Wait~ An introduction to the music of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period

Spring and Autumn Period - Court Musicians

According to records, the court music in ancient my country has always been famous for its huge scale and grandeur. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the monopoly of music culture by the royal family was gone forever. Musicians from all over the world adapted to the hedonistic needs of the rulers of various vassal states and opened up a music world that was more developed and broader than the previous generation.

Court musicians in the Spring and Autumn Period generally had two characteristics; first, their names were all preceded by the title "Shi", such as Shi Kuang, Shi Juan, etc., which was to show that they were more influential at that time. high social status. Second, musicians are often blind. Because blind people have stronger music memory ability.

1. Shi Kuang, a famous musician of the Jin Dynasty (572-532 BC), was good at using the sound of the piano to depict the soaring, chirping, and graceful postures of flying cranes. He could also express the sounds of wind and rain in nature. Thunder and lightning and other shocking sounds. The music he played was called "Qing Shang" and "Qing Jiao". He had extraordinary musical talent and superb playing skills.

Shi Kuang's hearing was much more sensitive than that of the Jin Dynasty's bell musicians. He was a musician who valued art and dared to give direct advice. He also played the piano well and had quite exquisite skills. skill.

Allusion: "Historical Records·Shiguo" records that "Shi Kuang assisted the harp and played the drums. As soon as he played it, twenty-eight black cranes gathered at the corridor door; when he played it again, he stretched his neck and sang, He spread his wings and danced. "Ping Gong was overjoyed and sat back, asking, "Is this the saddest thing?" Shi Kuang said, "Yes. In the past, the Yellow Emperor used great harmony with ghosts and gods, but now the king is not worthy of hearing it. Defeat." Ping Gong didn't believe it, so he wanted to hear about it. Shi Kuang had no choice but to play it. On the first play, there are white clouds rising from the northwest; on the second play, strong winds and rain follow, flying on the eaves of the corridor, and running to the left and right. Ping Gong was frightened and crouched down in the corridor. There was a severe drought in the Jin Dynasty and the land was bare for three years. ”

2. Shi Juan, a musician from the Wei Kingdom, Shi Juan (534-492 BC) was also known for being good at playing the piano, and was good at collecting and playing folk music. It is recorded in "Historical Records·Music Book" The story of Shi Juan's visit to Jin with Duke Ling of Wei: "When Duke Ling of Wei was in Jin Dynasty, he heard the sound of drums and harps in the middle of the night. When he asked around, everyone said 'no'. I recruited the teacher and ordered him to write it for me to listen to. Shi Juan sat upright and played the piano, listening and writing. The next day, Shi Juan met Duke Ping of Jin, and Duke Linggong wanted to hear the news. Duke Ping ordered Shi Juan to sit next to Shi Kuang and play the piano and drums..." Before the song ended, Shi Kuang held down the piano and refused to play any more, saying This is the sound of the country's subjugation, which cannot be heard. When Ping Gong asked why, Shi Kuang said that this was the "extreme music" made by the musician Yan during the reign of King Zhou of Shang Dynasty. This story illustrates the richness of folk music in the place where the Shang people of Wei State lived. He Shijuan's musical understanding and extensive collection of folk music

3. Shi Wen Zheng Guo, an outstanding master, once studied with Shi Xiang, and Shi Xiang praised him for his "Qing Dynasty". "Jiao", Zou Yan's playing skills are not as good as Shi Wen's "Lu Shi Chun Qiu·Shen Fen Lan" records that when Shi Wen played the twenty-five-stringed qin, he was so mesmerized that he even fell down in front of the qin and murmured. Said to himself: I am as good as my son, as I am not poor." This shows that Shi Wen has an extremely rich inner world of music. He is an outstanding representative of Zheng's court music musicians. Shi Wen was very serious about studying music. It is said that after he failed to learn the piano for three years, his teacher mistook him for being clumsy and sent him home. Shi Wenwen gave a very philosophical speech. He said that the essence of the music is not in the strings, and the intention is not in the sound. The inner part cannot be found in the heart, and the outer part should not be in the instrument, so one does not dare to move one's hands to move the strings. This is also the origin of the idiom "handy", which has become an important aesthetic principle in ancient Chinese music performance.

