What are the five tones and six rhythms of the Chinese tradition

The five tones and six rhythms are the ancient Han rhythms. Later, it also refers to music in general. The five tones refer to Gong, Shang, Horn, Zheng and Feather, and the six rhythms refer to the six Yang rhythms of the twelve rhythms.

The five tones are also known as the five sounds. In the most ancient scale, only five tones were used, namely, Gong, Shang, Horn, Zheng, Feather. The term "five tones" first appeared in the "Zhou Li - Chun Guan": "all text with five tones, Gong Shang Angle Chanting Feather." The term "five tones" first appeared in "Mencius - Li Lou Shang": "Without the six rhythms, the five tones cannot be corrected."

(1) "Ling Shu - Evil Guest" in the Palace, Shang, Jiao jué, Leung zhǐ, feather five sounds, with the five organs: the spleen should be the Palace, the sound of the diffuse and slow; the lungs should be the Shang, the sound of the promotion of clear; the liver should be the corner, the sound of the call to long; the heart should be the levy, the sound of the male to the bright; the kidneys should be the feather, the sound of the deep and fine, which is the correct sound of the five organs. It is said to be named after the five sounds of the earliest Chinese musical instrument, the ocarina.

Equivalent to the current 12356, i.e., do, re, mi, sol, la.

(2) The five levels of the acoustic pentatonic scale - Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng, Yu - are matched with the different articulation parts of the throat, teeth, teeth, tongue, and lips, respectively. This division is found in the diagrams attached to the end of Liang Gu Ye Wang's Yu Zhuan (The Jade Chapter) and in the diagrams attached to the end of Song Chen Peng Nian's Guang Yun (The Five Words for Identifying the Sound of the Voice). The former is divided into throat, tongue, teeth, teeth and lips, so-called from the inside out, while the latter is divided into lips, tongue, teeth, teeth and throat, so-called from the outside in. Opera actors accurately grasp the parts of the five tones, together with the use of the "four calls" (open call, teeth call, mouth call, handful of mouth call), that is to say, can achieve the word accurately, known as the five tones, and can not accurately grasp the five tones of the actors, known as the five tones are incomplete.

The ancients usually used "Gong" as the first level of the scale, which is also the most important one, and it is sometimes used as a substitute for "five tones".

Gong

One of the five tones. It is usually equivalent to the do tone in today's initial key signature. The "Gong" sound is the lord of the five tones, the ruler of the five tones, and commands all the tones. The state language - zhou language" said: "the palace, the sound of the main also, as well as the feather." The book of rites - music" said: "the palace for the king, the business for the subject, the corner for the people ......" Song Zhang Yan "source of words - the five sounds of the phases of life" also said: "the palace belongs to the earth, the king's image ... ... Gong, also in the center, in the center, smooth the four directions, singing Shi Bei Sheng, for the outline of the four sounds "." Palace tone (style) and for all the tone (style) of the "main", the "king", that is, on its so-called "tone high". Sui Shu - Music Zhi" cloud: "each palace should set up five tones" "Niu Hong so Zheng translation of the old, and please according to the ancient 'five tones and five rhythms' for the Palace: 'elegant music 'each palace but a tune, but 'welcome gas' play five tones, called 'five tones'; 'Aman music' with seven tones ... ..." This so-called "Gong", and "even" common. There is the name of the tune (style) which is composed of the main tone and the ending tone of the Gong. Tang Duan Anjie "music miscellanea - other music knowledge of five sound wheel twenty-eight tone chart" said: "Palace seven tones of the first transport Zhenggong tone, ...... the sixth transport Xianlv Palace, the seventh transport Huangzhong Palace." Zhang Yan "word source" also said: "twelve ryuji have five tones, evolved into the palace for the tune ...... Huang Zhong Gong (all): Huang Zhong Gong (tonal), Huang Zhong Shang (tonal), Huang Zhong Jiao (tonal), Huang Zhong change (variable levy tuning), Huang Zhong Ching (tonal), Huang Zhong Fei (tonal), Huang Zhong Leap (leap palace tuning). "

