In ancient China, music was considered more a form of moral education than a cultural pleasure.
As the Book of Changes states: "Nothing approaches music in reforming people's manners and customs."
The Book of Rites says: "To examine the sounds is to understand the notes; to examine the notes is to understand music; to examine music is a way to know the administration of a country."
The Book of Music declares: "Virtue is the source of human character while music is the bloom of virtue."
Confucius was an accomplished musician. He sang and played several instruments. He said music could arrest evil passions, rectify the heart and regulate one's acts. In his view, the function of music is trifold: social, administrative and moral. Many passages on music are found in the Confucian Analects:
"If one is not benevolent, what is the use of knowing about music?"
"Since I have returned from Wei to Lu, music has been corrected."
"By music we certainly don't mean bells and drums. These are merely the externals."
Later, Sse-Ma Ch'ien, the great Han historian, wrote on the essence of music:
"Music springs from man's heart. When the heart is inspired to rhythmic movement by things of the external world, it finds its expression in charming sounds. The composition of sounds that arouse noble sentiments is called music. Music is also pleasure. Pleasure makes one peaceful in mind and the peace of mind makes one steady in character. Music is inducive to physical and mental serenity; it fosters good customs in the country and restores peace on earth. When music is heard at the imperial ancestral temple, it makes the sovereign kind to the ministers and the ministers respectful to the sovereign. When heard in the family, it makes its members mutually affectionate and obliging. Good education begins with good music. When music is good, the people are good in their behavior."
President Chiang Kai-shek has written:
"Good music can transform temperament, revive spirit, ease hard labor and strengthen will-power so that man's living is made more harmonious and pleasant and his taste more refined. Higher qualities in every individual and better customs in society will be subtly cultivated. So music's importance is not limited to individual self-cultivation but can affect the prosperity of a nation. "
Ancient Chinese musical instruments can be classified into four categories according to the method of playing them: blowing as in the bamboo flute, plucking as in the lute, using a bow as in the violin and beating as in the drum.
Just as the Western musical saw is said to have been invented by a carpenter, the eight materials used in making musical instruments-metal, stone, silk, bamboo, gourd, clay (pottery), skin and wood-seem to have something to do with primitive life. For instance, the rudimentary silk string is traceable to a hunter's moving his fingers along the string of his bow. The gourd used in making the phoenix pipes might have derived from the sipping of water from a gourd with a reed pipe.
Music was developed very early in China. Legend has it that the phoenix pipes, the earliest Chinese instrument, dates back to Nu Kua, the first mythological female personage and successor to the legendary Emperor Fu Hsi. Discovery of the Te Chung (single sonorous bell) and the Bien Chung (bell chime) and the Ch'ing (stone chime) in the province of Honan indicates skillfully made instruments must have existed under the Chou (1122-255 B.C.).
Music for dancing came first. The Chiu Shao, a music loved by Confucius and described by him as beautiful in all respects and technically perfect, was the typical dance rhythm in the times of Emperors Yao and Shun. Of the ancient instruments, bells belonged to metal, Ch'ing to stone, lute to silk, horizontal flute to bamboo, Sheng to gourd, Hsuan to pottery, drum to skin and Chu to wood.
These are three of China's oldest songs:
The Song of Jang, an earthen instrument
I work at sunrise,
I rest at sunset.
I dig a well to have water to drink,
I till the land to have rice to eat.
What matters to me the power of the emperor?
The song of the propitious clouds
Bright are the propitious clouds,
Appearing in clusters.
Eternal is the brightness of the sun and the moon
That shine day after day.
The Song of the South Wind
The mildness of the south wind
Can dissipate the sorrows of my people.
The timeliness of the south wind
Can increase the wealth of my people.
The music of the Chou dynasty was chiefly ritual. The people paid their respects to heaven and earth, to ancestors, to kings and feudal lords, to heroes and to the virtuous and the talented. They had a system of ritual music for all kinds of ceremonies: religious services, feasts, court banquets and archery contests. The Chou official in charge was called the minister of music. He taught dance as well as music. The minister of education listed the six arts as rite, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy and mathematics.
The music of the Sui and Tang dynasties is representative of the medieval period. Music of Chou was partly lost under the Ch'in because of the burning of the books ordained by the First Emperor. Under the Han emperors Kao Tsung and Wu, such famous musicians as Li Yen-nien were summoned to the court to revive the ancient music. Musicians of the Wei-Tsin period also restored ancient music and their achievements led to another golden age under the Sui and Tang. Foreign music was assimilated. Emperor Yang Ti of the Sui and Emperors T'ai Tsung and Hsuan Tsung of the T'ang made contributions.
The assimilation of alien music was completed in the reign of Hsuan Tsung. Foreign influences went back to Chang Ch'ien's mission to the Western Regions in the time of the Han. Mongolian music was introduced from the north. Instruments were drums and pipes. The music of the Western Region came from Sinkiang, Kansu, India and Central Asia. Korean and Annamese music subsequently exerted an influence.
In more recent times of Sung, Yuan, Ming and Ch'ing, music has found expression in poetic songs and dramatic or operatic verses. Under the Sung, the people had a strong predilection for poetic songs. Poems were set to a tune and sung to entertain banquet guests. Under the Yuan, dramatic and operatic songs took the place of poetry. K'un opera began under the Ming while Si P'i and Erh Huang or Peking opera were products of the Ch'ing dynasty.
Chinese music tends to be monotonous. Since the introduction of Western music, Chinese musicians have been improving their traditional instruments and their composing.
Improved instruments include the Chung Hu, Ta Hu and Ti Hu in the violin field and the 11-hole flute and chromatic flute with membrane. The three Hu's can be compared to the viola, cello and contrabass. The demands of films, radio and television should assure rapid development and change in Chinese music during the years just ahead.