Music development in China during the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties
The Xia Dynasty (2070-1600 BC)saw the beginning of the transition of Chinese society from a primitive one to one of slavery. The music dances, previously for totem sacrifices,were used to extol monarchies with slavery or the achievements of kings. For instance,the music Daxia sang high praises for the exploits of Dayu who successfully regulated the water system in the Xia Dynasty:"He worked hard day and night, digging mountain earth to block up dike breaches" and "all for the interests of people." The music dance Dawei in the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC) was created to offer sacrifices to the ancestors and show off the success of Chengtang who defeated Jie as well.
The Shang Dynasty entered the Bronze Age. As the craft and bronze-smelting sectors developed,over 10 percussion instruments and blowpipes like chime bells and chime nao were invented. They included a single qing or a set of qings (consisting of three qings and producing low or high-pitched sounds), as well as bell-like percussion instruments such as nao that were placed on shelves, duo and ling that were held and struck by hand,and hanging bells and yong that produced sounds when struck. Among them, bells and qings have the most far-reaching influences on later generations.
The bells, made of bronze and give a loud and solemn sound, were called "gold" among the eight sounds in ancient Chinese music. Qing, made of qing stones that produce a clear and piercing sound, were called "stones." The combination of bells and qings in music playing is said to produce “the sound of gold and stones," which was described in many ancient books and poems frequently, such as “the sound of bells and qings would shock the mountains and rivers" and "striking bells and drums while raising flags."Bells and qings were regarded as ritual instruments and would be played in such important occasions as setting off for battle,going to the imperial court, offering sacrifices or grand feasts.
Chinese "ritual music" originated from primitive worship in ancient times. "Playing music by beating earthen drums" re- corded in The Book of Rites reflects the earliest form of ritual music that, despite its presence and dramatic development in the Xia and Shang dynasties, was mainly consid- ered as a supplement to religious political activities. Some schol- ars considered the Xia culture as "one of obeying fates" and Shang culture as "one of honoring the gods." In the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BC), however, the political implications of “obeying the gods' will" were weakened greatly. The Duke of Zhou significantly restructured and orga- nized the ritual music created from ancient times to the Shang Dynasty,and developed it into a set of systematic social rules and codes of conduct.Also, special organizations were established to standardize and manage music dances."Dasiyue" was one of the organizations and responsible for teaching royal families, nobles and some talented people music, including "music mor- als," "music languages" and "music dances" (see The Rites of the Zhou·Chunguan). The music dances,previously used to extol totems and ancestors, were changed into a form as part of feasts and sacrificial activities. There were dozens of music in the Zhou Dynasty, with records dating back to the 29th year of the reign of Duke Xiang in The Annals of Zuo.
The court ritual music system in the Western Zhou Dynasty was very rigid. For example, officials of differentpositions could only retain music dance groups that were equivalent to their ranks in feast entertainment; The types and numbers of musical instruments,lines and numnbers of dance groups, as well as categories and numbers of musicians for the kings,nobles, dafu and shi were strictly enforced and couldn't be mixed.
The supreme hierarchal music in the Zhou Dynasty was"Liu Dai Yue Wu (Six-dynasty Yue Wu)," or called "Six Pieces of Music" for short. The King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty,after defeating Zhou1,asked Duke Dan of Zhou to create ritual music, and the "Six Dances" and "Six Little Dances" were among the representatives. The "Six Dances,"mainly used as one of the sacrificial rites in the court of the Zhou Dynasty,featured grand scenes and a great number of participants. The king would enjoy the 64-person dance,the highest hierarchal level. The "Liu Bu Yue Wu (Six- part Music Dance)" consisted of six parts, including the Yunmen used to honor the gods, Daxian to honor mother earth, Dashao for four directions, Daxia for mountains and rivers, Dahuo for female ancestors and Dawu for male ancestors. The Six Pieces of Music was also called the "Six-dynasty Yue Wu," as it was mostly composed of the representative music dances in the dynasties prior to the Zhou Dynasty.