Shang

One of the five tones. Usually equivalent to the re tone in today's initial key name. "Shang" is the second level of the five tones, after "Gong". The ancients believed that "business, belonging to the gold, the image of the minister", "and the minister and the". There is the name of the key (style) which is composed of the main tone and the ending tone of the Shang sound. For example, Duan Anjie's "Miscellaneous Records of the House of Music-Beyond the Music Knowledge of Five Tones and Twenty-eight Tones" in the Tang Dynasty, "the seven tones of the Shang in the sound".

Jiao

One of the five tones. It is usually equivalent to the mi sound in the name of the first tone. "Jiao" is the third level of the five tones, after "Shang". The ancients thought, "the corner of the wood, the image of the people". There is a key (style) name composed of the main sound of the horn and the sound of the knot. For example, the Tang Duan Anjie's "Miscellaneous Records of the House of Music - don't music know the five tones of the wheel twenty-eight tone charts" in the "on the sound of the horn of the seven tones". In the ancient tunes (styles), there is the horn tune with the corner tone as the key, or there is the horn tune with the leap palace as the corner.

Leung

One of the five tones. It is usually equivalent to the sol tone in the present-day first tone. The "徵" is the fourth level of the five tones, following the "角". Ancient thought, "the symbol of the fire, things of the image". There is a key (style) that consists of the main tone of the 徵音, and the ending of the tone.

Feather

One of the five tones. It is usually equivalent to the la tone in the name of the first tune. "Feather" is the fifth level of the five tones, in the "徵". The ancients thought, "feather is water, the image of things". There is a tone (style) name which is composed of the main tone and the ending tone of the feather. For example, the Tang Duan Anjie's "Miscellaneous Records of the Music Department - Other Music Knowledge of the five tones of the wheel twenty-eight tone charts" in the "flat tone feather seven tone".

Changing Zheng

One of the "two changes" in the ancient scale. It is a musical note between the horn and the levy. The Historical Records of China (史记-荆轲传) says: "Gao Jianli struck the building, and Jing Ke sang with him, making the sound of the change of levies, and all the soldiers wept and sniffled." The Song people also said that the change into a leap, said leap levy. In the twelve laws, usually refers to the more levy tone under the same sound (equivalent to # fa); there are also more angle tone on the same sound (i.e., clear angle, equivalent to fa), and the "sui shu - music Zhi" cited Zheng translation and Su kui club cloud "this ...... 'qing music The Huang Zhong Gong (黃钟宫)(均)以小吕（中吕）为变徵". There is the name of the key (style) which is composed of the main tone and the ending sound of the variable levitation. Sui Shu - Music Zhi" recorded that Su Kui said: "Each Palace (all) should be set up five tones (style), do not hear more change Palace, change the levy two tones (style) for seven tones (style)." Zheng translation replied: "Zhou has seven tones of the law ...... today, if not to 'two changes' for the tune, it is winter and summer sound queue, the four seasons are not ready. Therefore, each palace (all) must establish seven tunes (style)." The crowd went along with it. In Song Zhang Yan's "The Source of Lyrics - Eighty-four Tones", under the twelve palaces (all), there are seven tones (styles), which are listed in the "tone styles" of "Changing Symbols".

Changing Gong

One of the "two changes" in the ancient scale. It is a musical note between the feather tone and the palace tone. Song people called it "leap palace". In the twelve laws, there are more than the palace sound under the sound of a law (equivalent to si), such as "the book of the later Han Dynasty - the law of the calendar" cloud: "yellow bell for the palace ...... should be the bell for the change of the palace"; there are more than the sound of the feather sound on the sound of a law (equivalent to bsi), such as "the book of the Jin Dynasty - the law of the calendar" cloud "The tone of the clear horn (scale) to Gushu for the Palace, ...... too cluster for the Palace of change".