The Autumn and Warring States periods were an important period for the development of classical music in my country. Due to the great opening up of the ideological field, the musical thought in this period showed a colorful scene, and music theory was unprecedentedly active. In terms of music aesthetics, Confucianists Confucius, Xunqing, and Gongsun Ni emphasized utilitarianism and emotion; Taoists Laopin and Zhuang Zhou emphasized art and spirit. Their insights will have a profound impact on the future development of Chinese music. Contemporary research on the musical thought of this period mainly focuses on the debates between Mohism, Taoism and Confucianism, and aesthetic thought is the focus of this debate.

The Mohists advocate "not music"

Mo Zhai, the founder of the Mohist school, believes that music is a waste of money and cannot relieve the people's "those who are hungry will not have food, those who are cold will not have clothing, and those who work hard will not be able to eat" The "three troubles" of "no end" can only harm the country and the people, so they should be banned.

Mo Zhai believes that music - "the sound of bells, drums, harps, yusheng" can arouse people's sense of beauty and make people happy. However, its existence is harmful to the governance of the country at the top level and does not benefit the people at the bottom level. He believed that if "farmers" and "women" listened to music, it would definitely hinder farming and weaving; if "gentlemen" listened to music, it would definitely affect their energy and intelligence; if "princes" listened to music, they would definitely not be able to "flea" (morning) If the emperor retreats from the imperial court and is allowed to govern in prison, the result will be "the country is in chaos and the country is in danger." In Mo Zhai's view, the more advanced and developed music is, the more difficult it will be to govern the country. "Those who enjoy more music than are complicated will be able to govern more than few." He believed that "music is not the reason for governing the world", that is to say, music is useless for governing the country and bringing peace to the world. Mo Zhai's opinion has certain progressive significance in terms of his sympathy for the lower class people and his opposition to the excessive music enjoyment of "princes and princes", but after all, it is purely utopian and completely unworkable. He simply emphasizes politics and production, completely denies the social function of music, and opposes the progress and development of music, which is also unrealistic. Therefore, it did not have a great influence on society. After Qin unified the six countries, this school disappeared.

Taoism advocates "big sound and rare sound"

Taoism, like Mohism, opposes music and denies music. Taoism is represented by Lao and Zhuang, who advocate nature and deny all man-made music. Taoist musical aesthetics are explained in the book "Laozi". In Chapter 81 of the whole book "Laozi", there are only four discussions involving music, namely "the sounds harmonize each other", "the five tones are deafening", "music and bait stop passers-by", and "big sounds are like sounds". Among them, the phrase "great sound and sound" can be regarded as the core of the entire musical aesthetic thought of "Laozi", which directly affected the formation of the subsequent musical aesthetic thoughts of Zhuangzi and others, and occupied an important position in the history of ancient Chinese music aesthetics. Based on the philosophical thought of Tao in "Laozi" and analyzing and summarizing its musical aesthetic thoughts, it can be found that "Laozi" divides music into two categories: one is the music of Tao, that is, the music of inaction and nature; the other is music of Tao. Secular music is artificial and unnatural music. The music of Tao conforms to the characteristics of Tao. It is the foundation of all human music, omnipresent and omnipotent. It is the most beautiful, silent, and the highest realm of music. Man-made music is beautiful, so it will "stop passers-by", but the beauty of this kind of sound music is worldly and temporary, and it will "deafen people", so it should not be promoted. For a sage, when governing the people, it is necessary to "take care of the belly and not the eyes." Therefore, the enjoyment of the eyes and ears must be abolished, and all culture, including music, must be abolished. Only in this way can the world be governed and achieve the "Laozi" hope. The state of doing nothing but doing nothing.” On the surface, Taoism's various statements seem to have a negative attitude towards both music and beauty. In fact, it is just the opposite. It attaches more importance to music - music as an artistic existence than any other school; it pays more attention to beauty - the inner and spiritual quality that is higher than formal beauty. beautiful. In other words, it emphasizes the non-cognitive laws of artistic creation, that is, aesthetic laws. This is something that other schools of thought have not noticed.

