"It is therefore the liturgical music of the kings of the ancestors, not with the desire of the extreme mouth and ears, but with the righteousness of the people who are equal to the likes and dislikes of the people." "With the six laws, the six tongs, the five voices, the eight tones, and the six dances of the great harmony, so that the ghosts and gods, to harmonize with all nations, to harmonize with all the people, to reassure guests, to speak far away, to be animals." These two passages in the Book of Rites and Music state that the fundamental purpose of the establishment of the "Li Le" system is not to satisfy people's appetites and desires, but to bring people's thoughts, behaviors, and moral codes into the track that the rulers want through the form of music.
During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the "music" formulated by the Duke of Zhou was composed of song, dance and instrumental music, with songs and dances, and bells and drums chiming in unison. At that time, the songs, collected and arranged by Confucius and scored, became the "Book of Poetry" that we are now familiar with. At that time, the dance, both the number of people and the content were clear, so Confucius saw Ji Sun enjoying the "Dance of the Eight Nobles" in his home, and he would have the feeling of "is tolerable or intolerable". At that time, the instrumental music mainly included "bells, drums, pipes, chimes, feathers, dry, qi", etc., and the bell was the most important and representative musical instrument, whether it was temple sacrifices, funerals, military wars, banquet guests, etc., which would be used.
Bells, which appeared during the Shang Dynasty on the mainland, were initially only 3 to 5, increased to 9 to 13 in the Zhou Dynasty, and developed into 61 during the Warring States period. According to the size, rhythm and pitch of the bell, people arrange the bell into groups, make a chime, and play melodious and pleasant music.
It sounds easy to make a bunch of bronze raw materials into musical instruments, but it is not, especially more than two thousand years ago. After the analysis of zenghou yi chimes by experts, it was found that the craftsmen of that year carefully matched according to quantitative and standardized ratios, and smelted the copper liquid that was most suitable for casting bells with 84% copper, 14% tin and about 2% lead. Pour it into a fan made of clay, and when it solidifies, break the pottery fan to get a specific shape of the bell blank.
These clock blanks are not only rough, but also monotonous and inaccurate and unstable. Craftsmen polish and finely tune them with a five-stringer called a "junzhong". The craftsman pops the expected pitch on the average clock on the one hand, strikes the bell blank to make a sound, compares the height of the two tones in the form of ear measurement, and then polishes the inner wall of the bell blank with sharp stones. As a body-sounding instrument, the smaller the bell body of the chime and the thicker the bell wall, the higher the vibration frequency and the higher the pitch, so the craftsmen will first cast the bell blank thicker, and then gradually lower its pitch by repeatedly polishing the inner wall until the desired effect is achieved.
This method of tuning was hidden for two thousand years until the late 1970s and early 1980s, when it was revealed by the famous musician Mr. Lü Ji and experts from the Art Research Institute of the former Ministry of Culture in the process of studying pre-Qin chimes.
In 1977, the Zenghou Yi chimes unearthed from Suizhou, Hubei Province, consisted of 65 pieces of music bells, with three layers and eight groups, the upper layer was a button bell, the middle layer was a Yong bell, and the lower layer was a large Yong bell, which was the largest, most complete and best preserved chime bell found so far. It has been played three times since it was unearthed and restored.
The first time was on August 1, 1978, coinciding with the Founding Day, when the performers of the former Wuhan Military Region used Zeng Houyi's chimes to play a song "Dongfang Hong", which sent out a majestic and romantic sound to the world and shocked all the audiences present.
The second time was in 1984, in order to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zeng Houyi chimes were played at the Huairen Hall in Zhongnanhai, Beijing, and the envoys of various countries in China fell for it.
The third time was in 1997, in order to welcome the return of Hong Kong, the chimes of Tsang Hou Yi were sounded again, making a historic sound and shaking the world.
In the exhibition hall of "Why China", the Zeng Houyi chimes only appear in the form of pictures, but they still shine brightly. The Warring States Cockroach chimes in the Palace Museum are a group of 9 pieces, the smallest one is only 0.64kg, and the largest one is only 2.57kg. Although silent, they reverberate over the millennia, and show us the traditional liturgical culture across history.
The chimes vividly reproduce the ancient civilization of the Chinese nation, fully display the great creativity of the Chinese ancestors, open people's eyes, show the great achievements of China's bronze casting process, and show the degree of development of ancient Chinese music science, which is the crystallization of the high wisdom of the ancient Chinese people and the pride of the Chinese nation. It represents the highest achievement of China's pre-Qin lile civilization and bronze casting technology, and has had a major impact on archaeology, history, musicology, science and technology history and other fields.
"Why China" exhibition is the Palace Museum's 2022 opening exhibition, bringing together 130 sets of town museum treasures from 29 museums across the country, and it is a blessing for everyone who likes museums to be able to visit so many national treasures in one exhibition.
I went 5 times and shared a few texts and videos. A friend gave me advice, saying, "It is better to enjoy alone than to enjoy everything, if only I could share every exhibit." ”
Sharing is the beginning. At the beginning, it was a bit arbitrary, today we talked about the "four major inventions", tomorrow we talked about the "Tiger Bull Copper Case", and the day after tomorrow we said "Changxin Palace Lamp", which was more jumpy. Since last week, I have re-combed the exhibition halls from front to back.
With the deepening of research and introduction, I am like a crosser, walking with national treasures in the land of China, swimming among civilizations, more and more moved by the "Why China" exhibition, and the understanding of traditional Chinese culture is getting deeper and deeper.
Originally, I only posted pictures and texts, but in order to let everyone have a better experience, I also recorded a small video for each section, and some friends who liked it could find them to watch.