The"Six Little Dances" was used to teach the children of aristocrats music dance and at times certain sacrificial occasions. It included Fuwu (silk ribbon dancing), Yuwu (dancing with feathers), Huangwu (dancing with colorful bird feathers), Maowu (dancing with cattle tails) and Ganwu (also called Bingwu,dancing with shields). The "Six-dynasty Music Dance" only included Shao music (civil music), and Wu music (martial music) since the Qin Dynasty. Shao and Wu were the most important music played in the imperial courts of all dynasties, and the former, as the ritual music of the supreme hierarchal level, had been played until the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
China in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, among the world's biggest powers with great ancient civilizations at that time,also boasted highly developed music culture. The Qing and drum orchestra most featured rhythms and were adopted in the rural sacrificial occasions in the Shang Dynasty, while the bell and qing orchestra, featuring chime bells and chime qings were used in the Zhou Dynasty. In addition, the presence and use of the "Six- Dynasty Music Dance," as well as the invention of various kkinds of new musical instruments and achievements made, such as "yuelü" (music rhythm), also showed that the ritual music system represented by the"Six-Dynasty Music Dance" was an important symbol of Chinese music's entrance into a civilized period.
The Zhou Dynasty saw an active folk music culture,too. Many stories that were handed down to today like Boya met his close friend Zhong Ziqi by playing the Qin have their roots in this period,which fully reflects the improved musical instrument playing and composing skills and the enhanced music appreciation skills as well.As for playing the ancient qin,ancient qin players also attributed superb qin performance to true and deep feelings.According to historical records,the singing of famous musician Qin Qing in the Zhou Dynasty could "shock the trees and stop clouds from moving,"and the singing of the folk singer Han E could "linger in the mind for a long time."
The theory of "12 liis"had come into being in the Zhou Dynasty,and the names of the "Pentatonic scale,"known as gong,shang,jue,zhi and yu,were established as well.One of the outstanding achievements in the theory of"li"was the "Sanfen Sunyi"method recorded in the Guanzi.Di Yuan.The Spring and Autumn Period the Warring States Period The Spring and Autumn Period(770-476 BC)saw the rise of regional music due to the collapse of such religious and legal system as"passing the throne to the elder son of the legal wife rather than the son of concubines,"and the"fiefdom system,"and destruction of rites.Numerous wars in the Warring States Period also led to frequent collaborations among various sorts in regional music,and the ancient musical instruments unearthed in 1978 from the tomb of Marquis Yi of the State of Zeng located in Suixian County (present-day Suizhou),Hubei were important evidence of that.
Chinese History,mainly compiled by Guo Moruo,wrote that in the states of Sui and Zeng,there were marquises that had the same family names with marquises in the Zhou Dynasty.The inscriptions on the unearthed bronze ge show that marquises of the State of Zeng were formerly from a branch of the King of the Zhou Dynasty.The 65-piece chime bell discovered in the tomb of Marquis Yi is the most complete and biggest bronze chime bell known so far.Chimes appeared as early as the Shang Dynasty,with three to five bells at first,nine to 13 in the Zhou Dynasty and 61 in the Warring States Period.Based on sizes,sounds and ranges,bells were arranged into chimes to play pleasant and melodious music.
The period from the Zhou Dynasty to the Warring States Period saw richer categories of musical instruments,more refined instrument-making skills as well as enhanced requirements on sound quality.The making of musical instruments used in playing "yayue,"such as chime bells and chime qings,would involve much labor and money.The chime bells unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi boasts a wide range of sound of five octaves,only one octave less than the sound range of modern pianos.The bells would produce beautiful and pure sounds when struck,with chords the same as the modern C Major.
Historical records show, the "eight sound" cdasaiication method was adopted tor musical instruments at this time, which was to cdassify musical instruments into eight categories based on the materials used to make them gold (bronze bell and to), stone (stone qing), earth (ceramic aum and fou), leather (tao druma), sillk(qin and se with chords made of silk), wood (wooden striking musical instruments ike zhu and yu), pao (sheny and yu made of plants like gourds) and bamboo (xiao and chi).
