The 'Eight Tone' Instruments and Confucian Ideals

Zhou court scholars can be credited with inventing the world's earliest system of musical instrument classification. While many instruments are mnentioned in the Shijing (Classic of Songs, c.7th century BC), details are not available until later texts. The Zhouli identifies eight distinct resonating media or materials used in instrument construction metal, stone, clay, skin, silk, wood, gourd, and bamboo-hence, the system name 'eight-tone' (bayin). In so classifying these ritual instruments, one of the primary motivations of scholars was to establish a system of cosmological correspondence with the eight trigrams(geomantic system of solid and broken lines), eightcompass points, and other meaningful eight-part systems. It must be notedI that bone, probably the most ancient of materials used in making flutes but no longer in vogue during the Zhou dynasty,failed to make the list.

Several characteristics of the ritual instruments are particularly noteworthy. First, the instruments embraced by the court-most having well-documented histories of over two thousand years-are believed to be indigenous and therefore specifically appropriate for ritual purposes. While several of these instru- ments have also become known among the general population, the majority have remained so closely associated with the Confucian ritual they have scarcely been seen outside the walls of the imperial palaces and shrines. Second, in both name and function, these instruments over time have acquired very close sym- bolic associations with the ideals ascribed to Confucius (c. 5th century BC). Traditional Chinese government for most of the last two thousand years has at- tempted to use music to promote harmonious behaviour, notably by promotion of a 'refined music' (yayue)-to which the Confucian ceremony is believed to represent something of a preservation. Although the somber Confucian rituals were mostly abandoned on the Chinese mainland, they have been maintained at several shrines in Taiwan, where mmany traditional practices can still be seen. Central to the music are the six hymns, simple and austere melodies sung in u- nison by a male chorus and (at the major shrines) accompanied by huge instru- mental ensembles of nearly fifty musicians. All elements of the ritual-texts, costumes, dance, melodies, and instruments-serve to reinforce the Confucian ideology. For the 'eight-tone' instruments, the various metaphoric associations and iconic representations are so essential to their ritual functions, they will re- ceive some emphasis in the following discussion.