in the mode, it is called pentatonic scale and heptatonic scale, also called pentatonic scale, which is the name of the pentatonic scale of ancient music in China: Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng and Yu. It is equivalent to 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 in the current symbol.

The pentatonic scale occupies an extremely important position in the history of China music. As for the establishment time, there are different opinions.

Traditionally, pentatonic scale appeared before Guan Zhong's life. Guan Zhong was born and died in the early Spring and Autumn Period, about 725-645 BC. According to the content of Guanzi Yuan Di, this theory infers that pentatonic scale was very popular in the era when Guan Zhong, the author of this book lived, and the formation of pentatonic scale should be before this, because the method of finding pentatonic scale by numbers is recorded in the article.

However, after detailed textual research, many people think that Guanzi is a fake by people in the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties, which is not sufficient. Many scholars have put forward some new theories based on the results of sound measurement of unearthed musical instruments in recent years.

According to the results of sound measurement of unearthed cultural relics, the original scale system was initially formed in Shang Dynasty, and the pentatonic scale and the heptatonic scale developed almost simultaneously, and the upper limit of the heptatonic scale may have been in the early Shang Dynasty. The pentatonic scale was also formed in BC 15 and the early Shang Dynasty in the 6th century.

Lu Ji, a composer, combined the sounds of two kinds of pottery pots unearthed in Jingcun, Wanrong County, Shaanxi Province and banpo village, Henan Province, and found that the pentatonic scale is exactly the same as the pentatonic scale we use today. Therefore, he believes that in the late matriarchal clan, our ancestors have already reached a certain scale ... It can be inferred that the pentatonic scale has been formed in the late matriarchal clan.

Whether the above statement is right or wrong needs further discussion.