Confucianism regards "goodness" and "harmony" as beauty

Confucian music theory fully affirms the role of music in social life. In terms of music content and art form, Confucian music theory puts the "goodness" and "harmony" of the content first, while the beauty of the art form comes second. Traditional Chinese music aesthetics centers on "harmony" and has a profound influence on the development of musicians in our country. As the founder of Confucianism, Confucius is one of the important representatives of Chinese music and cultural history. His musical thoughts are mainly concentrated in "The Analects of Confucius". Confucius advocated "politics with virtue" in politics, advocated "rule by etiquette", emphasized the political role of etiquette and music, and emphasized that music can influence people morally. He once said: "There is no need to be good at music when changing customs, and there is no need to care about etiquette when it comes to governing the people." Confucius believed that the ideological nature and art of music are "good" and "beautiful". Those who conform to the so-called benevolence are considered good, and those who express peace and moderation are considered beautiful, forming one of the earliest musical aesthetic standards in human history. Later, Gongsun Ni, a disciple of Confucius, inherited and developed Confucian music theory, and his insights were preserved in the music treatise "Yue Ji" compiled by Han Dynasty scholars. Gongsunni opposed the view of some people at that time that music was simply a luxury or a pastime, and he also opposed the view that denied the existence of music. It is believed that music is a subjective reflection of the objective world. "Music" means that people's hearts are affected by external things, and when excited, they produce certain thoughts and feelings, and then use sounds and dance movements organized according to certain rules to image them. reproduced.

Secondly, the author also clearly discusses the relationship between music, life and politics, believing that music must express social politics and serve politics, which means that music and politics are connected. Therefore, the music of the era of peace must be full of peace and happiness, and the politics must be enlightened and harmonious; the music of the era of frequent troubles must be full of resentment, and the politics must be perverse; the music of the era of the country must be full of sorrow, and the people's livelihood must be miserable.

Gongsun Ni believed that in order for music to give full play to its educational function, it must emphasize its political and moral standards. Moral norms) thoughts and feelings - "virtue", is the superior work. Artistic standards are secondary in this sense, the so-called "art comes first". However, the author does not think that "art" is irrelevant. He points out that music is a flower blooming from "morality". To attract people's love, it cannot be without beauty and fragrance. Therefore, music must be artistic; it must be "groomed", that is, it must be expressed in a beautiful form. It is necessary to make the melody ("sound"), lyrics ("text") and various beautiful forms and expressions ("straight, straight, sophisticated, simple, rhythm") meet the requirements of the content and be able to move people towards "goodness" heart. According to "Legends of Music", any work that integrates ideological and artistic qualities is the kind of "virtuous music" and "harmonious music" that should be promoted; otherwise, it is "indulgent music" and "obscene music" that should be opposed. It can be seen that what Confucianism emphasizes is the connection between music and real life, the unity of emotion and reason, and the practical utility of music in serving social politics. This is something that other schools of thought have not discussed. However, "Confucianism regarded music as a tool for "cultivating the mind and character" from the beginning. There was no concept of independent art. Everything must be moralized. Such music can turn the listener into a saint or turn the listener into a beast. , from the Confucian perspective, it is reasonable to control the development of music.

Looking at the debate on music thought in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Confucianism has the most positive view of music. It overcame the traditional concept of subordinating music to "gods" and various opinions that denied the existence of music since the Shang and Zhou dynasties, affirmed the connection between music and real life, and established the realist tradition of Chinese music. However, over-emphasis on the practical utility of music often leads to Constraining the development of art and aesthetics, music loses its beauty and soul-stirring power. In this regard, the Taoist idea of ??"the interdependence of existence and non-existence" becomes its opposite and supplement, with its transcendent power (imagination, emotion, beauty, etc.). The later emergence of conveyance, artistic conception, etc. are all extensions and developments of this idea), providing new impetus for the development of Chinese music. In short, Confucianism and Taoism in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods have initially laid the foundation for my country's musical aesthetics. The ideological system, in the feudal society for thousands of years, has exerted a great influence on the development of our country's music