What are the eight tones?

In ancient my country, gold, stone, silk, bamboo, gourd, soil, leather and wood refer to the eight materials used for making musical instruments.

1. Introduction

In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the musical instruments at that time were divided into gold (bells, cymbals, cymbals), stone (chimes), and silk (qin, harp) according to the materials they were made of. There are eight categories: bamboo (Xiao, Chi), Gu (Sheng, Yu), earth (Xun, Fou), leather (Xiao, Leigu), and wood (柷, 攔).

2. From "Historical Records·The Chronicles of the Five Emperors": "Poetry expresses meaning, songs have long words, sounds last forever, rhythms are harmonious, eight tones can be harmonious, do not compete with each other, and gods and humans are in harmony."

3. Interpretation: Poems express inner emotions, and songs use extended syllables to sing poems. The level of the music must match the content of the song, and standard melodies must be used to make the music sound. harmonious. The sounds of the eight musical instruments are in harmony and do not interfere with each other. In this way, the state of harmony between man and God can be achieved through music.

Extended information

Different explanations of the various eight tones

1. The eight tones of Buddhism

The eight sounds unique to Buddhism, namely Excellent sound, soft sound, harmonious sound, Zunhui sound, not female sound, no mispronunciation, profound sound, no pause in sound.

2. Zhenlong Bayin

Zhenlong Bayin is one of the oldest types of music widely popular in southern my country and belongs to folk music. There are eight types of instruments: string (erhu), qin (yueqin, dulcimer, sanxian), flute (suona), pipe (long and short throat pipe), flute (horizontal flute, straight flute, and hole flute), gongs, drums, and cymbals.

3. Anpu Bayin, Zhanjiang, Guangdong

Li Yuanming, a scholar of Anpu music, has rectified and innovated the ancient "Bayin" and adopted local characteristic national musical instruments: Ziling, 1 pair of small cymbals, 1 each of small buckle gong, wooden fish, clear pan, Shaban, and small drum, 1 each of horizontal flute, dongxiao, and large tube, 1 each of Gaohu, Erxian, Sanxian, and Pipa, Yehu, Shen There are 2 Huge instruments, 2 Yueqin instruments and 2 Qinqin instruments, 22 pieces, and local traditional folk music tunes such as "Herald of Spring", "Little Taohong" and "Lang Taosha" are composed for the concert.

4. Lechang Eight Music

It was popular in Lechang, Guangdong, Rucheng, Hunan and other places during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially during the Republic of China. The so-called "Bayin" refers to a kind of performance singing in which eight people hold small gongs, large gongs, drums, cymbals, erhus, flutes or flutes, suonas, etc., and they play various roles to perform self-playing, self-playing, and self-singing. form.